Nigerian Football
Any spiritual connection between Muda Lawal and Kunle Awesu?
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Was it a sheer coincidence? Former Nigeria’s left-winger, Kunle Awesu who died on 15 June 1994 and fellow club mate and also national team player, Muda Lawal shared common traits.
Both were former IICC Shooting Stars players. Both joined the IICC Shooting Stars from the lesser-known Housing Corporation FC of Ibadan.
Both were star performers in the 1976 Green Eagles squad that caused upset at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ethiopia.
Both were from Abeokuta in Ogun State.
Muda Lawal and Kunle Awesu played prominent roles in the IICC Shooting Stars team that became the first Nigerian club to win a continental title in 1976.
In the following year, the administration of David Jemibewon set the record of being the first in Nigeria to reward a group of footballers with car gifts.
Each of the registered 25-member squad of IICC was given a Volkswagen Beetle car.
Could it be a coincidence that that of Muda Lawal and Kunle Awesu had plate numbers that followed one another?
Kunle Awesu was number 16 on the list, while Muda was 17. Awesu’s car number was OY 7024 AB and that of Muda was OY 7025 AB.
In the national team, a look at most group pictures in which both players featured, they were always side-by-side.
Kunle Awesu who travelled to the US in 1978 to further his studies later graduated as a lawyer. He died in Arlington, US just before the USA ’94 World Cup.
His death was unknown to his family members in Nigeria until later 1996. He was a lawyer in the US and prior to his death had limited contact with his parents in Nigeria.
Therefore when he died, friends reportedly could not find any document to establish contact with his relations.
His mother had died in 1988 while he was in the US. His father, Pa Joseph Awesu was 81 at the time of Kunle Awesu’s death in 1994
When contacted by Sports Village Square editor-in-chief while still with the Concord Press in 1996, the old man revealed that he last saw his son in 1978 when the left winger visited him with “his bosom friend and colleague, Muda Lawal, just before his trip to the US”, which according to the old man, was entirely packaged by Chief Lekan Salami, the players’ mentor and that of the Shooting Stars which they played for.
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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