Sports
‘Super Eagles’ll Subdue Kenya In Nairobi’
Despite threats that the Super Eagles of Nigeria will see ‘hell’ when they visit Nairobi for the second leg of the Group F African qualifier for Brazil 2014 World Cup, the President of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Malam Aminu Maigari has declared that Nigeria will overcome Kenya in the return leg.
The Harambee Stars of Kenya were forced to a 1-1 draw by the Super Eagles in Calabar at the weekend and the Kenyans said they were robbed of victory by the amount of added time played by the referee.
But Maigari has said that the Kenyans would see the true Super Eagles when both teams clash again. He said that the Eagles were desperate to be at the 2014 World Cup and will go all out to redeem themselves in Nairobi.
According to him, the Super Eagles may have been weighed down by the celebrations of becoming African Champions in South Africa few weeks ago.
Besides, Kenya came to Calabar to frustrate Eagles with defensive game and would be under pressure to score when they host Nigeria.
One of Super Eagles coaches, Sylvanus Okpalla MON, on his part believed that the Eagles were over confident and apparently understated the Kenyans.
He however, said that the bottom line for the Eagles is to be in Brazil in 2014 and must ensure that they pick up the necessary points to ensure their qualification.
Meanwhile, Vice President of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Chief Mike Umeh, said yesterday that Super Eagles had chances of qualifying for the World Cup in spite of the home draw with Kenya.
Umeh told newsmen in Calabar that Nigeria was still topping its group and had chances of winning more matches.
He said the Eagles did not raise their game against Kenya and that made them to pay dearly for equalising in the last minute of the encounter.
Umeh urged the Eagles to be focused in the return match as they could win the match
‘’ It is okay. Football is not mathematics. When we go to Kenya too, they will be playing under pressure and we will take up the game.
‘’ There is no hell, I mean, it is eleven to eleven man’s game , so promising hell on earth , that is, we should write that one off, Nigeria is too matured for that kind of threat.
‘’ Well, we are still topping the table. We have five points now and we are still topping the table.
‘’ The implication is that we are still on top. All hopes are not lost. ’’
Umeh said he was optimistic that the Eagles would turn the table against the Kenyans in Nairobi despite the home draw.
He said the Kenyans would be playing under pressure at home and would be forced to open up, a situation, he said, would make the Eagles to also attack them.
The NFA vice president urged the Eagles to adopt same attitude and pattern they used during the nations cup for their remaining matches.
‘’ I believe that with the right attitude, we will win some matches. ’’
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