CAF Confederation Cup
SYLVANUS OKPALA IS THE OXYGEN FOR RANGERS’ SURVIVAL, SAYS EX-INTERNATIONAL, KINGSLEY ONYE
Former Nigeria international, Kingsley Onye believes that Enugu Rangers can only escape from their current precarious situation if the team engages Sylvanus Okpala as the coach.
The club which was one of the old existing teams in Nigeria and previously the stronghold in the country has become a struggling side both in the domestic league and the second-tier continental competition, the CAF Champions League.
At the weekend, the club that is struggling at the bottom rungs of the Nigerian league only managed a goalless draw on the continent to earn its first point out of obtainable nine against continental debutants, Nouadhibou of Mauritania.
Kingsley Onye has called for a concerted effort to salvage the once dreaded Nigerian football club.
According to ThisDay newspaper, Kingsley Onye, a former dependable defender of the club and a major actor in Nigeria’s Flying Eagles’ third-place in 1985 U-20 World Cup said the revival of the club is hinged mainly on getting a technically sound coach for the club.
In a telephone discussion from his base in the UK, he remarked that no other person fit into that position at the moment more than Sylvanus Okpala, a former Nigerian international and one of the earliest skippers of the Flying Eagles in the 1980s.
Fondly, called ‘Quicksilver’ by the late inimitable Nigerian sports commentator, Ernest Okonkwo, Okpala played his professional football in Portugal and was a star player in the Super Eagles in the 1980s.
He assisted Stephen Keshi, as a coach in the Africa Cup of Nations winning side of 2013 before he was sidelined.
Onye said he had spoken with many of his former colleagues in Rangers and the most recurring name was that of Okpala.
He appeals to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State to help in ensuring that Okpala is given the reins in Rangers and that the club needed a coach that will manage the club for at least three years for the club to have stability and regain its esteem both in Nigeria and in the continent.
He agreed that Okpala may have issues with his temperament, but pointed out that the situation could be managed.
Onye said that age and maturity have combined to make Okpala the tools on anger management. He pointed out the remarkable match reading ability of Okpala and the fact that as a footballer, he fitted into virtually every position apart from that of goalkeeping.
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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