RandaFooty: Everything Nigerian football, home and abroad

Even Tuface wasn't impressed. I haven ’t been able to pen down my diaries for almost three days because I've been mentally exhausted for that period. Nigeria’s loss to Argentina made things worse and then I suffered food poisoning because I ate some local Naija rice and topped it up with some chicken wings from KFC. Omo, I no fit sleep. The shit wey I shit no be here sha. Feel free to laugh but I wish you same per what you are laughing at right now. I had to go get fluids to replace what I had lost. Ademola Olajire was very helpful and linked me up with a doctor but by then I was feeling better and elected not to take any other drugs again. No be for Russia I go come sick. Back to the matter.

I've been really tired and stressed out of recent so penning a diary was kinda difficult. I'm sorry again this is coming late. A kinda summary but I do hope you enjoy reading this piece. So we did the fan fest thing with Tobi Adepoju, Deji Adegbenro and Aro Olaoluwa and it was a massive hit. I wonder why we didn ’t think of going for such events in the first place. It was all fun as we met with a lotta folks from different countries.

Former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Goodwill Akpabio is excited with the performance of Super Eagles of Nigeria, even as he revealed what happened to him in   Volgograd arena, where super eagles recorded their first Group D victory at the ongoing Russia 2018 FIFA world. Gongnews.net caught up with the distinguished senator of the federal republic of Nigeria at Volgograd international airport as he was leaving for another city in Russia,  Moscow. "I feel very excited witnessing the first victory of super eagles in Russia. although the first half was flooded with errors coming back from the first half Recess I saw a new super eagles who were  more purposeful to make Nigeria proud as good ambassadors" says Akpabio  Akpabio also revealed that he was so enthralled by the goals that he fell off his seat. " Out of excitement, I actually  fell on the floor and I had to be supported back to my feet immediately I knew the two goals from

FRANCIS UZOHO: Showed composure for the entire duration of the match.  Charged at his defence and co-ordinated them properly.  Kept us in the game especially  in the first half. 7 LEON BALOGUN: Played with maturity and seems to improve with each game.  Surged forward on some occasions . 6

Recording and then the wind messed up things The past few days has been one of fun and anguish all mixed in one bowl of Russian cold and wind. I ’ve managed to explore the areas around my hotel so right now I know where to go to get what I need. I managed to also show some folks where they can do their shopping and get the nearest thing to jollof rice which is our stable meal for now. A very wise Nigerian in St. Petersburg decided to start cooking for Nigerians which I thought was a good gesture but here is the catch. A plate of semovita and egusi soup costs the equivalent of N8,000. No, I’m not joking. 8 taaasannd!!!.

Sorry this is coming a bit late. A video chronicling Nigeria's loss to Croatia and how the other African countries have fared in the World Cup. Since I recorded, Morocco lost 1-0 to Portugal and before that Egypt were roasted 3-1 by hosts Russia. The result meant both sides are effectively out of the tournament. Senegal were able to restore some African pride by defeating Poland 2-1 on Tuesday. Nigeria will be up against Iceland on Friday in a must win game and I'll be there to work and also cheer them. Do take a listen and don't forget to drop your thoughts on Nigeria so far at Russia 2018. Follow me on Twitter @RandaAndrew and let's take the conversation there. #SoarSuperEagles

Jennifer Okoye obviously wasn't happy with Nigeria's 2-0 loss to Croatia.She explains what she thinks went wrong and what should be done.

Jane Nweze, who is in Russia and was at the Super Eagles game against Russia drops her 20 kobo on the loss, what she thinks went wrong and what the Eagles need to do to get back on track. Agree or disagree? You can follow her on Twitter @JaneONweze

Touch down Kalinigrad   Match Day was cool, had to wake up early to do some interviews with a few Nigeria stations ( I go soon begin charge, Russia expensive) breakfast and then a dash to the airport for the flight to Kalinigrad where the Eagles were due to play Croatia. Oh! I promised to tell y’all about how one of us almost got deported yeah?…. Well turns out that her FAN ID read her gender as ‘male’ instead of ‘female’. The guys at the Russian Immigration were threatening to put her back on the plane. Wasn’t a nice sight at all but kudos to the representative of the Nigerian Immigration Service who was able to sort the issue out and she was able to join us at the bus park. How dem go say you fly half way across the world and then you go begin go house? No be her portion lai lai.

I should have done this two days ago but a whole lotta factors militated against my daily Russia diary.  Flying halfway across the world to Russia is a challenge and then there is the stress of connecting flights, navigating airports, time zones and jet-lag. Typing this is a struggle but I promised a few folks I was gonna do this so here we go. Two weeks ago I had given up on coming to Russia to cover the tournament. My sponsors started giving me excuses. Las las rug was pulled under my feet. I was disappointed and started making arrangements to follow the game at home. I missed the 2014 edition in Brazil due to ill-health and other personal reasons and I was sad that 2018 was going to pass me by.

