Sports
Rivers FA Cup: Go Round FC Defeats Rivers United
Go Round FC over came the hard fighting Rivers United Academy in a Rivers State FA Cup QUARTER final played on Wednesday at the Sharks FC Stadium.
Playing with ten men, Go Round FC opened scores in the 81st minute, through center back, Odinaka ONYIRHUMBA but were pegged back in the 90th through a solo effort of an equaliser by Omokhodion Zedi.
After the full time whistle sounded, the game went into penalty shoot outs.
In the shoot outs, Go Round Fc missed their first kick and scored the next three while, the Rivers United Academy missed their first two kicks, scored the third and then missed the fourth to lose 3-1.
Go Round’s head coach, Ngozi Elechi described it as a difficult game but blamed his boys for underrating their opponents.
“It was a very difficult game but I blame my boys for underrating them,” Elechi said.
“We beat Rivers United last season to win the Cup and maybe they felt that it would be easier since this was the junior team of United but I told them these things in the bus on our way here.
“I also tried out a few new players because we are playing a league and have other games while I know you would have to test these players so they have playing experience.
“In any case, I am delighted in the way the game went,” a happy Elechi said.
Coach of the Rivers United Academy, Sunny Iseokweima took delight in the fact that his side was not disgraced.
“We played against Go Round FC, a team doing well in their league and honestly in games like these you tell your boys to go out and enjoy themselves.
“We were not under pressure but they were and the important thing is that we were not disgraced because in penalties, anybody can win,” Iseokweima said.
Go Round FC will now take on Nationwide League side, Cynosure FC, unbeaten in all pre-season matches in the Rivers State FA Cup semi final.
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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