Nigerian Football
NFF COMMISERATES WITH AHMED MUSA OVER MOTHER’S DEATH
The Nigeria Football Federation has condoled Super Eagles’ deputy captain, Ahmed Musa on the death of his mother, Mrs Sarah Moses on Thursday afternoon.
Early reports indicated that Mrs Moses died at a hospital in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja after a brief illness.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick, said the generality of Nigerian Football fraternity was taken aback by the loss of the Super Eagles’ ace’s mum.
“This is a huge shock. It is always a thing of grief and pain to lose either of one’s parents, no matter how old they were before they passed on. We share in Ahmed Musa’s sorrow at this period and we pray that God will enable him to muster the courage and give him the fortitude to bear the loss. We also pray for the repose of the soul of the departed.
“Ahmed Musa has always shown a high level of dedication and patriotism in all the matches he has played for Nigeria. Everyone is in sympathy with him at this period.”
On a day that Nigerian ball fans were happy that Super Eagles’ captain, Mikel Obi had secured a return to England having agreed terms with Championship side Middlesborough, came the sad news of the passing of his deputy’s mother.
The electrifying forward, thenff.com learnt, was on his way to Jos, Plateau State on Thursday night to brief family members and commence preparations for his mother’s final rites of passage.
NFF President Pinnick added: “I have spoken to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, who directed that I should ensure that the player was provided with adequate security at this period, especially his night movement to Jos. With the assistance of the Minister, I was able to get across to security operatives in Jos and they assured me of adequate security for Ahmed.”
Ahmed Musa remains Nigeria’s highest scorer at the FIFA World Cup, having scored four goals in each of the last two finals (2014 and 2018), and was also a member of the Super Eagles’ squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in 2013.
He had been the Super Eagles’ on-field captain since the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and led the team to earn qualification to this year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals with a match to spare.
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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