Nigerian Football
CARL IKEME CONDUCTS ENGLISH FA CUP DRAW
BY APESIN ADEMOLA.
Super Eagles former goalkeeper Carl Ikeme will on Monday night determine the fate of teams that survived the third round of the 2018/19 English FA Cup (officially known as The Emirates FA Cup).
The ex-Wolves keeper will conduct the competition’s fourth round draw along with Robbie Keane, ex-Wolves and Tottenham forward, immediately the last third round fixture between Wolves and Liverpool is concluded at Molineux Stadium.
Ikeme, who spent his entire career at Wolves and made 207 appearances for the club, played a prominent role in the Super Eagles between 2015 and 2016 until his battle with acute leukaemia truncated his career for club and country.
Although Ikeme was eligible to play for England as well, he chose to identify with his fatherland and waited for eight years between his first call-up to the national team before his debut against Tanzania on September 5, 2015 in a qualifier for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Dar-es-Salam, which ended goalless.
Ikeme held on to the No 1 position and featured three times for the Super Eagles in the qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but missed the final tournament in Russia due to his health crisis, which coach Gernot Rohr described as his “greatest regret.”
Wolves had announced on July 6, 2017 that Ikeme had been diagnosed of acute leukaemia during a pre-season check-up. As a result, he couldn’t feature in the club’s triumph in the English Championship that season, which led to their return to the English topflight.
Last July 27, Ikeme announced his retirement from football at age 32 on medical grounds. In his honour, Wolves’ new keeper Rul Patricio left the No 1 jersey vacant and chose No 11 instead.
In the English FA fourth round draw, Sheffield United will go into the hat as the lowest ranked club left in the oldest recognised football tournament in the world. This is the 138th edition of the tournament.
The “big” teams still on course include defending champions Chelsea, last season’s runners-up Manchester United, the most successful club in the competition Arsenal and Premier League title holders Manchester City.
Leicester City were the biggest exit in the third round. The 2015/16 Premier League champions were eliminated by League 2 side Newport County.
The other Premier League teams that failed so far are: Bournemouth, Cardiff City, Fulham and Huddersfield Town.
The fourth round matches will come up between January 25 and 28.
Fourth round draw numbers
1. Bolton Wanderers
2. Millwall
3. Gillingham
4. Brentford
5. Sheffield Wednesday or Luton Town
6. Manchester United
7. Everton
8. Tottenham Hotspur
9. Doncaster Rovers
10. Newcastle United or Blackburn Rovers
11. Chelsea
12. Crystal Palace
13. Derby County or Southampton
14. Accrington Stanley
15. Bristol City
16. Newport County
17. Oldham Athletic
18. Shrewsbury Town or Stoke City
19. Arsenal
20. Manchester City
21. Brighton & Hove Albion
22. West Ham United
23. Watford
24. Burnley
25. Queens Park Rangers
26. Barnet
27. Portsmouth
28. AFC Wimbledon
29. West Bromwich Albion
30. Middlesbrough
31. Wolverhampton Wanderers or Liverpool
32. Swansea City
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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