Sports
NFF Lambasts, Challenges Flying Eagles Coach
Nigeria Football Febertion, NFF President Aminu Maigari, has warned Flying Eagles coach. John Obuh following reports of ‘abuse’ and ‘personal interest’ in his team selection.
Obuh’s wards were eliminated in the first round of the Cape Town International Challenge in May, and the NFF was less than pleased at the outing.
Maigari made those feelings clear. “We are really disturbed. The NFF is not encouraged by your performance in South Africa and you have to work hard and be committed to a much better output in the qualifying series for the 2013 African Youth Championship, which start this month.”
Accusations of underhand dealings had made the rounds prior to, and after the tournament, and Maigari spared no punches as he ripped into Obuh and his assistants.
“Cases of dogged pursuit of personal interests and abuse have severally come out of your camp, and we are not happy about this.
“Here at the NFF, our job, our commitment and our task is always to raise teams that will make over 160 million Nigerians happy with good performance on the field of play. You are the champions of Africa and yet, you went to South Africa and lost all three group stage matches.
“This is disheartening.
“The fact that we give all the National Teams free hand does not mean that we don’t know what we are doing. You must consider it a privilege to be involved with a project that can give joy to the generality of Nigerians,” said Maigari.
The NFF President’s meeting with the Flying Eagles’ crew came against the backdrop of the team’s upcoming 2013 African Youth Championship qualifying fixture against Tanzania, which first leg comes up in Dar es Salaam on July 28.
Maigari added: “The Flying Eagles is a team known over the decades for giving joy to Nigerians through good results. Way back in 1983, the team became the first from Nigeria to participate in a FIFA tournament. We cannot afford to backslide so terribly.”
A suitably chastised Obuh pledged that he and his team will raise a team that will do Nigeria proud not only in the qualifying series, but at the African Youth Championship slated for Algeria between 16th – 30th March, next year.
Sports
CAA Wants Ghana To Host 2026 Athletics Champions
The Confederation of African Athletics has invited Ghana to bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 African Athletics Championships, following a successful athletics event at the just concluded 2023 African Games.
President of Ghana Athletics, Bawa Fuseini, stated this and expressed confidence in the transformative potential of the Legon Stadium for athletes and Ghana’s bid to host international competitions.
With a capacity of 11,000, the Legon Stadium played a pivotal role in the recent African Games, hosting both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as various sporting events including athletics, football, and rugby.
Fuseini highlighted the success of the athletics events held at the stadium, which contributed to Ghana winning six medals.
“We have already started getting requests from the Confederation of African Athletics to bid for the 2026 African Athletics Championships.
“When they came and saw what we have put in place and the level of organisation, they told me that for the last 20 years, they’ve never seen any organisation like this before. We did three official courses. And the last one, we had 110, all of them passed. We had a lot of officials and equipment.”
Since its establishment in 1979, Ghana has never hosted the African Athletics Championships, with Nigeria being the host country twice, in 1989 and 2018.
This year, Cameroon will take the reins as the host nation, with the event set to be held at the Olembe Stadium.
Sports
Onigbinde Not Sacked – Chairman
Chairman of Doma United, Suleiman Umar, has said head, coach Akinade Onigbinde was not relieved of his duties after the club announced former Kwara United, Niger Tornadoes and Katsina United coach, Abubakar Bala, as an addition to their technical crew.
Bala was announced as the technical adviser by the club on Wednesday.
According to the club, Bala’s appointment was necessitated by the dwindling fortunes of the team in the second stanza of the Nigeria Premier Football League, which has seen them drop to 13th in the table with 34 points after 27 matches.
“The appointment of Coach Bala is imperative given our recent challenges in the second half of the season. We believe his extensive experience in managing teams within the league will significantly contribute to our objective of maintaining our status,” Umar said in a statement.
“It’s worth noting that coach Bala will be collaborating closely with Coach Onigbinde and our dedicated coaching staff. The technical department is not open to all, and we caution against unwarranted meddling as we remain focused on our objectives.”
The Savannah Tigers are winless in eight matches since the start of the second stanza with their last win in the league being their 2-0 win over Katsina United in January.
Their performance is a stark contrast to the first half of the campaign, when they ranked in the top three.
With 11 matches to the end of the season, Bala and Onigbinde must find a way to rescue the club as they sit just three points above the relegation zone.
Sports
‘I’m Not Under Pressure To Coach Eagles’
Finidi George, head coach of the Nigeria Premier Football Leagues side, Enyimba, has stated that he is not losing any sleep over getting the Super Eagles job on a permanent basis.
Early this month, the Nigeria Football Federation declared the position of the Super Eagles’ head coach vacant, following the exit of Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who led the side to a second-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup Nations in Ivory Coast in February.
In an advertisement on its website calling for applications with a March 13 deadline, the football governing body stated that the prospective Eagles coach “must have proven experience at the elite level of football.”
The former Ajax man, who also applied for the job, was appointed Eagles interim coach for the international window with the former winger picking a win and suffering a defeat.
In an interview with Tidesports source, the 52-year-old tactician said he was not desperate for the job permanently.
“I felt really good when I was told to take charge of the team. I have been with the team for almost two years, I know all the players, their strengths, and their weaknesses but I am only here to serve Nigeria the way I know how to do stuff.
“I will just take these two games and go back to my club. Whatever the decision is taken after, so be it. I’m not under pressure to say I must get the role permanently.”
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