Nigeria Content Online

Hoping
for a flawless run towards regaining the Africa title they relinquished
last time out, the Super Falcons will today try to consolidate on their
fine form at the ongoing Africa Women’s Championships in South Africa
when they confront the Twiga Stars of Tanzania in their last group game.

The match is billed
for the Makhulong Stadium and kick-off time is 2.30pm (local time)
While the Nigerian ladies have a semi-final ticket already in their
hands all thanks to the two victories recorded in their previous games,
the Twiga Stars only have a return ticket home after failing to get any
point from their last two matches.

Though this is a
debut appearance for the Twigs, many had expected a better performance
from the team which had embarked on a two week “intensive” training in
the United States before heading to South Africa for the biannual women
championships.

With a place
already secured in the semi final, Nigeria’s coach, Eucharia Uche, is
expected to try out some of the untested legs in the Super Falcons team
which many has described as a fine blend of youthfulness and experience.

The coach, who has continually said that her goal is to win the trophy back for Nigeria, said the team is on course.

“We will take it
easy against Tanzania, but the three points will be for us, I remain
confident in my team and their ability to win here in South Africa,”
Uche said.

A victory for
Nigeria will see her topping Group A. That will mean a tie with the
runners-up in Group B which has the likes of Ghana, Cameroun and
Equatorial Guinea; all seeking qualification from the group regarded as
the group of death.

Perpetua target

Meanwhile, Super
Falcons prolific striker, Perpetua Nkwocha is expected to continue her
chase for a record 15 goals at the championship.

Nkwocha had told reporters in Johannesburg that the 15-goal mark was set for her by friends.

“My friends told me before I came for the tournament that I have to score 15 goals,” said the Sweden-based player.

She admitted that she will work hard to meet the target as she was determined not to disappoint her friends.

“I have started it in our first game so I believe I can continue. I believe I will do it again, that is my prayer,” she said.

“Let’s see what will happen at the end of the day but I believe I can do it.”

Nwokocha is
currently leading the goal scorers chart with five goals after scoring
the two goals for the Falcons in their last match against South Africa
and needs to score ten more to meet her set target.

On her own part,
captain of the Super Falcons, Precious Dede, has also maintained that
no team in the ongoing African Women’s Championship (AWC) can stop her
team from winning the competition.

“I believe we are
on our way to the final of the competition and no team can stop us from
winning this trophy this time. Neither Cameroun nor Ghana can stop us.

I am not boasting
but we believe in ourselves that we can emerge the African champions
again with this victory over Banyana Banyana on their back yard,” Dede
said.

Other match

In the other match of the day, host South Africa will be up against Mali in a game with higher stakes.

While the South
Africans have their hearts in their mouth, Mali go into today’s match
in high spirits after defeating minnows Tanzania 3-2 in their last
Group A match.

Banyana Banyana
coach, Augustine Makalakalane, is aware that his girls must avoid
defeat if they hope to progress in the championships.

According to
Makalakalane, the performance against Nigeria in the last match was not
too bad while hoping for a better display today.

“The Banyana
Banyana girls did not disgrace themselves or their country against
Nigeria and I am so very proud of the determination and commitment that
they showed on the field,” said Makalakalane.

“These Banyana
Banyana players can go far in football based on their approach to the
game and I know they will take the positive aspects out of today’s
(Thursday) performance and look to get the all-important win when the
team plays against Mali on Sunday.”

For South Africa Striker, Noko Matlou, her team will be going all out from the blast of the whistle to get the desired result.

“We are going for the kill against Mali; we cannot afford to disappoint the country.

We are the hosts and we must win this tournament,” she said.

The top two teams out of the two groups of four teams each will
progress to the semi-final stage – with the prize awaiting the
finalists being the chance to represent Africa at the 2011 FIFA women’s
World Cup in Germany next year.

At
the Mainz 05 Stadium on Friday, October 30, 2010, there was an air of
expectation as four Nigerian journalists, Adekunle Salami, Tony
Nezianya, Christian Okpara and this reporter strolled into the
conference room of the Bundesliga Club.

The journalists,
who were in Germany courtesy of SuperSport and at the invitation of the
DFL, organisers of the Bundesliga, the German football league, arrived
the conference late. But it didn’t really matter to them.

As they listened to
Thomas Tuchel, Mainz coach, talk in German about the match they had in
two days time against former champions, Borrusia Dortmund, their mind
was on the diminutive fellow, they had really come to see.

