Nigerian Football
As Akwa Utd End First Round in 5th Place
BY MFON PATRICK
The race for the top three spots in the Nigerian league hot up as the season enters the half time. Akwa United’s Wednesday clash with MFM turned an encounter of contenders for top spots.
Table topper, MFM slid to the second position while the victorious
Akwa United leapt into the fifth position on the log. Great thanks to two first half goals by Alhassan Ibrahim and Ubong Friday was all the miracle Akwa United Football Club needed to crumble Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries FC.
It was also a contest of top scorers as Akwa United’s Alhassan Ibrahim brought his haul to 10, two behind that of Stephen Odey of MFM.
Alhassan Ibrahim opened scoring when he tapped in Kodjovi Dadzie’s left footed cross in the 17th minute to give the home side an early lead.
The Promise Keepers doubled their lead in the 31st minute through Ubong Friday in what was his fourth goal of the season.
Initial attempt by Christian Pyagbara caused commotion in MFM’s box but the visitor managed to scramble the ball out of play for a corner kick.
Amaechi Orji delivered an inviting ball into the vital area. An attempt by MFM’s goalkeeper Nasamu Emmanuel to parry the ball away resulted in him colliding with two of his defenders while the ball rolled into the path of Aremu Afeez and the midfielder set up Ubong Friday who blast the ball into the back of the net to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
Earlier in the game, Ifeanyi and Friday had had free kicks in promising positions.
While Ifeanyi’s free kick narrowly missed the target- sailing over the bar and kissing the roof of the net,
Friday’s 30 yards effort crashed off the crossbar in what were early signs of the home team’s intentions.
Ariwachukwu Emmanuel coordinated a stingy defense line alongside Paterne Counou, Kodjovi Dadzie and Ofem Inah which constantly kept MFM’s front men in check.
MFM’s golden boys, Sikiru Olatunbosun and Stephen Odey both had rare chances of reducing the goal deficit but their efforts lacked the necessary venom to trouble Emmanuel Iwu in goal as Coach Abdu Maikaba boys went into the half time break with a comfortable 2-0 lead.
On resumption of the second half, the two teams attacked with renewed vigour, playing excellently in the midfield but were let down with the final ball not hitting the target.
Playing against his former club, Ifeanyi controlled the midfield with help from Aremu and Alhassan.
The trio dominated and detected the rhythm of the game in the midfield while constantly supplying Christian Pyagbara with some well tailored passes.
Pyagbara bulldozed MFM’s defense more than three times but could not add to the score line.
MFM, who struggled throughout the duration of the game to establish their plan, did not really threatened as they were outplayed in the midfield.
Despite both teams making three changes apiece, the score line remained unchanged from what it was at the end of the first half as Akwa United strolled to their eighth win of the season and their third victory in a row.
Two points have been chalked off from the 55 that Enyimba currently have after 32 match days.
This is sequel to the decision of the NFF disciplinary committee which upturned the victory that Enyimba had over Doma United in a March 10 game.
The match was disrupted after 88 minutes with the scoreline at 0-0. Then Enyimba scored a goal which was initially admitted, then the referee consulted with the Assistant Referee 1 who raised his flag for an offside positioning. The referee agreed that the goal was scored from an offside position.
The referee was faulted for using an unorthodox means of consulting an Outside Broadcasting Van outside the stadium main bowl to arrive at a decision.
The NFF has therefore ruled that the result of the match at the point of the restart of the game after over ruling the goal scored as offside is hereby upheld at (0-0).
Enyimba though still second, are tied on points with Remo Stars as both have the same points and goal difference. Remo Stars which secured a double over Enyimba in the on-going league.
Remo Stars also have a game at hand.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is 34 days to the match that will possibly shape Finidi George’s career as the new helmsman on the saddle of Super Eagles’ technical crew.
The Nigeria- South Africa will shape the Super Eagles’ destiny in the qualifying series for the World Cup 2026. Dropping of points in the match will be injurious as the Super Eagles began the race last November in the fashion of coal-propelled locomotive and are now third on the log of a six-team field.
What will put the Super Eagles back into reckoning will be the amassing of the six-points available in the home game with South Africa and the away duel with Benin Republic.
Encounters with South Africa have always evoke deep rooted passion and tension. Will an overtly self-effacing Finidi George be able to soak the looming tension?
Details of his contract is not known and may never been known as it is against the norm in Nigeria for the monetary value of footballers and managers to be revealed.
Also not known are the other members of his technical crew, whether imposed or nominated by the new manager.
Will he be solely responsible to draw up the list for the twin match with South Africa and Benin Republic?
Will he keep on with his current role at Enyimba which is at the cusp of possible 10th league title?
All these issues have to be straightened out today before we have another Paradise loss and have to be relegated to the spectators’ stands when the enlarged World Cup 2026 gets underway.
It is on record that Finidi George’s goal earned Nigeria their first berth at the World Cup. Will he repeat the deed by qualifying Nigeria to the World Cup as a manager?
Time and actions will tell.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
After two matches last March in which Nigeria Super Eagles won one and lost the other, the Nigeria Football Federation Finidi George has been judged as the right man for the vacant Super Eagles job.
He thus become the 41st person to occupy the position since the adhoc engagement of John Finch, former Fulham winger in 1949. According to a press release by the NFF, the board of the federation on Monday approved the recommendation of its technical development committee to appoint Finidi George as Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
George who belong to the Nigeria Golden Generation of Super Eagles of 1994 spent 20 months as assistant to José Santos Peseiro.
In his baptism as an interim national coach, his squad edged Ghana 2-1, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but then lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game. The loss to Mali was the first time Nigeria had been beaten by Mali since 1972.
As a national team player, George is best known as the player whose goal qualified Nigeria for the World Cup for the first time ever.
It was a goal scored against Algeria on 8 October 1993 – incidentally it was the 44th anniversary of Nigeria’s maiden international match played against Sierra Leone in 1949.
Finidi played 60 times for Nigeria and was Nigeria’s 40th scoring debutant when he came as a substitute in a 7-1 defeat of Burkina Faso on 27 July 1991.
He is a winner with the Super Eagles at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nation and featured at the World Cup at the USA ‘94 and France ’98.
Incidentally, his major task now is to qualify Nigeria to another World Cup in the USA and two other nations. The match is 35 days away from this Monday.
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