Nigerian Football
CHRISTIAN MADU, EX RANGERS FOR BURIAL FRIDAY
The remains of former Rangers and Super Eagles midfielder, Christian Madu, will be buried this Friday, at his home town Ndiama Oka –Ugiri in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
Madu who was popularly known as Gabu in his hay days died on August 19, after a protracted illness.
Madu, according to an interview he granted The Guardian 13 years ago narrated the story of his early football days in Ghana, why he changed his surname from Madumere to Madu and how he joined Rangers from Ghana.
He revealed that he had to change his surname, Madumere to Madu in order to remain in Ghana and continue his career, since the atmosphere then was not conducive for Nigerians living in Ghana.
“When I was in Ghana, the then government decided that Nigerians were the main reason their economy had problems and told all Nigerians to leave their country.
“I was playing for Accra Hearts of Oak then. So I had to change my surname from Madumere to Madu. That made it sound Cameroonian. And not only that, an official of the club helped me to spread it around that I was Cameroonian. So, I managed to secure a resident permit as a Cameroonian, and continued playing for Hearts of Oaks.
“This thing happened around 1969. I played for Oaks for 12 years before I joined Great Olympics. I played for Great Olympics for five years before I joined Rangers,” Madu said.
He was a member of the Great Olympics team beaten by Enugu Rangers in the 1975 edition of the African Cup of Champions Clubs. The next season, he switched from the Ghanaian club to Enugu Rangers and had his first Nigerian cap starting the Nigeria’s 6-2 defeat of Sierra Leone ahead of the regular midfielder, Muda Lawal.
His contributions in Rangers were quite magical as the Antelopes sensationally won the 1977 Africa Cup Winners Cup now CAF Confederation Cup. Skills and amazing ball control did not go unnoticed as Super Eagles coach, Father Tiko invited him to the Green Eagles team and he along others were bedecked with a bronze medal in the 1978 African Nations Cup in Ghana. He was one of the few players who played for both Nigeria and Ghana before FIFA ruled that a player could not play for different countries any longer.
In their tributes, Madu’s erstwhile team mates described the late soccer star as a team player whose aim was victory all the time. The former Rangers players did not mince words in ascribing Madu’s death to negligence.
Harrison Okagbue, who joined Rangers at its formation in 1970 and who later handled the Cranes of Uganda noted that the death of Madu and other ex international players who have died “would have come later if they were taken better care of in the light of how they used their youthfulness to make people happy”.
Arthur Ebunam, the Chairman of Ex-Rangers Association in Anambra, lamented that Madu and indeed other Nigeria’s national team players died because “they never not got what they deserved in the Nigerian society”.
It must be noted that former Iwuanyanwu Nationale player Ramson Madu who incidentally is the Owerri side’s coach is the younger brother of Christian Madu.
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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