Are we cheats

Next, if you do not have stories, do not write.

Naija i hail thee!!! here we go again, has anyone come out with proof that any of the players are overaged, i for one can vouch for at least 3 players cause i knew them when they were like 7 yeas old, 8 years ago, playing football on the streets of benin, yes we might have overaged players but maybe 2 or three, and thats not why we over ran newzealand, its in our genes to play physical football and the poor Nzs couldnt cope.

We all have brothers, nephews, neighbours or cousins who are 17 or thereabout and we know that they don't look anything like those MEN who claim to be eaglets. Pschhhwwwees! Rubbish.

I saw the match yest. and saw the super eaglets play for the first time . I have grown up watching soccer and what i saw was mostly players who are definately over age .. their skills and passing averaged those who are in the early and mid 20's for sure . uNLESS A MIRACLE HAPPENS ,They are winning the world Cup .. Great Nation ! and Jazzy ..its ok to have 2-3 overage players in a team representing U-17 huh ?

I am also getting very weary of the writing style of NEXT. I don't think this is a catching story at all. Could you guys be a little positive and optimistic for a while in your reporting. Don't make readers like us become weary of your negativities.

This question is inauspicious at this time. Don't let us start demoralising the eaglets. At the risk of soundng too patriotic, and with no apology for that anyway, the present crop of eaglets do not look over-aged.In fact they look tiny when compared to oher teams which I don't want to embarass here.For example, Ojabuh,Issah,Dami Paul,Emmanuel and Kayode look tinier, frail and under 16. The failure of our age-group players to make their mark at a later time in their careers has to do with quick fix syndrome. They want urgent success. Take players in Arsenal for example,Vela, Gibbs, Merida,Simpson,Witshere ...all under 19 ..are good enough for the 1st team but they are contented with marking time and waiting for thier turn. Our boys lack this gradualist approach to talent development, they look for crass contracts that would thrust them into the front burner of club soccer in Europe. For this reason, the NFF should improve on the quality of the Nigerian leagues,look for more sponsors and monitor the contracts of our young players rushing into Europe where they are largely enslaved and discriminated against. Finally,for the present eaglets, they cannot be said to be cheats, relative to many "babas" on display from other teams. Let's for once be honest in our criticisms.

All of you that are suffering from Draff syndrom should please give peace a chance. Ask yourself one question, do the other team players look younger? they do not in anyway. Those that are out to destroy Nigeria, all those enamies of progress should please look else where and please try and feed your brothers that they may look good and stop comparing them to footbalers. When you start doing sport your body looks bigger in many places than the normal person.

is this new? someone should tell FIFA the truth so that Naija can be banned from football that way we no go waste money on football and hosting events. we can never do things right...WHAT A BANANA REPUBLIC

pls stop say rubish about nigerian,are you say that all nigerian are not patriotic or what.havent under the vigorous fifa test why then blackmail this boys ,pls other country have over ages in their own team too.pls leave this boys alone,THEY ARE THE BEST

I don't see anything wrong in exposing age scam. If not for whistle blowers who exposed Salisu Buhari, he would have spent one or two terms in office as speaker of the house of Rep. with his forged age and certificates.

Is Stantely Okoro 17? How did we manage to scale the MRI scrutiny? Is the machine and process faulty? I thought they said these present boys passed the MRI scan after the old team was disbanded due to their failure of the MRI. Was the test not administered before the start of the competition? Or are we using a different set of players? If the MRI test proved the boys are all fit to participate.Will it be justified and lawful to raise the issue of over age again? We have to be careful here. Has FIFA come out to say MRI result may not be absolute? I think you ( JIde Alaka) need to go further to investigate and confirm from FIFA that it is possible for a player to do the test and still be overage. We need proof. I hope you will do a follow story....

We should stop decieving ourselves. When Batholomew Ogbeche claimed he was 17, the receptionist in our office who is from the same town laughed when she heard it because they are from the same village. She said Ogbeche's younger sister who was her classmate was not even less than 20. However, this problem is global. If you talk about Messi, Ronaldinho and others, at least our own Kanu is still playing and he came to limelight in the U-17 of 1992.

Tell the story yourself. In dishonesty was Nigeria created, and in dishonesty we have live for 49 years. If a child learns madness in seven years, for how long will he practice madness. Nigeria is still practicing madness.

What exactly is happening with some Nigerians? We were told that a player was dropped on their arrival from Qatar after discovering that he is over age. A day before the commencement of this tournament, another round of tests were carried out on this boys before their first match against Germany. Adokie and his fellowers should give these boys a chance to concentrate to avoid losing focus. Enough of this age issue!

Nigerians should support these boys now that they have overcome the stage freight problems disturbing them in there first two matches.

FIFA said no overage was fielded by Nigeria but you Unbranded and Unpatriotic fellows are the ones crying.Nigeria is winning now it means they are over aged if we are loosing, it means the coach is bad or the boys are not fit. Adokiye will fail in his campaigh of calumny. The BOYS should RIDE ON and RETAIN THE CUP. UP NIGERIA......

this news is totally uncalled for, can report more seriouse things

But all of una wey dey purge dey go. Next no talk say we be cheat o. Dem just dey ask qweshun.

I think that NEXT123 is running short of news ietms! You want the whole world to debate about the age of Eaglets this beautiful Friday morning?! I have not seen a single logical writeup on this matter by thvarious posters. It is interesting that NEXT never mentioned the fact that MRI scan was carried out on the teams and a number of them failed the test. If FIFA has a tested and trusted technology for validating the true age of a player and that technology says that all the players are within approved age why the noise? It is the same thing as accusing Usain Bolt of drug use when he has not failed any test! We should give them benefit of the doubt and focus on their performance until they fail the age test.

Whats the big deal about Nigerian players age? If we grow fast, you people will attribute it to the devil but if Oyibo grow fast, it becomes good nutrition. Pls do not one day ask God to wipe us out like he did to Soddom + gomorrae.

