Sports
Excitement As NPFL 2013 Season Takes Centrestage
Five months after the end of the last season, Nigeria’s top flight football competition returned over the weekend.
Re-christened as the Nigeria Professional Football League, in a bid to distance it from the legal pot-holes afflicting the last competition, it was a welcome relief to actually see football played for a change.
And what a start it proved to be.
Watched by a mammoth crowd that included members of the League Management Company, led by chairman Nduka Irabor, the first televised game of the season was settled by Bitrus Dada’s first half goal.
The former Unicem Rovers striker took advantage of calamitous defending to poach the winner in a tightly-contested game.
On their way to the title last season, Kano Pillars won just one game away from home. That was against Akwa United on the final day of the season, with the title confirmed as theirs.
This time, they have wasted no time laying down their season’s marker. Rabiu Ali secured the winner with less than five minutes left.
But the three points almost turned to one when the home side were handed a penalty but fluffed it.
Solomon Ogbeide became the first coach this season to have a go at referees after his team were beaten 2-1 in Port Harcourt.
Ogbeide was livid that his side were denied a goal by the officials.
In any case, goals from George Amakiri and Frederick Obomanu gave the home side what looked like a commanding lead, until former Sharks man Akeem Yakubu came back to punish his old club just before the break.
Two days before the season started, Heartland General Manager, Fan Ndubuoke said how unfair it was that his side had been classed as pretenders rather than contenders in the season preview.
On the evidence of their opening game, he may have cause to look inwards to find the cause of that gripe.
New boys Nembe City, in their first top flight game, showed little fear. Coached by ex-junior international full back John Aranka, they took the lead through Brown Braye.
Heartland took a while but eventually hit back. Olusesi finding a headed connection top Jolly Osas’ cross.
But Samuel Akinbinu settled matters with a goal of international quality with just over 15 minutes left to play.
With many of the players who helped the club reach the CAF Champions League semifinal having departed, Sunshine Stars looked disjointed as they welcomed Kaduna United to the Akure Township Stadium.
But they would be grateful to one the remaining old guard, Ajani Ibrahim, whose goal after eight minutes settled the fixture.
Former champions Bayelsa United marked their return to the top division with a narrow in over ever-present campaigners Lobi Stars.
Babangida Ibrahim saw his fierce left foot volley tipped away by John Lawrence before Iyasele Odili struck nearly on the stroke of full time.
Odili stole in at the back post to meet Otimoti Diri’s excellent cross.
Premier League returnees Nasarawa United and El Kanemi came face to face in this fixture that could have swung either way.
Neither side looked imposing enough and in the end, a barren draw was the best score.
If Nasarawa and El Kanemi cancelled each other out from the familiarity of having campaigned in the lower division last term, ABS and Kwara United’s familiarity came from proximity.
Both are based out of Kwara State, and know each other inside out. Last season, this opening fixture also ended in the same scoreline.
Kwara will be the happier of the two, having been on the receiving end of a 3-0 scoreline against ABS in the past.
Shooting Stars have played perhaps more pre-season games than any other club in the build-up to the season’s kick-off.
And the preparations showed in their dismantling of Gombe United, who arrived with a proud record of not having lost to the Oluyole Warriors in two seasons.
Tony Edjomariegwe and Osagona Ighodaro scored in a ten-minute first half spell to hand the Oluyole Warriors the full points.
Akwa United, who lost at home on the final day of last season, opened this campaign with a much needed win over Dolphins.
Isaako All Stars FC of Opuoko and Khana Khana AllStars Football all in Local Government Area of Rivers State will tomorrow engage in a friendly football match at Opuoko Mini Stadium.
Chatting with Tidesports in a telephone interview yesterday the Chairman of Khana All Stars Saro Tap-le said that the encounter is not going to be an easy game in spite it is an AllStars game.
He express his side readiness for the encounter stating that the opportunity as come for them to showcase their talents.
However, the chairman explained that AllStars game is not about winning but the excitement, love, unity and friendship it creates is more important.
” Tomorrow game is not going to be an easy one despite is a AllStars game. We are going there in a full force to do what we know how to do best and to showcase our talents.
“As Chairman of Khana All Stars I believes we have an edge over the Isaako All Stars be we are training so hard for the encounter” Tap-le said.
Also speaking the Chairman of Isaako All Stars Mina Zaasi Iloori sees the match as an opportunity to build relationships.
” My brother it is an AllStars friendly game I think winning is not important but the paramount thing is the relationship we are going to create among both teams and my community at large
” We are training hard because of the encounter because I will not be in my house and somebody will rob soap in my eyes.
” As I speak with you we are just coming from back training ground to ensure all my players are fit for the match.
” I am using this medium to call on football fans to come en mass to Opuoko Mini Stadium tomorrow and enjoy the best of round leather game.
I promise the game will be an exciting display of football talents and sportsmanship”, Iloori said.
Kiadum Edookor
Thierry Henry has called for the return of the away goals rule in the aftermath of the bombastic Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona.
The visitors at the Estadio Olimpic Lluis Companys came within milimeters of clinching the first leg of the final-four clash after former Arsenal star Henrikh Mkhitaryan netted late in the second-half.
But the linesman was quick to raise his flag, and semi-automated offside ruled out what would have been a thrilling conclusion to the high-octane 3-3 draw.
The hosts came from behind twice to share the spoils, chasing Inter Milan from the first minute of the game after Marcus Thuram stunned the Barcelona faithful into silence with his neatly flicked goal.
Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead 20 minutes later, but it took just three more for the Blaugrana to finally get on the scoresheet courtesy of a moment of magic from teenage starlet Lamine Yamal.
Ferran Torres drew Barcelona level ahead of the break, but Lamal was forced to play catch-up again in the second-half after Dumfries scored his second.
In light of the impressive effort from Inter, Henry wondered if the team should have got more from the fixture ahead of the second-leg at the San Siro.
‘I know it’s been like that for a very time, and we have to accept it,’ Henry said of the removal of the away goals rule, ‘But off air I was talking to Jamie (Carragher), and I was like, “how can you score three goals away from home and you don’t have an advantage?”
‘Away goals for me were massive, you score three goals away and you still don’t have an advantage 0-0 at home,’ Henry shrugged.
UEFA took the decision to scrap the rule which gave goals scored away from home the ability to act as a tiebreaker in the case of level scorelines ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Current FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger claimed during his time as Arsenal manager in 2015 that the away goals rule ‘encouraged the team at home not to attack’ and that ‘the weight of the away goal (was) too big today’.
Without the rules, the tie at San Siro will go to extra time and penalties to decide which teams books their spot in the Champions League final.
But based on Wednesday evening’s performance, Henry seemed to give Inter a fighting chance against the newly minted Copa del Rey champions.
The 2025 London Marathon set a new world record for the number of finishers despite hot conditions on Sunday for its 45th edition.
A total of 56,640 runners crossed the finish line at the end of the 26.2-mile route, Guinness World Records has confirmed.
The number surpassed the previous record of 55,646 set by the New York Marathon in November.
Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, said he hoped the high number of finishers inspired people to apply for the 2026 race ballot.
“The London Marathon was already the most popular in terms of ballot entries, with 840,318 people applying for the 2025 race,” he said.
“It is also the world’s largest annual one-day fundraising event with more than £1.3bn raised for charity since 1981.”
The number of people applying for the ballot to enter this year’s race broke the world record of 578,304 for the 2024 edition.
Of UK applicants 49% were female, while there was a 105% increase in applications from people aged between 20-29.
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa surged to victory in the elite women’s race in a world record for a women’s only field, while Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe triumphed in the men’s event.