International Football
IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS FROM THE ARGENTINA VERSUS NIGERIA ENCOUNTER
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Of the football’s super powers, the eight countries that have won the World Cup, Argentina is the team Nigeria has met most often. Tuesday’s clash in Krasnodar in Russia will be the eighth time both will meet. Five of the previous matches were competitive and Nigeria escaping defeat only once.
In a tradition of the Sports Village Square, the publication takes an insightful look at this clash which predictably, could be a dress rehearsal to another clash next year when the World Cup kicks off.
Here are some points of interest around the clash.
- When Argentina and Nigeria first clashed on June 25, 1994 at Fox Borough Stadium in the USA, it produced a milestone goal of 1500th goal in the World Cup history. That was the equalizing goal by Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia which brought score line to 1-1 after Nigeria had shot ahead through Samson Siasia. Argentina eventually won the match 2-1 through another goal by Caniggia.
Diego Maradona celebrates with Claudio Caniggia after the former’s free kick sets up Caniggia to score an equalizing goal against Nigeria at USA ’94. It turned to be a milestone goal – the 1,500th in World Cup history.
- Argentina’s world famous Diego Maradona earned the last of his 91caps in a match against Nigeria at the World Cup USA ’94.
- Argentina’s Diego Maradona’s last match was against Nigeria on June 25, 1994.
- Nigeria and Argentina have competed at all levels of men’s football – Under 17 in 1993, Under 20 in 2005, Under -23 in 1996 and 2008, Grade A level in 1994, 1995, 2002, 2010, 2011 and 2014.
- The match on Tuesday in Russia will be the third friendly encounter of both countries. Each winning one apiece. The Krasnodar encounter will therefore be a sort of tie-breaker. The other friendly matches were the 4-1 defeat of Argentina in Abuja on June 1, 2011 and Argentina’s 3-1 defeat of Nigeria in Dhaka, Bangladesh on September 6, 2011.
- Results of matches involving Argentina and Nigeria often end with the odd goal: 2-1 in 1994, 1-0 in 2002 and 2010 as well as 3-2 in 2014. The only exceptions are the goalless draw at the 1995 Inter-Continental Cup (now FIFA Confederations Cup) and the friendly matches of 2011.
- By this Tuesday, Argentina and Nigeria would have met at all confederations except the Oceania. They met in CONCACAF region in 1994, Asia Football Confederation region in 1995, 2002 and 2011, CAF territory in 2010 and 2011, CONMEBOL in 2014 and UEFA territory in 2017.
- When Argentina and Nigeria met at Porto Alegre (a Brazilian border town close to Argentina on June 25, 2014), it was the 20th anniversary of their maiden encounter of June 25, 1994.
- Both Nigeria and Argentina put an end to the European countries’ domination of the football tournament of the Olympic Games. When Nigeria beat Argentina 3-2 to win the gold medal of the Atlanta ’96 football tournament, it was the first time a team outside Europe had won in 68 years. The last European nation standing at Atlanta ’96 was Portugal which Argentina eliminated in the semi finals. Since 1996, no European country has won the tournament.
- Both teams are playing for the second time in new strips. Argentina launched their latest adidas-made new shirts in the 1-0 defeat of Russia last Saturday. Nigeria wore a new Nike made shirt in their 1-1 draw with Algeria on Friday. The green shirt won by Nigeria had a darker shade of green on the sleeves and shoulder.
- Krasnodar, the host city of Tuesday’s clash of Argentina and Nigeria was originally designated as one of the venues for Russia 2018. But when the final choice of host cities was announced on September 29, 2012, Krasnodar along with Yaroslavl was dropped.
- Nigeria’s captain, Mikel Obi, if fielded, will earn a milestone cap of 80. He will be the fifth Nigerian player to have reached that milestone. Others before him were Muda Lawal (86 caps), Nwankwo Kanu (86 caps), Joseph Yobo (100 caps) and Vincent Enyeama (101 caps). Incidentally, the .six of them led the Nigerian teams at one time or the other.
- If Nigeria wins the encounter, Gernot Rohr will join Samson Siasia as the only other coach to have beaten Argentina at Grade A level. Samson Siasia’s Super Eagles beat Argentina 4-1 in Abuja on June 1, 2011.
- Samson Siasia scored 18 goals in his 42 matches for Nigeria. One of the goals was against Argentina in 1994. But for another goal he scored against Japan at the 1995 Intercontinental Cup in Saudi Arabia, the goal against Argentina (the 1,499th in World Cup history) would have been his last international goal.
Samson Siasia celebrates his goal against Argentina at USA’94. It was World Cup’s 1,499th goal in history.
- Ikechukwu Uche and Ahmed Musa are the only Nigerians to have scored two goals in a match against Argentina. Uche achieved his own in the 4-1 defeat of Argentina in 2011 while Musa had a brace in the 2-3 loss to Argentina at the World Cup.
Ahmed Musa celebrates the first of his two goals against Argentina three years ago.
- When Ahmed Musa scored the second goal against Argentina in Porto Alegre at Brazil 2014, he became the first and the only Nigerian footballer to have scored a brace at the World Cup.
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat

Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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International Football
Former England and Man Utd midfielder Ince charged with drink-driving

Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro

“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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