FIFA Cancels Nigeria vs Ghana Friendly Match

FIFA cancels Nigeria's friendly match with the Black Stars of Ghana set to take place in London on March 29 as the new FIFA directive rules out 2 games across 2 continents in 3 days.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are initially set to play Bolivia on the 26th of March at the newly built Akwa Ibom Internal Stadium after the Brazilian FA cancelled its friendly with Nigeria.

According to a top source in the Nigeria Football Federation, the NFF are now working on getting the Super Eagles play in an international friendly in Africa on March 29.

"We are now working on playing another friendly in Africa on March 29 after FIFA failed to approve the Ghana game in London," said the NFF source.

Mikel Under-goes Knee Surgery, Misses Out Of Capital One Cup Final

John Obi Mikel has undergone knee surgery, which has ruled him out of  Chelsea’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

Mikel was due to return to action this weekend, but he had to go under the  knife in a London hospital after feeling pain on the affected knee.

According to the defensive midfielder’s adviser, the Nigeria international will require at least four weeks to recover from the  ailment.

   Source

Wenger Offers To Train Nigerian Coaches

In efforts by the Amaju Pinnick led Nigeria Football Federation to improve and strengthen football in Nigeria, it has been revealed that his recent visit to Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger was not to talk about players alone but to train Nigerian coaches

The president further stated that, “if you want to be the best, then you must roll with the best, as the English Premier League manager will start tutoring handlers of Nigeria national teams.

“Arsene taught me a couple of things during my visit even in administration. You need to learn from the best to be ranked among the best.

“I hailed his knowledge, he’s truly a professor. It goes beyond just teaching you things on the field, there’s need to also gain some knowledge off the field too.

“He has also pledged to make himself available to us whenever we needed to train our senior coaches; Arsene was overwhelmed by our visit.”

   Source

Amokachi: Ideye Is Best Nigerian Striker

Nigeria caretaker coach, Daniel Amokachi says in-form West Brom striker Brown Ideye deserves an international recall.

The 26-year-old has not played for the Super Eagles since November 2013 and missed out on last year’s World Cup.

Ideye has scored four goals in four games for his Premier League side, prompting Amokachi to call him “our best striker in Europe at the moment”.

“Any coach would want him in his squad. His new-found form has not gone unnoticed,” Amokachi told BBC Sport.

“When you look around all the top leagues in Europe he is the best performing Nigerian striker.

“That’s exactly what you expect from a player giving 120% on the pitch, it’s also what we require of our players, so it’s only fair and objective to recall him.”

Amokachi has been in charge of Nigeria on a temporary basis since December – following the departure of Stephen Keshi, who was unable to agree a new deal with the Nigerian Football Federation after failing to qualify the team for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

But Amokachi insists the the uncertainty surrounding the coach’s position should have no bearing on whether Ideye is given another opportunity for his country.

“It doesn’t matter who is in charge, Ideye is in fantastic form, he is scoring goals and creating them in one of the best leagues in the world,” he said.

“We are happy for him and wish him all the best in subsequent games at his club.”

Ideye has scored five goals in 24 appearances for Nigeria.

In 2013, he helped his country clinch their third Africa Cup of Nations title, scoring in the 4-1 semi-final victory over Mali.

A member of their 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa, Ideye was omitted from the Nigeria squad that reached the second round at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

   Source

Christian Chukwu To NFF: Leave Keshi Alone!

Christian Chukwu
Photo: Punchng.com

Former Super Eagles Coach, Christian Chukwu, says the problems surrounding the contract talks of Stephen Keshi is not the coach's fault but that of the Nigeria Football Federation for making him a sole candidate for the job and states that Keshi should have been left alone after he declared that he is not interested in the Super Eagles job.

Keshi lost the chance to coach the national team of Burkina Faso to German Germot Rohr and said he is not interested in returning to his position as coach of the Nigerian senior national team.

