Sports
Amodu, Ezeugo Praise Federation Cup Standard
Super Eagles coach, Shaibu Amodu and one time international mid fielder Emeka Ezeugo have praised the standard of the Federation Cup final match played on Sunday between Sharks of Port Harcourt and Enyimba FC of Aba, saying both teams displayed high level performance.
Enyimba won the match courtesy of a goal scored in the 40th minute by Musa Mustapha.
Amodu who observed the final as well as the preceding third place match between Lobi Markurdi and Bayelsa Utd from the technical area told newsmen that he was impressed by the enthusiasm and atmosphere around the final.
However, Amodu who was apparently at the stadium to shop for prospective materials for the national team, said that it is only when professional league matches are played on good turf and television friendly environment that local players could be truly adjudged to be ready for national team.
“It was a good match that was played at a high tempo by both sides, though the third place match was slightly more entertaining than the final that was to be expected because tactics would be a factor. However, I still want to insist that to assess the readiness of home grown players for international look in, we have to expose them to good pitches as we saw on Sunday as well as television friendly environment where they can display their natural potential,” Amodu said.
Ezeugo who played for the Eagles at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul as well as the FIFA World Cup in USA in 1994, also shared the same view about the quality of the final.
The hard marking midfielder observed the quality of the Teshim Balogun Stadium pitch allowed good and flowing soccer which was savoured by the spectators.
“The pitch was fantastic. If you watch that on TV, it will look like a premier league match. The two sides were also great with formidable tradition. They played a tight game – what else can we ask for”, he said. Though he agreed that fewer chances were created in the match he noted that the reason for such was in tune with the character of most cup finals where the emphasis is mostly on cautious approach.”
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