The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bala Nikyu

  • Federation Cup: Plateau Utd hits Wikki Tourists 2-1

    Federation Cup: Plateau Utd hits Wikki Tourists 2-1

    Plateau Utd FC of Jos, on Wednesday at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium Bauch, beat hosts Wikki Tourists FC 2-1 in the ongoing Federation Cup competition.

    Anyor Ogbonna netted the opener for Plateau United in the 3rd minute after receiving a pass from Ogene Elijah.

    In the 45th minutes, Umar Kabiru broke loose, penetrated the  Tourists’ defence and found the net for the Plateau boys’ second goal.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Emma James would have given the United boys the third goal in the 47th minutes but wasted a penalty kick.

    Plateau United dominated the game and created many chances of scoring but their efforts failed to pay off due to yellow cards shown to Solomon Junior and Turba Benjamin by the centre referee.

    Wikki Tourists on their part, got the lone goal at the 85th minute through Abubakar Lawal.

    The tourists also lost the chance of leveling up when Solomon Junior of Plateau United brought down Abubakar Lawal and the consequent penalty kick by Chukwudi Samuel was ballooned.

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Federation Cup, also known as Challenge Cup, is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria.

    The Federation/AIETO Cup has a prize of N25 million in the men’s category.

    It was floated in 1945 as Governor’s Cup, having succeeded the War Memorial Challenge Cup which was limited to only teams in Lagos.

    Chief Coach of the Plateau boys, Kennedy Boboi, told NAN at a post match interview that he was happy that the team won.

    Kennedy described Wilki Tourists as a “good team to reckon with”.

    “They were not a bad team in today’s match, and hope that Wikki will get up from their slumbers; they are a good team and the coach too.

    “It is a very respectful team that you can give kudos to and they have a very sound coach,” he said.

    Wikki’s Chief Coach Bala Nikyu, declined comments when approached by a NAN correspondent.

  • NPFL: Wikki Tourists beat Kano Pillars 2-0

    NPFL: Wikki Tourists beat Kano Pillars 2-0

    Hosts Wikki Tourists Football Club of Bauchi on Sunday at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium defeated Kano Pillars FC of Kano 2-0 in a 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) fixture.

    Wikki Tourists scored the opening goal of the Match Day 28 fixture eight minutes into the game through Alhmed Usman after he wriggled past the visiting defenceline.

    They scored their second goal 48 minutes into the match through Chinedu Aneibor when he made good use of a deflection by right winger Ambrose Peter.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wikki Tourists were with a more purposeful and coordinated approach, but poor finishing by their strikers robbed them of scoring many goals.

    Kano Pillars, on their part, dominated the game in the second half, only to find their rhythm affected by three yellow cards received by Rabiu Ali, Chinedu Udoji and Ibrahim Alassan.

    Bala Nikyu, Chief Coach of Wikki Tourists, later described the match’s officiating as fantastic.

    “In our last three matches, the officiating especially in Ibadan was fantastic. In this one too, the officiating was good.’’

    He attributed the successes he had recorded since he assumed leadership of the team to the cordial relationship between him and the players.

    Ibrahim Musa, the Chief Coach of Kano Pillars, on his part described Wikki Tourists as “a good team’’.

    “But my boys too played very well, in spite of the little mistakes.

    “When we go back to Kano, we will see how we can correct such mistakes before our next match,” the coach said.

  • Wikki Tourists appoint Bala Nikyu as chief coach

    Wikki Tourists appoint Bala Nikyu as chief coach

    • Ganaru to sign deal today 

    The management of Wikki Tourists of Bauchi has appointed coach Bala Nikyu as chief coach.

    Nikyu will assist the newly appointed technical adviser Mohammed BabaGanaru at Wikki Tourists next season.

    Nikyu was in charge of the national U-17 women team, Flamingoes at the 2016 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan.

    The club’s media officer, Nasiru Kobi informed Sportinglife that the management believes in the competence of the duo of Ganaru and Nikyu to help the team achieve its set target this season.

    “Their experiences are important and we believe that we made a good choice. The management will give them a free hand to work and we will give them all necessary support,” Kobi said to SportingLife.