Do we have platforms to breed real age players? Do we have well organized grassroots sport development? Do we have employees with their real age in the banking industry and other corporate sectors? I know professors who caught short their ages, so also some civil servants and public officers... If we can answer this questions, then we would decipher if we are cheats or not! Its a culture in Nigeria,it is no news! Other nations have a way of doing theirs as well, so lets cut short the blames and criticisms.

First they were feeble and uncertain, we needed prayers. Now they are active and certain, we call others preys. Haba, these players go through a certification process approved by FIFA. If we have cheats then blame FIFA.

next, this not a story, when we win we must ve cheated ,when we loss, we are not serious. do our boys look older than others.when gemany almost kill us, we were not overaged then. Next kindly learn to be patriotic when it s needed so that u dont loss readers.more grease to ur elbow.

Next,you guys are fast building a niche for urselves in destructive journalism.As much as we expect u to be the conscience of the nation, you should learn to balance your stories.Imagine saying our own example can only start and end with Chrisantus.That's so wrong.Have u forgotten Kanu played at Japan 93 and he's been able to play at the highest level for the past 16 years?Oruma and Celestine were in the same team and both are still playing in Greece and the U.S.Can u mention one of the Argentine guys that played at the same tournament?At least u believe those ones are saints.How come we no longer hear of any of them.Of the 18 players Italy took to that tournament,only Buffon and Totti are still actively playing,and u'll agree that Totti's at his twilight just like Kanu.Akpoborire still played for the Eagles 13 years after China 85.Ugbade also made it to the super eagles and would have played at all world cups if westerhorf hadn't dropped him from the USA 94 squad.Ikpeba and Godwin Okpara still played for the Super Eagles about 12 years after playing for the eaglets.I'm not saying they may not have been over-aged when they played at youth level,but I'm just drawing ur attention to the fact that our story doesn't end with Macaulay.Please do a better research next time and learn to give balanced reports.That's the hallmark of responsible journalism.

17 year olds don't have this type of ball sense. This is not even to do with physical play. These are experienced players and we know they are over-aged!!! People know them. They have friends. It's time we put a stop to this. It is killing our football.

To all those shouting be patriotic, this is our problem in Nigeria we have become so blaise about cheating that we see nothing wrong with it. We cheat in sports, we cheat in exams , we cheat at work, we cheat in everything we do and we wonder why the country won't make progress.

The motive of this campaign about age cheating is interesting if the feedback am getting from my sources are to be believed.>>> Anyway, I do have a MAJOR problem with executing this U-17 with non secondary school players... I don't like cheats not a bit. It reflects poorly on all of us... I wish they will conduct a thorough investigation on this... it's very shameful if true. If the guy was good enough to be the focal point of Sharks feeder team he is good enough to have played U17 back in 2003 or what ever year it was... he is now denying someone else the opportunity he was denied himself. It is a sick self-inflicted quagmire that we keep sucking ourselves into...>>> We did it with our Universities... now, no-one takes a Nigerian degree seriously. Next it will be any legal document from Nigeria or for that matter any athlete (insert whatever sport you want)... it surely stinks!>>> The thing that gets me is that many years ago when my brother was a 16 year old freshman DE at VTech... there were all kind of insinuations about his age... luckily he had a US birth certificate... I can't imagine him always having to defend his age... I remember my youth clubside playing against University students prepping for NUGA games and holding our own against them... all of us were still in form 3-6... it is not impossible to get truly young players to play in this tourneys...>>> Surely we can't be the only ones that see the long term repercussions of this win at all cost administrators are doing to the entire nation...

We are not getting over this because people choose to look the other way, as long as we are winning. We need to establish credibility as a serious organization, so that our Rooneys, Lebrons, Robbens, etc will not be suspected of being age-cheats based on looks.

Fellow Nigerians,na wa for us o.When the team struggled against Germany and barely managed to beat Honduras,we didn't remember they were over-aged.We simply said they weren't good enough.Now they hammer New Zealand and we suddenly realise they are over-aged.Did late Yemi Tella's team look any younger than these boys?Yet we celebrated them.If FIFA says it has absolute confidence in the MRI scan and these boys have passed the test,why not let them be.Or how else do u want FIFA to establish their ages.By going to their parents' houses?

MRI aka Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a machine and like all things employed by science there's an error margin say + or - 2. And there are other confounding factors. Having said this however, i still findd it amazing the way people declare every sports person fron Naija over age. I think people just find it difficult to accept that at 38yrs they have not done anything significant with their lifes to appear on TeeVee, and here u have these boys, not just appearing on TeeVee, they are doing it in Europe. That is why with every crop of under 17s u'll find someone in hiis mid 30s tellin u the u17 guy 'looks' older than him. The thing about sports people is, they are basically bigger than ur average kamoru, that's why they are athletes in the ffirst place, couple that with Nigeria's conditions that make all teenagers look like hardened criminals and voila.I am amazed the reporter did not mention that Kanu and oruma are still playing football.they were under 17 stars too.

If the Freedom Of Information bill had been signed into law, it would have been easy know the true age of these under 17 because the hospitals where they were born would have granted access to their records to verify. By the way, I will be under 17 in two years, NFF please take note.

I realize the need for 'evidence' and the power of science but sorry to say, Nigeria is waaaaay past that level. We see Agassi cheated the system years ago despite stringent tests. The science of the matter isnt exact. We have a society much like the 'hoods' here were people don't break the hood law of talking to the 'po-po'. Nigerians for the most part would rather dance and sing and 'jollificate' with someone who's cheating instead of 'outing' the person. It is a societal thing wholly. I remember the 1995 side to Ecuador, I stopped speaking to a good friend for over ten years because his kid brother played in that team and this kid was at least 28! I met many guys on that side and those were not kids!!! The ones I got to know were all grown men! I was the 'bad' man because I pointed out the facts. I heard rumors about certain guys on the 93 side thru relatives but I wasnt that close to them so I didnt want to believe it.

