The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ELEPHANTS

  • Maigari assures fans: Eagles can fly over Elephants

    Maigari assures fans: Eagles can fly over Elephants

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, has expressed confidence in the ability of the home-based professionals to fly gloriously over the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in Saturday’s 2014 African Nations Championship qualifier in Kaduna.

    Nigeria football’s supremo, presently at the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Turkey, assured that he would be in Nigeria before Saturday to lead the cheer for the home-based Eagles at the Ahmadu Bello

    Stadium.

    “I have very high confidence in the ability of the home-based professionals to perform well against the Ivorians. They have been part of Coach Stephen Keshi’s rebuilding for almost two years now and most of them have enjoyed opportunities to play against some of the biggest teams in Africa and the world. Come Saturday, I know they will go all out and give their very best, and make Nigeria proud.”

    Maigari sees the Eagles coming up with a solid performance at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Saturday that will make the return leg in Abidjan on July 27 a mere formality.

    “It is also advisable to take good advantage of the home leg in every fixture. With highly-exposed and experienced players in our team, the task will be to take the game to our opponents in this home leg and secure a comfortable win,” Maigari added.

    Nigeria go up against the Ivorians in the first senior team clash between both nation since the Super Eagles eliminated then Cup favourites Elephants in the quarter finals of the 29th Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    The Eagles, who have been camping in Abuja since Sunday, will travel to Kaduna on Wednesday to intensify preparations ahead of the big game.

     

  • CAF appoints Keita for Eagles, Elephants match

    CAF appoints Keita for Eagles, Elephants match

    The Confederation of African Football has appointed a Malian official, Mahamadou Keita as centre referee for the 2014 African Nations Championship qualifying match between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire, billed for Saturday next week in Kaduna.

    Keita, 30, became an international referee in 2009. He will be assisted by compatriots Moriba Diakite, 33 (Assistant Referee 1), Nouhoum Bamba, 35 (Assistant Referee 2) and Ousmane Sidibe, 39 (Reserve Referee).

    The Match Commissioner is Idrissa Sarr, a renown former FIFA-graded referee from Mauritania.

    For the return leg in Abidjan on July 27, CAF has appointed officials from Morocco to take charge. Noureddine el Jaafari, a 35-year old who became an international referee only this year, will be at the centre, to be assisted by compatriots Bouazza Rouani, 39 (Assistant Referee1), Youssef Mabrouk, 38 (Assistant Referee 2) and Khalid Ennouni, 40

    (Reserve Referee).

    The Match Commissioner will be Kossi Adjodo from Togo.

  • Local Elephants brace up for Eagles

    Local Elephants brace up for Eagles

    COTE d’Ivoire have started their preparations for the crunch Africa Nations Championship qualifier against Nigeria by arranging a friendly match with Ghana.

    Both nations will face off in a two-legged friendly encounter, and the home-based Black Stars will assemble on Monday for the up-coming double international friendly.

    The Ivorians will arrive in Ghana on Sunday for the matches scheduled for June 12th and 14th at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium and the Len Clay Stadium. The first leg will be played in Kumasi on Wednesday at 4pm.

    Coach Dauda Lutterodt’s 26-man squad for this friendly will return to camp after the weekend’s round of Premier League matches. The next edition of the CHAN tournament will take place in South Africa next year, and Nigeria has never qualified for the finals.

  • ‘Eaglets too proud against Elephants’

    ‘Eaglets too proud against Elephants’

    Prime FC coach, Yekini Ayodeji has said Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets paid the prize of pride in their Group B Matchday 2 encounter against Cote d Ivoire at the ongoing Africa Under-17 Championship in Morocco.

    The Nigerians who have maintained 100% record previously in all competitive matches were piped 0-1 by the more purposeful Ivorians in Marrakech on Wednesday.

    Ayodeji said Eaglets allowed the group’s opening 6-1 win against Ghana’s Black Starlets to overwhelmed them as they failed completely to offer the vital challenge to the more enterprising Ivorians.

    “I think after the 6-1 win against Ghana they’re already looking at themselves as champions even before the championship ends and they paid dearly for it.

    “They’re lackadaisical throughout the encounter and never created not to talk of converting any chance at goal. Their approach in today’s (Wednesday) game was 100% wrong. It’s so bad that you’re tempted to ask whether this was same team that overran Ghana. The Ivorians were clearly the better of both sides.

    “Thank God this wasn’t the knockout stage, good too, it happened now there is room for correction if not it would’ve been a complete disaster,” he said to supersport.com.

    Ayodeji said Eaglets must go all out to grab a win in its group’s last game against Congo to cement a spot in the World Cup party.

    “What happened in the tie against Cote d Ivoire is a big lesson and I hope they’ve learnt from it. Of course, they must go all out to win against Congo to guarantee passage to the semifinals as well as the World Cup.

    “Though draw may still see them through to the last four but they must be mindful of the head to head rule in case they tied on points with Cote d’ Ivoire. So the way around it is to win against Congo. They didn’t create chance at goal against the Ivorians so they must rediscover their goalscoring ability when they face Congo at the weekend,” he said.

    Nigeria has lost the group’s top spot to Cote d’ Ivoire and must defeat Congo on Saturday to be certain of progression into the next stage of the biennial cadet football fiesta.

    The semi-finalists at the Morocco 2013 CAN Under-17 event will qualify to represent Africa at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the months of October and November.

  • EJIDE LISTS EAGLES, ELEPHANTS AMONG FAVOURITES

    EJIDE LISTS EAGLES, ELEPHANTS AMONG FAVOURITES

    •Black Stars too

    SUPER EAGLES goal keeper, Austin Ejide has listed Nigeria’s Super Eagles alongside Ghana’s Black Stars and Elephants of Ivory Coast among favourites to clinch the 2013 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in South Africa.

    Speaking on the chances of the Stephen Keshi tutored-side ahead of the February 10 AFCON kick-off date , Ejide said: ”We have players with great potential and a coach who works hard. Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria are candidates to win the championship. I think it would be a good tournament because South Africa has excellent facilities. Who will be the first choice goalkeeper, me or Enyeama? The coach will decide, not us.” Interestingly, Ejide was looking forward to help Hapoel Be’er Sheva claim all three points against Maccabi Netanya to get their season back on track at press time.

    ”When you find yourself in the unpleasant situation you need to understand what did not go well and work hard to improve.

    “We will do everything to win against Netanya because it is a very important game for us. Overall we lost so far, only four games this season and we are not far from our goal,” Ejide was quoted as saying by one.co.il.

    After the match against Maccabi Netanya, Ejide will join his international colleagues in Faro, Portugal.

    ”The most important for me is to focus on that we get three points before I leave but I’m an international player and I am committed to Nigeria,” he said.