The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Enyeama

  • Enyeama helps Lille reclaim third spot

    Enyeama helps Lille reclaim third spot

    Super Eagles safe hands Vincent Enyeama and his Lille side reclaimed the third place in Ligue 1 back from Saint-Etienne on Saturday night thanks to a 2-0 home win over Sochaux.

    The Nigerian international was on duty for the entire duration of the encounter to record his 15th clean sheets in 24 Ligue 1 appearances.

    Saint-Etienne had taken occupancy of the Ligue 1 third spot after a Friday night goalless draw at Toulouse but Enyeama and his gang powered three points clear of their rivals for the European place thanks to an emphatic victory over the second from bottom placed Sochaux.

    Divock Origi gave the hosts the ideal start with a third-minute goal, and though they were rarely troubled by their struggling visitors, they had to wait until the third minute of added time at the end of the game before Ryan Mendes set the seal on a long-awaited win.

    The former Le Mans FC and Toulouse goalkeeper Yohann Pele was not helped out by his defence, who failed to clear Florent Balmont’s corner, and Origi ended the penalty area pinball by nodding home from close range to ensure Lille go third with 44 points after 24 league fixtures.

  • Enyeama wins Ligue 1 honour again

    Enyeama wins Ligue 1 honour again

    Super Eagles goal keeper, Vincent Enyeama, has been voted the best player in France’s Ligue 1 for the month of November.

    Enyeama, according to supersport.com, also won the UNFP prize, set aside for the league’s best performer in October.

    He racked up 59 per cent of the votes on offer to beat off competition from PSG superstar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic who nicked 32 per cent of the votes to finish in second place.

    Enyeama and Ibra will come face-to-face in direct competition when PSG hosts Lille OSC at the Parc des Princes on match day 19 of Ligue 1 on Sunday.

    Olympique Marseille midfielder, Florian Thauvin was a distant third in the overall classification with 9 per cent of the votes.

    Enyeama picks up the award for the second successive month despite narrowly failing to break Gaetan Huard’s long-standing record of clean sheets in Ligue 1 after Lille lost 0-1 to Girondins Bordeaux at the Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas on match day 17.

    The 31-year-old has been in great form this season for Lille OSC where he has conceded in just three of the club’s 17 league games this season.

    He recently told supersport.com that his displays have been divinely inspired.

    “I don’t do these things. It’s God. God has always guided me in my career and he has been responsible for all I have been doing,” he said.

    The UNFP trophy will be presented to the Nigerian shot-stopper before the Ligue 1 game between Lille OSC and Stade de Reims on January 12, 2014 at Stade Pierre Mauroy.

     

     

  • Lille vs Bastia Return to winning ways

    Lille vs Bastia Return to winning ways

    • Lille boss charges Enyeama, mates

    Super Eagles and Lille shot-stopper, Vincent Enyeama and mates have been charged by club boss, Rene Girard to bounce back to winning ways against Bastia after they suffered their first league defeat in almost three months last weekend.

    Enyeama conceeded his first goal in 11 matches as Lille lost 1-0 to Bordeaux last Sunday to end an unbeaten run during which Lille did not concede a goal.

    The result saw Lille slip to third in the Ligue 1 table and are seven points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain by the time they kick off today with the defending champions claiming all points against Rennes Saturday afternoon.

    But Girard is refusing to panic affter seeing the long run come to an end and has urged his players to just carry on doing the good things that have got them into the upper echelons of the table.

    “We knew that we would lose one time or another, but I have no particular worry,” he said.

    “It was a collective defeat. I still have a lot of confidence in my group and I know what the boys can do.

    “No match is easy, we will have to react against Bastia on Sunday (today).

    “Playing at home again is very important. We have the chance to recover in a great stadium with extraordinary football fans.”

    He added: “I hope that we keep the mindset that we have today no matter what the results.

    “We must remain vigilant, not slack off and continue working.

    “Today, we can have a respectful and humble ambition. I want the players to believe in themselves and be aware that we can really achieve something good.”