@ Sola, ur receptionist is a loser. That's why she is a receptionist. She 's a sore loser. Ogbeche's elder sibling went to the same scool I attended and everybody agreed that Ogbeche was thereabouts concerning his age when he came to lime light, considering the age of the egbon. Ur info is 3rd hand, mine is 2nd hand.

Blah Blah Blah! Next and some fools who called their self Nigerians, Why can't you be proud of your country once, Shay na curse... If govt do something better them go say Dem don chop the money if they no do @ all them be bad belle, Over age or no Over age, They were tested and passed through the age machine which one be all this one, Have you take a look @ Korean players? they all look 27. appearance doesn't judge age people. Get yourself together, I have spoken :)

Plz NFF and presidential hand shake should stop and allow these boys to concentrate. One thing i like about the Nigeria people is winning which is the nature of the game. Plz let support these boys since our senior could not give something to smile for.

My answer to dis question is yes,dis dudes playing 4 us are over age player no doubt about dis,NFA pls do sometin.

Next paper seems to want get recognition by coming up with negative news and trying to ruin people, that all i can see here, but its not going to work, we Nigerians we need to be positive and tell good story about ourselves, thats what other countries do

Jide alaka, this should not even be insinuated in the first place. These boys are under 17 and they are fit to play. Try running some stories on how u ..... Before u got ur job.

There was a day I asked if Next234 is Nigerian but some idiotic people on this forum told me to shut up....here we go again! Next is Anti-Nigerian and should be seen as such! Look at Basala(German) and Yabo(German captain), you think those guys are 17? Look at the south American Players and some of the spanish players, you call those U17s? Did you see some of those New Zealanders? If they played for Nigeria, we will class them as U30s because they are tall. Our mentality don't ever see an average Nigerians' child as ever looking like "AJE BUTTER". What Next234 is implying here is that if you are not an AJE BUTTER" and you are huge or built, then you are falsifying your age. MRI tests were carried out on this guys and still they passed it, yet Next234 call us cheats? This is outrageous of Next234 to brandish Nigerians as cheats. Next234, we are not cheats, those guys are underaged and look so....if you so doubt their ages, request copies of the MRI test documentations from the appropriate authorities and publish it to Nigerians instead of jumping into conclusion in Brandishing Nigerians as cheats. The real cheats are those in power, the real cheats are political office holders, the real cheats are journalist and media houses who lavish awards of excellence upon award of excellence on Governors and politicians and yet think the Nation is sick. Football is the only unifying factor that brings Nigerians together and don't destory it!!!

u all are naive, stupid, dumb and pariah for saying the team isn't overaged or that it's ok to have 2-3 overaged players in an under 17 tourney. i played with okoro in benin four years ago, then he was my senior in the team but i was older by 2 years. now i'm 25 and okoro is still under 17 aba! integrity exhalts a nation. nigeria 'good' people great nation?

Naija people, Let's cerebrate ourselves and forget about this issue of criticism. let's develop our own careers because we are already late compare to the development going on in the whole world.STAND UP FOR THE CHAMPION-EAGLETS.

The way the Eaglets played against New Zealand showed that they were the better side. The match was like a practice game, our boys were just strolling with the ball as a matter of fact the score line didn`t reflect the game. The goals ought to have been more than five. I am afraid, these boys may not actually be under 17. Anyway, since FIFA cleared them, who can say otherwise? Time shall tell.

This problem is Afrian in nature. Have you asked yourself why we keep wining FIFA U-21 and 17 and never any where close to the realy thing ( FIFA world cup)? It is because we (africans) always go to this finals with our older men to play thier youg boys. The results speaks for itself.

After reading the above comments, I came to a conclusion that people misunderstand what patriotism means. I went online to search for a definition of the word and the best I could find is: "Patriotism is the love for the ideals that a country stands for". If this definition holds true, then I'm happy to be unpatriotic to this nation with regards to certain issue such as using age cheats in an age-grade competition. Nigerians always claim to be religious when it suits them. This is also a moral issue. Even if every country cheats, why can't we as a nation decide to fore-go the mentality of winning at all costs. The sad thing is that in the long run, such cheating is actually an inhibitor to progress as we see at senior level. Remember, the principle of seed, time & harvest holds true in all spheres of life........

From many of the comments written here, i think many Nigerians have fully embraced lying and criminality as a way of life... No honour, no sincererity, not sense of honesty, no self respect, total lack of value... just a bunch of crooks... It is so bad that we cant, for once, tell ourself the truth. For those of you that think some people are damaging the image of Nigeria with this story; News Flash: The image of Nigeria is already damaged. All of them out there know that and they treat us in such manner. We, being honest to ourselves and acknowledging our fault, is the first recipe to solving our poblems. This country is doomed.

All this people laying Criticism against this boys which we all know that are over-age, what is their own real age in their place of work or whatsoever? First ask yourself this question. Did i declare my real age? Stop writing against these boy.

I wonder the kind of journalism you practice. This is nothing but destructive journalism. This is very bad for our dear nation. What you should practice is progressive and developmental journalism, instead of this nonsense you keep on dishing out to the public. Just before the tournament many players were sent home on account of over age. Are you aware that FIFA provided an age machine dictator that will automatically prove if you are over aged. Then why this sensationalism. you did not carry this report when Germany almost white washed us 3 goals, may be they were not averaged then, just becuase the boys are keeping up, now, its then that you want to PULL THEM DOWM. Its not fair, just as been suggested by one contributor, if you don’t have anything to write , just shut up.

DESE GUYS ARE NOT OVER AGED THEY ARE OVER PERFORMING!!!!!!!!!!!

Nna na wah for us in this country. Can't we for once appreciate these young men who are making us proud? Imagine the flimsy excuses some are sighting as reasons these players are overaged.Abeg Oyinbo people say dem don test dem and they are truly 17. What else do you want. Abeg make una dey throw stones small small oooooo!

next please lets talk about something else. This is defeatist. The nothing good can come out of nigeria story. Lets just enjoy good football and get on with it. It seems to me that a section of the press is bent on making a scandal out of nothing. First it was about poor organisation, then water-logged pitches and now this. Isn't there anything positive to report?

