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Milan, seeking to reach the last eight for
the first time since winning their seventh title in 2007, failed to do
that for the fourth successive season, despite creating the better
chances on Wednesday.

Spurs, who
won 1-0 at the San Siro, could not press home their advantage but the
Premier League gave a resolute defensive performance to reach the last
eight of Europe’s premier competition for the first time since they
reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1962.

“A
great night for the players… a great night for the fans. It’s a great
achievement for this club, to be in the last eight of the Champions
League,” Spurs manager Harry Redknapp told ITV.

“It was hard work out there tonight. They were a good side but we worked our socks off and stayed with them.

“We
got outnumbered in the middle of the park, (Milan midfielder) Seedorf
played in that spare role, they passed it well in midfield and made it
difficult for us to get near them.”

Spurs
are the first English team through to the last eight this season
following Arsenal’s defeat by Barcelona on Tuesday. Chelsea and
Manchester United are still in contention for a quarter-final place.

Milan dominated the first half with Spurs penned in their own half for long periods and thankful to goalkeeper Heurelho

Gomes and centre back William Gallas that they were not trailing at the interval.

Gomes,
despite one or two typically erratic pieces of keeping, stretched to
save a goalbound shot from Zlatan Ibrahimovic after 15 minutes and also
did well to save from Pato just past the half hour.

But
he was lucky that Gallas was on hand to save his embarrassment after 26
minutes when he was rounded by Pato whose cross found Robinho.

The
Brazilian did not shoot cleanly, his effort looping off defender Benoit
Assou-Ekotto’s back and was seemingly goalbound until Gallas hooked it
clear from under the bar.

Spurs
tactic of high balls played up to the tall Peter Crouch did not bring
any tangible rewards even though the Milan defence struggled at times
to cope with them and the London side’s best chances fell to Rafael Van
der Vaart.

He poked a half-chance wide after only two minutes and sent a free kick just over Christian Abbati’s bar.

Milan,
needing just one goal to take the tie into extra time, almost achieved
that in stoppage time when Robinho sent a shot fizzing just over
Gomes’s bar.</

Aminu Maigari, the
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has thanked the
organisers of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) Football Awards
for conceiving an event he says will aid the growth of the game in the
country.

Maigari said this in Port Harcourt on Tuesday night during the 2010 edition of the awards, which was held in Rivers State.

“The award has
overcome obstacles to set a standard and we at the NFF recognise their
efforts. This event is remarkable in more ways than one. Coming after
all that happened in 2010, it represents a breath of fresh air. The
year 2010 is one that is best forgotten for its turbulence. This award
not only recognises excellence but also motivates and inspires. I
salute the Rivers State governor for his encouragement and support
towards making the awards a success,” Maigari said.

The NFF President,
who presented a posthumous award to Nathaniel Idowu, a former vice
Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and a passionate
supporter of the national teams, extolled the qualities of the late
football administrator.

“Idowu was a
remarkable man. We acknowledge his contributions to the game. Nigerian
football will forever be grateful for his inputs into the game,”
Maigari said.

The 2010 AIT Football awards attracted dignitaries from within and outside Nigeria.

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vince Enyeama emerged winner of the
Footballer of the Year Award in the male category edging 2009 winner,
Osaze Odemwingie and Almeria FC of Spain forward, Kalu Uche. Super
Falcons Striker, Perpetua Nkwocha emerged winner in the female category.

Rotimi Amaechi, the
Governor of Rivers State, on Tuesday took a swipe at some members of
the Super Eagles describing them as disrespectful.

Amaechi, who spoke
during the 2nd edition of the Africa Independent Television (AIT)
Football Awards, which was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said
the players, who he did not name, lacked manners.

He singled out
Westbrom striker, Osaze Odemwingie (winner of the AIT Footballer of the
Year for 2009) and Hapoel Tel Aviv goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, who won
the award at Tuesday’s event, as two players who apart from being very
patriotic, show respect to both their colleagues and officials.

“A lot of the
Eagles players are disrespectful. Vincent and Osaze were among the few
that would talk to us at the PTF (Presidential Task Force — for the
Eagles 2010 World Cup preparations),” Amaechi said. The governor was
the president of the task force, which has now been disbanded.

“I like Osaze and Vincent for their patriotism. If the country doesn’t pay you, God will pay you,” he said.

The governor
praised the organisers of the awards noting that there had been a
marked improvement in the organisation of the event, which he said was
laudable.

He said his administration is working towards completing the Games
Village including the 25,000 capacity Stadium named after Adokiye
Amiesimaka, a former Nigeria international. The stadium is expected to
be used for the National Sports Festival taking place in the state this
June.