    Meanwhile, Bastia are coming off a loss of their own having been beaten 3-1 by Lyon last weekend to end their four-match unbeaten run.

  • AFTER 14 GAMES: Enyeama finally concedes a goal

    AFTER 14 GAMES: Enyeama finally concedes a goal

    Cameroon’s Landry N’guémo has ended goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama’s 14-game clean sheet when his goal earned Bordeaux victory against Lille.

    N’Guemo struck after 27 minutes to earn his club a 1-0 win.

    Incidentally, the goal was the Cameroonian’s first this season in French Ligue 1.

    The Nigeria stand-in captain has kept a clean sheet for 1,062 minutes to hold the record as the second longest running clean sheet in French Ligue 1 history.

    The Nigeria No.1 has been outstanding for club and country this year.

    He was rewarded with a contract extension by Lille till 2017 and was listed by CAF for the 2013 African Footballer of the Year Award.

    Lille are second on the league table with 36 points from 17 games.

  • Enyeama not yet world-class, says Baruwa

    Enyeama not yet world-class, says Baruwa

    Former Nigeria goalkeeper Abiodun Baruwa has told MTNFootball.com Vincent Enyeama cannot be regarded as world-class yet.

    Former Sion of Switzerland goalkeeper Baruwa said Enyeama has done very well for Nigeria and French club Lille in the outgoing year, but cannot be compared with the likes of Victor Valdes, Gigi Buffon and Iker Casillas yet.

    “Goalkeepers don’t really get noticed and appreciated very often, but I am sure they have him in mind. Enyeama has great qualities and has been fantastic this year but can’t stand against the keepers listed by FIFA for the award,” Baruwa remarked.

    “If you check those who were listed, you will see that they have been playing for top clubs in the world for over a decade and performing well on the big stages like the World Cup and club competitions.

    “In awards of this magnitude, they don’t just look at your performance in the year mentioned but at what you have been doing in previous years too. But this has not taken anything away from Enyeama for being a very good keeper. I am sure he will be ranked among them soon with the way he has been performing since the beginning of this year.”

    Enyeama was one of the nominees vying for CAF African Footballer of the Year Award for 2013 and the former 3SC shot stopper said it has often been a big task to beat the outfield players to it.

    “It is good to have Enyeama, a goalkeeper, as a nominee for the CAF award. It has been long that happened, and he will have to do a lot to win the award looking at the outfield players contending for the award,” Baruwa said.

    ‘Omo Alhaja’, as Abiodun Baruwa is nicknamed, played for Kano Pillars, Iwuayanwu Nationale and 3SC in Nigeria. He also played for FC Sion, Switzerland, Sturm Graz, Austria, Barry Town, Wales, Dagenham&Redbridge, England and Hirnchurch, England.

    He made five appearances for the Super Eagles and was at the 1998 World Cup in France.

  • Record Holder Gaetan Huard: I tip my hat to Enyeama

    Record Holder Gaetan Huard: I tip my hat to Enyeama

    Nigeria international Vincent Enyeama is now in second place as the goalkeeper with the longest unbeaten record after Lille defeated Marseille 1 – 0 on Tuesday.

    He has gone 1035 minutes without conceding a goal and could surpass retired Bordeaux numero uno Gaëtan Huard, who holds the absolute record of 1176 minutes set in the 1992 – 1993 season.

    Gaëtan Huard has spoken about similarities between himself and Vincent Enyeama.

    The Super Eagle has not picked the ball from his own net since the 2 – 0 home loss to Nice on September 15.

    “I find myself a little in his style, to dive quickly to the feet, close the angle on the attacker and be explosive.

    “But there are other coincidences: I, too, have passed the 1,000 minutes against Marseille.

    “Enyeama can not reach my record at Chaban-Delmas and it is in this stage that,I have made mine.

    “Moreover, the Girondins tell me they will make the record mine.

