Nigerian Football
Nigeria’s Championship Playoff turns ‘Festival of draws
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Perhaps nothing draws better than the ongoing Nigeria Super 6 league.
With more than half of the projected 15-match series of the Nigeria Premier League Championship play-off already played, there have been more drawn games than victories.
With nine of the projected 15 matches played as at MatchDay 3, only two have been won while seven have been drawn encounters.
The only victories have been the 1-0 defeat of Lobi Stars by Enyimba and Rivers United beating Sunshine Stars 1-0.
No team has been able to double a lead. In nine matches, only 16 goals have been scored.
That nine matches produced just 16 goals, an average of 1.7 per match, speaks volume of the attacking potency of Nigerian clubs jostling for continental slots in the coming months.
It means that the top three clubs will have to engage in massive recruitment of strikers, even outside the country’s shores if they are to make marks at continental competitions instead of the annual rituals of merely making up the numbers of attendees.
So far, the most goal-laden matches have been played by Remo Stars who twice played 2-2 draws against Enyimba and Rivers United.
Considering their 1-1 draw with Sunshine Stars, they are the team with most goals, having put in five.
Paradoxically, they have also conceded as many goals as they have scored!
In the ‘festival of draws’, Bendel Insurance are the kingpins. In the current season, they have the best record of having not lost a match.
But a flashback into the main league reveals they have drawn 11 of their last 12 matches – perhaps a record. Such a gloomy consistency is inconsistent for a side dreaming of continental exploit.
With fluctuating fortunes, the championship play-off may be heading for a photo-finish. At different points, different teams have temporarily occupied the top of the table.
When Enyimba scored from the penalty spot in the opening match of the play-off, they shot to the top of the table only to be equalled by Remo Stars after the latter put final scoreline at 2-2.
Then came defending champions, Rivers United whose 1-0 defeat of Sunshine Stars catapulted them to the summit of the table.
They remained there after the Match Day 1 before they were displaced by Enyimba, following a MatchDay 2 defeat of Lobi Stars in the only other won match of the series so far.
Ever since, it has been a spate of draws. When Remo Stars shot ahead in the 12th minute of their ‘Star War’ with Sunshine Stars, they jumped to to the top of the table as their point-haul went to five.
But it turned a temporary occupation that lasted just 34 minutes as Sunshine Stars pulled them back to the third position.
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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