Nigeria Content Online

Last weekend was much awaited by
every Nigerian because of the long holidays. For tennis lovers, it was the
second week of the US open, for football fans it was the resumption of play in
the leagues after the international break, for boxing fans, it was the much
awaited fight between Wladimir Klithscko and our own Samuel Peters. Sure it was
a fantastic weekend for some and a terrible weekend for some like me.

My weekend started with Venus
Williams’s semi-final match against Kim Clijsters at the recently concluded US
Open. Venus came into the tournament not having played a single match since
Wimbledon but was always the favourite especially as her game improved as the
tournament progressed. She made it to the semis without dropping a set. She
took the lead against Clijsters, up a set, played a great second set and fell
like a pack of cards in the second set tie-break. Her first serve was
nonexistent and a series of double faults led to her demise. Though conditions
were tough, she really should have wrapped up the match in the second set. I
didn’t even bother watching the third set; it was too painful to go on.

United
unravelled at Goodison

Next stop, Manchester United away to Everton,
without Wayne Rooney. But United had a fairly decent game when they came from a
goal down to lead the home team by 3 goals to 1. Though we led, I had a bad
feeling about the match. My heart didn’t stop beating all through. You can’t
imagine how shattered I was when United conceded 2 goals in extra time to
secure just a point and leaving fans like me shattered. It is easy to console
one’s self by saying United never start well but we saw what losing against
teams like Burnley cost us last season.

Well we had a home match on Tuesday to make up
for Saturdays madness. It went from bad to worse against Rangers. The match
which ended in a draw was not only boring but ended with United losing Antonio
Valencia for the rest of the season. I always say it takes a strong character
to come back from career threatening injuries; sure Eduardo will have something
to say about it.

Federer
express derailed in New York

Just as I was trying to recover from United on
Saturday, Roger Federer sent me right back to the hole of pain and
disappointment. It was never going to be easy against a rejuvenated Novak
Djokovic on hard court but then the Fedexpress went to New York City with his
new coach Paul Annacone sending a message across that he is not ready to hang
his racquet. He showed us flashes of why he has been tagged GOAT (greatest of
all time). And did anybody see the through- the-legs-shot, a replica of last
years’ in his match against Djokovic? It isn’t often you see Federer lose match
points. That is exactly what happened in that semi-final match. Not to take
anything away from Novak, he did very well to save a couple of match points and
to come back and win the match depriving fans of a Nadal vs. Federer final at
every grand slam and of course breaking my heart yet again! Congratulations to
the eventual winner Rafa for completing a career slam after winning the US
open.

Barcelona’s
horror show

Though the EPL is the most popular league in
the world, you have to love the La Liga. I am not a Barcelona fan but a fan of
the beautiful football played by the team. With the likes of Leo Messi, David
Villa, Xavi, Iniesta and other super stars on the team, I expected nothing but
victory every time the Catalans are on the pitch of play.

Shockingly, it wasn’t the case when Barcelona
played against newly promoted Hercules on Saturday. If you thought United were
awful, ask Barca fans how they felt about their team on the day. I can’t
imagine how much people lost betting on that game. In fact Barca have Victor
Valdes to thank for keeping the score line at 0-2 with a couple of unbelievable
saves. Aside from the goal keeper, it was a poor performance by the champions.
For all the noise around Mascherano’s transfer, it is not a debut he would have
hoped for. He was quite slow and out of rhythm. I hope he settles in soon; else
Liverpool fans will have the last laugh.

For Pep Guardiola, it must have been a déjà vu because the
last time his side lost to Hercules in the Camp Nou was during the Alicante
side’s last season stay in La Liga in 1996. The visitors pulled off a 3-2 win.
Pep Guardiola scored an own goal. Bad Karma, you will have to say…

After a below
average showing against Birmingham last weekend, World Cup winner,
Fernando Torres is seeking to put things right with the trip to
arch-rivals, Manchester United. He is well informed of what it means –
the rivalry between the Reds and the Red Devils.

“It means
everything to the fans. We are the two most successful teams in England
but it has not been nice for the Liverpool fans to watch Manchester
United have so much success over the recent years.

