Sports
Angola 2010: Super Eagles Back On Track …Struggle Past Squirrels Of Benin …1Egypt Qualifies For 1/4 Final
Yakubu Ayegbeni converted a penalty three minutes from half time as Nigeria got their African Nations Cup campaign back on track with a 1-0 win over West African neighbours Benin Republic.
Under pressure following Tuesday’s 1-3 defeat to Egypt. Nigeria were desperate to haul themselves back into contention. and under-pressure coach Shuaibu Amodu duly rang the changes.
Out went defensive trio of centreback Obinna Nwaneri. left back Taye Taiwo and defensive midfielder Yusuf Ayila. In their place, Amodu handed a Nations Cup debut to left back Elderson Echiejile, and brought back Danny Shittu to take Nwaneri’s place at the heart of defence.
Osaze Odemwingle, who has shaken off a flu infection. came back into the side at the expense of Ayila, with Kalu Uche moving deeper into a midfield role.
The changes looked to have done little to stabilise Nigeria’s brittle-looking defence when Yobo miscued a ball and was then nearly taken out of the play by Razak Omotoyossi, but the Everton man, despite being flat on his butt. kept his head and conceded a corner Instead.
Nigeria were the more composed side, for most of the half. but It was their less illustrious neighbours who almost drew first blood.
Ogunbiyi squeezed out space inside of Dicksonb Etuhu to lay a lovely ball for Stephane Sessegnon, but the PSG man squeezed hiS shot Just wide of Enyeama’s post.
Played in behind by a delicious Uche ball, Yakubu found himself played onside by Boco, but contnved to side-foot the ball wide, to the collective groan of the Nigerian nation.
Nigeria continued to create half chances, exposing their offensive failings with an inability to apply finishing touches. yakubu then found himself with another chance to open his account, but failed to dig the ball out from under his foot and just poked it to Uche, who was robbed before he could so much as look at the ball.
And then Nlgena’s defensive problems almost cost them tWice within two minutes. First, Mikel and Echiejile passed themselves Into trouble on the left side, and needed to be rescued by Shittu, whose ticking off for the pair could only be classified under a PG file
Vincent Enyeama’s crossbar.
And then Nigeria found the breakthrough.
Mikel won a freekick as he was upended out in one of his marauding raids upfront. His low freeklck was touched on by goalkeeper Chitou and missed by Yakubu, Uche and Odemwingie, only to cause half a dozen different sorts of trouble for goalkeeper Chitou and fall for Obasi.
His cutback to Osaze’s head was on its way in when it was handled and Nigeria given the spotkick. Yak made no mistake from the spot.
Shittu could have extended Nigeria’s lead five minutes into the second half, as Chitou again had difficulty dealing with a low daisy-cutter. but Yak and Uche again arrived too late to take advantage.
Nigeria skipper Joseph Yobo was forced to go off with a hamstring injury seven minutes shy of the hour mark and his absence almost led to an equaliser. But his replacement Onyekachi showed strength and awareness to keep the raiders at bay.
Both sides continued to trade punches, and Benin hit the post again.
But in the end, the Super Eagles held on for their first victory of the campaign, to take some of the pressure off coach Amodu.
Meanwhile, the Pharaohs of Egypt moments later beat Mozambique 2-0 to book a quarter final sport.
An own goal early in the second half and a thumping finish by Gebo ensured that the two time defending champions established an unassailable six points with one game o go in the group.
Now, Nigeria must not lose against the Mambas of Mozambique in the decisive final group match and hope that Benin does not upset Egypt to advance to the next stage.
In a bid to have more young talented Nigerians to play professional football abroad, Johnny Ogbah, a sports lawyer and football intermediary, has called on parents to enroll their children in Vector Programme.
He stated that the programme is in conjunction with Conventry Football Club in United Kingdom (UK), saying that the programme includes academics where a child can acquire a degree.