“I don’t think that Stephen Keshi is the problem. The fault is coming from the NFF,” the former Nigeria international said.

“Since Keshi is saying he is not interested in the job and the federation is insisting they had contacted him and offered him a contract, they should leave him if he doesn’t want the job.

“The federation knows what they want in a coach; they should just give Nigerians a coach for the team. The NFF and Keshi should stop holding Nigerians to ransom and arrive at a decision. I don’t know which of them is holding the other but something is hidden somewhere.”

He also commented on the 2017 AFCON qualifiers beginning in June of this year and the preparation of the team towards the show down.

“What Nigerians want now is a coach for the Super Eagles. They should announce somebody and get this over with.

“The AFCON qualifiers will soon begin and we have yet to begin any solid arrangement for the team. If the NFF wants Keshi, they should hire him and if they don’t want him, they should just let him go.”

The Super Eagles are set to play two friendly matches with Bolivia on May 25 and with Ghana prior to the AFCON qualifiers.

Pinnick Makes Special Appeal To Media

President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick has made a passionate appeal to sections of the Nigeria media to stop heating up the football polity in the name of sensationalism.

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, Pinnick charged media persons to make peace and tranquility in the football family their winning words, and to be careful with the words they use in conveying messages to the public because of the important role they play.

“I have immense respect for the media, because of the very critical role they play in the promotion of football, nay sports, as an instrument for peace and fostering of tranquility worldwide. However, there is need for caution in the way and manner a section amplifies and celebrates what is negative.

“A minute section of the media feels that only the negative sells, which is an archaic belief. On Wednesday, someone wrote on a website that Stephen Keshi called the NFF and particularly my person all sorts of names. This is not true.”

Pinnick said he spoke to Coach Keshi on Wednesday and that the coach was exasperated that his words had been exaggerated.

“Keshi told me that his words were blown out of proportion. This is not good for Nigeria football and the imperative for harmony within the football structure. Keshi himself knows that using such words would not in any away endear him to the NFF.

“It is important that we all join hands to build a sustainable football culture for the country, and it is the job of everyone, not only the NFF.”

   Source

Afrobasket Qualifiers: D'Tigers Wait On Burkina Faso, FIBA

The Nigeria Basketball Federation are still in the dark and uncertainty on the cancelled 2015 African Basketball Championship qualifiers match supposed to be played with Burkina Faso last weekend in Ouagadougou.

The Burkina Faso Basketball Federation cited logistics problems as a reason for the cancellation and requested both legs of the qualifiers be played in their country which NBBF rejected.

The National Basketball Team coach of Nigeria D'Tigers, Sani Ahmed, said he will make sure the administrative problems will not in any way affect his team and claims that D'Tigers are ever ready for the matches at anytime set.

According to standing FIBA rules, Burkina Faso are to forfeit the match and pay for all cost of preparing the D'Tigers for the game just as requested by the NBBF, but still waiting for a reply to mails sent to FIBA.

Countries that have already qualified for the 2015 Afrobasket are Morocco, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Angola, Uganda, Tunisia and Cameroon.

Dream Team Defence Worries Siasia

Dream Team VI coach, Samson Siasia has said he still has a lot of work to do on his defense if they are to get better as a team.

The Nigerian U23 team will host the Gabon U23’s next weekend in Abuja, in a return leg of the 2015 All Africa Games qualifier, having already won 4-1 in Libreville last weekend.

But Siasia says he and his assistants are not being carried away, saying they understand they must put in more effort to improve the team, especially the defense.

“We know we still have a lot of work to do on the team especially in the defense,” Siasia said.

“We have showed very good signs in all the games we have played but we the coaches know we are not at our best yet.

“We need to improve the team as a whole, but we have to pay more attention to the defense because that is the department that I think needs more work on.”

   - Read more here

NFF Sets World Cup Target For Falcons

Director of Technical at the Nigeria Football Federation, Emmanuel Ikpeme, has charged the Super Falcons to make sure they qualify for the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup in Canada.

