Sports
CAFCC: Rivers United Hopes To Secure Quarter Final Ticket
Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt has given strong hope to Nigerians, mostly people of Rivers State that they will consecutively qualify for quarter final stage of the ongoing CAF Confederation Cup.
United 1-0 win against Club AfrIcain on Saturday, at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, seems to be the most important, this is a strong indication that the only club remaining club representing the country in the continent will qualify for the next stage.
Speaking shortly after the match the technical manager of Rivers United, Stanley Eguma has expressed joy over victory against Club Africain of Tunisia in the group C of the ongoing CAF Confederation Cup (CAFCC).
According to him, the win will serve as a morale booster to his players going into their next game and confirmed. that the game was a very technical one.
Eguma said this on Sunday in his post match interview shortly after they defeated Club Africain 1-0 in the CAF Confederation Cup at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium Uyo.
“It was a good and highly technical game. I gave kudos to my players for keeping up with their tactical discipline in this game. Club Africain is a good team, there’s no doubt as they played with a lot of tactics.
“All our tactical plans worked because the players were able to keep their heads down and adhere to instructions.Our opponents were very fast with the ball, and we tried to calm down the tempo of the game to our own pace. We dictates the tempo of the game until the later part of the first half when we got the goal.
“In the second half, we knew that they were almost getting tired, so we tried to keep possession but we discovered that they were now using long through balls transitions. That was where we had problems trying to curtail them. My players held their heads and did that perfectly until we got to the end of the game. We have strong teams in our group” Eguma said.
The technical manager further caution his players not to be carried away by the victory because there are more games to play to qualify for the next stage..
“Today, we’ve picked three points but it’s not yet time for celebration because we have other games to play. We will go back to Tunis and ensure we keep a clean slate and then face other challenges after now.
The Port Harcourt side travel will to Tunisia in ten days time for the return leg as Club AfrIcain tops the group with goal advantage.
By: Tonye Orabere/ Kiadum Edookor
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
