Sports
Amapakabo Urges LMC To Make Ezeji NPFL Ambassador
Nigeria Professional Football League winning Coach, Imama Amapakabo has once again reiterated his desire to see Nigerian League Legend, Victor Ezeji named an NPFL Ambassador by the League Management Company (LMC).
Amapakabo who won the just concluded NPFL season with Enugu Rangers Football Club is of the opinion that Ezeji remains one of the best players the Nigerian League has ever produced and he should thus be so honoured.
The Rangers Coach who happened to have played with Ezeji as a player at Sharks and also coached him at the same club had earlier in August called on the LMC to name Ezeji as one of its ambassadors.
As Ezeji gets set to celebrate his much talked about testimonial in December, Amapakabo says there would be no better time than now to officially name a player whom younger players in the league consider an icon, an ‘Ambassador’ of the league.
Who has won more than Victor Ezeji? He is a legend in his right. And I think it is about time the LMC made him an Ambassador of the league as opposed to someone who didn’t play in the league.
He won virtually everything in the land, highest goal scorer, MVP and more. He is the one that we see and he is the one that we know. He is the one the young players look up to.
There is no person that plays in the league today that does not know Victor Ezeji. Mention his name and you’ll see he is an idol. Is it because he is one of us? We should celebrate one of our own. I duff my hat to him.
Amapakabo was team captain when Victor signed up for the now defunct Sharks FC in 1996 and was a coach at Sharks when Ezeji returned for his third stint at the club between 2008-2012.
Ezeji from the time he began his top flight career in 1996 would then go on to play in 20 top flight seasons only halted for a brief spell when he tried his luck in Tunisia.
The Victor Ezeji Testimonial is scheduled to take place at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt on the 10th of December.
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
