The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sports

  • 2013 NATIONS CUP Beware of Saladin Said, Belgian coach warns Eagles

    2013 NATIONS CUP Beware of Saladin Said, Belgian coach warns Eagles

    BELGIAN coach Walter Meeuws has warned Nigeria and Zambia that his former player and Ethiopia star Saladin Said could shock them at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

    Meeuws told MTNFootball.com that Said could be one of the surprises in South Africa in January. “If the team play strong, Saladin Said has the skills to decide games for Ethiopia,” the former Wadi Degla coach said. “Saladin could become one of the surprises of the Nations Cup in January.

    “That depends of course also on the performance of the Ethiopian team because they are in a strong group with Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Zambia.”

    The Eagles have already seen what a force Said could be as he scored his team’s two goals in a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier in Addis Ababa before star-studded Nigeria fought back to draw 2-2.

    “He (Said) made a trial at Wadi Degla club in August 2011 and he gave a very good impression from the first moment,” said former Belgium international Meeuws. “I advised the club to take him and that resulted in a contract of three years.

    “Said is a very skilful player, technically strong, good speed and a good positioning as striker.

    “He reads very well the game and the last year he became stronger in both power and physical strength.”

    Ethiopia, who return to the Nations Cup for the first time since 1982, open their account in Group C against African champions Zambia on January 21 in Nelspruit.

  • VENEZUELA FRIENDLY Eagles leave for the USA on Sunday

    VENEZUELA FRIENDLY Eagles leave for the USA on Sunday

    •Foreign pros to join team in Miami

    SUPER EAGLES will leave the country for Miami, United States on Sunday to honour the international friendly tie with Venezuela billed for November 14th, a top official of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) said.

    In a brief chat with SportingLife on Monday evening the Assistant Director (media) of the NFF, Demola Olajire informed that the players plying their trade in the country’s league and the team’s technical crew will leave for the United States on Sunday.

    He added that the overseas based players would join up with the team on same day in US as they strive to make use of the remaining three days or thereabouts to bond before the tie with the emerging South American side.

    Olajire confirmed that the chief coach of the Eagles was yet to make available the list of the foreign legions expected to don the country’s jerseys in the friendly tie but assures that Nigeria’s senior side would field a competitive squad against Venezuela.

    “The Eagles will be leaving for the United States on Sunday with the home-based players and the team’s back room staff while the foreign based will later join them straightaway from their various base.

    “The Eagles’ coach is yet to release the list of foreign based players to the best of my knowledge but the match will go ahead as arranged,” he told SportingLife.

    Nigeria’s senior national team will use the match as one of the build ups to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations which starts on January 14th in South Africa.

  • Governor’s Cup may change your lives, Ikpeba tells Delta students

    Governor’s Cup may change your lives, Ikpeba tells Delta students

    WEDNESDAY may mark the beginning of a positive change in your lives and I want you all to give it your all.”

    This was the message ex international and one time Africa’s Footballer of the Year Victor Ikpeba sent to secondary school students in Delta State as they kick off Governor’s Cup in the State Wednesday.

    Comprehensive Secondary School and Adaigbo Secondary School all in Ogwasi-Uku will lock horns today at the Jay Jay Austin Okocha Stadium for the competition Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan will kick off at 10 am.

    “I thank the State government for reviving soccer in schools. This can change the lives of many kids. We all started this way until sports died in our schools. Now Governor Uduaghan is reviving it. I want to thank him and urge the schools to take it seriously and know that people are keeping records of their performance. This can change their lives as outstanding ones stand to gain scholarships and may start professional career from this point,” Ikpeba said. Jay Jay Okocha will grace the occasion and may address the students in motivational talk.

    Delta is championing the campaign to return sports back to schools in Nigeria. After the kick-off of football in schools, track and field will follow and later Rowing will be on line.

  • Bosso set for Sunshine Stars job

    Bosso set for Sunshine Stars job

    SUPERSPORT.COM understands Wikki Tourists manager, Ladan Bosso, is set to be named the new manager of Premier League side, Sunshine Stars.

    The former Flying Eagles, Niger Tornadoes and Kano Pillars gaffer has since emerged as leading candidate to succeed Gbenga Ogunbote, who took the club to an all-time high in the CAF Champions League after a three-year stint.

    Ogunbote resigned following the club’s exit in the semi-final of Africa’s most prestigious club competition and the club have been in search of a manager with African experience.

    Supersport.com learnt that talks with the Niger State born manager, who led Nigeria’s U-20 team to the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, in Canada, would hold on Monday and a deal is expected to be sealed between both parties.

    Bosso’s Champions League experience in 2011 with Kano Pillars gives him the edge as the club’s hierarchy is hungry for another African experience.

    The presence of players like Brown Ideye, Ambrose Efe, Reuben Gabriel, Obiorah Nwankwo and Elderson Echiejile he managed at the U-20 team in Stephen Keshi’s Super Eagles also confirms Bosso’s rating as a top class manager.