“We have a great
squad and a great manager, and we really hope to give the fans a trophy
this season, as well as beating Manchester United for them.

“The Liverpool fans
are great, when you play well they are behind you and when you are not
playing the best they are still behind you.

“I walk my dogs
round the city, and before matches like Manchester United the fans will
tell you good luck and things like that. It’s clear how much the
Manchester United games mean to them.”

Liverpool won at
Old Trafford in 2009 when they claimed a 4-1 success and Torres
tormented the centre backs – Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. Both
players are likely to be the centre backs today as Ferdinand continues
his return from injury.

“Nobody ever really
wins at Old Trafford and beating Manchester United 4-1 on their own
ground is practically unheard of, to this day I think that has to be
one of my favourite days wearing the Liverpool shirt,” Torres said.

A worrying
statistic is that Liverpool have won once in their last 11 away matches
and scored just eight goals in their last 14. Against a United that has
also not been firing on all cylinders, Liverpool need all their big
players like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to get their game going
at the Theatre of Dreams. Coach Roy Hodgson is sure the Spaniard will
come good soon.

“I’m not at all concerned about Fernando Torres. He will get better and better,” he said.

Duel of the day: Fernando Torres vs. Rio Ferdinand

Ferdinand will be
sprouting butterflies at the sight of the Spaniard as Torres can boast
that he is one of the strikers most feared by United’s defenders.

Blues host energetic Blackpool

You will have to go
back to 1971 for the last time these two teams met but Carlo Ancelotti
and his boys will have no fears of Blackpool after scoring 21 goals in
five matches. The Blues have another chance to score a lot of goals
when they host maverick coach, Ian Holloway and his boys. Despite
putting up a credible performance in their away match against Arsenal,
Blackpool lost 4-0. The odds may not have reduced on their being
relegated at the end of the season, but Blackpool have surprisingly won
two away matches; 4-0 against Wigan and 2-0 against Newcastle. They
will be hoping for a miracle as they meet Chelsea.

Frank Lampard,
Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole should return for the reigning champions
who scored 103 goals last season. Four-goal hero, Florent Malouda said
their ability to score throughout the team is one reason for their
success.

“I think that’s our
strength, we play a system where everybody knows what he has to do and
players come in and out and the result is still the same. Everybody can
score and it is difficult for the opponents. We’re playing good
football but every game is different and at the end we made scoring
look easy but we just try to start each game playing well first and
look for an opportunity. That’s what we did.”

Holloway will hope that Chelsea do not start well

Mancini needs a victory

The distraction of
the Europa Cup is out of the way for Roberto Mancini and now it is back
to the Premiership for the blue half of Manchester. Mancini will be
happy that David Silva has scored his first goal for the club but he
must be very wary of the yo-yo side of the English game. Roberto
Martinez seems to be able to inspire his side one day and depress them
the other.

Carlos Tevez and Jo
will hope it is the bad side of Wigan as the Argentine has scored five
goals in his last six matches the Lactics. No one knows exactly the
Wigan side that will show up at the JJB Stadium but Martinez will be
hoping that it is the side that beat Tottenham that will show.

Also Wigan have a good home record against City in the Barclays Premier League but Mancini’s backers will be expecting a win.

Barca in showdown with Atletico

The Vicente Calderon Stadium will be a seething cauldron this weekend as Barcelona visit Atletico Madrid.

The only game Barca
lost last season was against Los Colchoneros but this game has a
different set of dimensions. Atletico are hoping that this is the
season where they finally come good in the La Liga but Barcelona will
not be easy meat for the Europa Cup champions. There could not have a
more different warm-up than Barcelona’s thumping of Panathinaikos 5-1
and the 0-1 defeat that Forlan and company suffered against Aris
Salonika in Greece.

No other Barcelona
player espouses the Catalan philosophy and knows as much about the
opposition than Andres Iniesta. “Last season it was the only game we
lost. They are an opponent who is historically uncomfortable for us and
we will have to try to do things well to have a chance of breaking this
bad run.

