Sports
Diverse Views Trail Eagles’ Loss To Argentina
Former Super Eagles Coach, Paul Hamilton, has blamed fatigue for the Super Eagles 1-3 loss to the Albicertes of Argentina in a friendly match on Tuesday in Bangladesh.
Hamilton told newsmen in Lagos after the match that it was not easy for the team to play the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Sunday and travel for the encounter.
“It is not easy to play a match on Sunday in Madagascar, travel for 10 hours only to play a top-grade friendly game on Tuesday.
“The boys must have lost the match to fatigue,’’ Hamilton, also a former Super Falcons coach, said.
He defended Coach Samson Siasia for substituting Obinna Nsofor with striker Ike Uche.
“It was agreed before the match that all the key players available must be fielded and as such Siasia was in order,’’ he said.
Former Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Joe Erico said: “The match was very interesting for me irrespective of the 3-1 scoreline we conceded against the Albicerte of Argentina.
“I enjoyed every minute of the match and the match was a rehearsal of sorts for our crunch match against the Syli Nationale of Guinea.
“The Argentines have finally extracted their pound of flesh from us after we had exacted our revenge on them from all the losses we had suffered at their hands,” Erico said.
In Port Harcourt, former international Adokiye Amiesimaka said that the 3-1 scoreline was a true reflection of the Argentine national team.
“Until we tackle the basic and fundamental problems of Nigerian football, our soccer decline will continue,’’ he said.
From Enugu, Chidi Ofor-Okenwa said: “We have a lot of work to do in the team. I think Mikel Obi should be a man of national team rather than that of Chelsea because he is not an aggressive midfielder.
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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