This is another distraction that usually come with success. Why was this topic not raised when we narrowly escape Germany in the opening match. Now that success is coming our way, some no do good er are shouting themselves hoarse

How are we sure that the Kiwis do not have overaged players. In Nigeria, we delight in running our own down. Probably because our children, relations, and even our siblings are not included in the team. Discard this rumor, and allow the eaglets concentrate on the business at hand. We want to retain the cup. Age grade football will always attract petty jealousy and nonesense agigations anyday, anywhere. Can we vouch for any of the countries being represented in this tournament? What do we stand to gain in this kind of malicious rumor? I am begging all and sundry to support our boys. We can settle this matter later.

i was thinking that on my mind (eaglets age) yesterday. truth be told these boys are over-aged, for now i dont think its sensible to raise this issue again. Next stop this propaganda!

it is true we have some over age players. other countries do have the same if you take a good look at them.i have a cosine, am 10yrs older than him but when you see us he looks more matured than me.this test is not just this age of a thing, there are some plus and minus inside of it which we domt know.pls tell AMESINIKA to look for some thing do and stop talking about cheating and over age. pls, i will like to read something educating and good sport stories nolonger this cheating and over age matter. thanks

How do we expect NFF to solve a National problem. Fundamental problem is record keeping and documentation. All the 'evidence' that you people want can be procured easily in Nigeria. Oluwole school results, Oluwole birth certificates etc. Except you want NFF to leave football administration alone and now become an investigative agency! No country football association should be saddled with such responsibilities. Until we solve the issue of documentation and record keeping as a Nation, we will not make any head way and there will always be doubts about any document from Nigeria. The MRI is an improvement but never a solution. However it is wrong to classify everyone that plays under age competition an age cheat based on looks etc!

Many Nigerians are, to use the simplest of words, stupid. There are allegations of fraud perpetrated by our NFF and some idiots are saying it is not worth the mention. Who the heck cares if there are over-aged players in other countries? Are there no drug barons in Mexico and Cambodia? Do we then say they are welcome in our country? Are there no brutes like Abacha and looters like Abdulsalami in other countries? Why the heck do we complain when we are victims of our politicians' criminality? Are there no countries with a power situation worse than that of Nigeria? Do we then justify the failure of PHCN with that? Why are the lot of us so stupid? If anyone says Next shouldn't bother about age fraudsters,such a person is saying Bode George doesn't deserve a prison term. The way I see it, there is a high supply of crack in the country during this World Cup and people like Samson and Michael have been smoking much of it. Could the custodians of such crack pass it on to those of us who do not understand the language they speak?

This article clearly illustrates our lack of self belief and trust, hence why we are where we are today; these guys have been screened and declared fit to participate by FIFA the regulation body in charge of the competition… why this article in the first instance? This is the most unpatriotic piece I have ever read yet… if an ordinary journalist cannot be patriotic and see the positives of a youth side, how do you except the politicians to help? Jide akala or whatever your name is? You are so lucky you are based in Nigeria, where anything goes; if this article was published in some other countries I bet you are liable to possible charges. Was this article checked by your superiors and did they deem it appropriate for publication? Also the players you used as examples to buttress your analysis showcases your naivety and lack of extensive research (which is the foundation journalism is based on), why did you not make examples with the Sinama Pongolle of the world and the likes.. etc, i bet if André "Dede" Ayew was Nigerian, you would have said the same. I am not saying Nigerians have never used over age players in the past, but in this situation where the regulation body has declared these players fit to play, then the issue is killed and this article comes across as very unpatriotic.

when we played 3 - 3 with germany, were we cheats? you are looking at the wonders of prophet t. b. joshua...

Yes, Kanu is still playing. But he hasn't played 90 minutes for more than 3 years. Roger Milla repeatedly played 90 minutes for Cameroon at age 42. Arguably, Kanu should be in his 40s. I am 41, and quite seriously, I don't think I'm older than Kanu. Segun Olusesan played the 1985 qualifiers. He was in HSC at Lagos Baptist Academy when I was in Class 2 in 1979. By the time he played the qualifiers, I was 16 going on 17. Hue and cry made the NFA drop him. Fatai Atere however made the team. He was at Igbobi College but his girl friend was in our School 3. I could not call him his name because of the age gap between us. And yet he played under 17 when I, his several years junior was over 17. To make matters worse, he went on to captain the 1987 set two years later at almost age 30. Any surprise that nothing further became of his footballing career? If any of the players that took advantage of New Zealand last night is under 17, then I am JESUS CHRIST. Nigeria we hail thee!

It so annoyin 2know that our boys av suddenly become overaged jus because they are doin well as if dis is the first or last time Naija or any other African team for that matter wud feature allegedly overaged players...Im really disappointed at the timin of Adokiye Amiesiemeka's comments considerin his experience in football admin in naija n fact that the media world is in our country for the championship.I sincerely wonder what he hopes 2 achieve with his comments really or was any of his players dropped from the team?i think the boys are doin well so far n i wish them all them all the best no matter what some of u noisemakers think...

Will you people get a life? So NEXT has suddenly become the problem with Nigeria? Because cheating has become second nature to some of you, you will not see anything good in what NEXT is doing. You have become so inured to lying, stealing, cheating and all manner of corruption that you rise up in defence wherever someone speaks up in defence of the truth. It is people like you who buy exam questions for your children and then go a step further to bribe invigilators to allow them use them. Haba! What kind of people are we in this country? Blame NEXT all you want, the truth remains that the boys are older than 17 years. Now, what happens to develop the real under 17s when their uncles have taken their places? Answer that, Michael and fellow travellers.

