Sports
Iheanacho Among Best Strikers In World -Kanu
Nigerian legend, Nwankwo Kanu, has said that his compatriot, Kelechi Iheanacho is now one of the best strikers in the world.
Iheanacho has scored 18 goals for top English Premier League side Leicester City across all competitions this season which is proving to be his best campaign in England.
Last Saturday, the left-footed striker helped Leicester win the FA Cup for the first time after defeating Chelsea 1-0 at the Wembley Stadium.
Kanu, who played for Arsenal and Portsmouth in the Premier League during his playing days, stated that Iheanacho’s renaissance is a big lesson at Leicester, where he initially struggled for game time.
“He has gone through some really bad times and I know what a lot of people have said about him when he was in those low periods,” Kanu told Tidesports source.
“But we know it is football. When you are not doing well, people talk anyhow and say what they want but when you start doing well, the same people would come back.
“For me, I always know he is a good footballer. I always talk with him, encourage him, send him messages when he is doing well and when he is not doing well and telling him to keep his head up.”
The 23-year-old joined Leicester from current Premier League champions Manchester City in 2017 and he played second fiddle to English star Jamie Vardy at the Foxes.
“The only thing was for him to work hard, talent with hard work works. If you believe only in the talent, it will disappoint you, so you have to marry the two together,” he continued.
“It is something great that he is back now. Not only for himself but for the country. We need all our players to be in top form. Right now he is. If you mention the top strikers in the world now, Kelechi’s name will be there because he is scoring and that is what you need from strikers.
“What happened to him is a very big lesson, and the way he responded is what makes a great player. He didn’t talk too much, he just worked hard and see where he is now.”
Iheanacho was mainly used as an impact player coming off the bench by Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, before the current season.
“It is wonderful to see them as FA Cup champions. They needed to go for it and they did. Congratulations to them, they did really well,” he added.
“This will now give them the belief that they can go and do more. When you win one, you want to win another and another one. At least you know that you have won the FA Cup.
“The next thing now is to look for more trophies and it gives them more confidence and more encouragement and the belief that they can do anything and win against anybody.”
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor