Sports
MFM Showers Encomiums On Players Over Performance
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries FC Assistant Coach, Alli Suleman Obinna has showered praise on his team after their 1-1 outing against Katsina United on Wednesday.
Alli Suleman, who led the team to Katsina in the absence of Head Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu, who is on national assignment with the Nigerian Olympic team showered encomium on the players for their worthy performance in an interview with Tidesport source.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God Almighty because Katsina is not an easy place for us to play and get what we have got.
“I really want to applaud the boys for the way they approached the game and at the end of the game we got the one point notwithstanding we still need to prepare and forge ahead for the remaining matches so that we can be in a better position at the end of the season,” he said.
MFM FC were forced to a 1-1 draw to extend their lead in Group A with six points in a rescheduled fixture of Matchday 9 of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) decided at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium.
The hosts dominated the larger part of the first 45 minutes of the proceedings with several attempt on goal and precise attacking moves but MFM FC goalkeeper Folarin Abayomi stood his ground and made series of saves.
Katsina United were awarded a penalty in the 17th minute of the game when Abisoye Olawale mistakenly handled the ball in his box. Destiny Ashadi stepped up and took the spot kick but Folarin denied him after a big save.
The Changi Boys had a chance to score the first goal on the half hour mark off a nicely executed free kick taken by Ashadi but his attempt and a rebound from Martins Usule hit the cross bar.
With one minute to wrap the first half, Chijioke Akuneto raced on to a lovely pass from Elijah Akanni who had earlier initiated a move from midfield and put the ball beyond Dami Paul with a screamer from way out.
The hosts drew level in the 70th minute of the exchange through Usule’s close range finish. Katsina United made several attempts to score the second goal but the youthful MFM side thwarted all their moves.
The Olukoya Boys maintain top spot in Group A of the NPFL standings with 22 points from 11 league matches.
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
