Nigerian Football
Nasarawa Coach Rues Missed Chances in Gombe Clash
BY ADAMS JESSE.
Nasarawa’s coach, Kabir Dogo, was obviously an unhappy man last Sunday after the Match Day 27 clash with Gombe United in the Nigerian elite league ended 1-1.
“We lost about 10 clear-cut chances but today is not our day, if not we would have scored about six to seven goals but that’s the beauty of the game”.
When asked about the number of lost chances by Adamu Hassan, Dogo replied: “I won’t single out an individual, Abdulrahman Bashir and Sibi Gwar also lost glittering chances so it’s more about the entire team and not an individual but we thank God for the one point.
We will go back and work on our scoring abilities, he concluded”.
The Solid Miners went ahead in the 21st minutes when Antonin Oussou diverted Adamu Hassan’s cross into the net after the latter combined well with Abdulrahman Bashir to set up the Beninior for his second of the season.
Adamu Hassan and Abdulrahman Bashir were both guilty of missing chances upon chances before Antonin Oussou’s well placed headed came off the crossbar to end the first stanza with the solid miners slightly in front.
On resumption Nasarawa United continued from where they stopped with Adamu Hassan failing to convert in the 51st minutes having rounded Danjuma Hussaini in goal for Gombe United before blasting his efforts wide with only the goal at his mercy.
On the 75th minutes, The Savannah Scorpions, as Gombe United are widely known, stung the Solid Miners when substitute Sani Abbani tapped in Afolabi Abdulwaheed’s inch perfect cross to equalise for Gombe United.
Danjuma Hussaini stood strong to deny both Abdulrahman Bashir and Sibi Gwar’s late efforts to ensure that the game ended with Gombe United picking a precious point in Lafia.
Nasarawa United, with 38 points from 27 games, are ninth on the NPFL log, will next be guests to Abia Warriors at the Umuahia Township Stadium in match day 28 while Gombe United are still deep in the relegation zone, occupying the 19th position having accumulated a total of 31 points from the same number of games and will next be host to El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri.
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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