Once the briefing
ended, they turned to Katja Beck and Kay Langendorff, the two
Bundesliga officials, who had led them to the stadium. Langendorff
disappears and moments later returns with the object of the
journalists’ interest. Haruna Babangida, younger brother of Tijani
Babangida, the former Super Eagles winger stood smiling at the
journalists. “You guys are from Nigeria?” he asked and added: “It’s
nice to see people from home.

At 28 years old, Babangida has traversed Europe playing in leagues such as the La Liga, Greek, Ukranian,

Cypriot and Dutch
Eredevise where he played for top clubs like Ajax and Barcelona before
moving to the Bundesliga in June this year. It had come as something of
a surprise to see the former Barcelona FC of Spain player popping up in
the Bundesliga for the apple cart upsetting Mainz.

So, how has it been at Mainz? “Everything is okay,” he says.

“Things are very
easy here because in Mainz we have more foreigners than Germans in the
team. If you take a good look at the team you will find that most of
the players are foreigners.

You have South
Americans who speak Spanish and I communicate with them because I can
speak Spanish. As for the other players in the squad, they speak
English and so I can communicate with them.

Even though he is
having a good time in Mainz, Babangida, who was a member of Nigeria’s
1999 U-20 World Cup team, is not altogether fulfilled.

The reason for that
is not difficult to fathom. Since joining the wave-making Bundesliga
club in June he has played just once and then succumbed to injury,
which sidelined him for months. He is back to fitness now but has yet
to start enjoying playing time, a development he finds uncomfortable.

“It’s not easy even
when the team is not winning for a player not to be playing. For a
player like me, I have gotten used to playing all the time. In all the
teams I have played for, I always played. But here I am not playing
now; of course as a football player you’ll be happy when your team is
winning but what I want, and the reason I came to Mainz is to try to
play.

“Now, I am fit and
I am training with the team but it is the trainer who decides every
week who plays. For me, the thing is to keep working hard. I have
between now and December …Anyway, I can’t really say anything about
my future. All I know is that I am working hard and for now, I am still
a Mainz player, he said.”

Losing respect

One of the reasons
he is eager to break into the first team is his desire to play for the
Super Eagles. After being capped in 2003 in a friendly match against
Japan, the door of the national team has been closed to him.

“I am a Nigerian
and as long as I continue to play football, I will always look forward
to playing for the Super Eagles. That is the ambition of every Nigerian
player.”

Even though he
harbours the hope of starring for his country someday, Babangida
believes that things are not okay with the team, which he says used to
strike fear into its opponents in the past.

“We don’t have the
respect we used to have. In those days when my brother was playing, if
they wanted to play a team like Guinea for instance, he’ll tell me that
they (the Eagles) will win by 6-0. At the end of the day, they may end
up winning 8-0. Then they had a good team and they selected the right
players but now, it’s totally different. We still have good players but
selection and interest from some quarters create problems for us.

“We have players
playing in Europe and even in Nigeria. We just need direction. There
are too many interests involved-the government, the NFA and others.

That’s why things are not going well,” he said.

For the moment, he is content to work hard to succeed in the
Bundesliga, which he says thrives on a combination of power and skill.

Lee
Westwood on Wednesday tersely dealt with suggestions his number one
ranking was a hollow accolade because he has so far failed to win one
of golf’s four majors.

The 37-year-old,
who ended Tiger Woods’s 281-week reign as world number one on Monday,
has seen his elevation come under fire from some quarters.

Woods’s former
coach Butch Harmon was one who criticised Westwood’s rise to number one
saying the ranking system “sucked.” “Did Westwood win a major this
year, or any year? I think not,” he said.

The last Englishman
to top the rankings, six-times major winner Nick Faldo, said on Sunday
that Westwood needed to cement his new status with a major trophy.

Westwood’s response
on Wednesday was terse. “I would agree with him. I don’t need Nick to
tell me that. That’s fairly obvious,” was his curt response to
reporters in Shanghai.

“I’ve had quite a
good career so far. But a major has been missing and I have performed
well in them over the last couple of years,” he added.

“I’ve given myself
a lot of chances and I haven’t managed to finish it off. You look at
the stats and the previous world number ones and they have all won
major championships. It would be nice to join that club as well,” said
Westwood.

“All I can do is keep putting myself in position and giving myself
chances at winning, which I have done over the last couple of years,”
he added.

For
the first time in more than five years, Tiger Woods became reacquainted
with life away from the number one spot in the official world rankings.

