Nigeria Content Online

The
home-based Super Eagles team will today begin their quest to retain the
West African Football Union (WAFU) title they won last year, when they
confront the Eagles of Mali in the first match of the annual regional
tournament.

The match, billed
for the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta is scheduled to begin by 2.00pm
local time and the Nigerian team will be hoping to do a double over the
Malians whose Under 20 team was recently defeated by Flying Eagles
en-route to been crowned Africa Champions in South Africa.

While many
Nigerians believe that the team led by Coach Samson Siasia should be
able to retain the trophy won by Daniel Amokachi and his lads last
year, the Beijing Olympic silver-winning coach was quick to say that
much should not be expected from his hurriedly-assembled team.

“These boys have
been on break for weeks now, without playing any football, because the
league is on break and we had only two days or less to get them ready
to play a football match” Siasia had told a sports website.

“That is not right. We should have been told on time, so we could have had more time to prepare these boys.

“I don’t know what
their conditioning is right now, and you can’t knock somebody who has
not been playing into shape in two days. But we’ll have to do our
best,” he added.

Point to prove

Siasia noted that
the local league could boast of good players and for him the WAFU
tournament is a stage for them to prove their worth:

“We have good players in our local league and we need to prove it on the pitch” he said.

“The boys will have to hit the ground running against Mali, as defending champions we are the team to beat” he said.

The second match of the day will see the other two teams in Group A,
Liberia and Niger take on to pitch as they both gun for a perfect start
to their campaign in the regional tournament.

Barcelona
and France defender Eric Abidal, who had surgery on a liver tumour in
March, is hoping to be back to full fitness for the Champions League
final at the end of this month.

Abidal drew by far
the biggest cheer of the night at the Nou Camp on Tuesday, when he came
on as a substitute in the closing minutes of the semifinal second leg
that Barca drew 1-1 with arch rivals Real Madrid, to advance 3-1 on
aggregate.

“I hope to be ready for the final,” the popular Abidal, who had been in superb form before the operation, told reporters.

“I have never
experienced this before,” he added, referring to the incredible
reception he was given by the nearly 100,000 fans thronging the vast
arena.

“I can sense that the people love me and I love them too and will try to do my best for them on the pitch, as always.

“I am feeling fine,
I didn’t do anything for three weeks and now I’m working hard. My dream
was to come back and help the team with so many injuries.”

Short in defence

Abidal’s absence,
along with injuries to centre-back Gabriel Milito and fullbacks Maxwell
and Adriano, left coach Pep Guardiola short in defence and he was
forced to deploy midfielder Javier Mascherano in the middle alongside
Spain international Gerard Pique.

Captain Carles
Puyol, who typically plays in the centre, took Abidal’s usual position
of left back as Barca successfully nullified Real’s formidable forward
line including Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and substitute
Emmanuel Adebayor.

“I am happy for the
group and the fans,” Abidal said after Barca, the 2009 winners,
qualified for their second final in three seasons and a meeting with
English Premier League leaders Manchester United.

They will return to
London’s Wembley stadium on May 28, the scene of their first triumph in
Europe’s elite club competition in 1992, which Guardiola took part in
as a player.

“Let’s see if we can complete the cycle,” Abidal added.

“I remember how they won in 1992 and I’d like to do it again. But
there is a lot of training and matches in between, we have to take this
game step by step.

If Manchester United are to avenge their defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final when they meet again at Wembley on May 28, the words Alex Ferguson spoke that night will have to ring true.

Barcelona outplayed United 2-0 in Rome with goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, as United, after a bright start, were totally overwhelmed by the Catalan giants.

After the dust had settled on one of United’s worst performances of the season, Ferguson said: “In adversity you always move forward quicker. We’re still a young team and we can improve on that. In fairness, we were beaten by the better side. I know what went wrong and it will not happen again.”

Ferguson has never explained exactly what he thought did go wrong, but whether United are a better team now than they were in 2009 is a subject that will be debated every day until the final is over.

One thing is certain, they will have to improve on the way they played that night at Rome’s Olympic Stadium to lift the European Cup for a fourth time.

To do that against the best club side in the world, they will have to demonstrate the kind of assured authority and confidence they displayed on Wednesday against one of the worst semi-finalists the Champions League has produced.

United sealed their place in this year’s final by destroying Schalke 04, 4-1 at Old Trafford for a 6-1 aggregate semi-final victory and were never seriously troubled at any time over the two legs.

The team that secured their place at Wembley showed nine changes from the side that won the first leg, and for the final, Ferguson could chose 10 of the eleven men who faced Barca in 2009 with only Cristiano Ronaldo of the starting line-up no longer at the club.

