The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Okpotu

  • Okpotu blames Lobi’s mistakes for defeat

    Okpotu blames Lobi’s mistakes for defeat

    Tony Okpotu has revealed that Lobi Stars paid for their mistakes in defence to lose 1-2 to Niger Tornadoes yesterday at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja in a match day 17 tie.

    Ibrahim Babawo’s double put Ikoh Allah Boys in the driver’s seat before Luther Iyorhe pulled a goal back in the second half but Okpotu told SportingLife that the scores would have been different had they not conceded cheap goals.

    The scorer of four league goals in the ongoing season, however, pointed out that they will be going back home to correct the lapses noticed before their next tie with FC Ifeanyiubah.

    With the defeat, Lobi slumped from sixth on the log to 11th with 23 points from 17 games.

  • Okpotu, Kwambe, Itodo recover from injuries

    Okpotu, Kwambe, Itodo recover from injuries

    Lobi Stars have got cheering news from the treatment table one that will surely help their chase for a continental ticket at the end of the season.

    Long term injury worry, Solomon Kwmbe, SportingLife was told has recovered from the facial injury he copped during the first stanza in Maiduguri against El Kanemi Warriors and has started jogging ahead of his anticipated return to football.

    The out-of-favour Super Eagles’ defender will hope to stem up training at the gym with a view to playing in the some of the remaining matches of the season.

    Ex- Enyimba, 3SC and Sunshine Stars’ striker, Cletus Itodo has also brushed aside his toe worries and has fully recovered and is available for selection for this weekend clash with Niger Tornadoes in Lokoja while Nanen Imenger who before now was nursing a groin injury has also overcome his complaints and has been declared fit to play.

    Lobi’s top scorer, Anthony Okpotu who copped an injury in Uyo against Akwa United last weekend in his comeback game for the club has resumed light training too.

  • Okpotu dedicates 10th NPFL goal to Keshi

    Okpotu dedicates 10th NPFL goal to Keshi

    Lobi Stars leading scorer, Anthony Okpotu has told SportingLife that the fond memory of late Stephen Keshi will remain evergreen to him for the breakthrough he handed him into the senior national team after he called him up for more than three occasions for the Super Eagles build up to the 2013 AFCON which the country won in South Africa.

    Okpotu who got his 10th goal of the season on Wednesday in Lobi Stars’ 3-1 home win over 3SC disclosed that his 51st minute strike was for the loving memory of Keshi and what he stood for while he played under him in the Eagles’ camp.

    “Do you know that it was Keshi that handed me my first Eagles’ call up?” Okpotu began in a chat with SportingLife.

     ” He kept on inviting me for preparations for the 2013 AFCON qualifiers for about five games and I will say I am indebted to him. I have dedicated my 10th goal of the season to him. It is my own token way of expressing my brief about his death.”

  • Okpotu wants to beat last season’s goal mark

    Okpotu wants to beat last season’s goal mark

    Lobi Stars’ hitman, Tony Okpotu has stated that he is hoping to get more goals than last season after he struck twice to earn the Pride of Benue three points at home to Sunshine Stars on Wednesday.

    Okpotu who returned from Libya during the second stanza of last league season banged in 10 goals then but with two goals from two games already, the striker said that his motivation would be to surpass last season’s feat.

    Lobi are second on the log with six points from two matches and will be on the road to face Ikorodu United at the Onikan Waterfront, Lagos this weekend and Okpotu has expressed his delight at the club’s perfect start to the season but implored that they need not be complacent.

  • Okpotu is Lobi hero again

    Okpotu is Lobi hero again

    Libya returnee, Tony Okpotu once again came to the rescue of Lobi Stars after he scored the only goal to earn them three points at the expense of FC IfeanyiUbah 1-0 in a Week 25 game.

    He has now scored nine goals in 10 games.

    Lobi now have 30 points from 24 games, while Ifeanyi Ubah have 32 points.

    Akwa United and Giwa settled for a 2-2 draw at The Nest of Champions in Uyo.

    Giwa have 36 points from 24 games, while Akwa have 30 points.

    Ocheme Edoh gave Giwa a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute.

    Hosts Akwa equalised on the hour when the outstanding Aniekan Ekpe converted a penalty.

    Ukeme Davies then gave hosts 2-1 lead in the 64th minute, before David Sunday scored to claim a point for Giwa.

  • Okpotu steps up recovery from injury

    Okpotu steps up recovery from injury

    Lobi Stars’ striker ,Anthony Okpotu told SportingLife that he is happy to be responding to treatment after the mouth injury he sustained when he had a collision with the Akwa United goalkeeper, Olufemi Kayode which resulted into the only goal of the match and his early substitution on Wednesday.

    The Pride of Benue managed to beat the Promise Keepers 1-0 in a Glo Premier League Week 18 tie at the Aper Aku Stadium, Makurdi through a 20th minute Okpotu strike but he was injured after the collision and had to be replaced by Abdulrahman Bashir.

    Okpotu informed SportingLife that he had to endure the pain that accompanied the stitches he had to the cut area of the mouth and that he is recovering fast.

    “I was unable to speak well on Wednesday and I have to leave the pitch immediately after the collision with the goalkeeper. My only joy is that it resulted into the only goal of the match. I hope to get back very soon as I continue to do my own bit to make Lobi go up further on the league table,” Okpotu, who played for Al Ittihad Tripoli in Libya before coming back home, told SportingLife.