    If a deal is sealed, it will be Bosso’s first time as manager of a top flight team in the south after working as an assistant to Godwin Uwua at Bendel Insurance.

  • NASARAWA JOB Dike gets N.65m as salary

    NASARAWA JOB Dike gets N.65m as salary

    VETERAN Coach, Alphonsus Dike, whose professional competence and experience earned him the coaching job of Nasarawa United Dike will earn N650,000 monthly.

    The coach who was officially unveiled on Monday by the newly promoted side takes over from Bitrus Bewarang and is on a sign-on-fee of N10 million.

    As head coach, Dike’s major task for the season will be to revive the fortunes of the club who featured in the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup in 2007. Founded in 2003, Nasarawa Utd. otherwise known as Solid Miners would have gone into extinction in 2008 following the serious financial challenges it faced.

    “The State government’s assurance of supporting subsequently is a good one for the club,” our source said.

    “For Dike, we are happy that he has joined us and we are equally delighted that we have made a good choice even though the selection process was competitive,” added our source.

    “At the end it was between him and Festus Allen before making our choice,” he said.

    After quitting Rangers International two seasons ago, Dike had been without a job and was linked to several clubs. He narrowly missed the Kwara United to Samson Unuanel last month.

    Dike also handled the Nigeria U-17 national team.

  • NATIONS CUP BOOST KESHI CELEBRATES OSAZE’S RETURN

    NATIONS CUP BOOST KESHI CELEBRATES OSAZE’S RETURN

    •Player ready to fight for jersey

    •Baggies’ striker wants to win trophies for Eagles

    •22 Eagles battle for shirts against Venezuela

     

    SUPER EAGLES boss, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, has made further clarifications over reports in the media, quoting him as saying that West Brom striker, Peter Osaze Odemwengie, has said he will not play again for the national team.

    Keshi said Monday at the Bolton White Apartment camp of the national team, that his thoughts may have been misinterpreted, as the light skinned striker merely told him he was frustrated at the manner he had been treated in the past and fears a repeat, which he assured him will not arise.

    “What he told me was that after fighting so hard to qualify Nigeria for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, he was dumped on the bench when the tournament proper started and that he fears a repeat following the manner he was substituted in the qualifier against Rwanda in Kigali, which was under me. Well, I told him that if I had my way all the players who featured in that match should have been substituted but I had only three substitutions to make because we played poorly in the encounter.

    “He told me he understands my position and that he is now ready to return to the national team fold. We actually spoke for over one hour on Sunday (November 4), so there is actually nothing amiss about Osaze. He has said he will join others to come and fight for a shirt and that is the new rule in the national team,” Keshi said.

    Earlier on Sunday, team psychologist, Dr Robinson Okosun, has spent several minutes talking to Osaze on the news making the rounds and the former Bendel Insurance of Benin star said he remains one of the pillars of the national teams, who still has at least five years of active football to play and cannot at this point abandon the Super Eagles.

    “I want to win something with the national team and I think there can’t be a better time to achieve that than now,” he declared.

    Similarly, 22 players out of the 24 invited to camp sweated it out on Monday evening as the national team resumed preparation for the match against Venezuela in the United States on November 14. Only Rangers International’s Ejike Uzoenyi and Kano Pillars’ Gambo Mohammed who was part of the team that won a four-club invitational tourney in Niger Republic were still being expected.

    “We are happy at the turn out of players, the next step for them is to show that they can displace those based abroad and pick shirts not only for the friendly against Venezuela but the Nations Cup in South Africa and we are here to offer them the platform to prove themselves,” Keshi declared before Monday evening training in Abuja.

  • Mikel, Osaze’s wages to be frozen

    Mikel, Osaze’s wages to be frozen

    The take home package of Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi, teammate Victor Moses, West Brom ace Osaze Odemwingie and other Nigerian players in the English Premier League (EPL) may not be increased for some time to come, following ongoing discussions by English club owners to reduce expenditure and increase profit.

    A communique on the talks which is featuring Chelsea owner Roman Abrmovich and other EPL bosses is expected to be out November 15 according to the British tabloid, Daily Mail.

    The new proposal is thought to be a reaction to the impending £5billion Premier League TV deal, which the owners apparently want a bigger slice of.

    According to reports, the new rules would not allow teams to increase their overall wage budget by over five per cent a year.

    It is also alleged that the club chiefs want teams to be forced to break even.

    West Ham chairman David Gold reportedly wants to go a step further and take away points from teams that don’t.

    ‘We need to regulate spending, reduce debt and ensure profit — and quickly,’ Gold told the Huffington Post.

    ‘We have to stop clubs running up debt or we’ll have an even more desperate situation.

    ‘We can’t have clubs running with large percentage of debt against their turnover.’

