Nigerian Football
ENYIMBA FACE RIVERS UNITED IN RESCHEDULED NIGERIAN LEAGUE MATCH
BY SAMMY WEJINYA
Nigeria’s most successful club,
Enyimba International will on Thursday go toe to toe with Rivers United in a
rescheduled high stakes Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) contest.
Enyimba will move into second place with a
win while United will move up to joint third if they tear the form books to
shreds and record a shock win at the Peoples’ Elephant’s cauldron of hate and
noise.
Rivers United have lost just once all
season, a 0-1 reverse against FC Ifeanyiubah on November 17 in Nnewi.
The Pride of Rivers will however face
their toughest test of the season against an Enyimba side flying both
domestically and on the continent.
Enyimba are riding the crest of a wave
following Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Ivoirian club, San Pedro in the CAF
Confederation Cup and head coach of the Aba club, Usman Abdallah expects United
to make things ‘difficult’ for his side.
“This is a derby and it is going to be
dicey,” Abdallah told the official Rivers United FC website, www.riversunitedfc.com.ng.
“They will come here and try to make it
difficult for us, as usual but we’ve already known (what they will do) and that
is why we have been working hard,” he said.
Enyimba have a fearsome record at home.
They have won all (three) games played at the Enyimba International Stadium,
Aba this season.
No team have scored more goals (eight) at
home than Enyimba this season and the Aba club have won all three games played
in the Commercial city this term.
Theophilus Afelokhai is likely to start in
goal for Enyimba on Thursday with Daniel Darkwah, Andrew Abalogu, Ifeanyi
Anaemena and Rueben Ogbonnaya all favoured to start in a four-man defence.
Oluwadamilare Olatunji and Austin Oladapo
are likely to be saddled with the duties of protecting the back four and
breaking up the opposition’s play with Stanley Dimgba, Samson Obi and Rueben
Bala providing the creative juice and supporting the gangly Victo Mbaoma who
will likely operate as the lone man upfront.
Abdallah will have Anayo Iwuala, Cyril
Olisema and the dangerous Martins Usule (who scored against San Pedro on
Sunday) to call upon should things not go according to script early on.
Rivers United are however extremely solid
away from home and have conceded just once on their travels (three matches)
this season.
United’s Technical Manager, Stanley Eguma
is confident heading into Thursday’s contest.
“Enyimba is always strong especially when
they play at home but we recall what happened when we met them in pre-season
against them,” Eguma said.
“We dominated against them in Aba and they
scored with a penalty in the 1-1 draw whikle we beat them in Port Harcourt.
“We know this Enyimba team very well and
have perfected out tactics for the game,” he said.
United won on their last away trip in the
league (against Warri Wolves) and could move into third place with yet another
win on the road on Thursday.
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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