Nigerian Football

IHEANACHO LEADS LEICESTER CITY TO 3-1 WIN OVER ARSENAL

Published

6 years ago

May 9, 2018

Super Eagles striker, Kelechi Iheanacho scored his first premier league goal of the season as Leicester City compounds Arsenal woeful 2018 away matches in 3-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

Iheanacho opened the goal feast, before Jamie Vardy and Rihad Mahrez struck in the second-half to ensure Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s equaliser earlier in the period counts for nothing.
Leicester coach Claude Puel make three changes to their side for this match, with the returning Simpson joined by goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and striker Kelechi Iheanacho.

Ben Hamer had been preferred to Schmeichel in the previous games without the Dane, but it is Jakupovic who gets the nod this evening, while Iheanacho will hope to provide an extra goal threat having replaced Vicent Iborra in the starting line-up.

Arsene Wenger makes four changes to the side that gave him such a good send-off against Burnley at the weekend with Hector Bellerin and Jack Wilshere joining Alexandre Lacazette in dropping out of the squad altogether having played on Sunday.

Calum Chambers is also absent from the 18, with Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck the quartet to come into their side for Wenger’s penultimate Arsenal team selection.
Jakupovic is called into his first serious piece of action tonight as he dives to his left to push an Iwobi effort behind for a corner.

It was a nice move from Arsenal, but Leicester made it far too easy for them once they got into the box.

Leicester threatens for the first time this evening as Welbeck gives the ball away, allowing Adrien Silva to thread the ball through for Jamie Vardy as the England international stands up holding to create space to shoot, but he forces himself a little wide and Petr Cech is able to turn the ball past the near post.

Leicester are 1-0 up after Iheanacho who fires his finish past Cech after receiving a heading from fellow African Diabate in the 14 minutes of the encounter.

Arsenal’s away woes aren’t easing in a hurry as Konstantinos Mavropanos and Iheanacho clash for a 50:50 with Leicester forward comes off the better but his opponent grabs him by the shirt and pulling him down with referee Graham Scott shown the Greek defender his first red card in his Gunners career.

Wenger makes a change after that red card and Welbeck is the man sacrificed as Shkodran Mustafi replaces him and switching to a 4-2-3 formation with Iwobi wide left and Mkhitaryan wide right.

A chance for Arsenal as Xhaka plays a very smart reverse pass to Iwobi in the area. It goes square to Mkhitaryan, who unleashes a snapshot Jakupovic can only block for a corner. That comes to Aubameyang, who can’t quite do more than poke a shot through a mass of bodies.

Leicester are back on the front foot now and Mahrez holds on to the ball for a long time, trying to do it all himself but eventually blazing his effort a long way over the crossbar.

Leicester win a free kick in a really good position and Mahrez leaves it for Silva, who tries to go under the wall and into the far bottom corner. Cech sees it late but gets down well to make a decent save.

Cech again comes to Arsenal’s rescue here as Iheanacho fires a low strike across goal which the keeper parries away with another smart stop.

Ambitious from Iheanacho as he steals the ball just inside his own half and tries to lob Cech from inside the centre circle, but he puts too much on it.
Arsenal have started this half brightly as well, and they almost level things up! A chipped ball to the left channel finds the overlapping Kolasinac, who drills a low strike against the foot of the near post from a tight angle.

Leicester come pouring forward again and find themselves with a two-on-one far too easily as Vardy gives the ball out to an unmarked Diabate the Malian advances into the area before squeezing the ball under Cech, although the Arsenal keeper gets enough on the ball to take the pace off it before Mustafi is there to clear it off the line.

Despite the constant stream of Leicester chances, it’s Arsenal who are back on level terms an attack down the right as Maitland-Niles whipped the ball into the Foxes box as Aubameyang meets it only to see his first save spectacularly saved by Jakupovic, but the Arsenal striker is there to smash home the rebound to make 1-1 in the 53 minutes of the game.

Mkhitaryan brings down a diagonal ball into the box with a lovely touch before looking to hammer a half-volley towards the near top corner, but it flies over the crossbar.

