Sports
NPFL: Rivers United’s First Round Impressive Performance Excites Eguma
The technical manager of Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt, Stanley Eguma, has said that the first round of the Nigeria Professional Football League, (NPFL), and 2021/2022 season was a very huge success for his team.
He stated that the first round was very successful because of numbers of matches won, drawn, lost one match was a thing of joy for the team. It shows that the players, the technical crew and the management are really doing well for the club.
Eguma, said this last Sunday in his post-match interview with sports journalists shortly after the Pride of Rivers defeated Akwa United 4-1 in the day 19 of the NPFL at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
He said that there was still work to be done for the team in the second round of the league because it is not over until it is over.
“This is the end of the first round in the second round, anything can happen.
So we need to tighten up for the second round to be more successful because the league is a very tough one and every club wants to win the league.
So we are working harder to ensure that we did not drop out of the top position on the log,” Eguma said.
He disclosed that the two week break of the NPFL is an interim and if you did not manage it well it will backfire or become counter productive on your team, adding that the zeal will also drop.
“The two-week break is good for the players for them to get some rest and come back to reorganise but the players are not going to be given the entire two week break.
We are going to give them some days and the rest days for work because it is better to work harder and it will make the work easy for us.
There are one or two departments that we might want to beef up and that is eminent, very important to do that, because we do not want to see any loopholes in the second round,” he explained.
He further explained that the competitiveness of Nigeria league can be described as the toughest in Africa.
“Nigeria league is one of the toughest Leagues in Africa, you can see the rivalry, you can see the competition is very tight as for us to maintain that first position, we need to be at our best all the times” he stated.
The Nigeria Professional Football League will now proceed on a two-week mid-season break and resume action in April.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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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