There is little that Ferguson or Barca coach, Pep Guardiola do not know about each other’s teams and while the game is still more than three weeks away with domestic issues still to be settled, the key area, as it was in 2009, will be in midfield.

Then, Barca’s Xavi and Andres Iniesta totally dominated Anderson, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs and laid the foundation for Barca’s success. Ferguson will not want that to happen again.

Perfect setting

Wembley is in many ways the perfect setting for this year’s final. Both Manchester United, in 1968 and Barcelona, in 1992, won their first European Cups there and Ferguson believes United will go into the game far better prepared than in any of the previous finals he has lead them into.

Asked if there was a sense of destiny after United won the European Cup for the first time at Wembley in 1968, Ferguson added: “Let’s hope so.” “I think it will be a fantastic final. It is some weeks ahead and I hope we have everyone ready,” he Sky Sports.

“The big advantage this time, as opposed to two of our previous finals, is that we have no players missing. In ‘99 we missed Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and in 2009 we missed Darren Fletcher.

“We’ve got everyone available this time and that does make a difference.

“This is the best competition in the world, all the best teams are there. To get to the final is an achievement itself, but to win it is the ultimate.”

Even better

Barcelona are, if anything, an even better and more rounded team than the one that beat United in Rome to complete an unprecedented treble of Champions League, Spanish league and cup in Pep Guardiola’s debut campaign as coach.

Striker Eto’o was offloaded and won Europe’s elite club competition with Inter Milan the following season, while the brief experiment with Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended when Barca moved him on to AC Milan and bought David Villa at the end of last season.

While Villa, one of eight Barca players who won the 2010 World Cup with Spain, has been going through a barren patch in recent weeks, his work rate is an important component of Barca’s play and he has formed a highly effective frontline alongside World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi and Pedro.

Argentina forward, Messi has gone from strength to strength since the 2009 triumph in Rome and is top scorer in this season’s edition with 11 goals, including two in the semi-final first leg at arch rivals Real Madrid.

Xavi and Andres Iniesta provide the creative spark in midfield, backed up by the mobile and tough-tackling Sergio Busquets, while Gerard Pique, who spent several seasons at United between 2004 and 2008, has been immense at centre back.

The stage is set for a classic.

Nigeria’s under-20 men’s team, the Flying Eagles, on Thursday defeated their hosts South Korea 1-0, in the opening match of the Suwon U-20 invitational tournament.

Central defender, Gbenga Arokoyo scored the only game of the match 15 minutes from time, when he nodded home from a corner kick inside the Suwon World Cup Stadium.

And try as much as they did, the hosts could not find a way back into the game thanks to some brilliant goalkeeping by Danjuma Paul, who did not show any signs of jet lag.

After arriving in Lagos from South Africa on Monday afternoon, the Flying Eagles, who won the African Youth Championship (AYC) last Sunday, had to travel to South Korea aboard Emirates Airlines the following day, but without three members of the AYC-winning team.

Missing trio

Striker, Stanley Okoro had to head back to Spain to join his club, Almeria, same as defender Terna Suswam who jetted off to Portugal where he plays for Vitoria Setubal.

The father of defender Chima Oluocha died on the day the Flying Eagles were handing out a 3-2 defeat to Cameroun in the final match of the AYC and the defender was released to go home to attend to his late father’s funeral rites.

But all that did not prevent John Obuh’s side from emerging victorious in their opening game of the tournament, which is taking place in South Korea’s second largest city, after Seoul.

Four countries that have already qualified for this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, which gets underway in July, are in attendance. They are Nigeria, South Korea, New Zealand and Uruguay.

In Thursday’s other game, New Zealand lost by a lone goal to Uruguay.

Nigeria will next play against Uruguay on Sunday at the same venue before wrapping up the tournament with a game against New Zealand next Tuesday.

Akpo Sodje aims to extend his impressive scoring form tomorrow when Hibernian take on Hamilton in the Scottish Premier League.

The encounter comes up at Hamilton’s New Douglas Park home ground and Sodje aims to leave his mark on the game by grabbing his fifth goal in as many games for the Hibees.

The Nigerian who began the season at English side, Charlton Athletic, before joining Hibernian on the last day of the January transfer window, has six goals in his kitty but four of them have come in his side’s last four games against Aberdeen (1-0), Hamilton (1-2), St Mirren (1-1) and St Johnstone (1-2).

“It will be nice to score against Hamilton on Saturday,” said Sodje. “I scored against them recently and I’ll love to do that again,” said Sodje, recalling their April 17 2-1 loss to the Accies.

Sodje’s arrival from England coincided with a turnaround in fortunes for Hibernian who appeared doomed for relegation at the end of December.