“It’s important not
to give them any chances. They have great players and are in good form.
Currently they are one of the best teams in Europe.” Atletico may have
to do without habitual Barcelona tormentor, Sergio Aguero, who is
doubtful with a leg injury.

Quique Sánchez Flores has gotten the Madrid team together and are
top of the league with a maximum six points while Barca are in eighth
position but it is still early to know the outcome of the season.

Heartland FC of
Owerri were yesterday forced to a 1-1 draw by visiting JSK Kabiyle in
their last game of the CAF Champions League competition.

The draw caps a disappointing campaign for the Naze Millionaires who could only manage a victory in six games.

The team, which is
been handled by the duo of Samson Siasia and Emeka Ezeugo had struggled
all through the campaign as they failed to re-enact the form, which saw
it get into the finals of the competition last season.

Even though their
place was already confirmed in the semi finals JSK’s confirmed their
supremacy in Group B; amassing fourteen points in the process.

Meanwhile,
Esperance of Tunisia booked a semifinals meeting with Egyptian giants
Al Ahly after a 1-0 win over Dynamos in Zimbabwe on Saturday.

The Tunisians
finish top of Group A, and with the top two positions in Group B
already decided ahead of Sunday’s final round of fixtures, it means
Esperance take on the Red Devils in the Last 4 which start in a
fortnight.

The other semi will see defending champions TP Mazembe player JS Kabylie from Algeria.

Oussama Darragi
continued his fine recent form to fire Esperance to victory at the
Rufaro Stadium on Saturday with a goal midway through the first period.

In the day’s other Group A encounter, Mazembe were held to a 0-0 draw by ES Setif of Algeria.

The Nigeria Premier
League has announced that it will be organising a pre-season workshop
for League teams. The workshop will run through September 22 – 24 at
the National Stadium in Abuja.

According to Tunji
Babalola, the Acting Executive Secretary of the league body, the
workshop is meant to address the knotty issue of players’ health and
nutrition and it also relates to Insurance.

“The workshop is meant for Team Managers, Captains and Doctors of all the 20 Premier League clubs.

“This will surely
broaden their knowledge in the particular fields of health Insurance
and player’s nutrition and we know that when the new season eventually
kicks off, all the participants will put into use what they have learnt.

“We are committed
to the welfare of our players and officials and this workshop will set
the tone for what will happen when the season kicks off,” Babalola said.

The Nigeria Premier
League is scheduled to begin on September 25 with the game involving
Federation Cup champions’ Kaduna United and the last season’s runner up
Kano Pillars.

Some reports however suggest that the start date might be shifted as
the League board is yet to get a new sponsor to take over the running
of the League. Former sponsor, Globacom, is reportedly no longer keen
to sponsor the league.

Samuel Eto’o shone
yet again with both goals in Inter Milan’s 2-1 comeback win at Palermo
to send the champions to second place in Serie A on Sunday.

The Cameroonian was
often overshadowed by strike partner Diego Milito in Inter’s staggering
treble triumph last term but their roles have been reversed so far this
season.

While Milito has
struggled, Eto’o has started his second campaign at Inter in supreme
form and again dug Rafael Benitez’s inconsistent side out of a hole.

Slovenian Josip
Ilicic put struggling Palermo ahead in the first half before Eto’o
produced a piece of magic to equalise on 62 minutes following Milito’s
pass and soon finished off a fine move involving Dejan Stankovic and
Maicon to seal victory.

Eto’o scored the
winner in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Udinese and salvaged a 2-2 draw
at Twente Enschede in the Champions League in midweek.

Juve revival

Juventus, whose
poor form last term had continued into the new season, bounced back
with a 4-0 win at pointless Udinese with striker Fabio Quagliarella
scoring against his former club.

Leonardo Bonucci
grabbed the opener before Quagliarella’s crafty backheel, a thunderbolt
from Claudio Marchisio and Vincenzo Iaquinta’s fourth.