Speaking during his official welcome of the team to camp for their upcoming qualifiers, Ikpeme congratulated them for winning the Africa Women Championship (AWC), adding that they should extend their dominance to the world stage.

“You must work hard by your actions, conduct and utterances. It is not impossible to go beyond the group stages; it is football we are talking about. You can go to Canada and become an upstart and scatter all earlier permutations and make a statement to the whole world.”

“It is not a question of coach inviting you to camp and you just come here and struggle to make the team to the World Cup and them you go there and just relax.”

“You girls must go beyond the group stage at the World Cup . It’s not a question of playing friendly matches where you win by big margins, your ultimate goal is to go to Canada and exceed all expectations.”

“You must come out of that group D. I want you guys to tell Nigerians that you are not only champions of Africa, but can conquer the world. Your ultimate goal is to go to Canada, qualify from your group and ultimately surpass any earlier record,” he said.

   Source

Wolves Begin Warning Strike, Threaten To Boycott RCB Match

The players of the Nigeria Professional Football League side, Warri Wolves, have began a warning strike in protest for their unpaid wages of three months salary and last season's sign on fees.

According to a source from within the Seasiders' camp, players of the club decided to boycott the Tuesday evening training session even after they attended that of the morning.

In an interview with one of the senior players who craved anonymity, we gathered that the CAF Confederation Cup contenders have their players owed salaries for the past three months and 30% of signing on fees from last season.

The players of Warri Wolves have vowed not to end the strike until paid their owed wages and dues by the management of the club. This might cause the player not honouring the 2nd leg CAF Confederations Cup preliminary match with Racing Club Bobo Dioulasso of Burkina Faso.

"This is totally unfair to us. They drill us week in week out to get them results from matches but they keep owing our wages. I have the passion to play football, but what is passion when you don't get paid after you signed a contract to get money for playing?

"They owe us 3 months salary and 30% of last season's sign on fees, the match bonus for the 1st leg of our CAF cup match with RCB and 3 match bonuses from last season.

"As you can see it's a lot of money. This is where we all make a living and most of us are bread winners of our families.

"We have reached an agreement not to resume training until we are all paid our money," said the player.

Warri Wolves, owned and financed by the Delta State government, are one the hopes of a continental trophy getting into Nigeria this season as they face RCB Dioulasso of Burkina Faso on Saturday after getting an away win of 1-0 last week.

The CAF Confederations Cup match might be deterred due to the warning strike by the players.

Busari Ishola Returns As Kwara FA Chairman

The Chairman and Vice Chairman of Kwara Football Association, Alhaji

Busari Ishola and Salman Fowomola were on Tuesday re-elected unopposed in an election held at the state stadium complex.

Former Kwara United Vice Chairman, Toyin Olokooba and Lawal Wasiu are

the two new faces in the nine-man board.

Others include Idris Jubril, Dayo Ayodele, Yusuf Muhammed, Isaac

Oloruntoba and Bolaji Yahaya.

The Kwara South slot was kinly contested after Isaac Oloruntoba polled

12 votes from 24 cast leaving both Dele Oguntokun and Lawal Wasiu on

six votes each resulting in a re-run.

Wasiu later won the re-run with seven votes dethroning incumbent Dele Oguntokun.

In his acceptance speech, the Chairman elect, Ishola, thank and

appreciate delegates saying the opportunity given to him would afford

him the chance to improve upon the successes recorded in last four

years.

He pledged to further take football to the grassroots and expressed

the hope his members would support him to achieve the plan.

Ishola maintained that his mission would be inline with that of the

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), saying the grassroots programmes

started during Aminu Maigari led administration.

He pledged to give U-13, U-15 and U-17 categories in the state top priority.

He commended the state Sports Writer Association of Nigeria (SWAN),

for their support.