Sports
Rivers Utd On Verge Of History, Get Eumsell Praises
Rivers United FC of PortHarcourt is on the verge of making history in the Nigerian Professional Football league (NPFL).
The club took a giant leap penultimate Sunday towards landing its first NPFL title with a 2-1 win over visiting Abia Warriors. It would be its first since Sharks FC and Dolphins FC merged in 2016 to form the new club.
Rivers United is party sponsored by Eunisell Limited, specialty chemicals, oil and gas production engineering solutions company in West Africa for the past seven years.
With four games left to play in the 2021/2022 NPFL season, the Stanley Eguma-led side currently tops the table with 71 points and are a massive 10 points ahead of the closest challenger, Plateau United of Jos.
The club’s next game will be played away against Nassarawa United on Sunday, June 26, in Lafia. Winning the game will be just enough to lift the trophy.
In July, the Port Harcourt-based outfit will host relegation-haunted Kano Pillars on the 3rd and visit Shooting Stars of Ibadan on the 10th. Its final game of the season will be against a vibrant Gombe United on Sunday, July 17 at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, the Pride of Rivers strikers, Chijoke Akuneto and Ishaq Kayode are high goal scorers in the league and contenders for the prestigious Eunisell Boot Award with 16 and 14 goals each. They are rivaled by Victor Mbaoma and Yusuf Abdulazeez of Enyimba and Gombe United FC respectively with 15 goals apiece.
Since 2018, Eunisell has offered a N200, 000 premium per goal to the highest scorer at the end of each season in NPFL.
Junior Lokosa, the highest scorer with 19 goals in the 2017/2018 NPFL season, won the inaugural edition and was presented with N3.8million and a glittering trophy.
Eunisell Managing Director, Chika Ikenga, urged the team to stay focused and cross the finishing line with glamour, noting that it has developed consistently.
He said, “We are excited that Rivers United has come thus far in the quest to win the league and go for the continentals. We encourage the team to stay on course and cross the finishing line. Starting strong is good but finishing strong is epic.
“If you followed the league in the last two seasons, you will notice that Rivers United have been consistent, finishing in the first two positions. Now I believe with the performance so far, they can win it.
‘Interestingly, Eunisell’s involvement with Rivers United in the past seven years has coincided with the club’s improved performance in recent campaigns in the NPFL,’ stated Ikenga.
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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