Tag: El-Kanemi

Super Eagles winger, Ahmed Musa surprised players of El Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri on Wednesday with cash gift and boots.

SportingLife gathered that the CSKA Moscow of Russia forward made an unannounced visit to Kano State on Wednesday to watch the week 14 Glo Premier League tie between El Kanemi Warriors and Enyimba FC played at the Kano Pillars Stadium, Sabon Gari, Kano. The match ended 1-1.

The former Kano Pillars stars gave the players the sum of N200, 000 and 17 pairs of boots after the match as part of his contributions to encourage local players.

The club’s media officer, Anthony Obaseki who disclosed the reports to SportingLife said the players appreciated Musa’s kind gesture.

“Ahmed Musa came to stadium on Wednesday to watch our game against Dolphins. Everybody was shocked when he gave the players N200, 000 and 17 pairs of boots. He said the money could have been more than that if they had defeated Enyimba. He was impressed with the quality of play between both sides. He said he had played in the local league before and that is the only way to give back to the people. The players were very happy and thanked him for the gift,” Obaseki said.

Musa, who wore a Black top with Red knickers and a Red cap, left for Auchi yesterday. He is expected to travel to Kaduna to watch Kano Pillars and El Kanemi game on Sunday.

Speaking on the game against Enyimba, Obaseki said:“God saved us from defeat. Enyimba made us suffer for the draw. We were lucky to get a draw. Our strikers were wasteful in the match.”

El Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri kick started their Cotonou, Benin republic playing tour with two goalless draws as the team intensifying preparation for the Glo league season slated for February 21.

The team which is made up of 31 players and 10 officials arrived Cotonou on Tuesday afternoon and staying at Brazilian Hotel.

The coach Salisu Yusuf-tutored side started their first match on Wednesday with a goalless draw against a top team in the Benin Premier League, FC Police. FC police is second on Benin Republic League table.

El Kanemi played another goalless draw against FC Drangon in their second game on Thursday. They are expected to play another friendly game today.

The team captain Bamai Mohammed told SportingLife that the matches were okay for the team

“The games were a good one for our preparation for the league. We arrived here on Tuesday and played on Wednesday morning and another one on Thursday with one of the top clubs in Benin Republic. Although, we played draws in the matches but they were tough games. We have another one on Friday (today) by the time we are through with all these matches we are set for the league,” Mohammed said.

“We are happy here to prepare for the task ahead of Glo league and I want to thank the management of the team under Zannah Mala Mohammed (kakaje) for this playing tour outside the country. On behalf of the team we promise to make them proud when the league kicks off. We are grateful to our sports loving Governor for providing the fund for the trip.”

El-Kanemi have spent three weeks in camp in Kano before moving to Lagos last week where they spent ten days before leaving on Tuesday to Benin Republic.

They team is expected to tour Togo and Ghana before returning to Nigeria next week ahead of their opening match against Warri Wolves in the 2013/2014 Glo Premier league season in Warri.

El Kanemi Warriors’ Cameroonian striker Raphael Boumsong says his target is to play in Europe soon.

Last season he scored six goals as El Kanemi finished fourth on the table on their return to the top-flight.

His exploits have not gone unnoticed by several of the country’s top clubs, but the big centre-forward, who recently got married in Douala, says his wish is to move to Europe.

Enyimba lead a pack of clubs for chasing the player simply known as Raphael Junior, but the player would rather try his luck overseas.

“He believes he has done enough in the Nigeria league and that he should try his luck in Europe,” a club official disclosed.

After an impressive campaign with El-Kanemi Warriors on his Nigerian debut, Chadian international, Hassan Hissien has returned to the national team as Chad prepare for a regional tournament, in Gabon. The Chadian international helped El-Kanemi to fourth position on the 20-team Premier League log.

“Chad will play alongside Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Gabon, Congo DR and Equatorial Guinea in a competition from December 9,” Hissien told supersport.com.

The Chadian expressed satisfaction with his debut in the Glo Premier League.

“It was a nice experience for me in the Nigerian league. The standard of the league is high. Nigeria is a massive country as we were always moving from one end to another,” he said to supersport.com.

Hissien was nominated in the Best Foreigner Category at the end of season League Bloggers Award (LBA).

The Chadian was scouted when El-Kanemi played his former team, Foullah Edifice, during their tour of Chad on the eve of the 2012/13 season.

El Kanemi Warriors will soon appoint Enyimba coach Salisu Yusuf ahead of the new Nigeria league season, MTNFootball.com can report.

A source close to the Maiduguri team told MTNFootball.com the deal has already been sealed.

“Coach Salisu Yusuf will lead El Kanemi next season. The deal is done and he will be unveiled soon,” the source told MTNFootball.com

El Kanemi placed fourth in their first season back in the top flight. Enyimba have thus lost two coaches with Yusuf’s assistant Paul Aigbogun returning to Warri Wolves.

Newly promoted FC Taraba were in pole position to land Yusuf, but they failed to agree personal terms after it was reported that the former Kano Pillars coach demanded for a signing-on fee of N15 million.

Last season, he led Enyimba to win the Federation Cup and finished runners-up.

El-Kanemi forward, Ezekiel Thompson, has expressed satisfaction with his performance in the top flight.

Thompson, who was top scorer when the club gained promotion, was close to a move to Enugu Rangers, but made a U-turn after the Enugu side failed to complete his registration.

“The best thing that happened to me was my return to El-Kanemi during the Week 9 transfer window. I wanted to play for Rangers, but it didn’t work out well. I returned to El-Kanemi at the right time and met several talented players who were determined to make an impact. As a team, we made history with El-Kanemi,” Thompson told SuperSport.com.

Speaking in his performance against Rangers, he said: “We didn’t play well in Enugu. However, I had a great time when Rangers visited Maiduguri,” he said to SuperSport.com.

Thompson scored five goals as El-Kanemi finished fourth on the log behind Kano Pillars, Enyimba and Bayelsa United.