    “Well, imagining that he did not concede a goal, Lille then welcome Bastia and remember, these are the Corsicans who ended the unbeaten run of Sirigu last season

    “I tip my hat (to Enyeama) For now, welcome to the club of 1000. And if he has to beat my record, he explodes,” Gaëtan Huard told metronews.fr.

    Vincent Enyeama, who made the shortlist of top ten players in Africa recently announced by CAF, will break the record of Gaëtan Huard if he keeps a clean-sheet against Bordeaux and fails to concede in the first 51 minutes of the home tie with Bastia.

  • Enyeama signs new deal at Lille

    Enyeama signs new deal at Lille

    Super Eagles and Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has extended his stay with the Ligue 1 side until 2017.

    The Eagles’ goal tender moved to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy from Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2011, but only made his league debut at the start of the current season after spending last season on loan at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

    His form since return has been nothing sort of stunning, however, since his return from the loan spell in Israel as he has not conceded a single goal in his last 11 games, a run that stretches back to September 15 and encompasses 1,035 minutes of football.

    Former Bordeaux keeper Gaetan Huard set the current benchmark of 1,176 minutes in the 1992-93 season, which Enyeama can surpass in his next two outings.

    The 31-year-old’s showings have helped Lille record a run of 11 league games without defeat, a streak that has seen them move into second spot in Ligue 1.

    Rene Girard’s side now sit just a point behind defending champions and money bags Paris Saint-Germain.

  • CAF awards: Mikel, Enyeama, Emenike, seven others listed

    CAF awards: Mikel, Enyeama, Emenike, seven others listed

    Super Eagles stars Mikel Obi and Emmanuel Emenike are still in the race for the 2013 CAF African footballer of the Year after the top 10 nominees were named on Thursday.

    Other Nigeria stars in the top 10 are goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and Ahmed Musa, MTNFootball.com reports.

    All the four players were involved as Nigeria won a third Africa Cup of Nations in February and also qualified for a fifth FIFA World Cup.

    Cote d’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure, who won the prestigious award last year, is also still in contention as his compatriot Didier Drogba.

    Other players in the shortlist are Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang (Gabon), Mohamed Aboutrika (Egypt), and Jonathan Pitroipa (Burkina Faso).

    The nominees for the best African Player based on the continent have also been whittled down to five.

    They are – Sunday Mba (Nigeria), Aboutrika, Ahmed Fathy (Egypt), Rainford Kalaba (Zambia) and Treso Mputu Mabi (DR Congo).

    Aboutrika won last year’s version of this award.

    The CAF Awards will be staged in Lagos on January 9, 2014.

     

  • Enyeama named Ligue 1 player of the month

    Enyeama named Ligue 1 player of the month

    • To receive trophy tomorrow

    Lille goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has won the French Ligue 1 player of the month award for October, besting Paris Saint Germain stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani to clinch the periodic accolade for outstanding performance in the premier division.

    The 31-year-old, who joined the French outfit from Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2011, was promoted to first choice goalkeeper this season and has been fantastic in goal since the beginning of the campaign, keeping a clean sheet across 675 minutes already.

    Enyeama raked 71% of the votes, far ahead of Ibrahimovic, who scored 19% and Cavani, 10%. He will receive his trophy on Sunday before his side’s clash with Toulouse in match day 14.

    The former Enyimba guardian also figures on the Confederation of African Football (CAF)’s list of nominees for the 2013 African Footballer of the Year award.

     

  • Agbim thanks Enyeama, Ejide

    Agbim thanks Enyeama, Ejide

    The skipper of the Nigeria home-based national team side, and the third choice goal tender of the senior national team, Chigozie Agbim, has thanked Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide for helping his game grow.

    Agbim, who spoke to Futaa.com in Calabar where the Eagles secured their passage to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, insisted that he was not envying their place ahead of him in the team

    “I have learned a lot from Vincent and Austin. They are great keepers and have been in the team long before me so I respect them, humble myself and just learn.

    “I do not feel bad that I am third choice because my time will come,” he added.

    Agbim will have the chance to be the lead keeper in his own right come January, when the home-based Eagles take on Africa at the African Nations Championship in South Africa.