    Okpotu’s goal lifted Lobi to 15th on the log with 20 points from 18 matches.

    He won’t be available for Lobi’s blockbuster home tie with Kano Pillars this weekend.

  • Okpotu drags Al Ittihad to Caf, Fifa

    Okpotu drags Al Ittihad to Caf, Fifa

    Former Lobi Stars striker, Anthony Okpotu, has taken Libyan club, Al Ittihad to Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) and FIFA on claims of unpaid wages as well as forgery and falsification.

    Okpotu’s lawyer, Paulo Assis Vieira, complained to the disciplinary committees of CAF and FIFA through separate letters on April 14 stating that Al Ittihad “was in debt with the players Anthony Okpotu, Nuru Sulley [from Ghana] and Mohamed Yahaya [also from Ghana] of their salaries.”

    However, supersport.com was informed by Okpotu that the Libyan club are owing him 14 months salaries.

    The Nigerian striker is also bringing a case of forgery against the club.

    Vieira in his complaint to CAF and FIFA on behalf of Okpotu alleged that Al Ittihad president, Omar Magherbi and another club official, Suliman Belhaj “forged fake [bank] documents” which they forward to their three foreign players including Okpotu.

    “Now comes an extremely serious situation: they [the club president Mr Omar Magherbi and the official Mr Suliman Belhaj went and forged fake documents [swift codes from National Commercial Bank – Elthahrra – Tripoli – Libya] and brought to the players, informing that their wages has been transferred into their bank accounts.

    “However, first they even didn’t know their accounts neither did they get any notifications from the Alubaf Bank, in Tunis, that their accounts was successfully opened. They left their phone numbers and emails in the bank to receive their information as normal bank clients and had never received nothing from them,” the complaint to CAF and FIFA made available to supersport.com read.

    But Okpotu as well as two Ghanaian teammates, Sulley and Yahaya, discovered on April 7 that the documents forwarded to them by their club were not authentic as verified by the bank in Tunisia.

    Okpotu, according to his lawyer, “reported the issue to the Nigerian embassy in Tunisia.”

    The lawyer of the Nigerian forward now wants CAF and FIFA to start a disciplinary proceeding against Al Ittihad as well as their president and Belhaj.

  • Okpotu dreams 2014 World Cup with Eagles

    Okpotu dreams 2014 World Cup with Eagles

    Al-Ittihad of Libya striker, Anthony Okpotu has said he has not given up on his dream of representing Nigeria at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

    Before leaving for Libya, the former Lobi Stars top striker was a regular in the Super Eagles camp under Coach Stephen keshi.

    His electrifying pace and goalscoring ability won him five call ups from Keshi to the senior national team.

    Okpotu, currently on holiday in Nigeria, said if given a chance to join the team for 2014 World Cup preparations, he would give his best.

    He said because his game has improved, he would not be surprised if he is handed another invitation.

    Okpotu maintained that because Keshi gives equal opportunity to players to fight for shirts in the Super Eagles, nobody should rule out the possibility of new players coming into the team.

    “I am not done with the Super Eagles and the 2014 World Cup,”he began. “I am still thinking of representing my country in Brazil. Before I travelled out, I was a regular in the Super Eagles camp.

    “I am very sure that Coach Stephen Keshi saw some qualities in me which he wanted to put to good use. These same qualities are there or should I say have got better and I believe I can still mix with the big boys, if given a chance.

    “Keshi is a fantastic manager. He knows what he wants and if in the end he feels that more players should be given a chance to fight for Brazil 2014 shirts, that would be fantastic.

    “Nobody should conclude that the squad for Brazil is ready. It is only the coach who can decide on that,” he noted.

    Okpotu, who has scored three goals and made so many assists for his Libyan club, said his present club is just a launch pad.

    Getting a better deal in Europe where he would show the world his talent, he revealed, is what he is looking forward to.

  • Okpotu returns to training

    Tony Okpotu has returned to training with his Libyan club Al Ittihad. Nigerian striker, Okpotu, suffered a hamstring injury on November 10 while in action for Al Ittihad in 3-1 win over Darness during which he scored a goal.

    Ex-Lobi Stars ace, Okpotu, told MTNFootball.com he is back at training and happy with his progress.

    “I have returned to training, I trained with the rest of the squad today and I am happy to be back. Though I still feel some pain but I am feeling better than before. I don’t want to take risks that will aggravate it, so I don’t think I will play this weekend,” Okpotu told MTNFootball.com

     

  • Okpotu sets 15 goals target in Libya

    Okpotu sets 15 goals target in Libya

    Ex-Lobi Stars striker Tony Okpotu has told MTNFootball.com he aims to score 15 goals in his first season with Libyan club Al Ittihad.

    Okpotu, who scored his first goal for Al Ittihad on Friday, said he wants to score more goals for his team.

    “My personal target here in Libya is to score nothing less than 15 goals in my first season with Al Ittihad,” Okpotu told MTNFootball.com.

    “I have scored one already in my first start and my second game. I know with hard work and God, I will achieve that.”

    Okpotu, who posted a man-of-the-match display on Friday, scored the opening goal with a header connecting a pull out and assisted for the winning goal in 2-1 win over Al Tahaddi.

    “I am very happy and excited getting my first goal and I am so happy we won.I am dedicating the goal to God and my mum. The goal will boost my confidence.”Okpotu said.