    Other top bosses including Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour and the Glazer family, who own Manchester United, are all thought to be keen on the new proposals.

    The new rules would run in conjunction with UEFA’s fairplay legislation, which will also try to curb club spending.

    Premier League clubs had a total outlay of £1.5bn on footballer wages in 2010-11, which was nearly three quarters of their total income.

  • 2013 South Africa AFCON: Okechukwu tips Eagles for glory

    2013 South Africa AFCON: Okechukwu tips Eagles for glory

    Former Super Eagles strong man in defence, Uche Okechukwu has told his former teammate Stephen Keshi the Chief Coach of the Nigerian senior team that the panacea for success in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa is hard work.

    In a chat with SportingLife in Warri at the weekend, the former Fenerbahce of Turkey defender urged Keshi to keep the present set of players he used for the qualifiers together and train harder and work on players’ lapses. Okechukwu believes that if these players play together consistently in friendly matches before the 2013 AFCON Nigeria may win the trophy in South Africa.

    “I have seen Nigeria’s group and I can tell you honestly that there are no minnows in football anymore. The Super Eagles team need to work harder than they have done in the qualifying series. I sincerely believe that with the right assemblage of players, we have the quality players that can take Nigeria far in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations or even win the trophy.

    “Consistency is the key to having a strong team that can withstand any opposition in the Cup of Nations. If the Super Eagles handlers can keep the same crop of players together for a longer time and with the right environment I believe we have the players that can win this Cup.

    “But this is football as we (Nigeria) are preparing the other countries are preparing too even maybe better than we are doing. So, through hard work and doing the right thing at the right time, Nigeria can win the trophy in South Africa ahead of other top teams in the continent.

    “For Keshi to get a formidable team he needs time, he needs patience and consistency to build the team. I hear people talk a lot about the 1994 Super Eagles squad but they have forgotten that the Coach then Clemens Westerhof had assembled the team together since 1990 and we played the ECOWAS Games and lot of competitions and matches before we grew to that point in 1994. So, it takes time and consistency to build a solid team. So let’s give the coach a chance to work on the team now.

    “I wouldn’t want a situation where the Coach would be axed if the results fail to come but I am very sure that with a very good preparation for the tournament Nigeria can bring the Cup back to the country. Like I said, we have the materials that can deliver but we only need time to blend them and for them to gel”, the former defence stalwart said.

  • Keshi, Okocha to grace Governor’s Cup in Delta

    Keshi, Okocha to grace Governor’s Cup in Delta

    One week after Delta State hosted a sports summit to chart a new course for sports in the state and Nigeria, Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi will lead a cream of ex-internationals to the Ogwashi-Uku Stadium today for the kick off of Delta State’s Governor’s Cup.

    He will join Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Davidson Owumi, John Omoghele who are all ex-internationals to grace the occasion that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan will also attend. The governor will actually do the kick-off before the two schools for the opening match will begin battle for the title that will see the winners embarking on a youth tournament abroad and pocketing N2million and also winning a school bus.

    Governor Uduaghan is driving the return of sports to schools in Delta and in April he inaugurated the Professor Patrick Mouboghare Committee to revive soccer in secondary schools in Delta. Mouboghare is the commissioner of junior education in the state. And in the committee are the likes of Amaju Pinnick, the Executive Chairman of Delta Sports Commission, Austin Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Davidson Owumi, Richard Mofe Damijo, Harrison Ochulor, Gowon Akpadona and Onochie Anibeze, the Group Sports Editor of Vanguard Newspapers.

    Stephen Keshi and Jay Jay Okocha are expected to engage in motivational talks with the students before the kick-off.

    Delta is determined to change the fortunes of sports in Nigeria. They held a sports summit last week in Asaba and decided to develop and promote aquatic sports in Nigeria aside track and field.

    “We will implement the report of the summit,” governor Uduaghan assured the audience in Asaba. The school football will be followed by track and field, according to Dr. Udughan.

  • Racist abuse saga: Mikel in the soup

    Racist abuse saga: Mikel in the soup

    Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is demanding answers from Chelsea’s security team on why they failed to stop Super Eagles midfielder, John Obi Mikel’s entry into the referee’s room to confront Mark Clattenburg following an alleged racist remark he made during Manchester United’s 3-2 win at the Stamford Bridge.

    The Sunday Mirror says the Russian who did not know, or sanction, the angry raid on the referee’s room by the incensed Nigerian and several other Chelsea officials, who had been told by team-mate Ramires of the ref’s alleged racist comment, now will demand to know how Premier League rules and Chelsea’s own club code over security were so easily breached?

    There are serious questions over why didn’t Chelsea’s own security men block the angry raid and protect the game officials until tempers had cooled.

    That basic failure is a clear violation of rules and can land Chelsea an FA ­disciplinary charge of failing to control their players and backroom staff.