Nigerian Football
WE ARE BUILDING THE FUTURE STARS – ILERIKA, FUTURE EAGLES’ COACH
Head Coach of the U15 National Team, Future Eagles, Haruna Ilerika has said that the focus of the Nigeria Football Federation and the technical crew of the team is to build a formidable youth football system with the project.
“For any country, football development is the key. The advanced countries have taken youth football development serious for decades and I am happy the NFF has also embraced the youth development.
“We look forward to building the stars of the future from this level, it’s a laudable project and we have started reaping the gains gradually with the progression of some the boys into the recent Golden Eaglets team. Kelechi Iheanacho passed through this stage in 2010 and in 2018 he featured at the FIFA World Cup.
“We have set our target at grooming the boys for a positive transition and progression,” Ilerika told thenff.com.
The Future Eagles are currently camping in Sagamu, Ogun State ahead of an Eight-Nation U16 Invitational Tournament in Japan next month.
“The camp has been good; the boys are responding positively. The boys understand that the moment they are in camp, they must stay focused. We are here for business. We have been building team chemistry and character and bonding has been great. I’m impressed with the boys’ improvement,” he said.
Ilerika commended the NFF/Zenith Bank U13 and U15 project for the scouting process of raw talents across the country.
“The boys in camp were players discovered from the NFF/Zenith U13 and U15 Future Eagles project, the competition is played from inter-state stage.
“The states event produced teams for the Zonal stage, while the geo-political zones produce teams for the National event.
“We scouted the boys in the Future Eagles team from this tournament organized by the Federation and their sponsor. Some of these boys featured in the Africa Youth Games in Algeria last year. We also had some of them in Morocco for two friendly matches in 2017.”
The Future Eagles are expected to depart for Japan in two weeks for the invitational tournament scheduled for Sendai.
“We will give the tournament a good fight, we hope to emerge as champions because if the boys start winning at this youth level, the winning mentality will be with the boys as they progress in their career and that will key into their mindset about emerging as champions at the world level.
“The tournament will be interesting for the boys, we’ll be playing against Japan, with big history in Asia, and Romania – a wonderful team from Europe. Mexico are coming from the Southern America, the country is known for fast football style of play, our boys will have this opportunity to learn and compete with players from different continents.”
The Future Eagles will play four tune-up games on Thursday and Friday against Remo Stars U15 and Ekofootball Future Stars in home-and-away format.
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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