International Football
Goalkeeping Tension Grips Super Eagles
There was palpable tension in the Hotel Crowne Plaza camp of the Super Eagles ahead of Thursday’s friendly match with Teranga Lions of Senegal following injury suffered by first choice goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme and the non availability of substitutes.
At the height of the tension, team handler, Gernot Rohr, had to draft in relatively unknown Tope Okeowo of England non league side, Peckham All Stars as replacement. Okeowo was a former Golden Eaglets player.
But according to a release by the NFF Media Department, the arrivals of Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning respectively doused the tension.
The injury to Ikeme brought to three the number of players in the original 22 to have dropped out for the same reason. Ezenwa and Akpeyi were initially held back by visa hitches in Nigeria and South Africa.
Nigeria –based goalkeeper Ezenwa eventually got his visa on Tuesday evening and flew out of Lagos to London on Wednesday, alongside Coach Salisu Yusuf and a few other officials.
South Africa –based Akpeyi’s UK visa was delayed by a public holiday in South Africa but he did the 11 –hour haul from Johannesburg to London overnight and arrived at Crowne Plaza London Ealing after breakfast on Thursday.
Team doctor Ibrahim Gyaran told thenff.com: “Carl (Ikeme) has been having hamstring and Achilles tendon issues but we did a scan on Wednesday night and we await the result. It is however good that the other goalkeepers are here.”
Rohr, who has been having several meetings with his technical team as he seeks a winning formula against Africa’s highest ranked team, Senegal at The Hive on Thursday, said: “It was the first time in my life that I had to start planning for a big match without goalkeepers on ground!
“But I am happy (Ikechukwu) Ezenwa and Daniel (Akpeyi) are finally here and we can think positively.”
The Super Eagles are on a five –match winning streak, from defeating Mali (in France) and Luxembourg (in Luxembourg City) in friendly matches in the summer of 2016, to piping Tanzania in a Cup of Nations qualifying match in Uyo in September and defeating Zambia and Algeria in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches in October and November respectively.
Senegal will arrive at The Hive with pumped –up spirit after becoming Africa’s highest ranked team, and despite failing to light up the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, are a tough call any day.
Liverpool FC’s Sadio Mane, as well as Mame Biram Diouf, Cheikh Kouyate and Idrissa Gueye are among their top performers.
Nigeria boast a young and vibrant squad that has been achieving results of late, with the likes of Leon Balogun, William Ekong, Abdullahi Shehu, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon and Alex Iwobi now joined by Tyrone Ebuehi, Chidozie Awaziem, Isaac Success, Olanrewaju Kayode and new boy Noah Bazee.
Akpeyi, Ekong, Shehu and Etebo were in the Nigeria U23 team that took bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Yet, the spine is still there with the experienced Ogenyi Onazi, Kenneth Omeruo, Elderson Echiejile and Ahmed Musa also here in camp.
Onazi, Omeruo and Kayode were in the Nigeria squad that finished second at the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2009. Ndidi, Iheanacho, Success and Musa Muhammed were in the Nigeria U17 squad in 2013.
Both nations first clashed at senior level on 27th February 1963, Nigeria winning an Nkrumah Cup game 4-0, but the Senegalese replied in equal measure six weeks later, hammering the Eagles 5-1 in a Friendship Games match in Dakar.
Senegal then stopped Nigeria from the race to the Munich ’72 Olympics, winning 3-2 on aggregate, but Nigeria also constituted stumbling block to Senegal in the race to the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana, winning 4-3 on aggregate.
Nigeria defeated host Senegal 2-1 in the opening match of the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, and won by the same margin when eliminating the Teranga Lions in the quarter -finals of the 2000 edition that was co-hosted with Ghana.
The Lions paid back by beating Nigeria (same score line) in the semi finals of the 2002 Cup of Nations in Mali.
But Nigeria have won the past two encounters between both nations, both at the 2006 Cup of Nations in Egypt: a group phase match in Port Said that ended 2-1 and the bronze medal match that ended 1-0 in Cairo.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistant Referee 1: Harry Lennard
Assistant Referee 2: Constantine Hatzidakis
Reserve Referee: Andre Marriner
A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Nigeria’s Super Eagles were held to a 2-2 draw by FIFA World Cup-bound Jordan in an eventful international friendly in Antalya on Tuesday night, with the contest overshadowed by a late red card to Alex Iwobi.
Iwobi, making his 98th appearance for the national team, was sent off in the closing stages, capping a dramatic encounter in which Nigeria surrendered a first-half lead and finished the game with ten men.
The match, played at the Mardan Sports Complex, brought Nigeria’s March international window to a close, but it proved anything but routine as both sides delivered a fiercely contested and entertaining clash.
Jordan, ranked 64th in the world and enjoying strong recent form, struck first in the 17th minute through Mousa Tamari. A well-worked free-kick routine caught the Nigerian defence napping, allowing the forward to fire home the opener.
Nigeria responded quickly and thought they had equalised six minutes later when Raphael Onyedika finished from a Moses Simon cut-back, but the goal was controversially ruled out.
The Super Eagles eventually drew level in the 30th minute. Stand-in captain Moses Simon, earning his 97th cap, reacted fastest after Ademola Lookman’s effort was blocked, slotting home with a composed left-footed finish for his second goal in as many matches.
Nigeria went ahead four minutes before halftime when Bright Osayi-Samuel’s pinpoint cross found debutant Emmanuel Fernandez, who showed great composure to control and finish, giving the three-time African champions a 2-1 lead at the interval.
The second half took on a more physical tone, with goalkeeper Francis Uzoho forced off in the 57th minute after sustaining an injury while clearing the ball. Adebayo Adeleye replaced him between the posts.
Head coach Eric Chelle introduced Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi to shore up the midfield, but Jordan continued to press and were rewarded with an equaliser in the 77th minute.
Nigeria pushed for a winner late on, handing a senior debut to Philip Otele, while Samuel Chukwueze came on for Moses Simon. However, the closing moments were marred by Iwobi’s dismissal, leaving the Super Eagles to see out the match with ten men.
Despite the draw, the encounter offered valuable insights for the coaching crew as Nigeria continues preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
FIFA Weighs Request to Trump Over ICE Raids During 2026 World Cup
Lookman Heroics Fire Atletico Madrid into Champions League Semi-Finals
Nigerian-Descent Onyewu Emerges as Contender for Top U.S. Soccer Role After Crocker Exit
- AFCON1 week ago
Motsepe in Dakar: CAF Intensifies Diplomatic Push After AFCON Final Dispute
- AFCON7 days ago
Shuttle Diplomacy as Motsepe Continues AFCON Final Crisis Talks with Key Visit to Morocco
- Nigerian Football1 week ago
A Battle at Both Ends as NPFL Heads Into Home Stretch
- Nigerian Football4 days ago
Title Race Goes Down to the Wire as Relegation Battle Intensifies in NPFL
- UEFA Champions League1 week ago
‘Fans More Friends’- Heineken Takes UEFA Champions League Fever Nationwide with Multi-City Fan Experience
- UEFA Champions League1 week ago
Late Havertz strike gives Arsenal 1-0 advantage over Sporting
- UEFA Champions League2 days ago
Heineken Ramps Up Champions League Activations as Quarter-Final Drama Peaks
- Premier League2 days ago
Ghana player Partey pleads not guilty to additional rape charges in UK