By Daily Sports on April 25, 2017

TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO SUPER EAGLES CAPTAIN, MIKEL, ON HIS BIRTHDAY

At times, fans tend to forget the human side of players and when they talk about a player it is usually about how good or bad the player’s performance had been. Nigerian fans, the demanding lot that they are, are usually not hesitant in hurling the most offensive of words on a player when a result doesn’t go their way and the usual charge is that these players don't care about losing an international or club game as far as they are making millions while playing.

But the reality is that players generally do care about results and they suffer psychologically as much as fans do when they fail a spotting objective.

One player who couldn’t hide his emotion is Mikel Obi the Super Eagles captain, when the under-23 national team he led to last year’s Rio Olympics lost in the semi final to Germany. He is said to have cried in the presence of teammates and coaches when Nigeria was beaten by the Germans.

Nnamdi Onuigo was one of the coaches drafted to the national under-23 football (Dream) team for last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and, in a glowing Facebook tribute to Mikel on the occasion of his 30th birthday, he shed light on the human side of the China-based midfielder as regards his coping with the under 23 team’s semi loss to Germany at the Olympics.

Onuigbo, who is coach of current Edo State FA cup champions, Inneh Stars, wrote on Facebook:

“Happy Birthday, Captain Fantastic. Heard so much about you but when I actually had a chance to work with you, the impression you left was priceless; humble and an extremely patriotic Nigerian who would give everything to win for this country. Those tears in the dressing room after the loss to Germany in the Semis of the Olympics, spoke more than a thousand words to your troops and we, the coaching crew; Proud of you man. Wish you great, amazing years ahead.”

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Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has also commendably paid birthday tributes to Mikel. A tweet on the official handle of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) celebrating Mikel reads: “Happy birthday @NGSuperEagles magical captain, @mikel_john_obi. Shine on!”

One can only hope that such messages of love can be followed by well-prepared official plans to support stars of the national team when they finish their playing days.

CHELSEA SHOW SOLIDITY IN THEIR AIM FOR THE DOUBLE, BUT THEY FACE EXPERIENCED CAMPAIGNERS ARSENAL IN FA CUP FINAL

The manner in which Chelsea quelled the threat of Tottenham Hotspurs in the semi final of the English FA cup was brutish. Having come under ceaseless pressure for most parts of the game from their London neighbours, and with scores standing at 2-2 (after The Blues had been pegged back twice from their lead), coach Antonio Conte called on his two big guns who he had surprisingly named in the bench for the tie and they came on to devastating effect.

Something changed for Tottenham when strikers Eden Hazard and Diego Costa came on the for Chelsea with just over a quarter of the game remaining and suddenly Spurs were finding themselves in the back foot. How Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochetino would have wished he had players like Costa and Hazard in his bench to call on.

It was Hazard who put Chelsea 3-2 up with a sweet strike and then the thunderbolt from Nemanja Magic silenced the Spurs supporters properly. Chelsea celebrated a hard-fought victory and left their fans in ecstasy land.

Now the west Londoners have their focus firmly on achieving a double this season as they prepare to meet Arsenal in the FA Cup final in May. Chelsea have a 4-point gap over Tottenham with six games to the end of the season and with the latter having tough fixtures against Arsenal and Manchester United coming up, it is hard to see them overtaking Chelsea.

Already many Chelsea fans have written off The Gunners as no serious threat to their double ambition. At the viewing centre where I watched Arsenal vs Man City semi final game on Sunday, many Chelsea fans were rooting for Arsenal, the belief being that Arsenal represent a lesser threat to their darling team’s chance of winning the FA Cup.  But the Chelsea faithful would do well to be wary of a club who have won more FA Cups than any other and whose coach has won more of it than any other manager in the history of the competition in England.

Talking about Arsenal, some things have doubtlessly changed positively for them in recent days, and Chelsea would have to relearn how the Gunners play between now and the cup final fixture. They have changed their tactical shape in their last two games, applying a back 3 of central defenders for the first time in the two decade old reign of their manager Arsene Wenger, and they have won both, including last Sunday's big win over Pep Guardiola’s City. The defence looks miles more solid than it has been for some time prior.

There’s also a renewed zest with which Arsenal are playing, rubbishing the recent suggestions that the players have stopped playing for their under fire manager. There might have been some clear-the-air talk at the club, which could have included the future of manager Wenger, striker Alexis Sanchez and mercurial midfielder Mezut Ozil, all of whose present contracts are rolling to an end soon. The result is a team fired up to give their all to try to reward an avuncular manager with another improbable champions league qualification and one more FA Cup.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 25, 2017

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