The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sure

  • Nwakali, Osimhen sure of crushing Congo DR

    Nwakali, Osimhen sure of crushing Congo DR

    Golden Eaglets’ captain, Kelechi Nwakali and gangling striker, Victor Osimhen is confident of opening Nigeria’s 2015 African Championship account on a winning note today.

    Osimhen is undoubtedly Golden Eaglets’ in-form striker based on recent performances, especially the brace he scored in the team’s 4-2 win against Egypt in Cairo early this month. He is also one of the team’s top scorers – jointly in second position with Suleiman Abdullahi on six goals and behind Kehinde Ayinde on seven.

    “My focus now is on the match against Congo (Democratic Republic) and that has always been my style days before an important game,” said Victor. “The good thing is that we have a good attacking force in this team and my prayer is that I should be one of our goal scorers against Congo DR.”

    The Golden Eaglets have scored an average of three goals per match after amassing an impressive 63 goals in 21 matches under the spell of Coach Emmanuel Amuneke (MON).

    Yet Nwakali, who is not far away on the team’s top scorers’ list with four goals including an unforgettable ‘intercontinental ballistic missile’ in the 2-1 win against Abuja College of Football in April, is backing Osimhen to be amongst the goalscorers against the Junior Leopards.

    “If there is any player I’m sure of scoring a goal at least against Congo DR, it is Victor because he has improved tremendously,” said Nwakali. “One other thing I’m also sure about of this match is that we are going to win by the special grace of God.”

    He added that anybody fielded against Congo DR on Saturday would do more than enough to ensure the success of the team insisting that the present Golden Eaglets  are as gifted as their predecessors that won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup last year.

  • Unilever rebrands Sure deodorant

    Unilever Nigeria has launched Rexona, a global Deodorant brand into the market.

    The event held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    With the launch of Rexona, Sure deodorant is changing its name in Nigeria to Rexona. The brand said the reason for launching Rexona and not Sure is that Sure is only sold in the United Kingdom and Unilever wanted to open the market for it.

    Rexona is the number one deodorant brand in the world because it has a better portfolio of variants that can better serve consumers.

    Unilever believes Rexona will be successful in Nigeria because of the great mix they are launching, which involves three male and three female variants. The key format in the launch is the 25ml mini roll-on, which is a first in Nigeria.

    According to James Inglesby, Category Manager, Skin Care & Deodorants for Unilever Nig Plc, “The 50ml roll-on is priced at 250NGN and the 25ml roll-on at a great price of just 150NGN making antiperspirant deodorant affordable to more of the population”.

    Unilever will also be launching Rexona 200ml Aerosols, Axe body spray, Dove roll on and Dove body spray before the end of the year. He added: “Using Rexona makes you feel clean, dry and fresh every day.”

     

  • Mba sure of Eagles victory

    Mba sure of Eagles victory

    Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Mba, has expressed the confidence that Ivory Coast will fall when they face Nigeria in the second leg of the African Nations Championships (CHAN)qualifier in Abidjan this weekend.

    The Warri Wolves player, fondly tagged “Ivorien killer” by fans, because of his fondness for scoring against the West African nation, was speaking with futaa.com in an exclusive interview before the team departed for Lagos on Wednesday.

    “I always feel excited when I see Ivory Coast, and this time is not different, Mba said.

    “I always feel like I have a certain luck with them, and can almost say with assurance that I will have a good game against them, no matter where we play them.

    “However, going back to Abidjan will not be child’s play, because we are aware they will be ready.

    “But we will be prepared for them, and we are sure we can we can do it,” Mba said.

  • KENYA VS NIGERIA: 54.35% fans were sure of Eagles

    KENYA VS NIGERIA: 54.35% fans were sure of Eagles

    Super Eagles lone goal victory over Harambee Stars of Kenya did not come to 54.35% of soccer fans who predicted possible score of the tie as a surprise. While 21.74% correctly predicted that the African Champions will run away with a lone goal, 17.39% predicted 0-2 result in favour of Eagles while 15.22% expected Kenya to score consolation goal with the result standing at 1-2.

    465.65% of the fans who used the platform provided by Soccerway.com, however, declined to take a stand preferring to adopt the wait and see posture.

    Those who later bared their minds in a chat with SportingLife via social media after the match which saw Lazio and Super Eagles midfielder Ogenyi Onazi pick up yellow card in the 56th minute, hailed the Stephen Keshi tutored side for rising to the occasion.

    Confident Keshi had prior to the match expressed assurance that the team will settle for nothing but a win.

    “We respect the Kenyans for what they achieved when we played in Nigeria, but I like to state that is in the past. We have forgotten about that, just as we are not going to be thinking about the fact that we have beaten Kenya in nine of 11 previous meetings.

    “The important thing is that we have a mission here and that is to pick the maximum points and then go to Namibia to do same.

    “That way, we would have enhanced our chances of qualification for the World Cup before going to the Confederations Cup,” he had enthused.

  • IKE SHORUNMU’S BOMBSHELL: Enyeama, Ejide not sure of shirt

    IKE SHORUNMU’S BOMBSHELL: Enyeama, Ejide not sure of shirt

    Super Eagles’ Assistant Coach, Ike Shorunmu has revealed to SportingLife that he has made up his mind to invite another goalkeeper, whose identity he did not disclose, to join the other two home based goalkeepers, namely Chigozie Agbim and Daniel Akpeyi.

    The former Eagles’ first choice in goal lamented that the possibility of the Nigerian Premier League not commencing on time before the December 17th, 2012 camping for the home based Eagles will definitely affect the fitness level and conditioning of the players.

    “I doubt if the Nigeria Premier League would kick off before we commence camping for the home boys here in Nigeria in December 17th, which means we have to take these boys again on conditioning and most importantly on fitness level which takes time to reach 100 per cent level. But I am sure the boss will find a away around it. This won’t affect our resolve to do well in South Africa although it could hinder preparations”, Shorunmu disclosed.

    “The work load will be too much on Agbim and Akpeyi so we are considering inviting another goalkeeper to compliment the already invited ones in camp. From the trio, we should get what we want and there will be fierce competition to pick the best”, the former Shooting Stars Football Club goaltender summed up.

    Shorunmu also stated his wish that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) would extend the January 9th, 2013 deadline given for the submission of the final team list of the Super Eagles and others and most importantly in the interest of Nigeria’s preparations for the competition.

    According to him, the deadline will affect the plans of the Chief Coach Stephen Keshi as the team plans to start the first phase of final preparations from December 17th in Nigeria, while the second phase will kick off in Faro, Portugal in January 4th, 2013.

    “Honestly speaking, if I have my way I would have wished for a date farther than the January 9th, 2013 deadline. But I am sure my boss (Stephen Keshi) will take care of that since the deadline affects all the participating 16 teams from Africa. The Chief Coach will definitely find a way round the situation in other not to affect our initial plans for the team”, Shorunmu told SportingLife.

  • Enyimba’s Okoye sure of stay

    Enyimba forward Onyekachi Okoye believes he will be retained by the club folloing his performance in the last season.

    Reports from the Aba base of the two-time African champions League winners indicate that there will be massive clearance of players as a result of the team’s failure to pick any of the continental slots for next season but the former Lobi and Akwa United player told futaa.com that he is willing to stay with the six-time Nigerian champions for next season.

    “If I have to rate myself I will say I scored six out of 10 and this is because I was out for almost three months due to injury. I really want to prove to the club that they did not make a mistake by signing me and hopefully I will still be with them next season,” he told futaa.com.

    The winger scored five goals for the People’s Elephants who ended the season in fourth.