I had a very long day yesterday. The logistics to cover this World Cup na die....Wait this isn't about that. My man Emeka Ezeibe came up with his player ratings for the Nigeria v Croatia game. If you done with church and have calmed down a bit then please read this. Do you agree or disagree? Hit him up on Twitter -@emekaezeibe and continue the convo there. FRANCIS UZOHO: Was decent and composed through out the game. Couldn't  do much to prevent the goals and was barely tested. 6. ABDULLAHI SHEHU:Didn’t improve much from his last two games and seems to be the weakest link at the back. One wonders why Tyrone didn’t get to start the match. 4 BRYAN IDOWU: Was solid and pushed forward at times. Wasn’t really disturbed by the Croatians. 5 LEON BALOGUN:Had a much more improved game compared to the friendlies. Was solid and composed at the back. His best game from the last two he played. 6 WILLIAM TROOST: A below par performance.The low point of his game was wrest

Alex Iwobi was Nigeria star of the show as Husbauer, Sourcek and Barak struggled to stifle him and Abdullahi had a day to forget for Nigeria.      Uzoho Francis - Preferred to Daniel Akpeyi, he had a lot to do in the first half of the game, making a lot brilliant save to keep the score even as he denied Patrik Schick from a close range. There was little he could do to prevent the opening goal as he once again showed his brilliant reflexes and pull off a glorious save from Tomas Soucek header but Tomas Kalas was in position to hit home the rebound. 7/10 Troost-Ekong- Marshalled the back three impeccably and made a couple of important blocks and clearance, but a bit shaky when contesting for aerial balls. 6 Leon Balogun- Not best of a display expected from the Mainz defender, he was uneasy, shaky and frequently rushed off his feet; was not comfortable with what was thrown at him but manage to win some duels against Schick. 6/10 John Oguh - Though he was slotted to the left-

So we lost to the Czech Republic in our last friendly game before we take on Croatia in our first game at the World Cup. My guest, Emeka runs the rule on the players and how they rated in the game. Ratings are out of 10. By the way we lost 1-0 (not like y'all didn't know) FRANCIS UZOHO : Unlike his previous matches for the Super Eagles, was composed especially in the first 10 minutes where he usually exhibits some attributes of being jittery.Made some classy saves but should be bold enough to shout at his defenders when they are disorganized. 7.5.                                         

Super Eagles World Cup funding; A plea to the Federal Government. So for a very long time, the NFF has been able to sort out all issues related to bonuses and allowances for the Super Eagles as they head out to a major tournament. I spoke to a few players and they told me they have been briefed and told exactly what is due to them and the backlog of the monies has been cleared. What this means is that we won't see any issue like 2014 when Ghana had to fly in dollars to share with their players a night before a game. There will be no murmuring and fights over remuneration. All the players have to do is go on the pitch and do the business. That being said, the NFF needs all the monies they can lay their hands to on to sort out other sundry issues that have to do with Nigeria's World Cup participation. I nicked piece off someone and decided to publish because it encapsulates my thinking as Nigeria head into the Mundial. Some parts were edited but the core of the ar

My friend and colleague Jennifer Okoy e of Jay FM Jos   makes her debut on my blog today. She serves us lessons she picked up from Nigeria's international friendly with England. Her take: The Super Eagles didn't perform well against The Three Lions of England in their second friendly game ahead of the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup starting on the 14th of June. England defeated Nigeria by 2-1, with goals from Garry Cahil in the 7th minute and Harry Kane on 39thminutes while the only goal from the Super Eagles came through Alex Iwobi at the 47th minute in the second half.

My good friend and youth coach Yema Olanrewaju is here as a guest writer and he gives his 20 kobo on the Nigerian side v England. Yema, as I love to call him is a former Kwara United, Ocean boys and Crown FC midfielder He rates the players out of ten in a game Nigeria lost 2-1. Here we go -------------- Uzoho - The young keeper has begun to gain Nigerians confidence. He did far above average and one of our best performers today. 7/10

So we lost 2-1 to England at Wembley on Saturday in an international friendly to prepare the Super Eagles for the World Cup. Uzoho saves of Raheem Sterling. Picture credit Guardian UK. The first half was painful to watch as England ran the show and picked us up easily. They could have scored four goals before the break but for some good goalkeeping by Francis Uzoho and profligacy by the English attack led by Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling. Nigeria never got started at all. We never did until the second half and by then, the damage was done already.