Sports
SWAN Commends Osimhen, Others On CAF Award …Harps On Home Grown Solution To Football Development
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, (SWAN) on Tuesday congratulated the trio of Victor Osimhen, Asisat Oshoala and Chiamaka Nnadozie for emerging the best male and female footballers in Africa during a prestigious event which held on Monday in Marrakech, Morocco.
SWAN also thumped up Super Falcons for consolidating their dominance with another best team of the year rating.
While Osimhen, Super Eagles and Napoli forward was crowned Player of the year (Men) for the first time in 24 years, Oshoala, Super Falcons and FC Barcelona Femeni Striker won a record sixth award as CAF player of the year (Women).
Dazzling Super Falcons ace Nnadozie who plays professional football with FC Paris in France became first ever best African goalkeeper of the year (Women) in an unforgettable Monday night for Nigeria football.
To cement it all, the country’s Women Senior National team after their heroics at the 2023 World Cup, for the fifth time, emerged best National team in the continent.
Thrilled by the country’s rare exploits, SWAN President, Mr. Isaiah Benjamin, in a statement made available by the Association’s Secretary-General Amb. Ikenna Okonkwo, said, “I really feel very proud being a Nigerian. The collection of major awards by our footballers who were mainly groomed on Nigeria’s soil is a testament of better times.
“Thank God, this is happening in about one month to 2023 AFCON scheduled for Cote d’ivoire. I believe it will also steer the spirit of our Super Eagles to give their best especially as their performance have not really been satisfactory in recent times.
“I must say that all the awardees got the honour on top merit. And the awards shouldn’t make them relax, rather they should put in their best the more for future anticipated glorious moments.”
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