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! Lets just have the games go on. Abeg! Guilty or not guilty. This guys remain innocent until prooven otherwise. and stop all this i hate cheats and lets be moral and blah blah blah blah about a sense of doing things right. if anyone of you is innocent of cheating, cast the first stone, just remember that some of us have read your CVs where you cheated on your ages to get jobs. i donot condone the practice all i say is PROOF IT. like i said before, pick your bone with FIFA, they certified these players. Na wa oh!

The way some of us practise this profession these days make me wonder whether we really have conscience. When the country scores a major goal, the media hrdly sees anything to celebrate, they llok the otehr side. If Next wants to be the voice of teh opposition in nigeria, soemone up there must know this is not the best way to do it. For some of us, we have really had enough of your never seeing anything good about Nigeria. MRI tests were conducted, the boys were prunned yet you fail to see that thos ethat are good are good. Sure if God were to come down and say this is their age, you would take iy with a pinch of salt or say he was partial to have given nigeria so many good boys. enough of your hogwash. Thank God we have other choices.

@ Michael, I felt very happy reading that some people on this platform had once asked you to 'shut up'! I now want to join those set of people to say to you once again, SHUT UP! SHUT UP!! SHUT UP !!! until you have contributions that will be of genuine benefit to this great contraption we all call Nigeria. I strongly believe that you fall within the category of those who go out to hire 'mercenary-writer' to write JAMB for their child/ward just because 'people are doing it' SHAME! BIG SHAME!! Michael, please SHUT UP!

Physically,Nigerian players were far beyond d stipulated age requirement compare to other teams

I actually felt sick while reading the various justifications being advanced by those who claim to love Nigeria. Thigs like "Everyone is doing it", "Why now?", "MRI certified them", "Let them focus" etc. Our attitude of passing on mediocrity and falsehood is what has led us to where we are now. Which is why we are branded fraudsters all over the world. And we are looked upon condescendingly by the various Embassies when we apply for visas. And we are over-searched at the various arrival points worldwide. And our green passport attracts extra scrutiny. And our certificates are queried. All because we have embraced falsehood and rationalized dishonesty. Even yellow cards are openly sold in our International Airports. Like Samuel Johnson once said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." I choose to stand on the side of the truth. Our players are age cheats!

i think the super eagles have some overaged playeys, keep a 17 yr old and a 22yr old in the pitch, the smaller boy will surely be outclassed and that is exactly what super eagles did. cheating will not help us. let us build a team with young and talented boys so that they can grow into the super eagles. . The suprise will come on monday, Korea will beat the eaglets

I am beginning to be dissapointed in 234 Next.I am going to withdraw you guys from my Facebook page.Imagine me opening your page and expecting to see a story on the American girl that brought in SWINE FLU into the country, thinking if other journalists won't talk about it,that NEXT will,instead i am seeing a story on the eaglets.Didn't these players all undergo the MRI scan?So is it that the Oyibo people that did the scan make mistakes?Men you guys be more objective.Just like one writer said,look at the keeper,Dami Paul,look at the Emmanuel Sani that scored the last two goals.What are you saying.I have a nephew that is 16,if you see him you will think he is 28.Please NEXT,focus on the swine flu,cos if it was a Nigerian that went to the US with even ordinary catarrh,i tell you it would have been on CNN.

Anyway whether the Golden Eaglets are overage or not let the FIFA take care of that. They (FIFA) are "old" enough to speak for themselves. What I know is that the MRI Test was conducted on a select few in every team so if they missed out on those ones assumed or perceived to be overage, goodluck!

I stopped watching under 17 matches from the day I saw Nigerians play. How can these guys be 16yrs and below?

Jazzy - you seem confused, an U17 competition means ALL players are under seventeen years of age WITHOUT exception. Having '2 or three' senior players on any side is two or three too many. As for New Zealand being unable to cope with Nigeria's 'physical' football, you may not be aware that that country is the 'Brazil' of world Rugby. Anyone caught kicking a ball around after the age of 5 in New Zealand is relegated to the girls playground which might explain your 5-0 performance yesterday. In fact, I'm sure the U17 New Zealand football team will be quite flattered that the Nigerian coaches thought it necessary to 'bend the rules' to be sure of their team's victory. In future if Nigeria considers it necessary to enter senior players in junior competitions perhaps a more interesting match would be for the Nigerian senior rugby team to take on the under 17 All Blacks side...

what a moronic and mallicious statemant for a true born nigerian to put his country down under the pretence of patrioctism.none of the countries apart from usa, spain and germany have system in place to check age fruad. why would any nigerian question the ages of our players. why should we decide to wash our dirty linen outside. those who are looking for cheap publicity should look elsewhere.those who failed when offered oppoutunity have no local standi to critize hero.please dont turn yourself to MRI "mr know all"

come to say,you NIGERIANS that are talking about cheating,what is your C.V age?Remove the log from your eyes before you remove the speck from others.A man i once knew in my working station almost fell off the offshore platform,why?he claimed to be less than a certain age so that he won't be asked to retire, and at his age he was not agile again,chopper blade breeze almost through him into the deep sea.

The author's reasoning for his conclusion is clearly erroneous. The author reasons that the players are likely over-aged because they dominated a clearly unprepared Swiss team. The only evidence adduced thus far is the evidence about one guy who supposedly had one of the players on his feeder team some years back. You cannot conclude that the player in question is over-age because of the someone's statement. Why wasn't this overage debate when the Eaglets rallied from 3 goals down and equalized against a well- prepared German team? Critics need to adduce credible evidence about overage players before criticizing these young lads publicly. In my own opinion, the players look young to me, except for a few. For example, Sani Emmanuel, the player who came from the bench to net two goals, looks like he is 17 and under.

Disappointing story form NEXT. No facts or figures presented here aside form some spurious Christianus Macualay claim. If you have any reason to believe these boys are overage, then lay out your case, otherwise you have no case.

How could Sola say the problem is global, I think he has not travelled out of the country before. The major problem is we do not have a database system in this country if you mess up with a single data over there, their data messes up, that is where the social security number comes up. Even the press over there will have a field day, they will go to the players neighbours and keep on prying until they get a scoop. The press over here shields everything, they need to go to the schools they claim they passed through, their childhood friends and so on.

