Sports
Could LA Move Help Troost-Ekong Lead Super Eagles into Successful New Era?
Plenty has been written about Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, and many heads are still being scratched as to what exactly went wrong during qualifying.
Some of those questions have been answered with the sacking of Augustine Eguavoen and his coaching staff, and so the Nigerian Football Federation will now need to oversee a rebuilding operation that gets the right head coach in.
Of course, the players have to take some responsibility for the failure to qualify for Qatar too, and nobody has shouldered that burden more than the captain, William Troost-Ekong, who has apologised for the Super Eagles’ dismal efforts.
The 28-year-old’s own future in club football has come under scrutiny after it was reported that Los Angeles Galaxy was interested in signing the defender from his current employer, the English Premier League side Watford.
Would that be a wise career choice for him? There are critics of Major League Soccer (MLS), who claim it is of low quality or sees it as a footballing retirement home for faded stars. But in LA, Troost-Ekong could join the likes of Mexico international Javier Hernandez and former Bayern Munich and Juventus attacker Douglas Costa, to name just a few.
And so it would be wrong to suggest that his game would suffer, especially as so many of the successful United States and Canada national teams – both of whom have qualified for the World Cup – play their club football in the MLS. The leading betting sites, such as bet365, give the US odds of 100/1 to win in Qatar, which is roughly the same as the likes of Switzerland, Senegal, and Serbia. But these bookmakers also offer prices on each team to qualify from their group, and they believe that the United States is an even-money shot to make it out of Group B.
Once the Premier League season is over, Troost-Ekong will have to decide on what his future holds – will he stay at Watford, who are likely to be relegated from the Premier League, or pack his bags and try his luck in America?
If he opts for the latter, don’t write the Super Eagles captain off – the standard of play in the MLS is improving with every passing year.
Out of the Hornets Nest?
Troost-Ekong is just one of three Nigerians to ply their trade at Watford, with Peter Etebo and Emmanuel Dennis also flying the Super Eagles flag with the Hornets.
Like their international captain, both will have big decisions to make if/when Watford are relegated to the Championship, and in Dennis’ case in particular you suspect there will be no shortage of interest in his signature.
The 24-year-old has contributed ten goals and five assists in 30 Premier League outings so far this season, and that is a tremendous effort given just how badly the Hornets have struggled.
What’s more, he has achieved those attacking feats despite featuring in the starting eleven of two defence-minded coaches – first Claudio Ranieri, and then Roy Hodgson when the former was sacked back in January.
Eagle ???pic.twitter.com/5qD0cQJYk2
— DENNIS BLESSED (@dennisblessed42) March 28, 2022
Dennis, who was born in Yola and played his junior football at the Kwara Football Academy in Kwara State, would be one of the most saleable assets at Watford should they decide to balance the books following relegation – it has been reported that the club could be as much as £139 millionin debt, a situation exacerbated by being demoted to the second tier.
The striker only cost the Hornets an estimated £3.5 million when he joined Club Bruges in the summer of 2021. Dennis had already scored goals in the Champions League against Real Madrid, so he clearly has the ability to play in football’s top tier.
But current club Watford is unlikely to be able to offer him that chance in the 2022/23 season, so is a move away now a formality?
A transfer to a higher quality team could not only improve the 24-year-old’s game but also help Nigeria in the future, and as the Super Eagles look to begin their rebuild it is Dennis who they could and perhaps should use as the lynchpin for the next generation.
Sports
African Games: Nigerian Women Athletes Make Country Proud Again
Before, the saying that ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better’ is usually met with resistance.
In sports, that saying has been validated over and over again with the performances of female athletes in comparison to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to quantifying their contributions to their country’s success at multi-sports events like the Olympic, Commonwealth and African Games.
For Nigeria, the women have once again proven to be the most consistent and reliable by winning the most medals for the country at the just-concluded 13th African Games in Ghana. Nigeria finished second behind Egypt in the overall medals table with a total of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze.
The women’s contribution to Team Nigeria’s haul is 71 compared to the male athletes’ 47, while three were won in mixed events. That number makes up 58.67 per cent of Nigeria’s total medals.
Significantly, the women also won 35 out of Team Nigeria’s 47 gold, leaving 11 to the male, while the other one was won in the mixed 4x400m relay, which was inspired by one of the two women in the quartet, Omolara Ogunmakinju.
The women’s gold medal haul is a whopping 74 per cent of Nigeria’s total gold.
Interestingly, the women’s 35 gold would have been enough to see Nigeria top the overall medals table, if it was an all-female affair as Egypt, who won the Games recorded 33 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze medals from their female athletes.