Zimbabwe’s biggest
challenge in their next World Cup game against Sri Lanka is simply
batting the first 15 overs without giving away too many wickets,
according to their captain on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe will play
against co-hosts Sri Lanka on Thursday in Kandy looking for a surprise
victory after losing to New Zealand and Australia.

They beat fellow non-test playing Canada despite falling to 2-7 halfway through the third over.

“The biggest challenge is the first 15 overs,” Elton Chigumbura told a news conference.

“We haven’t done
well so far. So obviously it is to go through the first 15 overs. The
first 15 (overs) have been the most disappointing part for all our
games we have played so far.” In their tournament matches against
test-playing nations, Kenya were 4-44 inside 13 overs taking on
Australia and 5-46 inside 15 against New Zealand.

Chigumbura’s team
will face Sri Lanka’s in-form fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who captured
six wickets including a hat-trick in the match against Kenya, and the
game’s most successful wicket-taker, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

“It is a big
challenge. Most of their bowlers are match winners. So we have been
working on our plan to see if we can keep our wickets in the first 15
overs,” said Chigumbura.

Zimbabwe’s chances
of qualifying for the quarter-finals rely on them beating Sri Lanka and
Pakistan (March 14) before taking on Kenya on March 20.

“If we correct our batting, my bowlers have a chance of defending a score of over 260.”

Arsenal will be
forever convinced that Robin van Persie’s red card cost them the chance
of beating Barcelona but the truth is that they were overwhelmed, while
contributing heavily to their own downfall.

Barcelona’s 3-1 win
at the Nou Camp on Tuesday took them into the Champions League
quarter-finals by what looks a narrow 4-3 aggregate but they were a
class apart in every department, not least the one that Arsenal pride
themselves on – passing and possession.

The statistics tell
their own damming story as Barcelona enjoyed almost 70 percent of the
possession and made 738 passes to Arsenal’s 199. The Spaniards had 19
attempts on goal and substitute goalkeeper Manuel Almunia was the
visitors’ best player.

Arsenal did not
manage a single one – unless you include Van Persie’s wild
post-whistle, offside lash that became the game’s main talking point.

Arsenal had two
touches in the Barca penalty area, and one of those was the miscontrol
by Nicklas Bendtner near the end in a rare moment of concern for the
home defenders.

“The reality is
that they did not have three passes in a row,” said Barcelona manager
Pep Guardiola matter-of-factly having watched his amazing team build
spells of relentless possession that led again and again to dangerous
balls into, around, behind and through the over-worked Arsenal defence.

Clearly unfit

Yet, not that they
needed to, Arsenal gave Barcelona all the help they could muster. Cesc
Fabregas, desperate to play against his former, and possibly future,
club having missed the quarter-final second leg last season, was
clearly unfit.

Seemingly
protecting the hamstring strain that had made him a doubt right up
until kick off, the captain was anonymous apart from one ambitious
backheel just outside the box.

Unfortunately it
was outside his own box, moments before the sanctuary of halftime, and
led to Lionel Messi scoring the opening goal.

“I take full blame
for the result,” Fabregas said on his Twitter page
(twitter.com/cesc4official). “One of the worst moments of my life. I
apologise.” Wenger, however, could also be accused of contributing to
the defeat by deploying negative tactics.

Barcelona were
playing with midfielder Sergio Busquests and fullback Eric Abidal
thrown together in a makeshift centre back partnership crying out to be
pressurised.

Arsenal’s goal,
headed into his own net by Busquets as three Barcelona players went up
together to head clear a corner, should have alerted them, not that
they should have needed alerting, that the “world’s greatest team” were
vulnerable.

Yet, even with Van Persie on the field, they failed to put the duo under pressure.

The Dutchman was
furious about his red card, which seemed harsh even if he had heard the
whistle, yet he put himself in the precarious position by picking up an
earlier yellow card for a needless slap at Danny Alves.

Wenger was unhappy at the injustice of it all, but his side could
well have finished with nine players with Laurent Koscielny escaping
what may have been deemed a second yellow for his foul on Pedro to give
away the 71st-minute penalty that Messi converted to settle the tie.

I recognise the
right to complain or register displeasure with a team’s poor play in
any sport. But such should manifest in realistic and civil manner and
must be in context of the game or match.

Taking it from the
top, I think the Lagos crowd at the Teslim Balogun Stadium when the
Super Eagles took on Sierra-Leone in a friendly should have been more
restrained in its reaction to Eagles’ play in the last twenty minutes
or so given certain known facts. One, it was the first gathering of
many individuals as a team under a new manager, Samson Siasia. Two,
team talk, tactics get awhile to go from handlers to players
individually and collectively in terms of interpretation and execution.
Three, many of the players were debuting for their country so needed
support not boos no matter what. Four, a city that has not seen
international football since Sunday Oliseh’s captaincy and tsarist
tendencies put the demand on the NFA to play anywhere else but Lagos
for reason of boos and jeers when their legs could not carry them
anymore. The Lagos crowd should have been a bit more careful and
accommodating. The Super Eagles will come good; they need time and our
support not boos. Last match day behaviour was over the top and
condemnable. A repeat will not be good for anyone. Let the Lagos crowd
put a lid on it or be ready to forget international football for
another long while.

