Sports
U12-15 Soccer Competition: Head Coach Attributes Victory To Hard Work
The Head Coach of Aaron Football Academy of Port Harcourt, Abubakar Ibrahim has said that hard work as earned his team victory over Dominion Star FC in the ongoing Under 12-15 Football competition in Rivers State.
He explained that to play and win opening game is not easy in a competition.
Ibrahim said this in an exclusive interview with Tidesports last Monday, shortly after his side defeated Dominion Star FC 8-0 in the opening match of Port Harcourt Football Festival (PHFF) at the Yakubu Stadium, in Port Harcourt.
The Port Harcourt Football Festival, which started last Monday, with its theme “Keep the Dream Alive” was organised by Excel Exquisite Wears and sponsored by Rivers State Ministry of Sports.
The competition is aimed to give the young talented players an opportunity to showcase their talents and bring them to limelight.
“I thank God for everything is not easy for coming to a tournament and get victory in the opening match” Ibrahim said.
According to him, I am not carried away by the numbers of goals been scored in match, adding that he will still correct some grey areas ahead of next game.
“We have been training every day to make sure we lift the trophy at the end of the competition,” he stated.
He commended the organizers of the tournament for creating a platform for kids to showcase their talent.
Also speaking, the head coach of Dominion Star FC, Samuel Jumbo explained that his players lost focus in the match, but expressed confidence that they would do better in their next game.
“ I am happy for the loss because I always told my players that football is business that they should not be casual when playing. I believe this will serve as a lesson to us and we are going to learn from it,” Jumbo said.
He thanked God it was an opening match saying that he will go back to the drawing board to correct the mistake.
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