Sports
Plateau United Wants To Be Crowned NPFL Champions
Plateau United gaffer, Abdu Maikaba, has admitted that there’s nothing wrong in handing the NPFL title to his team if the league was not concluded due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Peace Boys have been the most outstanding team in the Nigeria Professional Football League this season, having opened a four-point gap over the chasing pack.
The Jos-based club has not only been solid at home but has also been brilliant on the road having picked up an impressive 12 points away from home.
However, Maikaba, who joined the side from Akwa United back in 2018, believes his team has been the best thus far and should therefore, be awarded the title, if things remained the same.
The 55-year-old tactician also maintained that the other managers won’t be offended if the league organisers decided to hand them the trophy claiming they all started the season together, but his side has been the most consistent.
“I think it would be fair to hand us the NPFL title,” he told Tidesports source.
“If you look at the number of match-days, out of the 25 match-days, we have been on top of the log for 21 match-days. So, I think we really deserve to be given the trophy as the winner of the league peradventure things continue like this.
Though, we don’t pray for that because we want the league to finish so that we can make sure that we satisfy ourselves as the real champions of the 2019/2020 seasons.”
“I believe we will finish and remain consistent because from the beginning of the season, we have been able to keep the distance between us and the second-place team to at least two points, but at the moment we have been able to extend the gap to four points, which I believe shows a clear sign of improvement moving towards the end of the competition.”
United, who last won the title in the 2017/2018 season has amassed 49 points from 25 matches before the league was brought to an abrupt halt due to the COVID-19 situation.
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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