Striker Marco
Borriello netted his first league goal for AS Roma as they raced into a
2-0 lead against Bologna but Claudio Ranieri’s faltering side allowed
Marco Di Vaio to score two second-half goals and secure a 2-2 draw for
the visitors.

Roma, runners-up last season, were thumped 5-1 at Cagliari last weekend before losing to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Former Roma forward Luca Toni scored his first league goal for Genoa from the penalty spot in a 1-1 draw at Parma.

Chievo had been the
only side with a 100 percent record after two matches but their bubble
burst with a 1-0 home defeat by promoted Brescia while Bari drew 0-0
with Cagliari in the early game.

In Saturday’s matches, AC Milan could only draw 1-1 at home with
Catania and Lazio won 2-1 at woeful Fiorentina to spark protests from
the home fans.

Dimitar Berbatov
scored a brilliant hat-trick to give Manchester United a 3-2 win over
Liverpool and Chelsea maintained their goalrush by thrashing Blackpool
4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday.

United were
dominant for the first hour with two goals for the Bulgarian striker,
but two strikes in six minutes by Steven Gerrard dragged Liverpool
level before Berbatov won it six minutes from time.

Chelsea made it
five wins out of five with 21 goals and one conceded after they ripped
through promoted Blackpool with first-half goals by Salomon Kalou,
Florent Malouda (two) and Didier Drogba.

The champions top the standings on 15 points, four clear of United and Arsenal, who drew 1-1 at Sunderland on Saturday.

Manchester City moved up to fourth on eight points after beating Wigan Athletic 2-0 with goals by Carlos Tevez and Yaya Toure.

Tottenham Hotspur,
3-1 comeback winners over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, are
fifth on eight points and last season’s top-five finishers now occupy
the first five slots.

In the day’s big
game at Old Trafford, United were in total control after Berbatov
headed in a 42nd-minute corner and added a brilliant second by bringing
down a cross on his thigh with his back to goal and scoring with an
overhead kick.

Rash challenge

Liverpool, who had
offered nothing in attack, then profited from rash defending which
allowed Gerrard to pull one back with a penalty after 64 minutes and
equalise with a free kick six minutes later.

United had shipped
late equalisers against Everton and Fulham in recent weeks but this
time they conjured up a winner as Berbatov headed his seventh goal in
six games this season.

“I was saying to
myself it’s going to be 10 but you end up 2-2; it was a travesty of a
scoreline but a great result in the end,” manager Alex Ferguson told
Sky Sports.

For the second week
running a Drogba corner helped Chelsea into the lead inside two
minutes, this time an unmarked Kalou tucking in at the far post.

Drogba also
provided the second after 13 minutes, crossing low for Malouda, then
the Ivorian striker got on the scoresheet when he swivelled on the edge
of the box to bang in the third via a deflection.

Malouda cracked in his second after a Kalou pull-back four minutes before halftime.

Chelsea’s fans sat
back awaiting more goals but a combination of better Blackpool defence
and a drop in attacking intensity led to a scoreless second period.

“It’s fantastic, through the years we improve and we try to score as many as we can,” Drogba said.

“We scored four in the first half and in the second we had so many
chances so maybe this is something we have to think about even if the
result was great.”

Ahead of the 7th
African Women’s Championship, to be held in South Africa, the Super
Falcons coach Eucharia Uche says she has no fear for any of the
countries featuring in the biennial tourney.

The draw for the
championships takes place Tuesday in South Africa and Uche who is
expected to attend the event believes the Super Falcons are ready for
battle in whichever group they are placed.

“We are ready for
any team, our goal is to regain our position as the best African team
and we must play with the best teams to do that,” she said.

Nigeria’s
domination of African female football was halted at the last edition of
the tournament in 2008, which was hosted and won by Equatorial Guinea.

Before being
displaced at the top, the Super Falcons had always comfortably beaten
their African opponents – winning with wide-margins.

That however is no
longer the case as other African teams seem to have closed the gap with
the Falcons only recording modest wins in their recent outings.

Commenting on the
development, Uche said that it is a good omen for the continent and
Nigeria as it will keep the girls on their toes.

