International Football
Goalkeeping Tension Grips Super Eagles
There was palpable tension in the Hotel Crowne Plaza camp of the Super Eagles ahead of Thursday’s friendly match with Teranga Lions of Senegal following injury suffered by first choice goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme and the non availability of substitutes.
At the height of the tension, team handler, Gernot Rohr, had to draft in relatively unknown Tope Okeowo of England non league side, Peckham All Stars as replacement. Okeowo was a former Golden Eaglets player.
But according to a release by the NFF Media Department, the arrivals of Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning respectively doused the tension.
The injury to Ikeme brought to three the number of players in the original 22 to have dropped out for the same reason. Ezenwa and Akpeyi were initially held back by visa hitches in Nigeria and South Africa.
Nigeria –based goalkeeper Ezenwa eventually got his visa on Tuesday evening and flew out of Lagos to London on Wednesday, alongside Coach Salisu Yusuf and a few other officials.
South Africa –based Akpeyi’s UK visa was delayed by a public holiday in South Africa but he did the 11 –hour haul from Johannesburg to London overnight and arrived at Crowne Plaza London Ealing after breakfast on Thursday.
Team doctor Ibrahim Gyaran told thenff.com: “Carl (Ikeme) has been having hamstring and Achilles tendon issues but we did a scan on Wednesday night and we await the result. It is however good that the other goalkeepers are here.”
Rohr, who has been having several meetings with his technical team as he seeks a winning formula against Africa’s highest ranked team, Senegal at The Hive on Thursday, said: “It was the first time in my life that I had to start planning for a big match without goalkeepers on ground!
“But I am happy (Ikechukwu) Ezenwa and Daniel (Akpeyi) are finally here and we can think positively.”
The Super Eagles are on a five –match winning streak, from defeating Mali (in France) and Luxembourg (in Luxembourg City) in friendly matches in the summer of 2016, to piping Tanzania in a Cup of Nations qualifying match in Uyo in September and defeating Zambia and Algeria in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches in October and November respectively.
Senegal will arrive at The Hive with pumped –up spirit after becoming Africa’s highest ranked team, and despite failing to light up the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, are a tough call any day.
Liverpool FC’s Sadio Mane, as well as Mame Biram Diouf, Cheikh Kouyate and Idrissa Gueye are among their top performers.
Nigeria boast a young and vibrant squad that has been achieving results of late, with the likes of Leon Balogun, William Ekong, Abdullahi Shehu, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon and Alex Iwobi now joined by Tyrone Ebuehi, Chidozie Awaziem, Isaac Success, Olanrewaju Kayode and new boy Noah Bazee.
Akpeyi, Ekong, Shehu and Etebo were in the Nigeria U23 team that took bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Yet, the spine is still there with the experienced Ogenyi Onazi, Kenneth Omeruo, Elderson Echiejile and Ahmed Musa also here in camp.
Onazi, Omeruo and Kayode were in the Nigeria squad that finished second at the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2009. Ndidi, Iheanacho, Success and Musa Muhammed were in the Nigeria U17 squad in 2013.
Both nations first clashed at senior level on 27th February 1963, Nigeria winning an Nkrumah Cup game 4-0, but the Senegalese replied in equal measure six weeks later, hammering the Eagles 5-1 in a Friendship Games match in Dakar.
Senegal then stopped Nigeria from the race to the Munich ’72 Olympics, winning 3-2 on aggregate, but Nigeria also constituted stumbling block to Senegal in the race to the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana, winning 4-3 on aggregate.
Nigeria defeated host Senegal 2-1 in the opening match of the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, and won by the same margin when eliminating the Teranga Lions in the quarter -finals of the 2000 edition that was co-hosted with Ghana.
The Lions paid back by beating Nigeria (same score line) in the semi finals of the 2002 Cup of Nations in Mali.
But Nigeria have won the past two encounters between both nations, both at the 2006 Cup of Nations in Egypt: a group phase match in Port Said that ended 2-1 and the bronze medal match that ended 1-0 in Cairo.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistant Referee 1: Harry Lennard
Assistant Referee 2: Constantine Hatzidakis
Reserve Referee: Andre Marriner
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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