Nigerian Football
Relegation-haunted Stars head to East for points
As the Nigerian Premier League enters its Week 11, perennial strugglers, Shooting Stars go hunting in Calabar where they face stronger Enyimba now being handled by Gbenga Ogunbote, the coach who steered the Ibadan side out of relegation waters last season.
Shooting Stars, former continental strong side are noted to be bad travellers and hardly pick points away from home. They are 19th on the log of 20 teams.
For Enyimba, noted for its ruggedness, it is a tie looked up to for ascendancy to the summit of the table where they are currently ninth.
Over the seasons, this fixture has always been huge on paper, generating so many talking points thus; this season’s first instalment will not be different.
Shooting Stars’ coach, Fatai Amoo will be looking to get a positive result from the neutral ground owing from the recent of not-so-good results the team has been getting from its home and away fixtures. According to the club’s media officer, Jubril Arowolo, Amoo said it will be ‘inexcusable’ not to take this game seriously.
“The team is in top spirit ahead of the game and will have a full complements of the players available for selection” remarked Fatai Amoo.
He stressed that the team knew the importance of getting points from away games and this should not be an exception.
“We are in Calabar for a good game and hopefully get a positive result from here. The players know the important of this match and thus would be ready for the task. We have corrected some of our lapses from Saturday and we should hope for a better performance versus Enyimba.”
Interesting point to note is that Enyimba’s Head Coach, Gbenga Ogunbote was with Shooting Stars last season. As in the past, he had always left the Ibadan side at the close of seasons.
According to Arowolo, “this in its usual nature will also afford some sorts of reunion for the coach and some of our former players that crossed from Shooting Stars to Enyimba at the beginning of the season”.
Tayo Adebogun, David Ojukwu and Ibrahim Salau if listed, will be facing their former team in this important fixture.
“With all the excitements and flair that this game portends to offer, we expect a good match and a good result for the Oluyole Warriors as well” remarked Arowolo.
The miserable run of Akwa United and Ikorodu City came to an end after six games in the Nigerian Premier League this season. Both teams were initially glued at the bottom of the league table.
They now got respite as Akwa United beat Kano Pillar by 2-0 while Ikorodu City even did what could be considered an upset, beating Bendel Insurance 3-0.
Remo Stars bounced back to the top of the log after a 3-0 defeat of Nasarawa United. Shooting Stars are yet to get their rhythm this season, playing a barren draw with Enyimba in Ibadan.
Kwara United who got their first full points of the season last week after a 1-0 defeat of Remo Stars could not consolidate as they were beaten 1-0 by Abia Warriors.
Heartland under Emmanuel Amuneke are gradually recovering as they got a valuable away draw against El-Kanemi Warriors.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is 75 years since Nigeria’s national football team first played an international match. That was on 8 October 1949 when the first set of Nigeria’s assembly on their return voyage stopped over in Freetown and engaged Sierra Leone in an international football match. Nigeria won 2-0, setting a chain of positive results on 8 October.
The country never lost any competitive duel on that date. More significantly, the Super Eagles first qualified for the World Cup on an 8 October date.
That was in 1993 when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Algeria in the quest for USA ‘94 World Cup.
Nigeria became the first English-speaking African country to qualify for the World Cup. Another significance of the October 8 match at the July 5 Stadium, Algiers is that Nigeria were unbeaten for the first time by Algeria at home.
The only deviation from the 8 October Magic was in 2015 when Nigeria lost 2-0 to Congo in a friendly match.
Twenty-six years after Nigeria’s debut international match, one of Africa’s biggest football nations, Egypt fell to the October 8 magic, losing 4-0 to Nigeria in the last stage of the triangular World Cup qualifying series for Argentina ’78.
Up till October 15, 2013, when Ghana beat Egypt 6-1 in Kumasi, the October 8, 1977 duel with Nigeria remained Egypt’s biggest loss in a World Cup qualifying match.
Before the 1977 duel, Nigeria in 1963 played a friendly match with Liberia in Monrovia. The October 8 magic was active, even in an away match. Nigeria drew 2-2 in their very first encounter with Liberia. It was shortly after the team had, through a protest, upturned a victory by Guinea to pick Nigeria’s very first African Nations’ Cup ticket.
Little wonder then that when FIFA suspended Nigeria in 2010, the world governing body provisionally lifted the ban on October 8!
Nigeria on 8 October
- 1949 – Freetown (Friendly) Sierra Leone 0-2 Nigeria
- 1963 – Monrovia (Friendly) Liberia 2-2 Nigeria
- 1977 – Lagos (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 4-0 Egypt
- 1993 – Algiers (World Cup qualifier) Algeria 1-1 Nigeria… qualify for USA ‘94.
- 2005 – Abuja (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 5-1 Zimbabwe
- 2010 – FIFA, in apparent respect to the 8 October magic, provisionally lifted a ban imposed on Nigeria.
- 2011 – Abuja (African Nations Cup qualifier) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea. Although undefeated, Nigeria failed to make it to the 2012 African Nations Cup.
- 2015 – D.R. Congo beat Nigeria 2-0 in Visé, Belgium. The ‘October 8 Magic’ is finally broken.
Rivers United have launched themselves to the top of the log at the end of the match day 5 of the Nigeria Premier League. The Port Harcourt side beat Akwa United 2-1 to go afloat after initial leaders, Remo Stars crumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday.
It was Remo Stars’ first defeat in the season. Rivers United are now with 13 points. Stephen Mayo put Rivers United ahead after 31 minutes. But it turned a temporary lead as Akwa United bounced back almost at the blast of the referee’s whistle for the second half.
Friday Apollos levelled up for Akwa United before Ndifreke Effiong Udo scored the winner in the 85th minute.
Sunday Results
- Kwara United 1-0 Remo Stars
- Rangers International 1-0 Abia Warriors
- Heartland FC 2-0 Niger Tornadoes
- Kano Pillars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
- Plateau United 1-0 Ikorodu City
- Rivers United 2-1 Akwa United
- Enyimba 3-0 Katsina United* Suspended
- Nasarawa 0-0 Bayelsa United
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