Sports
Confed Cup: Cautious Optimism As Dolphins Host Vegetarians
There will be mixed
feelings and fear of the unknown tomorrow at the Port Harcourt Liberation Stadium, as Dolphins FC will play host to Leones Vegetarians FC of Guinea, in the second leg of CAF Cup.
Anxiety and nervousness have started to grip dolphins players and supporters, following the poor performances of the club in recent outings, especially, the just concluded Super Four, where the team played five matches and lost all. Besides, they also lost to their visitors by a lone goal, a forthnight ago.
Dolphins technical adviser, Stanley Eguma, attributed the unimpressive performance to late preparations occasioned by players not reporting to camp early.
In spite of , all these, Eguma still believes that his team will scale through to the next stage, as the technical crew has plugged the loopholes noticed in their previous games.
According to him, the team is now fully recovered from the exit of Emem Eduok team’ s goal machine, saying that in football, players come and go and that the club has gotten adequate replacement.
“Dolphins settled for Christian Pygbara, he can comfortably fit in the shoes of Emem.
He has a knack for scoring goals and he did so last season, so we will hope he continues that way this season, especially in the CAF Confederation cup, apart from him also we have other good strikers like Omo Johnson and Ifeanyi Egwim. “ Eguma said.
He continued that his players were in high spirit, Mentally and psychologically balanced to ensure success in the encounter.
Eguma noted that his players have demonstrated more commitment and vowed to win the game to make the country proud, especially Rivers State.
Dolphins captain Sunday Rotimi said that what happened in Malabo has been put behind them.
He said they would have won, but his players lost many scoring chances, saying that if they had converted at least two goals, his team would have been at an advantage.
However, fillers from the visitors camp who arrived yesterday have revealed that they plan to repeat what they did at home.
According to the source, the Vegetarianos are sound technically and determined to run away with victory.
however, it is expected that Dolphins players would not repeat what happened in Malabo, going to the match about an hour to kickoff time, following non-payment of match bonuses and salaries. They must put on their shooting boots and take their chances as they come.
Tonye Orabere
Sports
Iwobi Optimistic On S’Eagles Qualification
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
Sports
ATLANTICBELL CEO ADVICE SPORTS WRITERS ON SPECIALIZATION
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
Sports
DEPUTY PRESIDENT EXPRESSES COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT SPORTS DEV, SWAN
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.
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