Sports
Amapakabo Urges LMC To Make Ezeji NPFL Ambassador
Nigeria Professional Football League winning Coach, Imama Amapakabo has once again reiterated his desire to see Nigerian League Legend, Victor Ezeji named an NPFL Ambassador by the League Management Company (LMC).
Amapakabo who won the just concluded NPFL season with Enugu Rangers Football Club is of the opinion that Ezeji remains one of the best players the Nigerian League has ever produced and he should thus be so honoured.
The Rangers Coach who happened to have played with Ezeji as a player at Sharks and also coached him at the same club had earlier in August called on the LMC to name Ezeji as one of its ambassadors.
As Ezeji gets set to celebrate his much talked about testimonial in December, Amapakabo says there would be no better time than now to officially name a player whom younger players in the league consider an icon, an ‘Ambassador’ of the league.
Who has won more than Victor Ezeji? He is a legend in his right. And I think it is about time the LMC made him an Ambassador of the league as opposed to someone who didn’t play in the league.
He won virtually everything in the land, highest goal scorer, MVP and more. He is the one that we see and he is the one that we know. He is the one the young players look up to.
There is no person that plays in the league today that does not know Victor Ezeji. Mention his name and you’ll see he is an idol. Is it because he is one of us? We should celebrate one of our own. I duff my hat to him.
Amapakabo was team captain when Victor signed up for the now defunct Sharks FC in 1996 and was a coach at Sharks when Ezeji returned for his third stint at the club between 2008-2012.
Ezeji from the time he began his top flight career in 1996 would then go on to play in 20 top flight seasons only halted for a brief spell when he tried his luck in Tunisia.
The Victor Ezeji Testimonial is scheduled to take place at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt on the 10th of December.
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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