AFCON
All hail Nigeria’s trio of ‘Hattrick-Plus-One’ heroes
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
A two-digit scoreline is uncommon in competitive international matches. The Super Eagles achieved that in the 10-0 defeat of Sao Tome and Principe.
Also, scoring hattrick in a full international is an enviable feat. Yet, it is not a common phenomenon for an individual to score three goals in a match for Nigeria. The number of players to have achieved the feat in 73 years of Nigeria national team is still under 10.
To raise the bar by scoring four goals or more is even a rarity. Only three players belong to the class of hattrick plus one. They are Elkanah Onyeali, Rashidi Yekini and Victor Osimhen. Although Oghenekaro Etebo scored four against Japan at the football event of Rio 2016 Olympics, the match does not fall within the category of Grade A, being an U23 game.
Onyeali scored four against Benin Republic (then Dahomey); Rashidi put in four against Burkina Faso and now Victor Osimhen has joined the ‘Hattrick Plus One’ club.
Onyeali who achieved the feat first has been the only Nigerian player to have a 100 per cent goalscoring record in just a little over five caps.
Then a player of the Port Harcourt township team, he burst into reckoning in his first appearance for Nigeria, scoring in an Olympic Games qualifier with Ghana on 10 October 1959. He did not only score two goals in his first match, he extended his scoring to eight goals in five matches.
He later ventured abroad, playing for the third division Transmere Rovers in the UK.
As if by geometric intention, there appears to be a regular intervals of such. Consider this: El Kanah Onyeali scored four in 10-1 demolition of Benin Republic (then known as Dahomey) in the contest for the newly introduced Kwame Nkrumah Cup in the West African Football Federation (WAFF) – founded in Ghana in March 1959 and later went moribund to be refounded on 7 Septemebr 1975 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire as West African Football Union (WAFU). WAFU was later split into two by CAF on 16 May 2011.
After Centre forward Onyeali’s four-goal feat, it took another 32 years before another player, also a centre forward, Rashidi Yekini equalled the feat. That was in the 21 July 1991 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match with Burkina Faso in Lagos.
Yekini scored four in the 7-1 victory by the Super Eagles. Now 31 years later, another centre forward, Victor Osimhen has equaled the feat, scoring four times in a single match.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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