Nigerian Football
Rivers United’ Emeka Ogbuh is 2nd Time VAT Goal Winner
Rivers United’s Emeka Ogbuh has become the first player to win the VAT Wonder Goal award twice over two seasons after he emerged with the highest votes for the Match Day 31 shortlisted goals.
Ogbuh’s goal against Wikki Tourists in added time of the fixture polled a total of 2,843 votes to beat Abayomi Adebayo of Shooting Stars to second place.
It was a close race between the two but FC IfeanyiUbah’s Isaac Loute earned the highest vote from the voters on twitter with 112 of the 311 votes. Ogbuh polled 106 while Abayomi polled 71 leaving the rest 22 votes for Destiny Ashadi of Katsina United.
In the website voting where a total of 5419 fans voted, Ogbuh polled 2,737 ahead of Abayomi who picked 2,336 votes to bring his combined total to 2,407.
Ogbugh, while playing for Heartland FC of Owerri last season had won the Wonder Goal award but switched to Rivers United after the Owerri side was relegated.
Guy Kuemian Venance opened scoring for the hosts after 10 minutes and in added time of the first half of the match against Wikki Tourists; Ogbuh received a lob from the right flank at the edge of the box, controlled with his chest and fired a riser that sailed in for the second of their 3-0 win.
He became the 12th player this season to win the award which attracts a cash prize of N150, 000 half of which will be donated to a Charity he will nominate from within the state.
He also joins team mate, Ayo Saka who won the award on Match Day 20. It also made Rivers United the second club to have two players winning the award this season after Remo Stars that has had Ochowechi Salefu and Victor Chidume.
The VAT Wonder Goal award is a community investment initiative of the League Management Company (LMC) to promote club and community engagement. It is supported by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) which seeks to promote tax education on the platform of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Votes are cast by fans for shortlisted players on the NPFL website, www.npfl.ng and the twitter handle, @lmcnpfl.
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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