Sports
Younger Players’ ll Enhance S’ Eagles’ Performance – Disu
The Technical Director, Lagos Junior League (J-League), Tunde Disu, yesterday called for more inclusion of home-bred youngsters in the national senior team, Super Eagles to enhance their performance.
Disu made the clarion call in an interview with newsmen while commenting on Wilfred Ndidi who was awarded the Leicester City FC’s Young Player of the Year.
Tidesports source reports that Ndidi, a product of the Lagos State sponsored J-League was recently awarded the Young Player of the Year by the last year’s winners of the English Premier League.
Disu also commended Genort Rohr, the Super Eagles Technical Adviser, for including three home-based players – MFM FC’s duo of Stephen Odey and Sikiru Olatunbosun and Akwa United’s Alhassan Ibrahim in the national team.
Reflecting on how the youngsters could be helpful in the Super Eagles’ squad, Disu said that the blend of young bloods from the local league with experience of older players would enhance the team’s performance.
“The Super Eagles need young bloods like Ndidi in the senior team which I believe will give the necessary blend the team needs to prosecute matches and achieve better performance.
“Experience has shown that these youngsters have passion for the game and they are more resilient in their approach to national engagements.
“Overtime some of the youngsters that broke into the national teams perform better than the older ones because the level of their productivity is still high.
“I will like to see some of the home-grown talents being called up to the national team. We have many of their likes in the J-League,’’ he said.
Disu said that the J-League had produced players that could be regarded as world class, adding that some of the products of the league were making waves in Europe.
“Lagos J-League is a worthy example of grassroots academy that has produced world class footballers. Some of the graduates of the league are exceptional.
“We already have players such as Ndidi, Victor Osihimien, Taiwo Awoniyi, Stephen Odey and Dele Alampasu among others who can be regarded as the standing Eagles.
“There is no need of tagging them future stars; they should start to play now because this is the time the nation needs their youthful energy to perform.
“The inclusion of these youngsters will ensure better performance and results for the Eagles,’’ he said.
Disu said that the J-League would soon start and that he expected more super talents to be discovered during the season.
“The J-League will soon start and we are already screening the footballers. I hope to see more super stars discovered when we start the league.
“Within its short time in the football stage, the league is already making waves and I can attest to the fact that the league is one of the best organised junior leagues in Africa.
Sports
Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Sports
Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Sports
Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor