International Football
Don’t Be Intimidated, Eguavoen Urges Super Eagles
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Former Super Eagles’ player and chief coach, Austin Eguavoen has urged the current class of the team to be focused as they face perhaps their toughest challenge since Coach Gernot Rohr got to the saddle. The Super Eagles face Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions on Friday in the first leg of a back-to-back fixture in 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
“They should expect a tough encounter”, remarked Eguavoen who had in the past been involved in blood and sweat –spilling encounters with Cameroon. “Fixtures involving Nigeria and Cameroon or Ghana and Nigeria as well as Cameroon and Ghana are always classic encounters”, Eguavoen said. Therefore, no one should expect a mere stroll in the pack.
“Don’t be deceived by the paltry two points Cameroon currently have. They are African champions and they take a match with Nigeria very serious”, Equavoen told Sports Village Square.
He said it is good that Nigeria are currently on the drivers’ seat but the Super Eagles have to do a lot to sustain the momentum. The players should realise that they should not just rely on financial reward as motivation for the match, but look forward to qualifying for the World Cup as that will be more fulfilling for their career.
“Their market values will rise should they qualify for the World Cup”, Eguavoen who was the on-field skipper when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations at Tunisia ’94 counselled.
He also pointed out that as Nigeria have respect for the Cameroonian Lions so also are the Cameroonians to Nigeria.
“Cameroon will natural not want to seat back and allow Nigeria to further widen the point gap as the race to Russia 2018 gathers momentum. “They will put a lot of intimidating pressure on us and we have to react well too”, said Eguavoen, a veteran of the 1994 and 1998 World Cup.
He pointed out the fact that Cameroon don’t play fanciful football and that they are often very physical. “Please tell the boys, they should not be intimidated”.
He recalled some of the matches he played for Nigeria against Cameroon. “They play robust football. He recalled the World Cup qualifying encounter Cameroon played with Nigeria at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan in June 1989.
“They have huge players like Emmanuel Kunde and others. I remember Louis Mfede trying to intimidate me. I reacted and told him this is Ibadan, not Yaoundé, I will ‘kill’ you here!
“He chickened out and moved away from me to the right side of their attack”, recalled Eguavoen. He further said it was an attempt to always intimidate the opposition that informed their controversial sleeveless shirts of the early 2000 which FIFA had to ban.
“They wanted opposing players to see their biceps and feel intimidated. I want the Super Eagles to take a full advantage of the home match because the Yaoundé crowd are also very intimidating. “If we get our results here, the return leg becomes less important to Cameroon”, he reasoned.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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