    Ganaru is expected to sign the deal today at the team’s secretariat and he will be officially presented to the team.

  • NIGERIA UNVEILS FINAL SQUAD

    NIGERIA UNVEILS FINAL SQUAD

    HEAD coach of the Nigeria women U-17 national team, Bala Nikyu has released a list of 21 players for the FIFA U-17 women World Cup in Costa Rica which holds from March 15 to April 4. Nigeria qualified for the finals of the U-17 competition without kicking the ball after opponents, South Sudan pulled out of the two-legged qualifiers.

    In the list of 21 submitted to FIFA, 7 of the players who campaigned in the last edition were included with 14 new debutants in the tournament where Nigeria has never gone beyond the quarter-finals in four appearances so far.

    The entire defence line of the team were picked from last edition team namely, Mary Ologbosere, Patience Dike, Ugochi Emenayo, Esther Elijah, Faith Alex and Joy Duru.

    Expectedly, red-hot striker Chiwendu Ihezuo who finished second highest goal scorer with six goals alongside six others that were involved in the last edition in Azerbaijan alongside 14 new faces made the final 21-player list for the tournament.

    Four players – strikers Agams Nkechinyere and Ikeh Ginika, defender Chika Edeh and goalkeeper Sandra Aernyi of the 25 in training camp with the Flamingoes in Faro, Portugal have been dropped.

    The Flamingoes who will be competing with 15 other countries have been drawn against Colombia, Mexico and China PR in Group D.

    Ghana and Zambia are the other African representatives at the 4th FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup.

    The Flamingoes will hope to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals after four appearances at the women cadet championship.

    Nigeria’s Squad

    Goalkeepers – 1 Mercy VINCENT (Confluence Queens FC), 16 Fubiana BRIGGS (Pelican Stars FC), 21 Onyinyechukwu OKEKE (Inneh Queens)

    Defenders – 2 Mary OLOGBOSERE (Ibom Angels FC), 3 Patience DIKE (C.O.D United FC), 5 Ugochi EMENAYO (Nasarawa Amazons FC), 6 Esther ELIJAH (Osun Babes), 11 Faith ALEX (Pelican Stars), 12 Joy DURU (Nasarawa Amazons) ,13 Ayomide ANIBABA (Robo FC), 17 Augustar MENE (Nasarawa Amazons FC)

    Midfielders – 4 Ihuoma ONYEBUCHI (Rivers Angels FC), 8 Joy BOKIRI (Bayelsa Queens FC), 9 Aminat YAKUBU (Rivers Angels), 10 Tessy BIAHWO (Delta Queens FC), 20 Eluemunor IJEH (Delta Queens FC) Forwards – 7 Vivian IKECHUKWU (Real Dinamo FC), 14 Rasheedat AJIBADE (Robo FC), 15 Uchenna KANU (Pelican Stars FC), 18 Cynthia AKU (Rivers Angels), 19 Chinwendu IHEZUO (Pelican Stars)

  • FIFA U-17 W/C: Coach challenges Flamingoes on goals

    FIFA U-17 W/C: Coach challenges Flamingoes on goals

    Head coach of the Nigeria U17 women national team, Bala Nikyu, has challenged his players to improve on their goal conversion ratio ahead of the FIFA 2014 women World Cup in Costa Rica.

    Nikyu in an appraisal of the Flamingoes, after two victories in two friendly games in Portugal, said the team is doing everything possible to ensure that no stone is left unturned in preparations for the World Cup.

    “I’m happy with the progress so far. Playing two matches and winning both is good, but not the ultimate.

    “We are still not good enough at converting chances when we create them, and we know that at the World Cup such chances are not easy to come by.

    “We missed some early chances against the Portuguese’s U14 boys, which, if it is at the World Cup could cost us,” he noted.

    “Winning the friendly games is not the issue, but watching the games and knowing where we are short, seeing lapses, and improving on them is what I’m after.

    “We had several scoring chances in the first five minutes but lost them. We will continue to work on improving at creating chances and also converting them,” he added.

    Nikyu, however, appealed to football loving Nigerians for their prayers, promising that they are all focused on recording success at the World Cup.