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Anger, Disappointment Trail S’Eagles’ Benin Misadventure

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It was supposed to be a grand event, a match that would have put the Super Eagles within a touching distance of the ticket to the next African Cup of Nations scheduled for 2022 and a celebration of the reopening of the refurbished Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin City.
When the Super Eagles appeared to be in their elements and pumped four goals beyond the visiting Leone Stars of Sierra Leone within thirty minutes of the game, there was a sense of déjà vu within the fan-less terraces and the Nigerian bench.
Indeed, when the Leone stars pulled one goal back off Samuel Chukwueze’s error in the 42nd minute, the ominous signs of calamity were not palpable and went unheeded.
In an astounding turn of events in the second half, the Nigerian team collapsed disastrously as the wheels came off their cart. The Leone Stars happily took advantage of the Eagles vapid performance to bring the famous miracle of Damman by Nigeria’s Flying Eagles of 1989 to Benin City as the visitors rallied to draw level from almost a hopeless position.
At the final whistle, it was obvious that the Nigerian team had not only missed an opportunity to establish a commanding lead in their Group but had disappointed millions of Nigerians as they flattered to deceive in the match.
Benin fans, most of who followed the match on television ran to the stadium in despair and in demonstration of their anger literally held the Eagles hostage by preventing them from leaving the stadium. Calls for the immediate sack of coach Gernot Rohr and the dropping of some members of the team rented the air
According to some fans, Rohr has over time proven to be deficient tactically and technically as he failed to react effectively to the sloppiness that marked Super Eagles second half performance.
“ Gernot Rohr is not a coach, he is a scam, the NFF should sack him immediately if we are not going to witness a more damaging disgrace”, said Bright Ogunbor, a football fan.
According to Osazuwa Idehen, another Benin football fan, “ One cannot fathom the criteria used to invite players to the national team, even the ones invited, the coach couldn’t use them effectively, I swear that any of our local teams could have beaten this Sierra Leonean team. They have just succeeded in wasting money to invite all these so called foreign-based players
‘ I am pained because they just desecrated our new stadium”
Speaking to news men post match, Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, President, Amaju Pinnick described the 4-4 draw as the worst result he has seen in his life. “I will say it the way it is in my heart and the heart of many Nigerians, the truth is that we can’t be leading 4-0 to Sierra Leone and concede four goals for no reason, there is no reason. Since I became the president of NFF, this is the worst result I have seen in my life and in the next few days I wonder how I’m going to sleep”, he said

 

By: Gabriel Nwanetanya

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Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak

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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.

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Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again

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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.

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Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International

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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

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