Sports
Eagles’ First Choice Hotel Not Good Enough – Lulu 2010 W/Cup
Nigeria’s first choice hotel as team base in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup was not up to standard, Sani Lulu, the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) President admitted in Lagos early in the week.
Lulu made the admission at a seminar for the World Cup-bound Nigerian journalists held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The first choice hotel of the Eagles, Hampshire Hotel, was dumped late last week after it failed to meet the April 28 deadline for completion of all specified requirements.
A high-powered Nigerian delegation led by sports minister, Ibrahim Bio, went to South Africa for a final inspection and dropped the Hampshire Hotel in Balito, opting for the Protea Waterfront Hotel in Richards Bay.
Lulu, who expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for coming to the aid of the federation in changing the hotel, said the government felt the country needed the best.
He said the government’s endorsement of the new hotel showed that it was prepared to provide added comfort and extra security for the Nigerian team while in South Africa.
“The government wanted better option than Hampshire Hotel. We insisted on better environment,’’ he added.
He said the choice of team hotels was usually the prerogative of team coaches, adding that Hampshire Hotel was chosen after Nigeria’s qualification for 2010 on Novermber 14 2009 and the draws for the championship that followed in Decemebr.
He said erstwhile coach of the Eagles, Shaibu Amodu and South Africa-based former Nigerian goalkeeper, Peterside Idah, chose the Hampshire Hotel.
Amodu’s successor, Lars Lagerback was not satisfied with the hotel’s standard during an inspection in March.
He explained that the federation’s problems with accommodation followed FIFA’s decision to provide money to national federations in lieu of hotels as was
practised in the past.
He said the NFF had complained that the 400 dollars daily for each official delegation member provided by the world football body was not enough.
Nigeria will pay a fine of 125,000 dollars for the accommodation
cancellation, a decision the sports minister said was a compromise for the 250,000 dollars, which Hampshire had insisted.
Bio had said the Hampshire owners failed to carry out their side of the deal as they failed to complete the work on schedule.
Media reports in February that the Hampshire Hotel was substandard, led to the series of inspections and last week’s cancellation by sports minister Bio.
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