BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Nigeria’s national football coach, Eric Chelle, has revealed to Sports Village Square that he has seen some players in the domestic league with prospects of getting national team call-up.

The coach unveiled in January as Nigeria’s coach, watched the Ikorodu City’s match with Plateau United in Lagos as well as the Remo Stars’ encounter with Kwara United in Ikenne.  

He said that in the Lagos match, he saw four players with prospects of the national team call up and in the second match in Ikenne, three players impressed him.

He would not name the players as he remarked that he was still taking notes.

However, he revealed that the players he had spotted displayed proficiency in specific skills such as passing and shooting and were physically fit as they displayed endurance on the pitch.

Other qualities he noted were their mental fitness and ability to decide as well as good ball sense.

He was particularly thrilled by the positional ball displayed by Remo Stars in their 2-0 defeat of Kwara United on Thursday night.   

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Nigeria’s national team coach, Eric Chelle was among the crowd that watched Remo Stars tighten their grip at the top of the Nigeria Premier Football League, on Thursday as they beat Kwara United 2-0 following late goals in the hard-fought battle.

With the win, Remo Stars are now 10 points ahead of the second-placed Shooting Stars.  

To further tighten their grip at the top, they have established a goal difference of 16 to become the only one with double digits.

It was an easy match as they had to fight almost to the end of the encounter before they could secure the three points at stake.

They dominated the encounter, especially in the first half where even the national coach informed Sports Village Square that he was impressed with the passing of the ball and the smooth transition from defence through the midfield into the attack.

But they lack the cutting edge in the final quarter. They missed many chances and hit the woodwork three times.

The match seemed to be heading towards a barren draw before Samuel Anakwe broke the deadlock for Remo Stars in the 79th minute.

Deep into added time, a substitute player who had added sparks to the strike force of Remo Stars, Hadi Haruna sealed the full points with a second goal.

Elsewhere, Katsina United beat Enyimba 2-1 at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium.

Katsina United took a 2-0 lead courtesy of Bello Lukman’s brace before substitute Ekene Awazie reduced the deficit for Enyimba in stoppage time.

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A day after their major rivals stumbled by dropping valuable points, Remo Stars have been gifted the chance to stretch their lead in the Nigeria Premier Football League as they host Kwara United in their fortress in Ikenne.

This season, only initial rivals, Rivers United have been able to scrape a point out of the 36 obtainable so far in 36 home matches.

That way, Remo Stars have obtained 34 points at home and an overall of 48. A win against Kwara United will take their haul to 51, 10 more than the 41 obtained by their closest rivals, Shooting Stars, and 12 more than the 39 points by third-placed Rivers United.

But it won’t be a stroll in the park for Remo Stars. Kwara United actually truncated Remo Stars’ winning streak after their defeat of Abia Warriors, Sunshine Stars, Kano Pillars and Enugu Rangers in the first stanza of the league.

They were on the verge of getting their fifth consecutive win before Kwara United terminated it.

For Remo Stars, this Thursday’s match is not just a quest to stretch their lead, it is also vengeance-laden.

Other Match

Katsina United v. Enyimba

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