Sports
U-15 Soccer Tourney: Katsina United Whitewashes ABS FC 6-0
Katsina United U15 team, yesterday trashed their counterparts, Abubakar Bukola Saraki Football Club (ABS) of Ilorin 6 -0 in the ongoing NPFL/La Liga U15 Promises tournament in Abuja.
The Tidesports source reports that the tournament which kicked off last Monday at the FIFA goal project AstroTurf pitch, Abuja National Stadium is also going on in three other zones of Kaduna, Edo and Enugu.
Katsina United who have been impressive since the beginning of the tournament opened scoring against the young ABS boys in the 19th minute through Aliyu Abbas.
The rampant Katsina boys doubled the lead through Abdulrashid Shehu in the 25th minute; Aliyu Abdulsalam made it three in the 35th minute of the first half.
The second half began just as the first with Katsina United dominating possession and mounting pressure on the defence of their opponents.
Aliyu Abbas made it four in the 65th minute, three minutes later Salihu Sani made it five, while Suleiman Umar completed the rout with a superb goal in the 70th minute.
Earlier, Kano Pillars played a 2-2 draw with Lobi stars while Gombe United walked over Wikki Tourist of Bauchi who did not make the trip due to logistics reason.
At the end of day four of the tournament, Katsina United who have won their three matches remain on top of the table with nine points, followed by Lobi stars with five points, Kano Pillars with three and ABS with one point.
Tidesports source reports that matches in the competition are played over 70 minutes, 35 minutes for each half.
Twenty teams are participating in the five-day zonal qualifiers holding at Abuja, Benin, Kaduna and Enugu, with two teams qualifying from each centre for the grand finale in Lagos.
Tidesports source reports further that the competition is part of plans by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Spanish La Liga to develop football at the grass roots in Nigeria.
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