Sports
F ’Eagles Coach Disappointed Over Lesotho Walkover
Flying Eagles coach, Manu
Garba has said he was disappointed to eliminate Lesotho from the 2015 African Youth Championship via a walkover after they had prepared to beat them on the pitch.
On Saturday, the Flying Eagles qualified for the 2015 African Youth Championship after they walked over Lesotho in Kaduna.
“Congratulations Nigeria on this qualification,” saluted Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba.
“We trained very hard in the last two months for this match and we would really have been a lot happier had we qualified for the AYC on the pitch and not in the boardroom.
“It was a bit of a disappointment that Lesotho failed to turn up, but there was nothing we could have done about that.”
Manu said the team will now decamp and regroup in time for the tournament proper.
Match officials insisted till the last minute that they have not received any official notification that the first leg final qualifier has been called off after Lesotho expressed concerns over the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria.
They therefore went through the traditional walkover ceremony that involved a 15-minute wait after the referee’s kick-off whistle.
Nigeria will thus join seven other countries including hosts Senegal for the 2015 AYC from March 8.
The Flying Eagles thereafter walloped Kaduna United second team 6-0 in a test game at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.
Skipper Musa Muhammed and Sulaiman Abdullahi scored a brace each with Taiwo Awoniyi and Ifeanyi Matthew also getting on the scoreboard.
After misses by Awoniyi, Alhassan Ibrahim aka Muazam and Abdullahi Alfa, whose shot in the 18th minute crashed against the crossbar, the Nigeria U20s took the lead in the 21st minute from the penalty spot taken by Muhammed after goal-bound Awoniyi was felled inside the box.
Muhammed doubled the lead seven minutes later when he cut through from the right flank before he fired home a tight angle.
In the 31st minute Awoniyi rounded the Kaduna United goalkeeper to make it 3-0.
And eight minutes later, Ifeanyi Matthew slotted home another spot kick after Awoniyi was brought down and the goalkeeper was sent off.
Substitute striker Sulaiman Abdullahi scored twice in the 49th and 86th minutes after the Flying Eagles fluffed numerous chances.
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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