Sports
Enyimba Dreams FIFA World Club Cup
Chairman, Enyimba FC of Aba, Felix Anyansi Agwu, says the dream of the club is to represent the continent in the FIFA World Club Cup competition.
Agwu said in an interview in Aba yesterday, that the qualification for the semi finals of the Orange CAF Champion’s League had given the team a platform to actualise their dream.
He said the team had opportunity to play in the competition twice in 2003 and 2004, when it won the league trophy, but the competition was on each occasion postponed.
“There is nothing boastful about it, it is something we are motivated for based on circumstances that we have passed through.“We won the trophy in 2003 and 2004; we never had the opportunity to represent the African continent at the World Club Cup competition in those two occasions. “It was postponed and we regretted it. That haunted us a great deal and now this opportunity has come again. We have a platform now,’’ Agwu said.
He said Enyimba would play the first leg away in the semi finals against Widad De Casablanca of Morocco on Sept. 30, which is a good advantage.
The chairman said the team made it ‘a must win match’ so as to make the return leg a formality.
He said Enyimba was already monitoring their opponent’s tactics and they were equally monitoring us, but, “we are not new in the competition. We have garnered experiences over time’’.
Agwu said the team would not allow the opportunity to qualify for the final slip off. “God who gave us this chance will see us through. “We want to win in Morocco or come back home with a draw. It is a game we are going to approach with everything, which is the wealth of experience standing for us”.
“The highest level in football for a club is to play in the World Club Cup competition; this has eluded us twice when we actually merited it. “ I believe that God in his wisdom wants to use this particular competition to compensate us”, Agwu added.
“To showcase the beauty of Nigerian football in the world club competition, that has been our internal motivation, it is no longer money or about winning the CAF league trophy again, but representing this great nation in the World Club competition,’’ he said.
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