The 14-times major
champion was deposed by Britain’s Lee Westwood when the world rankings
were released on Monday, but Woods can return to the top should he win
this week’s WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.

For the moment,
though, the 34-year-old American is well aware that a mediocre 2010
season without a single victory would eventually result in one outcome.

“As far as the
ranking is concerned, yeah I’m not ranked number one,” Woods told
reporters on Monday. “In order to do that, you have to win tournaments
and I didn’t win this year.” Speaking after he had played an exhibition
match with Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa at Yokohama Country Club, Woods said he
was adjusting to not being the top-ranked player.

“As far as emotions
go, it is what it is,” he added. “You have to win in order to become
number one in the world and you have to win a lot to maintain it. This
is the way it goes.” Woods had been the game’s leading player for the
previous 281 weeks, and a total of 623 in his career, before he was
finally toppled by Englishman Westwood.

The American’s
private life unraveled amid sordid revelations of serial philandering
at the end of last year, an unexpected chain of events that led to the
break-up of his marriage and erratic tournament golf.

His aura of
invincibility on the course was severely dented and he ended his 2010
PGA Tour campaign without a victory for the first time since joining
the circuit in late 1996.

In many ways, it
was something of an anti-climax when Woods was dethroned by Westwood,
who was at home nursing a lingering calf injury after competing only
three times since he finished second at the British Open in July.

The Englishman
became only the fourth player to become world number one without
winning a major title, and many feel third-ranked German Martin Kaymer
is a worthier candidate after clinching this year’s U.S. PGA
Championship.

Model of consistency

Although Westwood
has been a model of consistency over the last two years with four
finishes of third or better in the majors, Kaymer has triumphed six
times in that period, including four victories on the European Tour
this season.

“Kaymer should be
number one,” Tiger Woods’s former swing coach Butch Harmon, who now
works with fourth-ranked Phil Mickelson among others, told Reuters on
Monday.

“If Phil had taken
half the year off like Westwood did, would he be number one? Did
Westwood win a major this year, or any year? I think not.” Asked if he
was surprised Woods had stayed at number one for as long as he did
during 2010, Harmon replied: “Yeah, he didn’t play (for much of the
year) so he stayed at number one. The system sucks.” Whatever the
faults of the ranking system, the battle for the label of world number
one is likely to be extremely volatile over the coming months and
Westwood could be deposed by any of three players by the end of this
week.

“All of the top
four in the rankings, Lee, Tiger, Martin and Phil can go number one
with victory at the HSBC,” Ian Barker, the European Tour’s director of
information services who manages the official rankings, told Reuters.

“And the situation
will remain very fluid next week when Lee, Martin and Phil compete at
the Barclays (Singapore Open) and Tiger defends the JBWere (Australian)
Masters.” Although Woods has clearly struggled with his game for much
of the year, his recent work with new swing coach Sean Foley seems to
be paying off.

He produced his
best golf of the season in the last-day singles at the Ryder Cup in
Wales, where he covered 15 holes in a sizzling nine under par to
complete a 4&3 win over Italian Francesco Molinari.

“I like where my
game is headed,” said Woods who will be competing in three more events
before the end of the year. “I like the pieces of it and how they’re
falling into place.

“I’ve done some pretty good work with Sean and I just took a month
off after the Ryder Cup so it was nice to get that break. It was a
long, frustrating year but in the end it turned out that everything’s
headed in a positive direction now.”

Arguably
one of the most successful clubs in the country, Enyimba International
of Aba will today begin their quest for a record seventh League title
as the 2010/11 Nigeria Premier League (NPL) season finally gets
underway.

The Peoples’
Elephant will be up against Ocean Boys of Yenegoa in one of today’s
interesting fixtures and for Coach Okey Emordi, his team cannot afford
to start on a wrong footing.

“First and
foremost, I must say I am very glad that the league has finally begun
after suffering series of postponement. For us every match is important
and that is why we will be taking today’s match very serious. We have a
target of doing well in all the competitions that we will be playing in
this season and we are ready to meet that target,” he said.

Emordi is one of
the coaches who have won several laurels for Enyimba with the peak
performance being a CAF Champions League crown in 2004, which in turn
fetched him the continent’s best coach award.

Gunning for the treble

Enyimba will be
campaigning on three fronts; the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), the
Federations’ Cup and the CAF Champions’ League, this season.

Already the club
has shown signs of what to expect this season after adding the 2010
Charity Cup title to its growing list of honours recently. Enyimba
defeated Federation Cup Champions, Kaduna United, 4-2 on penalties, to
lift the season’s opening trophy.