Its not enough to pass an MRI scan. I think we can all agree roughly on what a 16 year old boy looks like, and how much strenght he would have (whether rich, poor, trained athlete or whatever). Over-age cheating is a cancer killing our football at the roots (at the nursery level). How can we now complain when the Super Eagles fail to perform? Why do we complain when there are not enough world-class players at the senior level (as John Obi Mikel rightly pointed out recently)? Well, its because (like Julius Aghaghowa), our stars always shine the brightest at "17 - 21" and then fade out for good. Lets stop this nonsense once and for all. We should play only registered secondary school boys with valid Birth Certificates (not sworn affidavits). What we lose now in youth competitions, we will gain back in future by the quality, experience and exposure of our young boys (who are being denied now by their seniors). Please, enough with this nonsense about unpatriotism.

All this player are overaged player,because two of the player went to the school with my sister,s son and he is doing his youth service at the moment.

forget the stuff about over-age players, success is success no matter how it was achieve. I doubt if dora can re-brand that

I think this debate is uncalled for. Is this not the same tournament where they used the MRI scan and several of our boys were dropped. Please let us enjoy the joys of this victories!

If this so called journalist who claim to have tutored the captain of the Golden Eaglet cannot produce any evidence to back up his claim should just ahut up. How come he cannot even provide a picture of this captain with his feeder team back in the days???

FIFA SHOULD DO ITS OWN MRI TESTING ON ALLLLLLLLL NIGERIAN PLAYERS AND NOT LEAVING THE NFF TO DO IT. ADOKIYE IS A TRUE PATRIOT FOR REVEALING THIS.

I am not disappointed in anyway about the comments made by some so called PATRIOTIC Nigerians. Lets call a spade a spade,most of those players are MEN,REAL Men.You should stop been sentimental.For example,when Aghaowa was playing fro Bendel insurance of Benin,Osaze,as a young bou used to go with his father to wathch him play.Now Osaze is older than Aghaowa,this is ridiculous.Look at Saudi 89',the last known Nigerian player that retired from football from that team is Mutiu Adepoju.And that was 7-8yrs ago,but Figo is still playing active football till today.You guys are calling FIFA as if they are saints.Do any of you supporting this Men know Jaque Wanah? Maybe not,he is a FIFA vice-president and he has no good record(find out about him).He is a corrupt man,and he has been indicted on several occasions.So what do you expect from him?This is the guy representing FIFA here in Nigeria.I was having a discussion with Nduka Ugbade about this issue and he could not hide his feelings about this age cheat going on in our football.I cannot force anyone of you to change your mind,but the day of reckoning is fast approaching for this MEN you are parading as under 17.Not a curse,but none of this guys will ever make it big.It is a reality that you have failed to see.

what is wrong with the likes of Sola and the rest of you. I know it is in our nature as nigerians never to be happy with somone's achievement especially if that person happens to be a fellow nigerian. Can't you for once keep your mouth shut and allow those of us who wish other people well to celebrate with these guys . For your info , people who wishes others bad , almost always get the same thing back .

There are other stories on the NEXT website that say something good about the players. You guys just choose not to see them. Look at the story on Sani Emmanuel. Is it saying anything about anybody's age? I do not see anyone commending the article. Why? Is it that you people are also good at finding faults like you accuse NEXT of?

I can't believe this...even after MRI? Our case has become irredemable....

Next- you guys are practicing jung journalism, rather than objective, we don't need your kind of journalism again in this country, thank God we have a better alternative and patriotic gentle men of the press. enough of your rubbish smearing write ups. you don't know better than Fifa. you want achieve cheap popularity this way. thats not good enough.pls I advice you that you do a proper research and investigation b/4 publication

My president lied about an election he did not win. My minister lied about contracts that were not executed. My pastor lied about church money. My cousin lied about the house he "helped" me build. What then do you except from the child next door? The truth? Haba, that is asking too much.

i think the focus of every Nigerian now should be on supporting the golden eaglets to defend the cup. if they went through MRI scan and FIFA certified them fit to play then we have no business speculating their ages. the football is replete with "hand of god"s, unscored goals, canclled goals, undeserved bookings, even match fixing and for sure this does not affect only Nigeria nor even africa, almost every country that has placed football is guilty of one "cheat or the other". despite all these, football still provides the world with daily fun, fanaticism, patriotism and changed destinies. i urge every one to support the "boys"

Ofcourse we are cheats....

This's not d best time to discuss this let all these foriegners depart our shores then we can get down 4 serious talk.

YES WE ARE CHEATS. 60% of our players are in their twenties. Two of them played for my team and a know another that plays for Niger tornadoes.

FIFA must ban us again. Without such a ban The real under 17's will never have a chance. WE MUST STOP CHEATING

sosky, you say the eaglets have friends and neighbours. why not bring them to say the real ages of the eaglets, if you believe they are cheats.

Why do we lose our head over an insignificant competition like the U-17? The rest of the world and even FIFA know that they do not attach much importance to it. That is why they do not bother whether we play it with 30 year-olds or 50 year-olds. For FIFA, this is one of the avenues to play politics and embrace disadvantaged regions like CAF,AFC and CONCACAF. that is why they put people like Jack Warner to take care of the competition and deceive us that our preparations are seventh wonders of the world. In climes where there is accountability, the NFA board should have stepped down by now with the incontrovertible evidence of the only chief justice of Nigerian football. Of all the NFA cheats running their mouths against Adokiye, none of them had come out to controvert his claim, so what are we saying? FIFA are aware of all these, however, they must run this tournament to fulfil all righteousness.

