Nigerian Football
HUGE EXCITEMENT, AS AKINWUNMI CHARITY BALL ROLLS AGAIN
There is a high level of excitement and infectious ecstasy as the fourth edition of the Seyi Akinwunmi Charity Mini-Tournament comes to a climax at the Lagos Campos Mini-Stadium on Friday.
Sponsored by the 1st Vice President of Nigeria Football Federation, Seyi Akinwunmi, the show –stopping event has over the years attracted leading administrators, top –drawer artistes and ex-international footballers to the finale, while a number of promising talents have been unearthed during the youth competition.
The competition’s main objective is provision of scholarships for smart but indigent children and support for ailing ex-international players.
Over 200 children have been supported through the Courage Education Foundation, which has chosen the game of football to bring people together and raise funds for the Foundation’s goals.
Thorough, deliberate and averse to doing things in half measures, Akinwunmi, who has been Chairman of Lagos State Football Association for more than six years now, has driven the mini-tournament and the Foundation with a touch of class, charisma and consistency.
A well –thought partnership with Greensprings International School, Lagos has provided the perfect station for star discoveries to combine first –education with sport, which ultimately makes for a better athlete.
This year, Musa Alli and Elvis Onyenze, who have shone for Nigeria’s U15 squad and look good enough to be considered for the next Nigeria U17 squad, graduated from Greensprings International School.
“Our goal is to provide the perfect platform for the gifted but indigent child to fulfil his dream, through combining good education with a career in sport. Alli and Onyenze are examples of what we set out to do and they are still going strong, but there are many more on the way.
“The finale which we hold at the Campos Mini-Stadium is a spectacle for both good youth football and fun, with administrators and ex-internationals taking part in the novelty game. Here, we raise funds for the goals of the Foundation,” Akinwunmi told thenff.com.
This year, NFF President Amaju Pinnick is leading a team of Pinnick and Friends against Family United By Sports, with names like Festus Keyamo (SAN), Ayodeji Tinubu (SA to Lagos State Governor on Sports), Olusegun Odegbami (former Nigeria captain), Taiwo Ogunjobi (former Nigeria international and former NFF GS and Executive Committee Member), Chris Green (ranking member of NFF Executive Committee) and Imama Amapakabo (NPFL title –winning coach with Enugu Rangers last year) already signed up for FUBS.
They will be coached by Nduka Ugbade, who captained Nigeria’s first cadet team to win the FIFA World Cup and was an assistant coach when the U17 team won it for the fourth time in the United Arab Emirates in 2013.
Popular stand-up comedian Gbenga Adeyinka will be referee of the match.
“The truth is that talents abound in the nooks and crannies of our country. They are waiting to be discovered and nurtured. Most are from poor homes and need support to climb that ladder to get close to their dreams.
“I want to really appreciate Greensprings International School for the hand of partnership they have lent to the Foundation. Together, we believe we can take this project very far and in a way that would be great for Nigerian Football development,” Akinwunmi added.
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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