Sports
AFCON: Football Fans Urge Eagles To Up Their Game
Football fans in Bauchi have urged the Super Eagles to step up their game as they move into the round of 16 at the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The Tidesports source reports that the Super Eagles beat Guinea-Bissau with a lone goal on Monday at the Stade Felix Houphouet Boigny in Abidjan.
The victory ensured the Eagles booked their ticket into the round of 16 of the tournament.
In a separate interview with the Tidesports source in Bauchi yesterday, some of the football fans urged the Eagles to improve in their all-round performance to advance from the round of 16 into the quarterfinal state.
Mr Umar Saidu, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bauchi Council, said the match between the Eagles and Guinea was entertaining.
“It was a good match, we thank God that we qualified to the next knockout stages, but we missed a lot of scoring chances.
“Also, the aggressiveness of the players in trying to score was lacking, they need to improve if we really want to zoom into the quarter final.
“Considering that there were no minor countries now in football, the so-called big teams were shocked in this Nations Cup,” Saidu said.
Another enthusiast commentator, Mr Ishola Michael commended the Super Eagles for winning the match against Guinea-Bissau.
“Though Super Eagles won the match, it was not impressive enough; the attack was not sharp enough, but the midfield and defence rose to the occasion.
If we must progress to the next stage of the tournament, something must be done about the attack. Super Eagles won by luck,” he told Tidesports source.
Another sports analyst, Mr Nasiru Ibrahim, lauded the Eagles’ efforts by defeating Guinea-Bissau 1-0.
“Although the game was good, it was not as engaging as the second game against Ivory Coast.
“Nigeria lost a lot of opportunities, so the coach needs to practice on how the midfielders can find Oshimen,” he said.
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