Sports
Enyimba Dreams FIFA World Club Cup
Chairman, Enyimba FC of Aba, Felix Anyansi Agwu, says the dream of the club is to represent the continent in the FIFA World Club Cup competition.
Agwu said in an interview in Aba yesterday, that the qualification for the semi finals of the Orange CAF Champion’s League had given the team a platform to actualise their dream.
He said the team had opportunity to play in the competition twice in 2003 and 2004, when it won the league trophy, but the competition was on each occasion postponed.
“There is nothing boastful about it, it is something we are motivated for based on circumstances that we have passed through.“We won the trophy in 2003 and 2004; we never had the opportunity to represent the African continent at the World Club Cup competition in those two occasions. “It was postponed and we regretted it. That haunted us a great deal and now this opportunity has come again. We have a platform now,’’ Agwu said.
He said Enyimba would play the first leg away in the semi finals against Widad De Casablanca of Morocco on Sept. 30, which is a good advantage.
The chairman said the team made it ‘a must win match’ so as to make the return leg a formality.
He said Enyimba was already monitoring their opponent’s tactics and they were equally monitoring us, but, “we are not new in the competition. We have garnered experiences over time’’.
Agwu said the team would not allow the opportunity to qualify for the final slip off. “God who gave us this chance will see us through. “We want to win in Morocco or come back home with a draw. It is a game we are going to approach with everything, which is the wealth of experience standing for us”.
“The highest level in football for a club is to play in the World Club Cup competition; this has eluded us twice when we actually merited it. “ I believe that God in his wisdom wants to use this particular competition to compensate us”, Agwu added.
“To showcase the beauty of Nigerian football in the world club competition, that has been our internal motivation, it is no longer money or about winning the CAF league trophy again, but representing this great nation in the World Club competition,’’ he said.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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