Sports
Iheanacho, Dessers Applaud Finidi’s Tactics
Kelechi Iheanacho and Cyriel Dessers have expressed delight with the tactics employed by interim coach, Finidi George in their win over rivals, Ghana last Friday, Tidesports source reports.
Finidi led the Eagles to a 2-1 win over the Black Stars at the Stade de Marrakech in Morocco to ensure Nigeria’s first win over Ghana at senior level in 18 years.
Returning forward, Dessers sent Lawrence Ati-Zigi the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 38th minute, after Ghanaian defender, Jerome Opoku handled a shot by Iheanacho.
Opoku picked up a red card in the 57th minute for dissent, leaving the Black Stars with 10 men.
The Eagles extended their lead with six minutes left when substitute, Ademola Lookman calmly slotted past goalkeeper, Ati-Zigi and an onrushing defender after a good team move that involved fellow substitute Moses Simon and midfielder Alex Iwobi.
In four minutes of added time, right-back Bright Osayi-Samuel brought down forward Semenyo in the Nigeria box to gift the Ghanaians a penalty, and Captain Jordan Ayew made no mistake from the spot sending Stanley Nwabali the wrong way.
On the back of the win, Finidi’s tactics have earned him praises from some Nigerian players as the Super Eagles under Finidi delivered a direct, attacking style of football which was a sharp departure from the defensive football that got Nigeria to the final of the 2023 AFCON where they finished second.
“He has done a fantastic job within such a short space of time, hopefully, he will get more chances to prove himself,” Iheanacho said.
Dessers, who scored the first goal of Finidi’s bow as Eagles boss believes the Enyimba’s style helps them create more chances, saying, “He had a clear approach to this game, press aggressive and create more chances in this manner and I think we did that.”
Nigeria will next battle Mali in Morocco on Tuesday, handing Finidi another chance to convince many about his readiness for the Super Eagles job.
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