Nigerian Football
VIDEO: Rabiu Ali is 7th Wonder Goal Winner
Veteran Kano Pillars midfielder, Rabiu Ali has clinched the Match Day 26 VAT Wonder Goal, beaten off competition from Tchato Giscard of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) FC. Abia Warriors’ Yakub Hammed finished a distant third in the online polling conducted on the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) website and twitter handle.
Of the total of 196 voters on the NPFL twitter account, @LMCNPFL , 101 endorsed the goal Ali scored away from home in Ilorin against Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) FC in a 1-1 draw while another 53 voted Tchato Giscard’s volley against Sunshine Stars at the Agege Stadium in MFM 2-1 defeat of the Akure Gunners. Abia Warriors Yakub secured the remaining 42 votes.
58 fans who voted on the NPFL website, www.npfl.ng preferred Tchato, 49 for Ali and just 3 for Yakub. The Kano Pillars ace thus secured a total of 150 votes while Tchato picked 111 and Yakub 45.
Niyi Oyeleke, General Manager, Production at SuperSports said each of the players nominated deserved the award adding that, “however, being a competition in which fans choose their preferred goal, one person is bound to win and Ali is hugely deserving of this award”.
Ali becomes the 7th VAT Wonder Goal Award winner following Ayo Saka of Rivers United, Ubong Friday of Akwa United and Salefu Ochowechi of Remo Stars. The others are Seka Pasachal of FC IfeanyiUbah, Ahmed Usman of Wikki Tourists and Shedrack Asiegbu of Abia Warriors.
Winners receive a cash reward of N150, 000 half of which is donated to a Charity of his choice located within the state where the club is based. Ali is expected to be presented his award at a ceremony to hold before the start of their Match Day 29 fixture against Rangers International at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano this Sunday.
The VAT Wonder Goal is a Social Investment initiative of the League Management Company (LMC) to promote clubs and community engagement and supported by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to promote tax education amongst the football community.
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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