Nigeria does not have a solid database system and we are not good at keeping records. That is why we are constantly having problems about determining the real ages of our youth players. Yeah, we have fielded overaged players in the past, but not all our U-17 and U-20 players have been overaged. I make bold to say other countries have cheated too in the past but not much noise is made about them. The Colombian 2007 U-17 team that played against our Eaglets in Korea 2007 had a good number of players that looked older than 17 years. In Scotland 89, the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper elicited a lot of comments about his real age. This keeper was very tall and had rugged physical features. He was just stopping the shots of opposing strikers easily. I can go on and on. I'm not saying this current Golden Eaglets squad is full of real U-17 players, but I feel we should stop casting aspersions on the team. I'm proud of what they've achieved so far. I will also like to shoot holes into the argument that our players fail to blossom in their careers because they wer overaged when they fearured in FIFA Cadet tournaments. That is not always the case. The Japan 1993 team had some players that were really U-17 age wise. Some of them were Celestine Babayaro, Festus Okougha and Manga Mohammed. There were also a number of players in the team that were older than the stipulated age but were in their early 20's. The problem with our youth teams is that many of the players made bad career decisions and fell into the hands of greedy and deceitful football agents. The urge to go to any European country for professional football contributes to the decline of our players. That is why we have players in countries like Serbia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Macedonoia, and even Asian countries like Indonesia and India. Some of our players also face racism and other forms of discrimination which works against the efffective development of their soccer skills. Thank God that things are changing for the better when it comes to fotball administration in Europe. Let the boys finish this tournament and we can now look towards the future. Our real U-17 players are in the secondary schools and soccer academies all around the country. The Principals Cup has to be revived and the NFF should send scouts into the Secondary Schools all around the country. We need to plan effectively if we want to churn out players that will play for a long time and be world beaters. Cheers.

what is not good is very very bad. It is not even manageable! If we are to have any moral right to criticise and condemn stealing and lying government officials and looting and pillaging governors, we must condemn cheating and lying footballers who lie about their age and bribe coaches to get a place on the team. In summary, I am not proud of this team!

The igbos solved this true age determination question centuries ago before the coming of the whiteman when in their sagacity they decided to group people who were born within three years bracket in the same age grade, knowing full well that there is a margin of error is statistical calculations. No scientific test can pinpoint the exact age of an individual. Not even carbon dating used in achealogy. The issue remains that until we ensure that every birth in Nigeria is properly registered and documented at the point of birth we cannot prevent or tackle age falsification. The youngsters Should be allowed to play their game. Adokiye should swear an oath that the age he bears today is his true age. When we know that at the time of his birth there may not have been a registration system. Even if there was, the civil war may have destroyed the records.

Don't let us fool ourselves, we don't have an under 17 in our u-17 team period! they all at least 25 years old .. in fact no Nigeria player has is true age on his passport

i am amazed at the comments i have read. we are demonising adokiye for saying the truth, it shows the state of this nation. we are a bunch of cheats.. the politicians that rigged to get into office, the civil servants that own houses in lekki with his meagre salaries, the bank mds with planes and various loans without collateral, the pastors who are collecting millions from their flocks in the name of donations, the students who are getting admissions by buying expose, the lecturers who complement their incomes by selling handouts, and this columnist who can name former foreign under-17 players like messi, figo, aguero and ronaldinho but cannot remember the names of our men that played with these players but are nowhere to be found anymore. are we cheats, yes we are all cheats.

All the African teams are cheats..those are fully grown men with small frame, that's why they claiming to be under 17... we all know this, let's not fool ourselves, I mean which one of them, is still in secondary school.. European male would always be physically grown by age 15, but still with the stamina of a child, whereas our boys are men, with the stamina of a man.. The trick bcos, the Naija boys are small, they pass for under age in the eyes of the world

point1: nigeria, to me , has become a nation which fits the phrase : who shall bell the cat?. the boys are overaged, the boya are overaged, yes, but what is anyone saying about the solution to the problem, noithing. we just keep complaining and postulating, and believe me that will get us nowhere. 4 yrs ago we failed to get to the world cup, and guess what, we all complained and cried and wailed. in a few days it will happen again, and we will all cry and scream and point fingers, and 4 yrs from now, we will still not qualify . . . .

point 2: mri or no mri, nemesis is gradually catchin up with us. under 20, we crashed out and ghana won. world cup , we are virtually out and ghana and cote divioire have qualified. in the near future , under-17 we shall???...

Leave this team (U17) alone! So because the last U20 boys did not perform well does that make them truly U20?

Nigerians are wonderful people, i'm sure even God is usually amazed by our attitude. Daniel in the Bible stopped eating from the King's table, instead he was fed with ordinary vegetable and okra at the end of the day, himself Shederach and Abednego look well nourished and overblown and strong with good skills, smart and intelligent. Nigerians do not eat good food at all times because majority of us are poor so its hard to tell our ages by mere looking at our faces. Many people my age that i know look far older than me yet they are my age mates or even younger. Secondly ages do not play football rather intellect does, so that the Eaglets outplayed New Zealand has nothing to do with Age but the fact that New Zealand is not a good football playing Nation. Another thing is that these boy were made to play this way because Nigerians themslves never gave them a chance, that is how things work with Nigerians generally. We had home have experience such things before. We proved we can make it when nobody expects us to even as a nation. How many of us gave the President a chance on the Amnesty issue, how many of gave OBJ a chance on the Debt issue etc etc. A few of those boys might be over-age, but what about the other Countries? have we checked on them too? And for God sake many Nigerians that played in age grade competitions continued playing for a long time, lots of them, like Kanu,Celestine etc etc. But then not every person that joined any organization finished with his or mate. In the Military not all course mates remained till the end, along the line many fall by the way side, its the same in any other group activity. Lastly we all do the same thing, most likely those that cast the stones in this situation have done the same thing some times in their life. It takes a witch to catch a witch. And as for NEXT123, There are Newspapers and there are newspapers., some are read by Leaders, some by ordinary minds, some by urchins and some by noisemakers, be careful we respect you but if you run down Nigerians you will soon find out those that usually read your papers.

d fact is dat some nigerians are so unpatrotic dat they rubbish anything good called niger.u reporters, severally nigeria's name and people are being derided by foreign media but u look d other way as if u hv another country.D best thing to hv done to that senile comment from adokie or whatever he called his name is giving it defeaning silence.ur highlight portrays u and ur firm as being mischievious

pls excuse me, i am on my way to the ghanaian high commission to submit my application for ghanaian citizenship . . . see yu when i get back!

