Nigerian Football
AS 2ND ROUND KICKS OFF MFM, IFEANYIUBAH, ENYIMBA, AKWA UNITED AIM AT SUPER 6
BY APESIN ADEMOLA
The second phase of the 2018/19 Nigeria Professional Football League, which started on Saturday with Group A leaders MFM losing to Insurance in Benin 0-1, will get into full swing on Sunday with matches in eight centres.
In Group A, Enyimba, who are second on the log, will have the chance to close the gap on leaders MFM. The Lagos side retain a six-point gap at the summit, while FC Ifeanyi Ubah top Group B.
Enyimba have won all but one of their home fixtures this season, the only one being a goalless result against defending champions Lobi Stars on Matchday 3, while their visitors Sunshine Stars have won one game away (versus Wikki Tourists) and drawn another (versus Kwara United) out of five matches on the road. At some point in the season, the Akure Gunners were in second spot but have since dropped three steps down.
Lobi Stars, who were at the foot of the table while accumulating domestic fixtures during their now failed continental campaign, have since been catapulted to No 3. The Pride of Benue have the venues of their back-to-back encounters against bottom placed Niger Tornadoes swapped to avoid too many away matches in their schedule. Therefore, rather than host Tornadoes this Sunday for Matchday 12, they journey to Minna for Matchday 11 game.
Katsina United, in No 4, travel to Ilorin to engage a disappointing Kwara United. The Harmony Boys of Ilorin started the season with purpose and led the group on Matchday 3 but have failed to sustain the tempo, a situation that has now dragged them into the relegation four.
Their opponents Katsina United are among the front runners, and if they maintain their consistency, the Changi Boys may well finish in top three and challenge for the title through the Super 6.
Like Lobi Stars, Rangers too have to concentrate on the domestic scene after crashing out of the CAF Confederation Cup. With six outstanding fixtures, the fans of the Flying Antelope may worry less about their current standing at No 7, and 10 points adrift of top team MFM.
In Group B, four matches are also on offer, while the other two will be played later.
With leaders FC IfeanyiUbah not on duty, the door is open for either Akwa United and El-Kanemi Warriors to take charge of this section, even if temporarily.
For a side that started the season with a home defeat through a last minute blunder by their keeper, Akwa United have done remarkably well to rise above the setback in arriving at second place, only two points behind the top spot. Since that early blip, the Promise Keepers have gone on to win three home matches and shared honours with Plateau United in the other, while also winning two away fixtures.
Akwa United will be up against Heartland, who have gone down the pecking order; a team that had occupied No 1 on three Matchdays now marginally above the relegation zone.
El-Kanemi Warriors will file out at Pantami Stadium, Gombe where the home side have not been delivering results. In five matches on that ground, Gombe United have won only two, drawn the same number and lost one. If the Warriors reenact the form that made them to pip Akwa United in Uyo on the season’s opening day, Gombe United will be in further trouble as they are just one point and one step above Yobe Desert Stars, the last team in the group, who face seventh-placed Go Round.
The fixtures…
Group A (Matchday 12):
- Rivers United v Wikki Tourists
- Rangers v Remo Stars
- Kwara United v Katsina United
- Enyimba v Sunshine Stars
- Lobi Stars v Niger Tornadoes (rescheduled)
Matchday 11:
- Niger Tornadoes v Lobi Stars
Group B (Matchday 12):
- Go Round v Yobe Desert Stars
- Plateau United v Abia Warriors
- Akwa United v Heartland
- Gombe United v El-Kanemi Warriors
- Kano Pillars v FC Ifeanyi Ubah (Wednesday, March 27)
- Nasarawa United v Kada City (Wednesday, April 3)
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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