Nigerian Football
CHEERLEADER, RAFIU LADIPO, ONIGBINDE PAY TRIBUTE TO THUNDER BALOGUN’S WIFE
The President-General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, and the former Chief Coach of the Super Eagles, Adegboye Onigbinde, have extolled the virtues of the wife of Nigeria’s football legend, Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun, Alhaja Mulikat as the family celebrates her 21st memorial.
Ladipo, said, Alhaja Mulikat was indirectly responsible for the great contributions and indelible mark her husband made to the development of football in Nigeria.
“It was Alhaja Mulikat, an astute football lover that convinced Teslim Balogun to return to Nigeria from England where ‘Thunder’ was playing as the first Nigerian to sign a club deal to play in the English league.
“He was a player of Queens Park Rangers and it
was the late Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that asked her
to persuade her husband to return to Nigeria so as to play for Western Rovers
in the prestigious Challenge Cup.
“She didn’t just ask him to return, when Thunder Balogun started playing for the national team, she was present in all the games her husband played for the country, to give her massive support.
“If there were top decisions made by Teslim Balogun that lifted him to become one of Nigeria’s greatest football players of all time, they were due to the influence of his wife who stood firmly by him with humour, humility and discipline.”
Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, who was a close family friend to the late Teslim Balogun said that, Alhaja Mulikat was a great asset to Nigeria as a nation as she motivated her husband to achieve greatness for the country.
“Alhaja Mulikat, accompanied her husband to all the training sessions he was involved in when ‘Thunder’ returned to Nigeria. She was always there to quietly point out areas where her husband didn’t do well in training and this helped tremendously during competitive games.”
Onigbinde noted that, if wives of present day Nigerian footballers give the kind of supports Alhaja Mulikat gave to Thunder Balogun during his active years as a footballer, such players would definitely be better professionals.
The spokesperson of the Teslim Balogun family, Kayode Balogun, a former Super Eagles player himself, said yesterday in Lagos that, the family remains grateful to the Lagos State government for naming the Lagos Football Association stadium in Surulere after their father.
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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