Nigerian Football
NIGERIA: No more Journeyman, vows Eguavoen
BY WALE AJAYI.
Former Super Eagles’ player and later coach, Austin Eguavoen who was on Tuesday unveiled as new manager of relegation threatened Sunshine Stars, has vowed to remain on the job rather than quit as he did before to other Nigerian clubs.
He was unveiled along with former national team goalkeeper who also had been goalkeeper trainer, Ike Shorunmu. Both were part of a four-man technical crew put together to save the Akure club. They are not just to steer the club out of relegation waters, the management wants the quartet put Sunshine Stars among genuine contenders for the Federation Cup, Nigeria’s national tournament and the oldest competition in the country.
Eguavoen as new technical adviser of the club is one N1 million monthly package, the same salary of his immediate predecessor, Kayode Olujohungbe.
Chairman of the three-man Interim committee set up recently by Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, to rescue the sinking club, Gbenga Elegbeleye expressed confidence in the abilities of both Eguavoen and Shorunmu, to improve the fortunes of the club.
“We have a mandate to do what is best for this club. Our committee is worried with the dwindling fortune of a club we all call the pride of Ondo state.
“His Excellency, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, in setting up this committee, charged us, to turn around many things that have gone wrong in the last few years. We are to ensure that sunshine stars does not go on relegation and the only way we can achieve that is by getting two of the best coaches currently, in the job, to come and help us make this dream a reality.
“After finishing second to Atletico Madrid at the LA LIGA future champions competition in South Africa last month, a few PSL clubs wanted Eguavoen to take up a coaching job in the South African premier soccer league but he turned them down because of the relationship we have built over the years.
“We are confident therefore that with his wealth of experience, he can take Sunshine stars out of the relegation waters”, Elegbeleye, a former Director General at the now scrapped National Sports Commission remarked.
Eguavoen, a former Enyimba, COD and Gombe United coach, will take charge of the Sunshine Stars till the end of the current football season with the option of an extension and improved deal, based on performance.
“I am a coach who believes in my ability. I would not have accepted this job if I was not sure that I have what it takes to succeed on it.
“I walked out of COD and Gombe United but I want to make a promise here today, that I will not walk out of Sunshine Stars,
“ I want to implore everyone of you, the players, the fans and the management to give my technical crew your maximum support because that is the only way we can make any headway in the long run Eguavoen said”
Sunshine stars currently sits on eighteenth spot in the twenty teams log and must win at least ten of their last nineteen premier league matches to stand any chance of surviving the drop.
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.
Enugu Rangers on Sunday beat Plateau United 2-0 to hold on at the top of the Nigeria Premier League. They extended their point haul to 57, two points ahead of their Oriental brothers, Enyimba who also beat Katsina United 1-0 to keep the chase for the title very hot.
Initial second placed team, Remo Stars dropped to the third position but still in contention for either the title, but at worse a continental ticket for next season.
Following Shooting Stars 2-0 defeat of Sunshine Stars in a South West derby, the top four positions of the are now held by the South East and South West as the league gets into its closing stage.
While Rangers and Enyimba are first and second at the moment, Remo Stars, though with an outstanding home game are third while their fellow westerners, Shooting Stars are fourth.
The weekend’s results:
Rivers United 2-0 Katsina United
Remo Stars 3-0 Niger Tornadoes
Doma United 0-0 Kwara United
Bendel Insurance 1-0 Heartland
Enugu Rangers 2-0 Plateau United
Shooting Stars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
Akwa United 3-0 Kano Pillars
Enyimba 1-0 Katsina United
Gombe United 3-2 Lobi Stars
Sporting Lagos 4-2 Abia Warriors
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 28th 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 75th minute.
Finidi George becomes Nigeria’s 41st national coach
Further CAF Sanctions await USM Alger and Algerian Football Federation
What a twist of fate! Before now, Morocco and Algeria were allies
SUPER EAGLES TO FACE ENGLAND IN PRE-WORLD CUP FRIENDLY
Apart from Okwaraji, Nigeria’s Other Field-Related Obituaries
Grudgingly, Eto’o accepts new Cameroon coach Brys, but fails to attend ceremony
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