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  • Green, Udoh get CAF duties

    Green, Udoh get CAF duties

    Chairman of the NFF Technical and Development Committee, Chris Green has been appointed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as match commissioner for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Day 3 qualifier between Ghana’s Black Stars and the Mambas of Mozambique, scheduled for Accra on Thursday, March 24.

    Green, a ranking member of the NFF Executive Committee, will work with a Moroccan quartet of Bouchaib El Ahrach (referee), Redouane Achik (assistant referee 1), Mouhib Abdallah Filali (assistant referee 2) and Samir Guezzaz (reserve referee).

    The Group H clash will start at the Accra Sports Stadium at 3.30pm (Ghana) time.

    Meanwhile, CAF has also named Nigerian officials to take charge of proceedings of the Group B Day 4 qualifier between Central Africa Republic and Madagascar, scheduled for Bangui on Monday, March 28.

    Rising star, Ferdinand Anietie Udoh will be at the centre, with Abel Baba as assistant referee 1, Isah Usman as assistant referee 2 and Abdullahi Shuaibu as reserve referee.

    Gaspard Kayijuka from Rwanda will be the match commissioner.

  • Enyimba’s Udoh praises Eagles list

    Enyimba’s Udoh praises Eagles list

    • Seeks three points against Lobi

    Enyimba’s Mfon Udoh has praised the Super Eagles handlers for the consideration given to the home based in their choice of the 23 players invited for the Gabon 2017 AFCON qualifier.

    Udoh scored 23 league goals to become the all-time highest scorer in the league last season and he has been out of most of the league matches this term on the account of an ailment.

    The former Akwa United striker returned to the game after about 13 games out against his ex-club in Uyo last Wednesday and the player in an interview with SportingLife has thumbed up the list of home-based players released for the AFCON qualifier.

    “I am thrilled with the list released by the Eagles’ coaches and the names of players on that list really reflected players that are currently playing well for their clubs. It would have been partiality if I was picked. The truth is always bitter,”Udoh told SportingLife.

    Udoh further revealed his delight after he returned from the ailment that sidelined him for some weeks adding that his immediate goal is to ensure that Enyimba improve better on the league table and lay their hands on the elusive league title this term.

    He pointed out that they would come all out against Lobi Stars in Aba today with their sights on the three points which he reckons could take them back to the top of the league.

    Udoh has scored four goals from eight games this season.

  • Udoh: I’m back to my best

    Udoh: I’m back to my best

    • Enyimba striker resumes training on Thursday

    Enyimba FC striker and Glo Premier League all-time highest scorer, Mfon Udoh, has expressed joy at his return to full match fitness and can’t wait to resume training with his team mates when they return from Ilorin on Thursday.

    Udoh scored 23 goals last season to erase the 20-goal mark recorded by Jude Aneke, then of Kaduna United three seasons earlier, and scored four goals this term before falling ill.

    The former Akwa United striker told SportingLife that he is happy to be back and that he will rejoin the rest of his team mates when they return from Ilorin.

    “I am more than fit and raring to go. I thank everyone that has wished me well since I have been out. I am fine now.

    “I would have resumed training on Monday but because we are playing away to Kwara United I had to delay it till the team returns from Ilorin,” Udoh told SportingLife.

    The Enyimba scoring sensation has not played any league game since Week 7 of the current campaign.

  • I’m not down with stroke – Udoh

    I’m not down with stroke – Udoh

    Nigeria international Mfon Udoh has rubbished reports in a section of the local media which claimed that his career was under serious threat as he was suffering from stroke.

    The Enyimba striker was not pleased with the malicious article, adding that the journalist failed to confirm the authenticity of the story from him before going to press.

    “It’s disheartening to see journalists pick stories without confirming from the source,” Mfon Udoh said in a statement made available to allnigeriasoccer.com.

    “How come? Why did they write that I’m down with stroke when it’s obvious I’m doing fine?

    “Is it the writer that gave me stroke? It’s really annoying to put such a story out without speaking to me. It’s a big shame.”

    It would be recalled that Mfon Udoh was excused from the national team get – together a month ago after reporting to camp with an undisclosed ailment.

  • Amokachi drops Udoh for Bafana Bafana friendly

    Amokachi drops Udoh for Bafana Bafana friendly

    The overall top goal scorer of the Nigeria Professional Football League and Enyimba FC Striker, Mfon Udoh was one of four players dropped by interim coach of Nigeria,Daniel Amokachi  ahead of Sunday’s International friendly in Mbombela.

    The Federation had earlier said that only 23 players will execute the second of two friendlies it lined up for the March International window.

