Nigerian Football
There’s all to play for as NPL Championship play off comes to an end
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is going down to the wire! Adios predictability…bye to established form books. The curtain falls on the IMC-evoked championship play-off this Sunday.
Not many things are certain until the 15th match is played. There are stakes for all the six contenders.
The only certainty is the fact that both Enyimba and Rivers United have picked tickets to go continental. But they are not too certain of the content of the envelopes they are holding.
Are both holding the tickets to the CAF Champions League? Will one of them still step down to the CAF Confederation Cup?
Yet unanswered with certainty is the possibility of Enyimba going for the latest innovation – the CAF Super League – instead of the CAF Champions League.
Yet possible is the lurking Remo Stars snatching not just a Champions League ticket that is obtainable if they come second, but also getting the title and the prize money as Nigeria’s latest champions.
Bendel Insurance can also still stage a possible coup of pulling Remo Stars down to the fourth position and taking the third and the attendance CAF Confederation ticket.
Even the duo of bottom-placed Sunshine Stars and Lobi Stars have something to fight for. Will Lobi Stars end the series without scoring any goal?
The allure of the Super 6 League is that all the teams substantially have their destinies in their hands.
In the championship battle are Enyimba and Rivers United. Both have direct confrontation to decide a winner. The stakes are high for both.
The bragging rights as Nigeria’s champions as well as the high stake prize money.
Considering the grim determination from both, should they end in a draw, Remo Stars may profit in that if they do themselves a world of good by winning their potentially explosive encounter with bitter rivals, Bendel Insurance.
The top three will then all end up with nine points each. Goal difference will then determine the ranking.
That way, Rivers United may lose some grounds, slipping into the third position while Remo Stars come second depending on the number of goals they score against Bendel Insurance.
If the Remo Stars goal difference arithmetically comes up to more than four, even Enyimba on the top of the log will be at risk.
So, if both Enyimba and Rivers United end their match in low score draw or even goalless and Remo Stars beat Insurance 2-0, Remo Stars will be Nigeria’s latest champions and the first one-man owned club to win the Nigerian league in 17 years!
The last sole proprietorship club to win the Nigerian league was the defunct Ocean Boys in 2006. The club was formed by Sylva Nathaniel Ngo, the chairman of Brass Local Government in Bayelsa State.
If Remo Stars beat Bendel Insurance, they will have a nervy three hour wait to ascertain their fate which will only come to light after the last match of Enyimba and Rivers United.
If a winner emerges, Remo Stars will drop to second position. So there is tension all the way.
Day 5: June 11th
- Sunshine Stars Vs Lobi Stars – 2pm
- Remo Stars Vs Bendel Insurance – 4.30pm
- Enyimba FC Vs Rivers United – 6.30pm
| Teams | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
| Enyimba | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 | ||
| Rivers | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | ||
| Remo | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | ||
| Bendel | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 3 | ||
| Lobi | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 2 | ||
| Sunshine | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 2 | ||
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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