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
International Football
Grudgingly, Eto’o accepts new Cameroon coach Brys, but fails to attend ceremony
Cameroon’s new coach Marc Brys penned a contract on Monday but the Belgian’s appointment by the government remains contentious as the football federation did not attend the signing ceremony.
Brys has been handed a 2-1/2-year contract by Cameroon’s sports ministry but the federation (FECAFOOT) was conspicuous by its absence at the event in Yaounde.
Last week, FECAFOOT criticised the unilateral decision of sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombito to appoint the 61-year-old Brys, who has no prior experience as a national team coach and has not previously worked on the African continent.
FECAFOOT president Samuel Eto’o issued a statement on Monday, excusing himself from the unveiling event.
“We thank you for inviting us to the ceremony. Following this, we inform you of the fact that we received the letter two hours before the said ceremony,” wrote Eto’o.
“Unfortunately, we are busy organising the funeral of our late Dad, and for this reason we will not be able to attend presence at the ceremony.”
His father’s funeral is to be held at the weekend.
Eto’o balked at Brys’ appointment and is now in a deepening standoff with the minister.
In Cameroon, the government has long paid the salary of the national team coach and therefore held powerful sway over FECAFOOT’s affairs, even if such state interference is frowned upon by world football’s governing body FIFA.
Any heightened dispute risks a potential ban from international competition for Cameroon, one of the heavyweights of African football.
FECAFOOT held an emergency meeting on Saturday and asked Eto’o to propose an alternative coach for the national team.
Earlier on the weekend, the minister had defended the appointment, saying he had acted in accordance with national and international regulations.
In a letter to FECAFOOT, Kombi said his ministry’s appointment of coaching staff “in no way affects the autonomy of FECAFOOT and does not violate any of the ‘supranational regulations”.
He said FECAFOOT had suggested three candidates to the ministry but their salary demands ranged between 1.5 million euros and 2.5 million euros ($1.63 million and $2.71 million) per year.
“These are excessive amounts never paid to any coach in the history of the Indomitable Lions,” Kombi said.
-Reuters
Cameroon’s football federation (FECAFOOT) held an emergency meeting on Saturday and asked its president to propose an alternative coach for the national team, deepening a standoff with the sports ministry.
FECAFOOT on Wednesday accused the ministry of unilaterally appointing Belgian Marc Brys as coach and other staff to manage the Indomitable Lions, who are five-times African champions.
The dispute risks a potential ban from international competition as world soccer’s governing body FIFA has strict rules against government interference in national federations.
In a statement, FECAFOOT said its emergency committee had met on Saturday and unanimously confirmed that the federation had not been involved in the appointments in alleged contravention of regulations.
As a result, it asked its president Samuel Eto’o to propose a national coach and other management staff for the national side within 72 hours.
Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the ministry said the result of the FECAFOOT meeting was “an appeal. It is not yet a decision.”
On Friday, Sports Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi wrote to FECAFOOT to defend the coaching appointments, which he said were in accordance with national and international rules.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Kombi said the ministry’s move “in no way affects the autonomy of FECAFOOT and does not violate any of the ‘supranational regulations’.”
A spokesperson for the ministry confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
Kombi’s letter also said the salaries requested by three candidates earlier proposed by the federation for the position of coach ranged between 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) and 2.5 million euros per year.
“These are excessive amounts never paid to any coach in the history of the Indomitable Lions,” Kombi said.
FECAFOOT did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.
-Reuters
RELATED STORIES:
BREAKING! Turmoil in Cameroon federation over naming of new national coach Brys. https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2024/04/03/breaking-turmoil-in-cameroon-federation-over-naming-of-new-national-coach-brys/
Soccer Cameroon appoint Brys as new head coach https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2024/04/03/soccer-cameroon-appoint-brys-as-new-head-coach/
International Football
National team and club-mate Owolabi commiserates with grief-stricken Odegbami –
Powerful left-wing back in his playing days, Felix Owolabi has expressed great grief over the loss of a son of former teammate, Segun Odegbami.
Both Felix Owolabi and Odegbami share common traits as the earliest tertiary institution footballers featuring for clubs and the national team.
While Odegbami was a mechanical engineering student at The Ibadan Polytechnic, Owolabi was an undergraduate at the University of Lagos.
Both were players of the then rampaging IICC Shooting Stars and the Africa Cup of Nations winning team of 1980. The crucial goals that won the cup for Nigeria were scored by the duo.
While Owolabi’s goal against Morocco sent Nigeria to the Africa Cup of Nations final match for the first time, Odegbami’s two goals in the final against Algeria put a stamp of definity to Nigeria’s victory before another club-mate Muda Lawal put in the third.
“We have come a long way”, remarked Owolabi in a message to the Sports Village Square Thursday morning.
“I have just arrived from Morocco on a national assignment trying to adjust and deal with the extreme and gruelling hot weather here in Nigeria when I got the sad news of the sudden death of the son of my dear brother and senior colleague Dr Olusegun Odegbami.
“Hearing the death of Oluwagbeminiyi Omo Odegbami, I paused for a moment and did not know what to say.
“All the media both print and electronics carried it as a breaking news.
“And that was when it dawned on me that I had to call ‘Big Sheg’ as he is fondly called by me.
“His authoritative confirmation about it dealt a blow on me and put me total darkness.What would have happened to this our vibrant and such an enterprising Oluwagbeminiyi?
“Why would death be so so wicked to suddenly take this gentleman away from us without notice. Going on a journey that he will need not to look at anybody, an eternal journey till Christ come.
“My heart and that of my entire family are with you and the rest of the family”, remarked Owolabi.
“It is well. I pray that God grant him eternal rest. I pray also that the almighty God grant you the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Today the death of Oluwagbeminiyi has made me to believe and conclude that death is real and it is universal
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