I noticed that most of those who justify the lying going on do not put their names to their posts. Goes to show. Nameless shameless. That team, we all know, isnt under 17. Lets face it, we need serious redemption here.

enough of all these noise.if mri scan cant detect the true ageof players,then adokiye and his un patriotic fools should shot up their dirty trap.up golden eaglet

Sad, isn't it? Nigeria and Nigerians have fallen so low in the order of living organisms that we cannot, even, discern right from wrong. Those guys lied, the NFF lied, Jack Warner lied and 75%, my president lied, my governor lied, banks lied, the golden eaglets lied,... God!!! gradually, we have become a nation of liars.

Its sad that we have people justifying this scam. Its a fact that the difference between the 'football age' and the real age of most of this guys is around 10 years. Some would even compare Kanu, Oruma and Figo. If Kanu (very skillful) an African was Figos age he can still play for 7-10 years. If you can look at the passports of the guys that play for any of the Nigerian national teams (Basketball, Volleyball, Football)etc you would find this problem (One was already in secondary school when he was born). I know a few. Lets talk about it and say it is bad. Then we would have some shame and move to fix it but if we say its okay, it will only grow worst and the super chickens will remain Chickens.

Let's defend what we got Oyinbo is not coming to defend us, let them find out by themselves if we're fielding over age boys, let's use the don't ask don't talk method as the americans.

To those who say the boys aint overage, I say letz go pratical. Go to the nearest secondary school in your area, tahe a sample of a 100 seventeen year olds and I will bet my lifetime pay that all the Eaglets wont look too golden when you are through. Gbam

God help Nigeria

When they finally beat Nigeria, what will these critics say? Sometimes I wonder what kind of people we are!

let the truth be told, it is now glaring the golden eaglets are over age. People are talking about mri- this is a mere machine which is based on probability. Well, i'll only be convinced if their class teachers and classmates testify for them. Till then, they are cheats!

@akdeni: sometimes the point is not about winning. Get that right. It would be more than just desserts to have another, truly under-17 side beat this our papa eaglets team. Its what is called poetic justice.

While I do not in anyway condone cheating, I'm quite delighted that more and more people are now realising what Next123 really stands for....One day, there will be severe sanctions and repercussions.

It is clear that cheating and lying has become part and parcel of the average Nigerian's psyche. I watch those boys praying before they touch the pitch. Praying to whom? The god who looks the other way while they cheat their way to victory? To those who have forgotten how to stand ur for the truth, i say shame on you. I pity your children. Thank you, tade and garros. May your days be long.

@Frank (London): Your analysis is the one that caught my attention. I would not waste precious time and space on those who are carried away by today's victories. We need to do all in our power to root out fraud and cheating is all aspects of our national life. I take credit for stopping Kalu Umah from playing for the U20 team in 1997 or thereabout. Here was a young man who in 1985 while playing for Falcons in Aba actually was the highest goal scorer in the 3rd tier of our national league for that year. He emerges in 1997, that is eleven years thereafter, to claim to be 20 years or under. What my little calculation yielded was that if he was 20 in 1997, it followed that he was not more than 12 years in 1985. I remember being so outraged I wrote to Sporting Champion in Lagos to protest the invitation to him. That I guess put paid to that invitation. Mr. Frank, you say the boys are too impatient after excelling at the age grade tournaments. You are absolutely right. But it is because they know time is no longer on their side. When someone who is 28 claims to be 17, he is bound to be impatient. Please can any one point to any member of our senior teams who retired with any decency. Okocha officially is 34 or is it 35. Shouldn't he still be playing? Kanu officially is 32 but is already a non-playing captain of the Super Eagles! Is it not troubling that most of our senior players drop out of the game (not retire, because they don't) when they are officially between 28 and 30 years. Please check the records. Aghahowa is officially 27 this year but is playing retirement football in Turkey. Can't we see that age cheating is hurting our football. We can't even see the age equation in the current travails of the Super Eagles. I sincerely believe that much of their struggles to qualify for the World Cup is down to old age. Period.

Less leave patrotizm out of this, those men called Eagets can't be 17, some is an established player in Heartland and you said is 17, less just forget age matter and enjoy the game because there is no 17 year old person in Eaglets all of them are old enough to be in Super Eagles.

My people, why can't U17 be U17. This is this is the problem with our nation: deception, cheating and wanting to cut corners. It disgusts me to see and hear peolpe praise and see nothing wrong with it. This are the biggest issues setting us back as a nation.

It's interesting that there are very few facts in either the originating story or the ensuing posts - why are we so bombastic?

What is most poignant are the comments suggesting that the age issue is ignored as a mark of patriotism. Therein lies our problem - not govt but us the people. Cheating is another form of stealing and majority of us are thieves, condoning the act when it provides an advantage to us eg our rigging/stealing politician relatives, and shouting only when we lose out. I can't get excited from this youth sucesses which are tarnished. Overage players not only cheat other nations but the true u17 of our country who are denied the opportunity and exposure and who consequently drift away from the game.

on the issue at hand; Don't let us fool ourselves, we don't have an under 17 in our u-17 team period! they all at least 25 years old .. in fact no Nigeria player has is true age on his passport.No one who has given any detailed thought to this issue will think otherwise.i know more than 5 first hand cases of footballers who went made a mark in Europe and are no where near the age on their passport.that issue is not even worthy of a debate. To a more important issue; I am getting tired of NEXT. articles are filled with grammatical errors and inconclusive evidences and tabloid styled conclusions. i don't mind the negativity because it is a reflection of most of the Nigerian society. What i cannot stand is an apparent display of lack of quality and inept reporting.