Ogbah, made the call while addressing sports journalists recently in Port Harcourt, as the programme will admit students into Brooke College between the age of 11 and 18 Football Academy.
The major objective of Vector Programme is to give the young ones a career through sports and good education. The programme does not train people on football only but also other things that is related to sporting environment, he said.
According to him, more than 20 Nigerians have benefited from the programme on scholarship and most of them are now playing football in top clubs in Europe.
“Vector programme was poised to create an avenue to give people to play football to the highest level.
Apart from football the child can also have quality education. It will interest you to know that those in Vector programme play friendly games that attracts scouts from different countries and football clubs.
The programme doesn’t train you on only football but also train people on everything that is associated to sports”, Ogbah said.
The former Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) player further disclosed Vector programme pathways provides the practice opportunities that players need if they are to successfully graduate as a professional player.
By: Tonye Orabere
The Head Coach of Khana FC in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Sam Ledor, has blamed his players as they were unable to convert scoring chances.
According to him, if those chances created in their opening match against Jet Bomber FC at the ongoing Nation wide League One (NLO), in Omoku centre were converted, it would have given them victory.
Ledor, said this on Saturday in a chat with Tidesports shortly after they played goalless draw against Jet Bomber FC in their opening match in 2024 NLO Division in Omoku, Rivers State.
“ We created a lot of scoring chances but could not find the net”, he said.
He explained that playing goalless draw is not a bad result in football but in a competition like this, they need to score goals and win matches.
“ My brother, we missed a lot of scoring chances which is not good. I trainned my players on how to create chances and to convert them.
“ What is important in a competition is winning but as we did not lose the game, we will look forward for our next game.
“We will go back to the drawing board and correct the grey areas in our game and ensure we get better results in our next outing.
“Today’s game is gone, what we need to do is to make sure we win our next game,” he stated.
He pointed out that no game comes easy but the effort you put in will give good result. They tried their best today and the result was good for both teams but we need to win our next game.
“My opponents were also a good side; they tried all what they could but didn’t score also. It was a good game but my team needs to win games,” he added.
By: Kiadum Edookor
A French-American, John Walter Wilkins is confident Rivers Hoopers can make it to the playoff round of the 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Wilkins, who is the son of former NBA player Jeff Wilkins, linked up with his Hoopers teammates at the team’s training camp in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, ahead of the 2024 BAL Savannah Conference games, which tip off on Saturday, 4th May, 2024, in Dakar, Senegal.
Wilkins is no stranger to African basketball, having played for Moroccan sides AS Salé (2015-2016) and Ittihad Tanger (2017-2019), before leading Stade Malien to a third-place finish at BAL 2023.
Looking ahead to the 2024 BAL, Wilkins says the quality of basketball across Africa has improved, with the BAL requiring a high level of competitiveness, but backed Rivers Hoopers to spring a surprise at the tournament.
“It’s a really high level, a great competition; [it’s] one of the best I’ve played in since I’ve been in Africa. But we don’t need to be scared. We need to just attack the moment, be there, be present, and I think if we are confident in our abilities, we can surprise people,” he said.
Since its inaugural season in 2021, Nigerian teams have appeared twice at the BAL, with Rivers Hoopers playing in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2021 and Kwara Falcons featuring at BAL 2023.
Despite failing to reach the playoffs on both previous occasions, Wilkins is optimistic that with the quality of players in the Hoopers squad as well as the recruitment done ahead of the BAL, Rivers Hoopers will be more competitive in this season’s BAL.
“I’m really optimistic. I know that those past years the teams from Nigeria didn’t do well, but I think with me, Kelvin [Amayo], Will [Perry], and the other guys, I think we can show the way, have some wins, and be more competitive,” he stated.
The Nigerian Champions were drawn in the Savannah Conference alongside former BAL Champions US Monastir (Tunisia), last year’s runners-up AS Douanes (Senegal), and APR (Rwanda).
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