Sports
Nigeria Coach, To Recall Ayegbeni, Utaka
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has promised to hand recalls to forwards Yakubu Ayegbeni and John Utaka if they continue their run of form.
Both players have been in good form for their respective clubs, with Yakubu scoring a brace for Blackburn over the weekend and Utaka also netting before the international break.
The goals took Yakubu, who was granted British citizenship earlier his year, to five strikes for the season.
Neither have been called up for Nigeria since the 2010 World Cup where Utaka was an unused substitute as Nigeria finished bottom of the group with just one point.
Yak played all three games at the tournament, but is infamously remembered and unfortunately vilified for a close-range miss against South Korea; even though he went on to score a penalty less than a minute later.
But Keshi insists that they will get their opportunities.
“John Utaka has been a very good player. An outstanding player with great quality. You just have to know how to use him,” the Nigeria coach said.
“I am not surprised about his performance. I know him, just like Yakubu. These are people that have a lot of experience that we can use in the Nigeria team to make us better.
“If you play them in the right position and make them believe they are among the best players in the world, they will give you everything.
“They are Nigerians and if they are performing well, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t invite them.”
Keshi says the team, the young players and the players themselves will benefit from having the experience of the duo in the squad.
“I think it’s going to be a big challenge for them to come down should I give them the opportunity and for the younger ones to learn from them.
“You want to play with young players, at the same time you want to have a balance of youth and experience which will give you equilibrium and make you a better team.”
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
