By Daily Sports on September 18, 2017

Let’s open this week’s discussion on this note. If you are a football fan and you miss Daily Sports Thursdays grassroots football menu served fresh by our man in Benin City, Edo State, Nelson Dafe, then you cannot lay claim to supporting the growth of the game because grassroots football holds the future of the beautiful and most single crowd pulling sport in the globe.

To put it mildly, the young Dafe has set the tone in grassroots sports and football reportage in particular. It will be safe to say he has become an authority on that and gives honest assessment of the budding players and how best to harness their raw potentials for the good of the game and country. He is not loud but an intelligent analyst. He brings such to bear on his page in Daily Sports every Thursday.

The young writer, to be honest with you follows the game religiously and reports same in simple, deep and flowing prose. His reports are true pictures of the sport as they happen and how each player fares at the grassroots level. I have come to keep date every Thursday with him and read vivid accounts, graphic details and narration that are always on point. You equally visit Daily Sports photo gallery and see his action packaged live pictures of players and where each receives laurels or awards, very beauty to behold.  Let me reveal also that this newspaper till date happens to be the only one in the country that gives sports at grassroots level full attention, breathe and hold.

In one of his writings, I came across budding players that excelled at the Edo State grassroots football tournament. Let me be honest with you, Edo State FA has craved for herself, the enviable position of being the best so far grassroots football championship organisation is concerned in the country. That niche, News Express and her sister publication, Daily Sports Benin Correspondent, Nelson Dafe has never missed out filing reports from the opening to the finals of such competitions.

I was in a safe sponsored trip to Benin strictly where I watched the recently concluded finals of a grassroots football summit and breathe football where these players were roundly outstanding in their contributions as team players. They were players’ player, Kelechi Harrison, Anayo Iwuala, Samuel Ogbaku and Destiny Ekwe were all exceptional in the attack, midfield and defence. They are all young lads that allowed the ball to do more of the running as they do what they know best with the round leather object.

Let me confess that they were the most valuable players that were bent and focused throughout the duration of the tournament.  No jokes! The ugly aspect is that, there was no official of the NFF and the U-17 handlers at the venue. Therefore, my good friend Bunmi Blair an assistant coach with the U-17 team should explore this opportunity and get across with these imaginative boys through the Edo State FA, which I believe has their records.

Blair has that reputation to identify and groom ball jugglers; this is one of his strong points. He needs to see these under age boys and make champion and great footballers out of them.

The work of the U-17 handlers would be easier if they avail themselves the opportunities to watch grassroots champs where raw and untapped talents are over flowing. It remains the gateway and the only true avenue to harness and recruit players for the age group tournament where Blair and his chief coach will be overseeing for the country at the U-17 category. As tradition, this platform, wishes Blair and his chief coach well and pray they stick to truth and merit. It is my further belief that if the five letter word is held close to their hearts, Nigeria will rule the world at the U-17 level with Blair and other coaches leading the crew as men with honour.

To Kelechi Harrison, Anayo Iwuala, Samuel Ogbaku and Destiny Ekwe: don’t relax as the road is still far. You have not arrived yet, but you have natural talents that require professional brush up for you lads to explode into bloom. Your journey to stardom has just started. I still have my thumbs up for the Edo State FA for this her singular innovation, the first among the rest. Daily Sports will keep you, readers posted on these promising boys. 

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) has just ended and the overall champion, other representatives of the country to CAF championships in 2018 known, plus the teams that will compete in the second tier of the league –Nigeria National League (NNL).

We reported the situation in 3SC where Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State maltreated the entire team via under funding, which left the whole team devastated. It is on record that Gov. Ajimobi’s club was the first among the 20 NPFL format where its players competed in an empty stomach in several games in the just concluded season, which climaxed with the strike by the players towards the end.

It is also on record that Ajimobi’s 3SC FC of Ibadan, still owe the late Izu Joseph for over eleven months after he was murdered in cold blood by the Nigerian Army in his home state, Bayelsa. All appeals to Gov. Ajimobi to fund the Oluyole Warriors so that the boys and their coaches can focus on the task ahead fell on deaf ears and now the team has gone on relegation as the players, dead and alive, coaches, other workers of the team are owed years of salaries, match allowances and bonuses.