    Nigeria lost 1-0 to Uganda in the first friendly played inside the Nest of Champions on Wednesday. Farouk Miya’s deflected shot beat Vincent Enyeama on the veterans 100th international cap.

    Mfon’s exclusion would not come as a surprise, the striker who netted 23 league goals last season to help Enyimba finish as runners up of the NPFL saw bearly two minutes of game time in Uyo as he was considered fifth choice in the Eagles attack line which also boasts of English Championship club Watford forward, Odion Ighalo and 1. FC Koln’s Anthony Ujah.

    The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) tweeted the list of players selected for the South Africa clash.

    It will be the  third meeting in five months; both games were AFCON qualifiers and Shakes Masahaba’s team impressed against the 2013 AFCON winners.

  • Kano Pillars owe me N1.3m- Udoh

    Kano Pillars owe me N1.3m- Udoh

    Kano Pillars central defender, Kingsley Udoh  has expressed disappointment at the inability of Kano Pillars FC to facilitate his movement to Sunshine Stars Football Club of Akure while also owing him three months salary which amounts to N1.3m.

    The former Heartalnd player claimed in an interview with the SportingLife on Monday that all appeals to the club to ensure that he does not remain inactive had met a brick wall.

    He said: “The issue is all about Kano Pillars. I played  for the club last season, I played about twenty-eight games before leaving them. I left on the premise that they owed me for three months. The negotiation about my papers when I got there was not the way it went at the end of the season. I needed to leave them at the end of the season for Sunshine.

    “Presently, they are owing me N1.3m and that is three months salary. I signed one year contract with them. The one year salary is on enhanced salary after tax which is four hundred and fifty thousand naira monthly. But that is not the issue, the main issue is that they are refusing to sign my clearance papers which they are refusing to release to Sunshine Stars for me to start playing.

    “The league has started and they will be playing the third match now and they are not willing to comply. And that was not the negotiation I had with them when I got there. They said if I am leaving they are going to allow me to go.

    “The issue on ground is for them to release my papers; they gave me one million naira out of the four million naira from the money for my clearance. New players also got one million naira.

    “Though the government changed the board so the new ones don’t know how I came.  I am not dragging anything they have to release my papers,  but the management stated that the clearance is not valid, they need to enter fresh negotiation with Sunshine FC.”

    Meanwhile, efforts to clarify Udoh’s claims from the management of Kano Pillars proved abortive as the various officers spoken to claimed they were not in a good position to speak on Udoh’s allegations.

     

  • NFF congratulates Udoh, Oshoala

    NFF congratulates Udoh, Oshoala

    The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) has congratulated the duo of FIFA-badged referee Ferdinand Udoh and African Woman Player of the Year Asisat Oshoala for the deserved strides they made in the past few days.

    Udoh, 28, and much respected for his athletism, firmness and strict application of the rules of the game, has been selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as one of the referees for the 11th African U-17 Championship taking place in Niger Republic between February 15  and March 1 .

    Oshoala, Most Valuable Player of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Canada, and also undisputable choice for same honour at the African Women Championship in Namibia last year, signed a professional contract with Liverpool Ladies Football Club of England.

    NFF Acting President, Seyi Akinwunmi, lauded the duo and charged them to see their strides as calls to put in even more effort and diligence into their different vocations.

    “The NFF is happy with the selection of Ferdinand Udoh for the African U-17 Championship in Niger. This underscores that the integrated efforts we are making for the general improvement of refereeing in Nigeria has not gone unnoticed by the organisations that matter.

    “For some years now, we have not had a Nigerian centre referee at major competitions. Now, Udoh is starting with the U-17, which we know is a stepping stone to further glory and much greater glory. Let me reiterate that our objective is to see a Nigerian referee, or referees, officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

    “We congratulate Oshoala who is definitely the new poster girl of Nigeria’s women football. Her contract with Liverpool Ladies will certainly encourage her mates in the National Team to also put in more efforts to attract the attention of the best clubs in the world.”

    Oshoala was duly crowned the African Woman Player of the Year and Youth Player of the Year at the Glo-CAF African Football Awards in Lagos earlier this month, with Nigeria also claiming the Women National Player of the Year diadem.

    Ferdinand Anietie Udoh, born in 1987, became a FIFA-badged referee in 2013.

    Nigeria’s leading assistant referee, Peter Edibi, is presently working at the 30th Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea.

  • NIGERIA VS YEMEN: Mfon Udoh targets first Eagles goal

    NIGERIA VS YEMEN: Mfon Udoh targets first Eagles goal

    Enyimba striker, Mfon Udoh, has told supersport.com he is hoping to get off the mark for the Nigerian men’s national team when they face Yemen this Saturday in an international friendly.

