Sports
Rangers Showed Character In Remo Defeat – Coach
Remo Stars coach, Daniel Ogunmodede, has rued his team’s 2-1 defeat against reigning champions Rangers International on match-day 24 of the 2024/25 Nigeria Premier Football League, noting that their hosts fought like a relegation-threatened team,
Rangers halted the Sky Blue Stars’ eight-game unbeaten run as well as six-game winning streak at the Cathedral on Sunday, thanks to goals from Saviour Isaac and Kingsley Maduforo.
Having lost the first leg 1-0 in Ikenne, Sunday’s win was more like taking their pound of flesh from Remo and the result sent the champions up to third in the table with 38 points.
Despite the defeat, Remo Stars still hold their eight-point gap at the top of the table but Ogunmodede feels the defeat was avoidable.
“It was a good game and I am happy we gave the spectators a good reason to come watch the match,” Ogunmodede said via 54footballX.
“Rangers had to fight for their life. They are the current champions and imagine displacing them. They fought so hard like a team battling relegation.
“We had our opportunities but didn’t take them. Rangers scored in the first half from a brilliant free-kick by Isaac Saviour. Then, just as we were starting to get back into the match in the second half, they scored their second goal, which boosted their confidence and helped them secure the win.
“We came here hoping for a win, but unfortunately, luck wasn’t on our side, and we lost.”
His Rangers counterpart, Fidelis Ilechukwu insisted that his team were at their best defensively despite being ravaged by injuries.
“Remo stars, technically, tactically, attacking mentality were better than us in the game but we were better defensively and that is why I decided to go on counter and get the goals,” Ilechukwu said.
“We are happy with the three points. I knew it was going to be a tough game against the league leaders, the best team in Nigeria at the moment, so beating them and ending their unbeaten run, beating my friend, the assistant coach of the Super Eagles, is a big deal.
“We know ourselves already, I told them how important the game was. Remo Stars were on 48 points and we were on 35 points before the game. I told the players that winning this game will help us prove to ourselves, not to anyone else, that we can survive despite our injuries,” he added.
Remo Stars will hope to keep up their lead at the top when they return home to face Kwara United at home in a midweek game today.
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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