Sports
Commission Sacks Edo Queens Coach After Losing At NWFL Super Six
Edo State Sports Commissioner, yesterday sacked the Head Coach of Edo Queens Women Football Club of Benin, Wemimo Mathew.
The commission immediately installed as her replacement the club’s Assistant Coach, Niyi John.
He is to take over till the end of the Super Six tournament which helps to draw the curtain on the 2021/2022 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL).
The Commission’s Chairman, Yusuf Ali, announced the sack after Edo Queens lost 0-1 against the Nasarawa Amazons of Lafia in their second game at the Super six tournament.
“From my own understanding and my findings, I think the coach is not capable. At this point we have to relieve her of her appointment, and let the assistant take over until after the tournament.
“I will now know what to do with the team then. But for now, let the assistant take over,’’ he said.
Matthew, while speaking on the outcome of the match, had said her players tried their best to score a goal but could not.
“They started well, but they did not play to my expectations.”
Responding to questions on some of the substitutions she made during the game, Matthew said players on the bench were equally good and they played well.
Reacting later to the news of her sack, she said: “Well, if that is what they want, I do not see anything bad about it. But this is not the team that I met here.
“Last year, they were beating them 4-0 in the Super Six. Last year in qualifying for this event, they took fourth, but we took second this year to qualify for the Super Six.
“They lost all their matches last year. We played a draw in our first game yesterday (Monday). Even during the league, we played 10 matches and stayed unbeaten. We were winning away and home matches.
“They could not even win any away match last year. They lost to Adamawa Queens home and away last year and this year we went to beat Nasarawa Amazons home and away.
“So, if they have any secret reasons as to why they have do this (her sacking), no problem,’’ she said.
Matthew insisted that she did well for the team, because it takes time to build a team. “I brought players from 12 different clubs and it takes time for them to work together.”
Our correspondent reports that the match was both sides’ second match at the competition holding at the University of Benin’s Sports Complex.
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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