Nigerian Football
Underdogs Rule on Nigeria’s League Final Day
BY GEORGE AKPAYEN.
The most competitive championship in the World, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), comes to a final stop this Saturday after nine months of incredible moments trimming down the race for the title to just two teams; Plateau United and MFM FC.
All season, and even before the start of the campaign, there has been a constant spin by pundits on how the title race will shape up and who will finish in the top-three or survive the drop.
Now all that will come to a halt like train on a steam engine whistling to a stop. The talk centered on the big guns Rangers International and Enyimba who have won the title seven times apiece as well as Rivers United that recruited some of the best talents in the country plus a pre-season in Spain.
However Jos club, Plateau United and MFM FC have re-written that script. Two teams battling for survival last season have switched things and it is safe to call it the ‘season of the underdogs.’
TITLE RACE
It now seems like yesterday when Rangers International were crowned champions of the NPFL at their Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium home ground in front of their faithful amid a sea of red and white on October 2, 2016.
Eleven months after the Rangers story of winning a first league title in 32 years, a different narrative unfolded with two teams Plateau United and MFM FC, who have never won the trophy, going into the final day neck and neck.
One point separates table-topping Plateau United on 63 points and second-placed MFM. So the NPFL will witness a 19th champion this Saturday no matter where the pendulum swings.
As the season wore on, things remained the same at the top. It has been more of plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (translated to English as ‘the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing’) situation.
After every match day, Plateau United kept remaining at the top of the standings except on only four occasions when MFM wrested top spot from them on match days 1, 14, 16 and 18. After every match day, the top looked the same.
Kennedy Boboye’s Plateau United went on a seven-game unbeaten run at the outset of this season until Akwa United ended that run on match day eight with a 2-1 win after goals from Christian Pyagbara and Ibrahim Alhassan before Chima Ndukwu came off the bench to half the deficit.
It was expected that Boboye’s men would lose momentum like previous teams Sunshine Stars and Abia Warriors he has managed did in past seasons.
Instead Plateau United have looked so assured in top spot like a well worn-slippers that fits them.
But they face outgoing champions Rangers who they have only managed just one win against in their last five NPFL meetings on the final day. Add to that, Boboye’s team have failed to win in their last three league matches – a 1-1 draw at home to Rivers United and two losses on the road to ABS FC and Wikki Tourists.
Plateau United captain Elisha Golbe says they are focused, and unfazed by the numbers.
He told npfl.ng: “We are battle ready, we are looking forward to lifting the league title. The game against Rangers is like a cup final for us and we are taking it very seriously. We have not come this far to miss out on the trophy.”
On the other hand, MFM have largely depended on home form to stay in the race. Eighteen of their 17 victories (51 per cent, being the highest this season) have been at their Agege Stadium ground.
Heavy defeats at FC IfeanyiUbah, Nasarawa United and Niger Tornadoes have not helped their goals difference.
On this basis, some pundits are already handing the title to Plateau United considering MFM’s final day opponents are El-Kanemi who are undefeated in their last 31 home matches since a 3-1 defeat to Akwa United in March last year.
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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