Nigerian Football
All eyes on goal merchant Osimhen as Napoli hosts Cremonese
During the warmup ahead of Napoli’s match at Spezia last weekend, a shot from Osimhen hit a female fan in the stands. The Nigeria striker immediately climbed over the barriers to say sorry.
“I was making a practice shoot and then I kicked the ball so hard and there was a lady there and the ball hit her so hard so I had to go there to give her a hug and say, `I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional,”’ Osimhen said.
The Spezia fans would have probably wished his shooting was as wayward during the match _ Osimhen scored two second-half goals to help runaway Serie A leader Napoli win 3-0.
His eye for goal, technique and precision is impressive, as is his speed and physicality. Osimhen’s second goal against Spezia was a header that had echoes of one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s most famous scores in Italy but the Napoli forward leapt even higher than the Portugal great.
It was the fifth straight league match Osimhen had scored in and took his tally to 16 in 17 Serie A matches this season.
Just as Napoli is leading the Italian league, Osimhen is leading the scoring chart, with the forward having scored four more goals than Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman and Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez.
“I believe my confidence is getting higher every day, each training,” the 24-year-old Osimhen said. “And I’m really happy about this, about this form.
“And of course I have to say a big thank you to my teammates, most especially the coach that has given me this confidence and to repay him I have to continue to work for the team, to try to score as much as I can for the team to help them get to victory.”
Next up for Osimhen and Napoli is a home game against last-place Cremonese.
Napoli has a 13-point lead in Serie A, while Cremonese is 10 points from safety and hasn’t won a single league match this season while scoring only 15 goals.
Osimhen alone has scored more than the entire Cremonese team this season.
But Cremonese pulled off a big upset when it won at Napoli on penalties in the Italian Cup three weeks ago. It then went on to eliminate Roma, too, and reach the semifinals for only the second time in its history.
“Cremonese and these players need to show that we belong in this league,” Cremonese coach Davide Ballardini said. “We showed that in the Italian Cup, we also want to show it in Serie A.”
-AP
The miserable run of Akwa United and Ikorodu City came to an end after six games in the Nigerian Premier League this season. Both teams were initially glued at the bottom of the league table.
They now got respite as Akwa United beat Kano Pillar by 2-0 while Ikorodu City even did what could be considered an upset, beating Bendel Insurance 3-0.
Remo Stars bounced back to the top of the log after a 3-0 defeat of Nasarawa United. Shooting Stars are yet to get their rhythm this season, playing a barren draw with Enyimba in Ibadan.
Kwara United who got their first full points of the season last week after a 1-0 defeat of Remo Stars could not consolidate as they were beaten 1-0 by Abia Warriors.
Heartland under Emmanuel Amuneke are gradually recovering as they got a valuable away draw against El-Kanemi Warriors.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is 75 years since Nigeria’s national football team first played an international match. That was on 8 October 1949 when the first set of Nigeria’s assembly on their return voyage stopped over in Freetown and engaged Sierra Leone in an international football match. Nigeria won 2-0, setting a chain of positive results on 8 October.
The country never lost any competitive duel on that date. More significantly, the Super Eagles first qualified for the World Cup on an 8 October date.
That was in 1993 when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Algeria in the quest for USA ‘94 World Cup.
Nigeria became the first English-speaking African country to qualify for the World Cup. Another significance of the October 8 match at the July 5 Stadium, Algiers is that Nigeria were unbeaten for the first time by Algeria at home.
The only deviation from the 8 October Magic was in 2015 when Nigeria lost 2-0 to Congo in a friendly match.
Twenty-six years after Nigeria’s debut international match, one of Africa’s biggest football nations, Egypt fell to the October 8 magic, losing 4-0 to Nigeria in the last stage of the triangular World Cup qualifying series for Argentina ’78.
Up till October 15, 2013, when Ghana beat Egypt 6-1 in Kumasi, the October 8, 1977 duel with Nigeria remained Egypt’s biggest loss in a World Cup qualifying match.
Before the 1977 duel, Nigeria in 1963 played a friendly match with Liberia in Monrovia. The October 8 magic was active, even in an away match. Nigeria drew 2-2 in their very first encounter with Liberia. It was shortly after the team had, through a protest, upturned a victory by Guinea to pick Nigeria’s very first African Nations’ Cup ticket.
Little wonder then that when FIFA suspended Nigeria in 2010, the world governing body provisionally lifted the ban on October 8!
Nigeria on 8 October
- 1949 – Freetown (Friendly) Sierra Leone 0-2 Nigeria
- 1963 – Monrovia (Friendly) Liberia 2-2 Nigeria
- 1977 – Lagos (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 4-0 Egypt
- 1993 – Algiers (World Cup qualifier) Algeria 1-1 Nigeria… qualify for USA ‘94.
- 2005 – Abuja (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 5-1 Zimbabwe
- 2010 – FIFA, in apparent respect to the 8 October magic, provisionally lifted a ban imposed on Nigeria.
- 2011 – Abuja (African Nations Cup qualifier) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea. Although undefeated, Nigeria failed to make it to the 2012 African Nations Cup.
- 2015 – D.R. Congo beat Nigeria 2-0 in Visé, Belgium. The ‘October 8 Magic’ is finally broken.
Rivers United have launched themselves to the top of the log at the end of the match day 5 of the Nigeria Premier League. The Port Harcourt side beat Akwa United 2-1 to go afloat after initial leaders, Remo Stars crumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday.
It was Remo Stars’ first defeat in the season. Rivers United are now with 13 points. Stephen Mayo put Rivers United ahead after 31 minutes. But it turned a temporary lead as Akwa United bounced back almost at the blast of the referee’s whistle for the second half.
Friday Apollos levelled up for Akwa United before Ndifreke Effiong Udo scored the winner in the 85th minute.
Sunday Results
- Kwara United 1-0 Remo Stars
- Rangers International 1-0 Abia Warriors
- Heartland FC 2-0 Niger Tornadoes
- Kano Pillars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
- Plateau United 1-0 Ikorodu City
- Rivers United 2-1 Akwa United
- Enyimba 3-0 Katsina United* Suspended
- Nasarawa 0-0 Bayelsa United
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