Sports
More NPFL Players For Flying Eagles Camp
The Flying Eagles preparing for the World Cup in Turkey in June will invite new players to camp from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs, an official said last week.
The team’s Coordinator, Chika Nwankwo, told newsmen in Abuja that the technical crew would use good players from the clubs to beef up the team.
Nwankwo said the coaches and other officials had been going round to watch some of the league matches, to discover good players that could be invited to camp.
“From what I know from the coach and the technical crew, they want to invite some players, that is why we have been going round the country to watch some teams.
“Recently, the coach was in Enugu to watch Rangers and one of the officials was in Kano to watch Kano Pillars and Sunshine Stars.
“They are to look at one or two players that can be used to beef up the team, once we start camping,’’ he said.
Nwankwo said that in every football tournament, the technical crew would always look out for new and better players, noting that it must not be the same set of players all the time.
He said that with the league going on, the team had a better chance to watch some of the matches and make some selections.
“Definitely, in every tournament, you will look out for people that will do better than what you have.
“Thank God, the Nigerian league is in progress now, so we can see new players.
“Football is a game you look inward all the time, to see if you can have an option better than what you have,’’ Nwankwo said.
The Coordinator said the team’s target for the World Cup was to ensure that they performed better than they did in 2011 in Colombia.
He added that the invitational tournament in France would also help the team’s preparation.
“We are setting our target at the last World Cup, we got to the quarter-finals in Colombia so, we intend to go past what we did then, to make Nigerians happy.’’
The Flying Eagles camp which was earlier slated for opening today has been shifted to April 21.
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