Nigerian Football

Remo Stars close to winning their first Nigeria Premier League title

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Remo Stars on Friday inch closer to achieving their first ever title in the Nigeria elite division league after beating visiting Niger Tornadoes 3-0 to move second on the log and just a point behind league leaders, Enugu Rangers.

Remo Stars are now with 53 points and still have an outstanding home game to play.

Friday’s win which comes on the eve of the proprietor’s birthday has put the team back into contention for the title.

They have progressively become prominent in the Nigerian premier league having placed third two seasons ago and second last season.

Top finish this season will confirm their progression and also a third consecutive continental outing.

Top scorer, Sikiru Alimi launched them of victory path as his 28^th minute penalty kick heralded their return to high scoring ways.

It has been a while since they scored high in the league. Barely three minutes later, Sikiru, a contender for the top scorer award increased the tally to two.

Ahmed Akinyele completed the route in the 75^th minute.

Nigerian Football

Nigeria face tough defence as Burkina Faso lie in wait at U17 WAFU B AFCON qualifiers

Published

3 days ago

April 23, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Defending champions Nigeria have been handed a difficult path to the 2025 U17 Africa Cup of Nations finals after being drawn in the same group as Burkina Faso for next month’s WAFU B qualifying tournament in Ghana.

The Golden Eaglets, who won the last edition of the regional championship in 2022, will also face Togo and Niger in Group B of the competition which runs from 15-28 May.

Hosts Ghana find themselves in Group A alongside Cote d’Ivoire and Benin in a tough-looking section of the competition to be played in Accra.

The draw was conducted by 1970s Ivorian football legends Kobenan Kouman and Die Foneye at the Ivorian FA headquarters in Abidjan on Friday.

Nigeria claimed their WAFU B U17 AFCON title by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the regional final in Ghana two years ago.

However, they will need to overcome some familiar foes if they are to defend their crown and with the Burkina Faso finishing third at the last TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations, some exciting matches are expected.

Arch-rivals Nigeria and Ghana are among the two favourites and could meet in the final in Accra on 28 May, should they top their respective groups and make it through the semi-finals.

Ghana also have pedigree at this level, having the World Cup in 1991 and 1995 as they bid to reach the U17 AFCON finals on home soil.

The top two teams from the WAFU B tournament will qualify for next year’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Groups:

Group A: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin

Group B: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo, Niger.

Nigerian Football

Former Nigeria international, Onye recommends Amuneke-Siasia combo for Super Eagles

Published

5 days ago

April 22, 2024

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Kingsley Onye, the left sided defender who was a member of the first Flying Eagles side to have a podium finish at the U-20 World Cup has suggested the employment of Emmanuel Amuneke as the coach of the Super Eagles.

He wants him to be assisted by Samson Siasia when the ban on the latter lapses in August. Alternatively, Onye pointed to Sylvanus Okpala as alternative to Siasia.

The Super Eagles are in dare need for a head coach as the clock ticks down to the Match day 4 and 5 of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in which the team is trailing at the third position.

The two matches in early June are crucial for the Super Eagles to bounce back into reckoning as the team can not afford to drop any of the available six points in the duels with South Africa at home and away to Benin.

From this Monday, it is 41 days to the potentially challenging tie with South Africa, but the Nigerian national team has been without a coach since the expiration of the contract of Portugal’s Jose Peseiro shortly after the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

Without mincing words, Onye remarked: “Emmanuel Amuneke is the right man for the job of the coach of Super Eagles. He has been there before.

“He tasted it and had been fantastic with the Nigeria youth team, the U-17 by assisting Manu Garba to win the U17 World Cup in 2013 and as head coach, led the Golden Eaglets to win the cup again in 2015.”

Onye who played for the Enugu Rangers in Nigeria before venturing to the UK but had his career scuppered by freak injury pointed out that the solution to Super Eagles’ technical deficiency is the appointment of an indigenous coach and that Amuneke is the man.

In buttressing his assertion, he declared: “As a senior team coach, Amuneke qualified a long standing absentee team, Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

“His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

“He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.”

Onye also looked at the personality of Amuneke in recommending him for the Super Eagles job.

His record as a player is also very impressive. He played and won with the Super Eagles, the AFCON 1994. He played at the Olympic Games and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup.

He has played at the African Games and also for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek. In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before injury ended his playing career.