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Nigerian Football

Former Shootings Stars Players Regret Club’s Relegation

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BY BOLAJI OKUNOLA.

It was lamentation galore for fans and supporters of Shooting Stars as the club once again got relegated on the final day of the 2016/17 Nigerian football league.

   The Ibadan based club which last won the title 19 years ago finished 17th and thus in the bracket of the last four clubs doomed for relegation.

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  Having the same fate with Shooting Stars are ABS of Ilorin, Gombe United and Remo Stars. Former Captain of Shooting Stars, Mutiu Adegoke and Tope Orelope lamented the sad fate of the popular  Ibadan club which was the first Nigerian club side to win a continental title.

 “This is very sad, I wish the club can make a quick recovery”, Mutiu Adegoke to Sports Village Square shortly after the curtain fell on the Nigerian football league season on Saturday. “I can’t believe 3SC can still face relegation at this stage. The club is one of the biggest and oldest in Nigeria am still surprise such tragedy could hit them. It sad news and I pray they recover fast from their latest problem.”

  In a similar vein, another ex captain of the team who now ply his trade for Sunshine F.C of Akure, Tope Orelope also sympathized with the ‘Oluyole Warriors’.

  “It is sad to see mighty 3SC being relegated. I am using this medium to sympathize with the players and management of the club.” Current captain of the club, Tolu Omololu and former goalkeeper, King Fabiyi told Sports Village Square they were shocked by the fate that has befallen the club.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Nigerian Football

Season’s first win for Akwa United and Ikorodu City

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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.

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Nigerian Football

Behold! Nigeria Football’s October 8 Magic

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Nigeria’s Godwin Iwelumo terrorising Egypt’s goalmouth 47 years ago in an October 8 match. Nigeria won 4-0 inflicting the worst ever defeat on Egypt in a World Cup qualifier.

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.

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 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!

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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.
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 Rivers flow to the top!

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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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