Sports
Ex-Internationals Want Falconets Promoted
Former Nigeria internationals, Paul Hamilton and Joe Erico, have called for the promotion of Falconets to the senior female national team to ensure a good run for the country next year.
Germany, 2-0 winners over the Falconets in the U-20 championship final last Sunday, hosts the Women’s World Cup in 2011.
An early goal scored by tournament’s top scorer, 10-goal heroine, Alexandra Popp and an added time own goal earned the German hosts the trophy.
They also became the first host to clinch the trophy since the inaugural tournament in 2002 in Canada.
Hamilton, who led Nigeria’s Super Falcons to the maiden female World Cup in China in 1991, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team throughout the championship.
“The Falconets’ feat in this tournament as the first African country to play in the final of any female World Cup gladdens my heart.
“The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should ensure that the team is intact for Nigeria to do well at the forthcoming senior female world championship in Germany in 2011.
“The emphasis for now should be on continuity. The players should be kept together to mature to the senior national team,” the former Green Eagles coach said.
Hamilton, fondly called the ‘Wonder Boy’ in his playing days, called for better organised and improved funding for the female league in Nigeria if the country must surpass the achievement of the Falconets.
“We have abundant female football talents in this country. But a lot still need to be done in the area of administration.
“More international friendly matches should be arranged for the female teams to provide them with the much needed exposure,” he added.
Erico, former Super Eagles goalkeeper trainer, said the Falconets gave a good account of themselves in Germany.
“I am impressed with their style of football. They should be allowed to graduate to the senior national team,” Erico said.
He, however, called on government, corporate organisations and wealthy individuals to sponsor the girls’ education.
“These are young girls who should be in school like their German counterparts.
The emphasis should be on the education of the players, not monetary donation alone,’’ said the former national goalkeeper.
Sports
Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak
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.
Sports
Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again
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.
Sports
Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International
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