Sports
Betsy Tourney Is For Screening, Building Up Players – Okon
Head Coach of Rivers Angels, Edwin Okon says the public should be patient with his side as they are in this year’s Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament for the sole purpose of screening and building up their squad ahead of the CAF Women’s Champions League.
Okon made this appeal after his side’s 3-0 win over Royal Queens FC on Tuesday afternoon.
Goals from Mamuzo Edafe, Precious Christopher and Ifeoma Polinus ensured the Reigning Nigeria Women Football League Premiership Champions recorded their second win in as many matches.
Edafe side-footed a brilliant pass from Maryann Ezenagu which left goalkeeper Emmanuel Goodness helpless as the Jewel Of Rivers went in front eleven minutes from time.
Christopher doubled the lead from close range off a Cecilia Nku’s cross in the 83rd minute before Polinus wrapped up the scoring in the 87th minute to secure the win for Rivers Angels.
Okon, who had five new starters in Tuesday’s game said he will continue to rotate the team until he gets exactly what he wants.
“Firstly, I want to apologise for the first half which was a flop from the girls but generally, the spirit is quite high,” he said.
“I came here with 35 players and I want to give everyone the opportunity to play because we’re still screening them. Today we had five new starters from yesterday’s lineup and this will be a continuous process.
“Just like I said after yesterday’s game, the target is to build the team for the CAF Women’s Champions League. So our major reason for participating in this tournament is to give opportunities to these players.
“Egypt is around the corner and we’ll try as much as we can to make good use of this window,” Okon summed.
By: Nancy Briggs
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.