The Hibees have only lost three of the 12 games the Nigerian has appeared in and Sodje, who is the youngest of the Sodje football dynasty – his elder brother Sam plays for League 1 outfit Notts County, while Efe, plays for Bury in League 2 – hopes the trend continues till the end of the campaign.

“I have scored six goals from 11 games, and made a handful of others,” continued Sodje. “This has played a big part in turning around our fortunes this season.

Hopefully we shall build on this and by next season we shall be in a position to fight for honours in Scotland.

“It’s a thing of joy to score goals at the highest level like I am doing now. The Scottish Premier League is a very competitive league and being able to cut it here as easily as I have speaks volumes of my ability.

“In all modesty, I am ready for any challenge ahead and I believe coming to Hibernian was a wonderful move and helping the club to greater things is my immediate ambition right now.”

Eagles dream

Unlike his older siblings, Sam and Efe, who have appeared in the colours of Nigeria, Sodje is yet to earn a call-up to the Super Eagles. But he still dreams of achieving that honour even though he is 30.

“I joined Hibernian on my 30th birthday, and I knew it was a good omen. So far I have enjoyed it here and yet I know my best is yet to come,” he said.

“At 30 I am not too old to play international football. I am sure that my performances at the top level with my club will attract the attention of my FA and if this happens, I will gladly accept any call-up to serve my nation.”

West Brom striker, Osaze Odemwingie today picked up the Barclays Player-of-the-Month award for April.

It is the second
time this season the Nigerian, who already has 14 goals to his name,
will be receiving the award after previously been named the league’s
best player last September.

Odemwingie has
enjoyed a sensational month and his scoring exploits have helped to all
but secure Albion’s Barclays Premier League survival.

He began April with a superb performance against Liverpool, winning the two penalties Chris Brunt netted to seal a 2-1 victory.

The Nigeria
international then had a hand in all three of Albion’s goals, in a
thrilling 3-2 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, scoring
one and setting up two.

His outstanding
form continued with goals against Chelsea and Tottenham, and he rounded
off the month by firing the equaliser in a 2-1 derby victory over
Villa, at The Hawthorns – becoming the first-ever Baggies player to
score in four successive Premier League games.

The decision was made by the Barclays Awards Panel, which includes
representatives from football’s governing bodies, the media and fans.

Two second-half goals from Anderson after first-half efforts by Antonio Valencia and Darron Gibson saw United stroll into their third European Cup final in four seasons and book a date with Barca in the May 28 showpiece at Wembley Stadium.

United manager Alex Ferguson said he had a sleepless night worrying about his team selection but his side effortlessly reached the final as he set a personal milestone.

The Scot has become only the second man to lead his teams into as many as six European finals — one with Aberdeen and now five with United including four Champions League finals. Italian Giovanni Trapattoni has steered teams to seven European finals.

“I didn’t sleep last night thinking about the team selection and woke up about four times.” he told ITV Sport.

Ferguson, who eventually made nine changes from the team that beat Schalke 2-0 last week, added: “They did me proud. I’ve said it many times we should have done better in Europe over the years and I think we’re getting closer to that.

“They (Barcelona) are without a doubt the team of the moment. It’s a pleasure to watch them play.”

Ferguson made the changes with an eye on Sunday’s Premier League visit of Chelsea, which is likely to go a long way to deciding the English title with United three points ahead.

Schalke, outclassed and outplayed for long periods, got a consolation through Jose Manuel Jurado after 35 minutes but the game felt more like an exhibition match as United recorded the biggest aggregate win in any Champions League semi-final.

WEMBLEY BECKONS

The home crowd began chanting “We’re going to Wem-ber-ley” midway through the first half when Gibson’s inch-perfect long pass found Valencia who steered the ball past keeper Manuel Neuer and into the bottom left corner after 26 minutes.

The goal seemed to crush any lingering hope for the visitors and five minutes later they failed to deal with another United surge forward and only got the ball as far as Gibson who cracked a shot that slipped through the usually reliable Neuer’s hands.

Before the hosts could get too comfortable, though, they lost concentration when Chris Smalling gave a soft ball away in his own half allowing Schalke to mount a rare counter-attack that ended with Jurado’s strike high into the net in the 35th.

The Schalke fans celebrated as if they were in the lead, lighting red flares high in the stands behind the goal, but the celebrations turned ugly when some fans clashed with stewards before others unfurled a huge “Ultras” banner.

However, Anderson’s double strike after 72 and 76 minutes put the icing on the cake as United set up a repeat of the 2009 final, when Barca beat them 2-0 in Rome.

Three-times winners United won their first European Cup at Wembley in 1968, as did Barcelona in the first of their three triumphs in 1992.

It will be the third European final between the clubs, who also met in the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup final which ended in victory for United.