Sports
2021 AFCON: Rohr Can Lead Super Eagles To Glory If…-Akpoborie
Former Nigerian forward, Jonathan Akpoborie believes Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr has the array of players to lead the team to glory land in Cameroon.
Nigeria, three-time champions of the AFCON, are joined in Group D by Egypt, Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau.
The team will open their tournament campaign against seven-time champions, the Pharaohs of Egypt, on January 11, before taking on 1970 champions, Sudan’s Falcons of Jediane on January 15. They will thereafter round off their group stage games against Guinea-Bissau’s Djurtus on January 19.
Speaking with newsmen, the former Wolfsburg striker stated that the Super Eagles will qualify from the group stages regardless of who they face.
He noted that the real task comes during the knockout stages where Nigeria are likely to face some of the big teams in African football.
Akpoborie, however, urged the German tactician to sharpen his ability to read games quickly in a bid to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2019 AFCON.
“I must confess that the Super Eagles won’t find it difficult to qualify from Group D that consists of Egypt, Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau because we have the players to get the job done.
“It will be wrong for the coach and players to think only Egypt will pose a big threat to Nigeria without paying attention to Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.
“But then, my major concern has to do with Rohr’s ability to read games when the team faces stronger teams in the knockout stages of the competition. At this stage, any single error may result to total elimination from the showpiece.
“With the calibre of players in Rohr’s disposal, I see no reason why Nigeria can’t win the 2021 AFCON title.”
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