    Udoh has put behind the 0-1 loss to Ivory Coast over the weekend and is now focus on facing Yemen in Dubai.

    Sudan were initially billed to face the Super Eagles but pulled out and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) contacted the Yemen FA.

    However, Udoh said he is ready to face the Yemenis despite knowing his country’s team have never confronted them in an international match before now.

    “It’s a good opportunity for the team and myself to play against them (Yemen). I hear it is the first time we will play against them, so we will want to acquaint ourselves very well in this game, and not underrate them. Hopefully we will win this and I am also looking to score in this game too. The game against Ivory Coast has come and gone and we have to concentrate on the next match,” Udoh told supersport.com from the team’s hotel camp in Dubai.

    The former Akwa United striker also reflected on the clash with the Ivorians.

    He admitted that the Elephants of Ivory Coast were “very good, big and strong.”

    “The Ivory Coast game was a very good and quality test for us, and I believe the team did very well against very good, big and strong opposition like the IVory Coast. We always knew it would never be an easy game at all against them,” he said.

    On his future at club level, Udoh stated that he is focused on his international adventure with the Super Eagles.

    “For now I am concentrating with the national team but my future (at club level) will be resolved and I will let you know. But I have never said I am in no hurry to leave for a club abroad,” he remarked.

    Udoh has played in two international matches for Nigeria against Ghana and Ivory Coast, and is now in line to feature in a third match against Yemen.

  • Abu Dhabi friendly will expose Eagles – Udoh, Wilfred

    Abu Dhabi friendly will expose Eagles – Udoh, Wilfred

    SUPER Eagles invitees Mfon Udoh and Ammel Wilfred have seperately admitted that the friendly games in Abu Dhabi will expose the domestic league players technically and tactically despite the country’s absence from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea.

    The Enyimba striker and Kogi United midfielder are among the 24 home-based players invited for the international friendly matches against Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan by stand-in coach Daniel Amokachi.

    Udoh, who is Europe-bound after he netted a record 23 league goals for Enyimba, said they are not scared of the Ivorians as he believes the home-based team are capable of recording victories in Abu Dhabi.

    “Sudan will be a good test because they gave Nigeria a real test during the Nations Cup qualifiers. They proved themselves home and away. Cote d’Ivoire have a strong team,” Udoh told Goal.

    “Most of their players are in Europe and they are one of the Nations Cup title contenders. I am excited we are playing the two teams and confident we can win both games,” he said.

    Wilfred, who is getting his first call-up to the senior national team from a second tier league outfit, expressed excitement at the opportunity and is hopeful of justifying his invitation.

    “First of all, I give God Almighty the glory and the coach for giving me this chance. It’s a rare opportunity any player can come by and I hope to prove myself if selected to play in any of the games,” Wilfred told Goal.

    “For me, it will not be easy going against a big team like Cote d’ Ivoire becauses of the array of stars in their rank, but we must not forget quickly that football is not about stars but team work.

    “Though it’s a friendly game, I believe we can win the two matches if you look at the talents and understanding within the team,” he said.

    Both games are slated for January 11 and January 19 respectively.

  • Udoh awards pass mark to Akwa Utd

    Udoh awards pass mark to Akwa Utd

    Akwa Untied technical adviser, Patrick Udoh has awarded his side a pass mark in the outgoing 2013/14 Glo Premier League season.

    The Promise Keepers will round off their season’s campaign at relegated side, Crown FC on Sunday at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan.

    Udoh said the side achieved given the harsh condition they operated though unable to meet up their season’s set goals.

    “I’ll without hesitation award ourselves an average mark of 50% in the outgoing league season looking at the circumstances under which we operated. I think we didn’t under-perform, even though it appears somehow disappointing that we didn’t achieve our target.

    “We had this dream at inception of the season that with the calibre of players in our fold, we should be able to earn a ticket to the continent. That didn’t happen but in all, we won’t tag the season as entirely a bad one.

    “We have  more or less an inconsequential final day match at Crown FC to end the season’s campaign, we hope to go there to give it our very best but we’re certain not to play under pressure or tension.

    “There is absolutely nothing at stake for both sides irrespective of the outcome as we won’t win the league title, earn ticket to Africa or go down on relegation while for Crown, it’s over as far as the Nigeria Premier League is concerned. I think it’s only the three points that are necessary in the encounter at least to end the league season on high,” said Udoh to supersport.com.

    Akwa United are 13th on the league log on 51 points from a possible 111 at the conclusion of week 37 matches of the Nigerian top flight.