Sports
2010 Nations Cup: Super Eagles Seek Redemption Against Benin Rep, Today
Can the Super Eagles of Nigeria redeem themselves and coach Shuaibu Amodu at the ongoing 2010 Africa Cup of Nations when they face the Squerrels of Benin Republic in a must win tie today? This is the question on the lips of most Nigerians today.
It is one of the second group C matches and one the Nigerian team must win if they are to have chances of remaining in the championship, after falling 1-3 to defending champions, Egypt in the first match.
Indeed, the Nigerian camp and fans were humbled and devastated after the humiliating loss to Egypt.
Now, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has read out the riot acts to Amodu. He is condemned to beating Benin and losing his job today.
The Super Eagles themselves know the crucial nature of today’s game. They know that they have disappointed and must raise their game to play themselves back to the heart of Nigerians.
Interestingly, there has been talks of steam rolling Benin to make up for the misadventure against Egypt.
According to Osaze Odemvingie, who missed the first match but could start today “We have no choice than to beat Benin today. I don’t see them surviving the game because we know that anything short of victory may work against us and we have resolved to put everything into the match.”
But the squirrels are also talking tough. They are rug throwing away a two goal lead to share point with Mozambique.
They now, want to beat Nigeria to have one foot in the next round of the competition.
Already, Nigerian-born Razak Omotoyossi has stated that they would compound Nigeria’s woes by capitalising on the shortcomings of the Super Eagles’ stars today.
On paper, Nigeria should be favourites for the three points, but coach Amodu must get his starting line up and tactics right.
He must also be able to read the game properly in order to effect the right substitutions, while the players must come off their high horses and work for victory, which is the only result that can redeem them for now.
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