Sports
Amapakabo Berates Players Over Derby Loss
Coach of Abia Warriors Football Club, Imama Amapakabo expressed his disappointment over the inability of his players to score goals.
Abia Warriors lost at home 1-0 and to Enyimba of Aba in a rescheduled Week 23rd encounter game on Thursday, despite dominating the game.
Failure to convert chances to goals against the Elephants means Abia Warriors have now scored just three goals in the last four outings.
Talking to the press after the Enyimba game, Imama Amapakabo made it clear that he worked out the best tactics for each game, but his players failed to take responsibility on the pitch.
“Of course, I had the same challenge when the league started and always said, it’s my responsibility as a coach to tactically build a team that will create chances, but it is the responsibility of the players to convert the chances.”
“I’m like the driver who is taking passengers to Lagos and if I drop you at Oyinbo, it’s your responsibility to find your way home. So I create chances through my technical abilities and the players should be able to score,” Amapakabo said.
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.
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.
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.