Nigerian Football
HISTORY IS A RECURRING DECIMAL AS AKWA UNITED TARGETS AITEO CUP VICTORY
BY MFON PATRICK.
Two factors are motivating AITEO Cup finalist, Akwa United as they arrived Lagos this weekend. The zeal to make history and the resort to reclaim a continental ticket the club agonizingly missed when the curtain fell on the Nigeria Professional Football League Season 2016/17.
As for the latter factor, Akwa United which had impressive run in the season and for most part of the league stayed firmly in to five bracket, it had a twist of fate losing their penultimate league match to Shooting Stars in Ibadan, a loss which led to the loss of their claim to third position on the final log.
Placing third would have enabled the flamboyant side go continental again like that of last year by featuring in the CAF Confederation Cup next season.
The hope is still alive, hence with pent-up annoyance, they dealt heavily on their albatross, Shooting Stars, when they met in the Round of 16 of the AITEO Cup, another route to going continental.
Also, it is the desire of the club to make history. A pursuit history of being the first club to win the AITEO Cup. Also, a history of being the first to win a Federation Cup and the AITEO Cup. It is more! The first club to win a national cup at the Agege Stadium.
The club on the verge of history defeated Sunshine Stars on the path to the final match. Before then, they had left other clubs crashing. These include Halfa FC, Yobe Stars and Katsina United Feeders.
Akwa United is possibly one of the most attack-oriented clubs in the competition having scored a mind blowing 23 goals and conceded paltry six in seven matches.
Niger Tornadoes return to Lagos on a third journey to claim a national cup. The first attempt in 1982 ended in a mitigated disaster, losing to a fire-up Stationery Stores of Lagos by 4-1. But Niger Tornadoes achieved success a second time around, profiting from a dying minute own goal by Enugu Rangers’ Akin Ademofe in the cup final of 2000.
Both Akwa United and Niger Tornadoes are meeting for the third time this year having met in the league.
Akwa United won 3-0 in the sumptuous Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo but lost the reversed fixture, 0-1 in Minna.
With a continental ticket and whopping Twenty-Five Million Naira prize money on offer, Coach Abdu Maikaba has revealed that his team will not leave any stone unturned in Sunday’s final.
He has a full strength squad to choose from for the match and he will be banking on the experience of Captain Otobong Effiong, Ariwachukwu Emmanuel, Godspower Igudia, Paterne Counou and Ubong Friday who were part of the team that lifted the trophy two years ago.
With experienced Super Eagles midfielders Ifeanyi Ifeanyi and Aremu Afeez pulling the strings in the middle of the park, Forwards Christian Pyagbara, Musa Newman, Cyril Olisema and Ubong Friday are sure to enjoy full supply of delectable passes as they gear to round off what has been a great season.
The competition’s top scorer Christian Pyagbara who has scored seven goals in seven matches has said that his focus will be to ensure that the team achieve its target in Sunday’s final. If Pyagbara scores on Sunday, he will be the competition’s highest goal scorer in the last three years.
Thousands of vocal supporters and fans from Akwa Ibom State are set to storm the Agege Stadium to cheer their team to victory.
The winner of the 2017 Aiteo Cup competition will join Enyimba to represent Nigeria at the CAF Confederation Cup next year.
Nigerian champions, Enugu Rangers have been beaten 4-3 by visiting Kano Pillars in the Match Day 7 of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
The visitors went into the lead in 15th minute when Rabiu Ali converted a penalty kick. They doubled the lead in the 28th minute through Zulkifilu Rabiu before Rabiu Ali extended the lead to 3-0 in the 37th minute after converting another penalty kick.
The game turned into a nightmare for Rangers as Ahmed Musa made it 4-0 in the first minute of the added time.
Rangers began a fight back in the opening minutes of the second half as Isaac Saviour pulled a goal back in the 47th minute. Twelve minute later he scored a second goal to reduce the tally to 4-2. Emmanuel Silas Nenrot made the score line a more respectable for Rangers when he scored a third goal in the added time.
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.
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