Sports
Ahly, Esperance, Others Fight To Join Enyimba In Semis: CAF Champions League
The three teams to join Nigeria’s Enyimba in the semi-finals of the African Champions League will be decided this weekend with the final round of group matches.
Al Ahly of Egypt know they must beat Group B leaders Esperance of Tunisia by two goals in Cairo today to guarantee a place in the last four.
If the Egyptians do get that win and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca win in Algeria against Mouloudia Alger, then Esperance would miss out altogether. The Cairo ‘Red Devils’ have won the competition a record six times, but a weary, ageing squad have found the going tough lately with just one win in five group games.
With teams finishing level on points separated by head-to-head records, there are various permutations which mean Esperance, Wydad and Ahly are all capable of topping the table.
The Group B winners will avoid playing the in-form Enyimba in the semi-finals.
Ahly board member Khaled Mortagey told Tidesports source that he was confident his side will advance.
“Hopefully this will happen and if we play the same way we did with the support of 100,000 spectators in the Cairo stadium, which I believe is going to be the case, I think we can do the job,” he said.
Cameroonian Joseph Yannick N’Djeng scored the only goal when Esperance defeated Ahly in Tunis two months ago and the US$960,000 replacement for Nigerian Michael Eneramo is proving a profitable investment.
He scored a hat-trick last weekend in the rout of Mouloudia and this will not have escaped the attention of wily Portuguese coach Manuel Jose, who has led Ahly to four of their six African Champions League titles.
Wydad must hope Mouhssine Iajour, scorer of five goals in the tournament so far this year, can atone for some timid finishing against Ahly when he faces an Algerian defence that is far more effective at home than away.
Mouloudia have conceded 10 goals in their three away games and just two in two matches at home. Former champions, Enyimba cannot be overtaken in Group A, leaving Coton Sport of Cameroon and Al Hilal of Sudan to fight for second place while Raja Casablanca of Morocco will finish bottom.
Coton Sport lead Hilal at the moment with a better head-to-head record and also have the back-up of a better goal difference.
So the 2008 runners-up from Cameroon will go through provided they can match whatever result Hilal achieve at Raja on Sunday in their game away to Enyimba.
That could prove difficult, though, for the Cameroonians as they have already lost at home to Enyimba and must play in Aba, a city where few visiting football teams escape defeat.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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