“It is a sign of
development and also a welcomed one. It only means that we should work
harder as we now have tougher teams in the continent,” she said.

Team’s preparation

Eucharia said the
Falcons have been having serious training at their camp in Abuja and
are expecting to play some friendly matches before moving out to South
Africa.

“Some friendly matches have been lined up for us in Sweden where we have more of our foreign-based players.

This has been done
with the assistance of some Nigerians over there whom we contacted,”
she shaid. Already six members of the Falconets team that got to the
final of the recently concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany
have been drafted to shore up the team; they include Rebecca Kalu and
Ebere Orji.

The African Women’s Championship will take place from October 29 to November 14, 2010.

The qualified teams are Guinea Equatorial, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Tanzania and host South Africa.

The teams will be
divided into two groups of four, and to be played in a round robin
system. The top teams from each group will be in the semi final before
the final.

The last competition played in 2008 in Equatorial Guinea was won by the host country.

Mikel Obi played his 27th European game for
Chelsea as they whipped Slovakian side, MSK Zilina 4-1 to record a flying start
to their UEFA Champions League campaign this season. It meant that apart from
goalkeeper Petr Cech, the Nigerian is the only Blues player to have featured in
every single minute of all the club’s five competitive matches in the 2010/2011
season.

It had been feared that the Super Eagles
midfielder would return to a bit-part role at Stamford Bridge this term with
the return of Michael Essien from a long injury lay-off. The injury kept the
Ghanaian out of action since for most of the 2009/2010 season. But Mikel has
impressively retained his anchor role this season with the Chelsea manager,
Carlo Ancelotti preferring to move Essien to the right side of the midfield.

Since his acrimonious transfer to the West
London outfit in the summer of 2006, Mikel has struggled to convince critics
that he had made the right decision after he was initially paraded by
Manchester United as a new signing barely a year earlier. He had agreed a move
from Norwegian side, Lyn Oslo but later claimed he was forced into the decision
and insisted his choice was to join Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Difficult
start

After the London club eventually secured his
signature in a £16 million transfer, Mourinho moulded him into the midfield
anchor role and Mikel soon took over the mantle from legendary Frenchman Claude
Makelele. Having previously starred as a creative midfielder- most famously at
the 2005 U-20 World Youth Championship where he led Nigeria to a runners up
finish, it was no surprise he struggled to adapt to the new position, leading
to a couple of dismissals and suspensions for rash tackles. Yet the Portuguese
tactician kept faith in the youngster.

Successive Chelsea managers including Avram
Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink all made him play crucial parts
during their reigns at the club, so also is the current boss, Ancelotti.

Change

Ancelotti quickly noted when he joined Chelsea
at the start of last season that he would like Mikel to play as a deep-lying
playmaker in the mould of Andrea Pirlo, who played under him at AC Milan.
Despite playing a key role in the team’s Premier League and FA Cup success,
Mikel rarely attracted plaudits from the Blues’ faithful.

That has however changed this season.

Ancelotti now has three options for the
defensive midfield position following the capture this summer of Brazilian
star, Ramires but Obi has continued to blossom. Part of the criticism the
former Plateau United trainee has endured was a supposedly laid-back passing
style but the Chelsea manager has revealed Mikel is working hard on the
training ground to improve his quality, particularly as he now swaps his role
with Essien.

“Last season, he had an average of 18 per cent
forward passes and in the three games this season he has had 38 per cent. He’s
trying to put more balls directly to strikers,” Ancelotti told the Telegraph
recently.

Mikel’s improved performance this season has
seen him claim an assist against Wigan, as well as rattle the post against West
Ham last weekend Chelsea assistant manager, Ray Wilkins also revealed to the
club’s official website that both Essien and Mikel have been working on their
attacking potentials.

“I’ve been telling him for a while that he is
allowed to score, he and John Obi I keep telling. When John hit the bar I told
him that’s only to keep the net up, so he had a little flea in his ear as
well.”

Mikel is expected to make his 115th Chelsea appearance
against Blackpool this afternoon at Stamford Bridge, with only 25 of those
coming as a substitute.