Aware of the
daunting task ahead, the head, media and publicity of Enyimba, Tonnex
Chukwu, said the team has beefed up its squad with both young and
experienced players to continue the tradition of winning trophies.

“Enyimba has a
tradition of getting the best legs in the country. At the end of each
season, we beef up the squad and make the necessary changes in the
perceived areas of weakness and this season was no different.

“We have made a
number of signings who will help us continue our tradition of winning
titles and trophies. The season is a long one and we know we need a
very solid squad to effectively challenge for honours in the coming
season,” he said.

A better finish

Ocean Boys on their
part will be attempting to better their 14th place finish last season
in the league. Their last visit to Aba ended in a 2-1 defeat.

Already, one of the
clubs’ new signing, Andrew Michael has been picked as one of the ten
players to look out for in the new season. Michael, 19, is strong and
speedy on and off the ball and can also shoot with both feet. League
experts have predicted that he could finally break the duck at Ocean
Boys this season.

South West Derby

In other matches,
the ancient city of Ibadan will be aglow with action as local rivals,
Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Sunshine Stars of Akure go head to head in
the South West derby at the Liberty Stadium.

Already, both teams
have a score to settle as the Akure based team edged out 3SC 1-0 in a
pre-season tournament held last week in Ijebu Ode and the Sunshine Boys
went on to lift the trophy at stake.

While 3SC coach,
Fatai Amoo has played down the defeat in Ijebu Ode, he said his boys
have learned from their mistakes and will be all out for the three
points today. 3SC defeated Sunshine 2-0 in the corresponding fixture
last season.

Hence, Amoo
reaffirmed his confidence in the ability of the Oluyole Warriors not
only to repeat the feat but to also clinch at least a continental
ticket at the end of this season.

“The club’s
preparation for the season have been thorough and painstaking, the
frequent postponements of the league have also helped us to play many
grade ‘A’ friendly matches like the South West tourney that just ended,
which gave us the ample opportunity to test new players during the
screening exercise. I can assure our fans that Shooting will favourably
compete with all top teams in the Premier League and come out with good
results,” the former assistant Super Eagles coach said.

Last time out in
the league, it was contrasting fortunes for both teams; while the going
was good for Sunshine Stars who finished third in the league, earning
their first continental ticket to the Confederations Cup competition,
Shooting Stars were battling relegation for the better part of the
season with Amoo coming in to finally rescue the team.

This time around the chairman of the club, Joseph Ladipo, has promised the teeming fans of the club a good outing.

Ladipo commended
the efforts and cooperation of the Oyo State Governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala, towards the club, describing him as number one supporter of
Shooting Stars.

League newcomers

In other fixtures,
Premier League newcomers, Bukola Babes of Kwara, Crown FC of Ogbomoso
and JUTH FC will be hoping to get their campaign in the top flight off
to fine starts.

Of the lot, only
Bukola Babes will be playing at home as they host Zamfara United at the
newly approved Offa Township Stadium. Bukola Babes have revealed that
they will get their Nigerian Premier League debut underway with 29
players.

“We are aware that
the NPL rules guarantees each team a maximum of 35 players but we just
want to be modest and careful about it all.” the Manager of the newly
promoted side, Alloy Chukwuemeka, said.

“That is why we
want to start off with 29 players whose registration formalities we
have completed. We will make up the required number as the season goes
on, and by the time the tear and wear sets in.”

Not just making up numbers

The Bukola Babes
team manager added that the club is not in the top flight to make the
numbers. “That we are new in the Premier League does not make us
inferior or less ambitious.

“We are not here
just to make up the number. We really mean business as the only
privately owned and sponsored club in the Premier League,” he said.

Other matches

In the other games,
JUTH FC will be away to Port-Harcourt to face Sharks FC, The Plateau
State-based team is returning to the top-flight division in Nigeria
after they were relegated two seasons ago. The team has retained 21
players from the squad that helped it gain promotion last season. It
signed twelve more players to beef up the squad.

The last of the
newly promoted sides; Crown of Ogbomosho will travel to Minna to face,
Niger Tornadoes in another newly approved stadium; Bako Kotangora
Stadium in Minna.

Though the league
is starting out without a title sponsor, the new NPL board has promised
that tremendous improvements will be seen in the league this year. The
board said it will not condone any act of hooliganisms while reassuring
players that their welfare will be adequately protected.

According to the fixtures released by the NPL, the season is meant to be concluded on June 12, 2011.