What we need now

This week I have
decided to add something different for freshness, fans should cheer
Eagles with pet names following the style of great footballers like
Edson Arantes Do Nacimento aka Pele, Jair Ventura Philho aka Jairzinho,
Eusebio Fereira or simply Eusebio, Raul Gonzales or just Raul etc to
push them to greater heights. That’s what we need now.

I will continue to
update the list. Let us support and encourage our footballers not boo
them. And if there are people to boo and jeer go to the Glass House
(Nigeria Football Federation secretariat) in Abuja you will find them
there. And they are aplenty.

Last line

Arsenal FC just
proved something I always believed in, that if you have your heart in
anything and you are positive about it, it’s done. That is the stuff
that gave them victory against mighty Barcelona in the first leg
Champions League encounter at the Emirates.

One more performance like that at Camp Nou in the return leg,
Arsenal would have killed bookmakers and betting companies. That is
football for you. Next week then.

Here
we go again. Our very worst is again put on display. For the umpteenth
time, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) bespatters mud on Nigerians
through rank chicanery. Once again, the men who run football in Nigeria
prove to be goblins incapable of ennobling conduct. How long shall we
suffer these creatures, these men who seem unable to rein in their
destructive demons? Yesterday, it was the sleaze of the Hampshire
Hotel, the $236,000 that ‘miraculously’ flew out of a locker in the
NFF’s stained glass house and Sani Lulu’s familial jamboree to the 2010
Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. Today, it is the tragicomedy of the
Obama Cup. The signs were all there from day one. Discerning Nigerians
saw the tournament for what it was — a caper designed to profit a few
individuals who surely must be unmasked as long as God lives.

When Jide Fashikun,
the radical journalist based in Abuja, alerted Nigerians to the phony
nature of the tournament, the spin masters at the NFF vilified him in
the same manner they had reviled him when he told his countrymen that
the botched international friendly game with Guatemala existed only in
the opaque minds of the NFF’s top brass.

Now we know better.
Their caper is exposed and the world is witness once again to their
greed, if not criminality. The signs were all there. Twenty-four hours
before Coach Samson Siasia and his boys left for the United States,
Nigerian newspapers had reported that the tournament was off. Some of
them, using the Panama football federation as a source, said the
tournament had been shifted to the second week of this month.

Officials of the
NFF pretended not to have heard. Was it because they had information
about the tournament Nigerians were not privy to or was it important
that the team travelled just so the racket of a few individuals who
will sure be unmasked, came to fruition?

A convenient scapegoat

I am inclined to
believe that there was at play what lawyers refer to as mens rea
(criminal intent) and it should not be difficult to establish once the
matter is brought before officials of the Economic and Financial
Commission (EFCC) as it rightly should. With the racket unravelling,
the football federation has found a convenient scapegoat in match
agent, Pius Oleh. Speaking on Friday, NFF president, Aminu Maigari,
said the football federation was going to ask FIFA to have Oleh’s
licence revoked. It is all very well to blame Oleh, who the federation
says misled and embarrassed them, but the question remains, where were
Maigari and his men when reports indicated the tournament had been
called off? Were they on a trip to Mars?

Does Maigari really
want us to believe the NFF was ignorant of the latest developments
surrounding the tournament when we are not ninnies? There are
definitely questions that Maigari and his men need to provide answers
to. One of them is: how did Oleh come into the picture? Was he
contacted by the federation or did they approach him to help arrange
for them to participate in the tournament? If he was approached, who
made the initial contact and who exactly did he deal with at the
federation?

Answers to these questions will prove useful in determining whether
fraud has been perpetrated and who pays for the money expended by the
federation on the ill-fated tournament. We need to get to the bottom of
this so it doesn’t end up like the missing $236,000. Nigerian football
cannot continue to cope with the malfeasance that is slowly strangling
it to death. It needs a vitality that its present custodians cannot
provide. It is a shame that given the plenitude of decent
football-loving and God-fearing individuals in this country, the
commanding heights of Nigerian football are being held captive by
mediocrities, men incapable of rational or logical thought and action
as far as the administration of the game is concerned. Clearly, we need
to get out of this bind. Anyone who loves football must rise up and
demand that the game be saved from certain death, which will come if it
is left in the hands of its present superintendents.