Sports
FIFA U-17: Asians Dominate Opponents In Azerbaijan
Asian sides had a field day as Group C and D of the FIFA
U-17 Women’s World Cup Azerbaijan 2012 got underway yesterday with China PR
outclassing Uruguay to win 4-0 and Japan hitting five goals against Brazil
without reply.
Earlier in the day, Germany scraped past Ghana 2-1, while a
solitary Fernanda Perez header gave Mexico the narrowest of victories over New
Zealand.
The top scorer and Most Valuable Player at last year’s AFC
U-16 Women’s Championship, Yui Narumiya lived up to her star billing when she
stepped out at Azerbaijan 2012 on Sunday. The JFA Academy Fukushima player had
already opened her account for the tournament with her side’s third goal of the
day when she added a stunning second to complete the rout of the Brazilians.
After skipping round her marker with some dazzling footwork inside the box, she
smacked a rising drive against the bar and reacted quicker than anyone to lash
the rebound into the opposite corner with a thumping volley.
Uruguay goalkeeper Gabriela Gonzalez had a FIFA U-17 Women’s
World Cup debut to forget. At fault for two of China PR’s opening three goals,
the unfortunate custodian was then dismissed for handling the ball outside the
box – the first red card ever to be shown in the competition – and left the
field in tears.
After Ri Un-Sim and Ri Kyong-Hyang’s hat-tricks for Korea
DPR against Gambia on Saturday, and Ri Hyang-Sim’s brace in the same game, yet
more Asian strikers were in among the goals on Sunday. Rika Masuya and Yui
Narumiya both scored doubles in Japan’s emphatic defeat of Brazil, while China
PR’s Zhang Chen struck twice against Uruguay. Asia’s three sides have scored 20
goals and conceded none so far, with the aforementioned six players accounting
for all but six of them.
The Asian trio have made their intentions clear by sweeping
all before them on the opening weekend at Azerbaijan 2012. Coming hard on the
heels of Korea DPR’s 11-0 defeat of Gambia, Japan and China PR’s handsome
victories on Sunday ensured that the AFC is the only confederation with a 100
percent record in the tournament. What’s more, the Young Nadeshiko and the
Steel Roses have also maintained Asia’s dominance over South American sides in
the competition. Six times teams from the two regions have met in the FIFA U-17
Women’s World Cup and six times the Asian representatives have won.
Sports
NPFL: 3SC End Winless Run …As Insurance Settle For Draw
Coach Gbenga Ogunbote and 3SC can heave a sigh of relief after ending their four-game winless run in the 2022/23 Nigeria Professional Football League with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Plateau United in Ibadan on Wednesday, Tidesports source reports.
The Oluyole Warriors have struggled to get results at home this season, and they found themselves behind after 29 minutes against their visitors in the match-day 11 encounter.
Samuel Ayanrinde, however, stepped up for Ogunbote’s side again, equalising before halftime, before putting them ahead minutes into the second half.
Defender Ghali Falke added the third for 3SC in the 59th minute, but there was still enough time for Plateau United to pull one back as the game ended 3-2. The result saw Plateau United drop to fourth on the table while 3SC moved up to seventh.
Meanwhile, there will be no change in the top-two as Group A leaders Bendel Insurance were also forced to a 1-1 draw by second-place Akwa United in Benin City.
In-form striker Osarenkhoe Imade was in the right place at the right time to poke home the lead for the Benin Arsenal and his eighth goal of the season inside two minutes, but the Promise Keepers levelled matters on the half hour mark through Cyril Olisema.
Elsewhere in Aba, Enyimba failed to close the gap on the top two teams as they dropped points at home for the second game running in their 1-1 draw against Nasarawa United.
League top scorer Emeka Obioma found the back of the net from the spot again to give Enyimba the lead and take his tally to nine, but the Elephants were undone by an Emmanuel Ogbole’s 76th minute equaliser. They, however, managed to leapfrog into third place, thanks to 3SC’s defeat of Plateau United in Ibadan.
Sports
NDSS Holds Inter-House Sports Competition …As Green House Emerge Winners
Director of Niger Delta Science School, Rumuola Port Harcourt, Emmanuel Egbuchiem has stated that the essence of organising an Inter-House Sports competition among students was not basically about winning laurels but to ensure that students develop the spirit of sportsmanship that will help them excel in all their endeavors.
Mr. Egbuchiem who made this remark at the 23rd Annual Inter-House Sports Athletic Competition of NDSS held recently at Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Football field firstly thanked God for his mercy towards making the hosting of the Inter-House Sports Competition a recently despite the prevailing situation in the country, especially the challenge posed by the Naira design and the ongoing general election exercise.
Though, this years edition of the competition was held on a low key as a result of the liquidity of cash in the country, nevertheless, I must not fail to express my profound thanks to the Rector Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Rumuola Dr. Sam Kalagbor for his approval and willingness at all time in supporting the NDSS in all her endeavours to host the competition which according to him was not easy to organize.
The School Director also commend parents for their untiringly efforts and sacrifices made to ensure that their children continued to attend the NDSS consistently even in the face of the current financial difficulties, not minding other skeptics and discouraging words from the mischievous ones in the society.
While commending the students of NDSS for being punctual in school irrespective of the long distance they covered in trekking down to the college, the Director equally reminded all the participants in the competition that what is paramount in the competition is the zeal and energy each of them put in the practice
On his part, the Chairman of the occasion Dr. Bobo Moses noted that it was not a contestable fact that the inter-house athletic sports being parts of the sporting activities organised every year in schools will not only help to bring the students together to work as a team but will also help to enhance their mental development to excel in their endeavours in life.
Sports
Eguma Pledges To Work On Players Fitness
The Technical Manager of Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt, Stanley Eguma has said that he will work on the players fatigue before next League game.
He stated that fatigue adversely affected his players performance in the Nigeria Professional Football League, (NPFL) particularly the game against Abia Warriors in the match day 10 last Sunday.
Eguma said this on Sunday in a chat with Sports journalists shortly after his side forced the visitors to one all draw in the NPFL at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
He described the game as a difficult one but expressed joy for securing draw at the end of the day.
“ It is a game of football. It was a fair game but it was a difficult one for us.
“We missed a lot of chances in the first half but I thank God we were able to secure a draw.
“ We have managed the fatigue in the team, you can see the result of today’s game but we are going to improve on our games subsequently.
“ We will go back to the drawing board and see what we can do in our next outing.
“ You can never tell today’s result was very difficult but we are going to plan to improve in other games”, Eguma said.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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