Nigerian Football
Not Dead Yet, Shooting Stars Still on Life Support Machine!
Seventeenth positioned Shooting Stars in the just concluded Nigerian Professional Football League may have their hope of surviving relegation on life support machine as the team anxiously awaits the outcome of the unconcluded Gombe United versus Wikki Tourists match.
On field results as at Saturday sealed the relegation visa to lower division for Shooting Stars. But one of the 10 matches of the day which result may alter the final table standing appeared to have offered hope for the ever struggling Shooting Stars.
Sports Village Square gathered that the Gombe United versus Wikki Tourists match was abandoned after 27 minutes. “On a clear term, we are not relegated yet”, a WhatsApp message from the official handle of Shooting Stars informed Sports Village Square.
Official score line as at the time match was abandoned was 1-0 in favour of Wikki Tourists. Shooting Stars will need Wikki Tourists to lose by at least a two goal margin to escape relegation if a continuation of the match is ordered.
Meanwhile, the media unit of Shooting Stars informed Sports Village Square that the technical adviser to the team, Fatai Amoo has refuted the news making the rounds that he blamed the management for the team’s 0-2 loss to Niger Tornadoes in Lokoja on Sunday.
The loss put the club in a precarious position on the league table and Amoo was quoted to have blamed the management for poor handling of players’ welfare.
But in swift reaction, the coach said there was no time he faulted the management in the course of the interview but the players who embarked on a needless strike few days before the game!
“I was misquoted in the report and that was quite different from what I said”. Fatai Amoo, the former U 23 assistant coach recalled what he actually said in the interview when he was asked why his players didn’t not give a good fight.
“They can’t fight because they have fought their selves by embarking on a stupid strike and when you don’t train, what you have is what you give! And now they have seen the result of what they did”, he said.
He singled out the old members of the team for spearheading the strike. “And I think the so called big players have decided to take the team to relegation.
“So, the team will now think of what to do whether they still have to keep them. They did the same thing last year if not for God.
“And you allowed such players to still be in the team when they are owed a month salary that’s delayed and they decided not to train and we saw the result here, so the management can hear me out”, Amoo concluded.
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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