On the other hand, the men’s 11 gold would mean Nigeria would finish joint third with Tunisia, who’s men also won 11 gold medals while Egypt will retain their number one spot with 66 gold from their men and Algeria second with 19.
There were also 18 silver medals from the women, two more than the 16 won by the men. In terms of bronze medals, the men had the upper hand with 20 medals, two more than the women’s 18 while two medals were won in mixed games for a total of 40.
Notably, there were stellar performances from Nigeria’s female wrestlers at the Games as the six of them (Blessing Oborududu, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Hannah Reuben, Christiana Ogunsanya, Mercy Genesis and Esther Kolawole) had a clean sweep of the wrestling event.
Also, four among the five weightlifters who won three gold medals each are women (Eze Joy, Ayodele Ruth, Lawal Rafiatu, and Olarinoye Adijat).
All the seven female boxers for Nigeria also won medals – five gold (Joy Ojo, Patricia Mbata, Cynthia Ogunsemilore, Blessing Oraekwe, Jacinta Umunnakwe) and two silver (Zainab Adeshina, Kareem Shukura).
In athletics, world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, retained her African Games title by winning a third consecutive crown while long jumper Ese Brume also successfully defended her title by winning a second African Games gold in the event.
According to the 2023 African Games website, in terms of representation, Nigeria’s 437 contingent also had more women (221) than the men (216).
Beyond the 2023 African Games, female Nigeria athletes have shown greater prospects than their male counterparts.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the women won all the gold for Team Nigeria as the country put up their best outing ever, snatching a record 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals to erase their previous best performance at the Games, 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals in 1994 in Victoria, Canada.
The men took the back seat, managing just three silver and six bronze medals out of a total haul of 35 medals.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Nigeria’s only two medals were won by two female athletes, Blessing Oborududu (silver in wrestling) while Brume won bronze in long jump.
Amusan (gold) and Brume (silver) were also the only two medallists for Nigeria at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, USA, where the former stormed to the current women’s 100m hurdles record (12.12s) and also became the first ever world champion from Nigeria.
Sports
African Games: Minister Promises Swift Preparation For Egypt 2027
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has declared that the preparations for the 2027 African Games which will be held in Egypt will begin immediately, as the contingent to the just concluded 13th edition of the Games in Ghana arrived on Sunday.
Team Nigeria arrived in the country’s capital Abuja and Lagos in batches on Sunday via chartered flights provided by the Ministry of Sports Development.
In Ghana, Team Nigeria had an impressive outing and finished second in the overall medals table with a total number of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze medals.
Although the foreign-based athletes who were part of Nigeria’s success at the Games have also returned directly to their bases, Enoh believes a head start ahead of the 2027 Games will give the country an edge in their quest to claim top spot for the first time since hosting the Games in 2003.
“On behalf of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, I welcome you back to our dear country. I congratulate you for your outstanding performance in the just concluded 13th African Games that held in the Ghana,” the minister said in a statement obtained by our correspondent last Sunday.
“While you bask in the euphoria of your exploits and worthy sense of achievement, let me quickly remind you that preparations for the 14th African Games built to hold in Egypt starts now. As your Sports development minister, dubbed Nigeria’s Games Master General, I sure will be with you all the way.
“Without prejudice to the comprehensive audit and thorough evaluation of our overall performance at the games which will soon be carried out under my guidance and leadership, the time has come for our country to spend as much, if not more, as it does for competitions in development and preparation, if we ever hope to get atop the medals table which we have only achieved once in 2003 when the country hosted the Games.”
Sports
NWFL: Rivers Angels Striker Targets Women CAF Champions League
Rivers Angels FC of Port Harcourt striker, Blessing Okpe has said that her target was to keep working hard and ensure her team seals the CAF Women’s champion’s league ticket this season.
According to her, no game comes easy but what is important is the approach towards each of the games, adding that she is playing for Rivers Angels to give her best in the round leather game.
Okpe said this recently in a chat with the team media officer, Faith Meremegbunam and made available to Tidesports even as she expressed happiness for scoring her first goal against FC Robo that gave her team a draw.
The stand-in captain also expressed joy as she captained the team to an impressive performance, saying that she would do her best to ensure the team move forward.
“I feel so great and so happy to lead the team and scoring the first goal against our opponents.
“After the 1 -1 in Ikenne, we came back home and gave ourselves the target of beating them here in Port Harcourt.”
“We never wanted to lose two straight home matches because the two home matches are an advantage to us.
“After we drew with Robo, we had to fight hard to win matches.”
“We will keep working hard, my target this season is to qualify for CAF women’s Champions’ League,” Okpe said.
Rivers Angels’ next game is against Edo Queens in Benin on February 28.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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