International Football
NIGERIA’S COMEBACK KINGS OUT TO PROVE THEIR PEDIGREE – FIFA
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets are on the march again as they face European champions, Netherlands at midnight on Tuesday. The Nigerian side sealed their place in the last 16 with two emphatic comebacks
Three minutes into their debut at the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup – a competition that they’ve won an unmatched five times – Nigeria conceded. Gyorgy Komaromi tapped in David Laszlo’s soaring cross at the far post, and Hungary were up on the U-17 juggernauts.
In the second match it looked as if they had turned the tables. Ibrahim Said capitalised on a goalkeeping error to put the Golden Eaglets ahead five minutes after the opening whistle. That lead lasted 51 minutes of match time, until Johan Mina’s penalty goal put the Nigerians in the hole again.
Two matches, two deficits. They were staring at defeat with less than 15 minutes to go on both occasions. And on each, the Africans produced stirring comebacks.
Against Hungary, captain Samson Tijani was the primary difference-maker, netting Nigeria’s first and last goals of a 4-2 victory, the latter coming via free-kick from 30 yards.
“We don’t relent,” Tijani told FIFA.com of his team’s proclivity for late rallies. “We don’t give up easily. We force ourselves to keep pushing until we get the win.”
Said embodied the motto in Nigeria’s second win, completing the only hat-trick of Brazil 2019 thus far with a pair of goals in the 85th and 89th minutes.
His second was the standout, a curling, dipping golazo from outside the left edge of the box. Final score: Nigeria 3, Ecuador 2.
“In my mind, I kept thinking, ‘We should not be losing’,” said Said of the match against La Tri. “It gave me the fire to score a goal like this, along with the help from my team-mates.”
Combining the two wins that ensured their place in the knockout phase, the Golden Eaglets outscored their opponents 5-0 in the final 15 minutes of the match. For Tijani, Said and head coach Manu Garba, when it comes to this competition, Nigeria are special.
“The will to win every game is part of the DNA of every Nigerian team, and my team here in Brazil is no exception,” Garba told FIFA.com before the tournament began.
“It gives us more confidence to push harder, knowing what our country has worked for and that they are behind us,” Tijani said. “So we’ll keep pushing.”
The Nigerians have drawn a formidable opponent in the Round of 16 – one that pulled off a different kind of comeback to reach this stage.
The Netherlands lost their first two matches in Brazil by a combined score of 6-1. Down but far from out, the European champions pummelled USA 4-0 in their final group fixture to burst through.
The Dutch will be coming off their best performance of the tournament when the two sides meet on Tuesday. Nigeria, meanwhile, fell 2-1 to Australia in the their Group B closer. The faith of the Golden Eaglets, however, remains unshaken.
“I know this team and these players possess the effort to keep fighting back, no matter the situation,” said Tijani.
Both of Nigeria’s last-minute triumphs came at Goiania’s Estadio Olimpico. You can guess the location of their showdown with the Oranje.
“We want to bring this World Cup back to Nigeria,” Said said. “I want to make my country proud of the team.”
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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