Sports
AFN President Faults Siting Of Abuja Performance Centre
President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Solomon Ogba, has faulted the siting of a High Performance Centre inside the National Stadium in Abuja.
Ogba told newsmen in Abuja that the federation would use the high performance centre at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers to prepare athletes for international competitions.
“The High Performance Centre we have for athletics is in the University of Port Harcourt; we just completed our track and the hostels, which is about 75 per cent complete.
“The university has already provided the professionals that will run the centre – food nutritionist, exercise physiologist and all the science-based professionals.
“That is one centre that we believe will do the magic; what the University of Port Harcourt is providing will be what we just need to bridge the gap and correct all the wrongs.“
He said that the centre, when completed would be utilised by other English speaking countries in West Africa, noting that the centre has about 120 beds with air-conditioned hostel rooms of international standard.
According to Ogba, the centre has a cafeteria and other amenities that befit a high performance centre.
The AFN president said that the perceived High Performance Centre built inside the National Stadium Abuja by the National Sports Commission (NSC) would be counterproductive to athletes’ development.
“High performance centres are usually set up in universities; the one in Jamaica is in the University of Technology in Kingston; the one in South Africa is in the University of Pretoria.
“In Germany, everything is in the university; so we think that Nigeria should follow best practice and the right thing should be done.
“But we are going ahead as a federation and our centre is set up by the International Association Athletics Federations (IAAF).
“Can you employ a pharmacologist, food nutritionist, professor of physiology? Those are the issues; can the National Sports Commission employ them? They cannot because athletics is not just one person.
“It’s a conglomeration of people coming together bringing various expertise into one thing.“
According to Ogba, the federation also advised against the construction of a doping laboratory inside the stadium.
“When they were trying to set up the anti-doping lab in the stadium we advised them not to do it.
“We told them that all over the world these things are usually sited in the universities or in privately run research laboratories, but they didn’t listen.
“Now the facilities are obsolete, we can’t use them anymore,“ he said.
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
‘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.”
Sports
‘Reasons Why Eagles Lost To Mali’
The friendly games against Ghana and Mali were to serve as an audition for George Finidi, who was in charge of the team on an interim basis, but the Eagles’ lacklustre display in those friendlies has called for his further evaluation.
Finidi kept faith with ex-coach Jose Peseiro’s defensive formation against Mali on the back of his first win (against Ghana) in charge of the team four days earlier.
But this time, his defence was punished following a combination of defensive errors and poor passes.
The Eagles struggled to play out of defence due to the high pressing of the Malians and it was no surprise that the first goal by Les Aigles was a direct result of their aggression.
Chidozie Awaziem, who started on the right of the back three alongside Kenneth Omeruo and Semi Ajayi, lacked composure and was pressured into making a pass across his box straight at Bilal Toure, who made no mistake in getting the ball past Stanley Nwabali. They missed the calming presence of injured William Troost-Ekong.
Vice captain, Kenneth Omeruo, was also culpable of misplaced passes and was beaten for pace when Kamory Doumbia ran past him to seal Mali’s first win in over four decades, firing his shot past a helpless Nwabali, who stood no chance.
Eagles wing backs, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Jamilu Collins also did not do enough to support the team in attack when they had the chance to.
Lack of creativity
Finidi paired Raphael Onyedika and Wilfred Ndidi in a double pivot in midfield. Both players are naturally anchor men and neither is a box-to-box midfielder.
They both do not possess the offensive capability to drive the team’s attack forward, which left the Eagles once again craving for a natural creative midfielder.
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