Nigerian Football
NPFL PLAYOFF: TITLE, CONTINENTAL TICKETS DOWN TO THE LAST GAME
BY FISAYO DAIRO
It is the final MatchDay of the 2018/19 Nigeria Professional
Football League (NPFL) Championship Playoff this Wednesday at the Agege Stadium
and there are still all to play for five of the six clubs with the giant trophy
and two continental slots up for grabs.
The four previous match days of high intensity and top level competition have
left seven-time league champions Enyimba as the only team to have sealed a
continental place for next season while FC Ifeanyiubah are the only team mathematically
out of the running having turned out the “whipping boys” with no
points from four games.
A total of thirty-six goals have been scored in twelve matches, an impressive
average of three goals per game, but in spite of a low scoring Match Day 4 (by
the lofty standards of this season’s playoffs), it does not look like the teams
are tired of banging in the good, great goals.
Enyimba overtook Kano Pillars at the summit of the log after an expected, but
comprehensive 3-1 win over FC Ifeanyiubah on Monday night. All the People’s
Elephant now need to seal a return to CAF Champions League football for the
first time in four seasons is to avoid losing by not more than a one-goal
margin against Akwa United who desperately need a win.
Enyimba’s nine points have guaranteed them a top three spot regardless of
Wednesday’s result but Usman Abd’Allah’s men do have their sights on the trophy
they last won in 2015. Akwa United who remain unbeaten in their first four
games will however pose a capable threat to their aspirations.
Akwa United head coach Rafael Everton is expected to recall former Enyimba star
Mfon Udoh – who came on as substitute in their last two games – to the starting
line up and the Brazilian acknowledges that it will be a difficult game on
Wednesday.
“We will continue to believe. We came here to work and we will continue to
believe that we will win the league. It is (going to be) a difficult game, it
is a derby but we’ve not lost in all the games we have played so we will start
planning to win the last game,” Everton told www.npfl.ng.
Kano Pillars are the only remaining unbeaten side in this Playoffs and they
require just a point from their last game against calculator-wearied Lobi Stars
to seal a return to the continent since 2015. Pillars were denied by a late
minute penalty against Rangers on Monday which made them relinquish their top
spot to Enyimba.
Pillars will continue to rely on forwards Nyima Nwagua and Ebuka David Odenigbo
against a Lobi Stars side who can still finish third with a win should both
Rangers and Akwa United lose their games.
Another side with their destiny not directly in their hands is current Cup
winners Rangers International. Gbenga Ogunbote’s wards are expected to have a
straight forward win on paper over FC Ifeanyiubah but that may not be
sufficient for them if Lobi Stars do not do them the favour of beating Pillars.
Rangers have five points, three less than Pillars but will have to win by at
least a 3-goal margin against the 2016 Federation Cup winners and pray that
Pillars lose, or Akwa United fail to win if they intend to make it a
back-to-back appearance in the CAF Confederation Cup.
The Agege Township Stadium remains the stage for the final day of hostilities
and while landing the topmost prize of the NPFL 2018/19 season will be tops on
the wish list of Enyimba, Kano Pillars and Akwa United, an eventual place on
the continent should be good reward for the latter duo.
Surely, a day of celebration, ecstasy, what ifs, if only and had we known is in
the offing with tears of joy and sorrow expected to flow over onto the Agege
waters.
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
NFF Communication director unfolds 20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil
African football legends, Adebayor and Aubameyang condemn Libya’s treatment of Super Eagles
BREAKING! CAF wades into the Libya-Nigeria Airport episode
Breaking! Uzoho suspended from Super Eagles’ next match with Sierra Leone
No longer Super League as CAF changes name of its new clubs competition
AIU releases its report on Tobi Amusan
-
Uncategorized1 week ago
Players boycott Libyan national team
-
AFCON4 days ago
Billiat’s penalty seals Zimbabwe’s 1-0 win over Namibia
-
AFCON1 week ago
Eguavoen unfolds Super Eagles’ squad for back-to-back duel with Libya
-
AFCON6 days ago
Facts & Figures as AFCON 2025 qualifiers enter Matchday 3
-
AFCON5 days ago
AFCON 2025 in Morocco: Everything you need to know
-
AFCON5 days ago
Libya’s captain, Faisal Al-Badri alleges poor treatment in Nigeria
-
Uncategorized6 days ago
CAF compels Kwasi Appiah to step down from Ghana FA
-
Uncategorized1 week ago
Fastest World Cup final scorer is dead!