Sports
Amuneke Tasks NFF On Grassroots Sports Dev
Former Nigeria international, Emmanuel Amuneke has said that the early exit of Nigeria’s age-grade teams from FIFA tournaments in 2019 should send the Nigerian Football Federation back to the drawing-room.
The former Barcelona winger who led Nigeria to U-17 glory in Chile in 2015, rued the performances of the Golden Eaglets and the Flying Eagles at their respective World Cups and suggests a return to effective grooming system to turn the tide.
“We have the talents to qualify for major age-grade events and do well but, we seem to have deviated from that winning formula,” Amuneke said.
“Sound developmental programs will curb age cheat that has always impeded the seamless transition of players to the next grade.
“Nigeria failed to go far at the U-17 and U-20 World Cups so, it should be a cause for concern for our administrators.”
One particular player that enjoyed a seamless transition from the U-17 under the former Taifa stars coach is Lille hit-man, Victor Osimhen.
Others are Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze and Wilfred Ndidi.
The 20-year-old was part of the Golden Eaglets side that won Nigeria her fifth U-17 title in Chile scoring 10 goals to win the Golden Boot award.
The 49-year-old who Osimhen recently credited for his meteoric rise to stardom thanked former NFF Chairman, Aminu Maigari, for giving him the freedom to nurture and select stars like Osimhen.
“I have to say a big thank you to Aminu Maigari who backed our programme in 2012 and allowed us choose players on merit and not based on where you come from or who is your ‘Godfather’.
”We should allow players from academies play the age-grade competitions. Whether they win or lose is not the thing. Look at Osimhen, Ndidi, and others. They are making us proud now.
“Tell me, how will a league player still be 17 years old and he features in the league regularly? We should do things properly.
“During our days, coaches like James Peters brought out the best in us with hard work. It is not only about winning but also shaping the individual to be responsible to himself, society and world at large.”
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