The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lead

  • Heartland lead in pre-season tourney

    Heartland lead in pre-season tourney

    Heartland of Owerri have risen to the top of the log in the Kano pre-season tournament after a 2-2 draw with Oriental brothers, Enugu Rangers on Thursday.

    The Naze Millionaires twice took the lead through Happy Okuoka in the 20th minute and Tyavkasse in the 65th minute but the Flying Antelopes managed to claw their way back via Kehinde Adegbite in the 55th minute and Uche Oguchi from the penalty spot in the 85th minute.

    With the surprise 1-0 victory over Kano Pillars on Wednesday, Heartland are on top of the four-team table with four points from two matches ahead of the last day of fixtures billed for Sunday in Kano. Both matches took place at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano and the pre season tourney was organised to put the nation’s representatives in the 2013 CAF inter-club outing in good stead ahead of their matches in the Nigeria Premier League season billed to start on February 16.

    The media officers of Heartland, Cajetan Nkwopara and Rangers, Foster Chime both described the encounter as exciting game of football but rued their inability to grab maximum points.

    In the last round of matches slated for Sunday, Heartland will go all out for a victory against Lobi Stars to seal their conquest in the tourney while a rejuvenated Kano Pillars have a mountain to climb against CAF Champions League rivals, Rangers.

  • ONIGBINDE TO NFF: Don’t lead Keshi astray

    ONIGBINDE TO NFF: Don’t lead Keshi astray

    Former Super Eagles Head Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde, has cautioned football administrators against interfering with the team’s programme for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) outlined by coach Stephen Keshi.

    Onigbinde gave the warning while reacting to the 23-man Super Eagles team list for camping ahead of the competition, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos. NAN reports that the team for now has 23 home-based players who would resume camping on Sunday in Abuja, before the list of the foreign-based ones would be released.

    However, one foreign-based player, Fegor Ogude of Valerenga FC, Norway, who is currently on holidays in the country, is on the list. Onigbinde told NAN that as a former coach, he understood the importance of coaches having control of their teams.

    “I am hoping for the best in terms of preparation. I cannot say for sure what their plans are, so it will be wrong for anybody to start criticising in a way that is not constructive. Only Keshi understands what is in the programme of his team and it is only Keshi that can tell us or assure us of the preparation,’’ Onigbinde said.

    He said there was need for the Super Eagles to get support from everywhere, to regain its lost glory in African football. “If nobody has seen the team in any training session, then it will be unfair to criticise them,’’ he said

    NAN reports that the Super Eagles had failed to qualify for the 28th edition of AFCON in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon in 2010. On friendly matches for the players, he said Keshi would decide what happens at this point when the competition is about to start.

    “Nigerians know that when I was handling the Super Eagles, you couldn’t dictate to me but you could give me suggestions. And it had to be in line with my personal experience and I want to believe that Keshi is like that too. If I didn’t accept such, why should other people accept them?’’ Onigbinde queried.

    The team list released on Wednesday has Chigozie Agbim of Rangers International FC of Enugu leading Akpeyi Daniel of Heartland of Owerri and Femi Thomas of Enyimba International of Aba. It also has seven defenders and midfielders and forwards.

    NAN reports that the Super Eagles are in Group C, alongside the defending champions, Chipolopolo of Zambia, Walya Antelopes of Ethiopia and the Stallions of Burkina Faso. The teams will play their matches at the Mbombela Stadium, in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.

  • Ahmed Musa TO KESHI: I can lead Eagles’ attack

    Ahmed Musa TO KESHI: I can lead Eagles’ attack

    Red-hot Ahmed Musa has told Eagles coach Stephen Keshi he can lead the Eagles’ attack at next year’s AFCON in South Africa.

    Jet-heeled Musa has been moved from a winger to a centre forward by his Russian club CSKA Moscow and the results have been remarkable as he has now scored seven goals in the league as well as a goal in the cup.

    The first of his brace against Kuban Krasnoder on Saturday was a typical striker’s goal as he used his blistering pace to reach a long through ball before slotting past a helpless goalkeeper.

    “I am enjoying my new role as top striker for CSKA. It has given me a chance to score more goals. I will lead Eagles’ attack well if I’m asked to do so too,” Ahmed Musa told MTNFootball.com

    He said his goals in Russia could also be attributed to the fact that he has fully settled down at the army team after his big-money switch from modest Dutch club VVV Venlo.

    “I am also scoring goals because I have adjusted to the league in Russia and now know what is expected of me,” he disclosed.

    Last month against Liberia in Calabar, the former Kano Pillars star was played mainly as a left winger and scored a goal.

    He scored a total of two goals in the qualifiers for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, a goal behind the team’s top scorer Ikechukwu Uche.

    Three seasons ago, Musa showed he knows his way to goal when he scored a record-breaking 18 goals for Kano Pillars playing mostly as a right winger.

    Meanwhile, former CSKA Moscow star Dmitry Kuznetsov has shared his thoughts and impressions on Ahmed Musa’s brace against Kuban Krasnodar to the Russian Press.

    The Nigeria international’s rich vein of form continued as he was on target in the 35th and 51st minute of the away encounter.

    ”He is a player who does everything right in attack, frees himself and creates chances. Today, he proved that he’s a goalscorer. At the moment, Musa is a major player in the attack. I like him, like how he has adapted as a centre – forward, ”Kuznetsov, a former Russia international, was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

    With his brace on Saturday, Musa is only two goals shy of top scorer in the Russian Premier League Alexander Kerzhakov, who has scored nine times.

  • FMCG stocks lead equities’ rally with 301.27% return

    Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are ahead in the upswing at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with a sectoral year-to-date return of 301.27 per cent, almost 10 times of the average overall market return of 31.63 per cent.

    The NSE Consumer Goods Index advanced by 1.94 per cent last week as several FMCG stocks including Nestle Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries dominated the top gainers’ list.

    The NSE Banking Index indicated the second highest year-to-date return of 61.91 per cent after rising by 7.70 per cent last week. The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised stocks, reflected significant rally by major companies with average return of 40.14 per cent over the nine and a half months. It rose by 3.89 per cent last week.

    The NSE Lotus Islamic Index- which tracks a portfolio of Shari’a-compliant stocks indicated average year-to-date return of 34.10 per cent after the ethical index had risen by 2.03 per cent last week. The NSE Insurance Index showed slight recovery with a gain of 1.59 per cent last week but its year-to-date return remained negative at -1.80 per cent. The NSE Oil and Gas Index slipped by 0.34 per cent last week, worsening the average return so far this year to -26.02 per cent.

    The benchmark index at NSE, the All Share Index (ASI), rose by 3.20 per cent last week to close at 27,287.85 points while aggregate market capitalization of all equities increased by N275.586 billion to close at N8.695 trillion.

    Nestle Nigeria led the advancers with a gain of N10 to close at N625 per share. Guinness Nigeria rose by N4.40 to close at N281.60. Ashaka Cement gained N2.75 to close at N19.50. Cadbury Nigeria rose by N2.44 to close at N30 while Nigerian Breweries added N2.15 to close at N142.

    Altogether, 50 stocks recorded capital gains last week as against 25 stocks that suffered depreciation, indicating a ratio of two gainers to one loser.

    Total turnover stood at 2.184 billion shares worth N17.495 billion in 27,786 deals. The financial services sector accounted for 1.736 billion shares valued at N12.268 billion in 16,453 deals. The consumer goods sector followed with 166.772 million shares valued at N3.570 billion in 5,443 deals.

    Turnover was largely driven by activity in the shares of Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc which altogether accounted for 569.875 million shares, representing 26.09 per cent of total turnover for the week.