Ajimobi and his All Progressive Congress in Oyo State are bad news to many homes. Ajimobi is seen to be heartless, known for his nonchalant attitude towards people, and has this penchant for not being sensitive to the plights of his people. Workers in the State are heavily owed. My heart goes out for my friend, Fatai Amoo and his peculiar players who worked hard to escape the drop for their prestige and names’ sake. The stone-hearted Ajimobi showed the entire team pepper. However, from whichever angle you look at it, 3SC FC of Ibadan, Oyo State remains the shame of Ajimobi. More on Shooting and Ajimobi are loading and would make interesting reading. We will be in the fore front.

The out gone season further witnessed the good, bad and the ugly. It is believed that before the resumption of the new season, there will be spirited education by the League Management Company (LMC) to bring key stakeholders at par with the most recent ways and rules of this very dynamic game. This should not be handled like the previous ones that were carried out on lip stick basis and mainly on paper without practicals.

Such steps have back fired terribly on us and have retards the credibility of our league whereby champions oftentimes emerge via dubious antics. The case of Gombe United and others involved in match fixing is loading. Daily Sports would bring update on this as one of the killers of the game.

Truth is that nearly all facets leaked during the out gone season and also caused panic in most cases. NPFL monitors took bribe to favour teams against the other. In short, it became an exercise for the highest bidder. That recurring decimal, officiating was at the peak of its usual ugly self. LMC has a huge task on its shoulders that is in collaboration with the NFF Referees Committee to curb these dirty deals so that our league will not only have strong bearing but also attract sponsors’ confidence to invest in the obvious money spinning sport. Fans are eager to watch free following football spiced with impartial officiating; more away wins than the present trend where NPFL games point at more home wins.

The 2018 World Cup qualifiers entered crucial stage and after two games, heavy weight teams that hoped to make up at the resumption especially in the dreaded group B woefully kissed the dust. In that group, Zambia proved so superb winning Algeria home and away thereby rekindling her hope of first ever march towards qualifying for the World Cup, the mountainous opponent between the side and seeing Russia next year is the Eagles their perennial rivals that are hell bent on flying one of the continent’s flag in the tournament.

In that colouration also, Nigeria massacred Cameroun at home and went to Yaoundé three days later and were forced to a draw by the African Champs. In that group’s log, Eagles have 10 points while the Chipolopolo follow with 7 points. Cameroun and Algeria are technically out of contention for the group’s sole ticket to Russia next year.

The Supper Eagles are favourites judging from her present form, and on the other hand, Zambia’s form also could pose danger too to the Eagles who have maintained unbeaten stance since the qualifiers kicked-off. However, the impending game between the two rivals on October 7, in Uyo holds a lot for them on the road to Russia World Cup finals.

Nigeria will put her all in the make or break encounter that will determine her qualification for the big football summit next year once it wins the crucial game against the tough talking Zambian side.

Nigeria defeated the boastful South African region side in the first term in Ndola. The visitors have been singing war song loud and clear that her mission in Nigeria is to clinch victory to enhance her chances to fly her flag in its football history in the most prestigious champ that sees the assemblage of best football playing countries and their stars on parade.

No doubt it will be an uphill task for them to crush Nigeria at home despite the fact that football is no mathematics, reason being the upbeat atmosphere in the Nigerian camp at present. The resolution to pick 2018 sole group ticket to the finals remains overwhelming and the lads would die fighting to grab it. The team’s skipper, John Mikel Obi re-echoed that the other day. Their Franco-German handler and his goalkeeper trainer are on top of their game in the match that won’t be a tea party.

Nigeria Football Federation bigwigs led by Amaju Pinnick are resolute too on the same page for Nigeria to secure the ticket that seems on sight. Home truth is that Eagles must prepare comprehensively as Chipolopolo would be a hard nut to crack. The game will be fierce in all ramifications as only the prepared, fittest coupled with quick thinking like bench in charge. Victory on that fateful evening won’t just be for the fun of it. To be forewarned is to be forearmed as Zambian alarm bell tolls for Nigeria enroute October 7, decisive World Cup qualifier.

The basis for clean slate to continue is thorough preparation, focus, determination, zeal, concentration and sundry. It will be do or die. Zambia is not hiding such intentions. The game will be an epic battle of wits and brawns. They are ready to confront Eagles head-on.

There should be no over confidence or under rating of the day’s opponents. The epoch clash of the titans is loading and would remain melting point for discussion across the continent and the globe. They are the two teams that have chances for one to settle for their group ticket. Against all odds and predictions from book makers and some pundits, favourites, Algeria and Cameroun are out of calculations no matter what may.

Let discussion continue on Twitter, WhatsAPP, Facebook and Linkedin. Keep shooting hard, till next week!

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 18, 2017

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