Nigeria Content Online

Nduka Ugbade,
former Nigerian international and coach of the MFM Ikeja team of the
ongoing Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM) Cup, is sure his players have
the ability to emerge champions at the end of the tournament.

Ugbade’s team
booked a semi-final ticket yesterday after defeating MFM Ojo 6-5 via
penalties after the game had ended 0-0 at full time.

“It was a tough
encounter but thank God we won in the end. I am happy with the
performance of my players and I believe that they are capable of
winning the tournament barring any unfortunate development,” Ugbade
said.

He praised Daniel
Olukoya, pastor in charge of MFM and sponsor of the tournament for
bankrolling the event, noting that it is good way of using football to
reposition African youth for God.

Other quarter-final
matches were played yesterday with defending champions, MFM
headquarters joining Ugbade’s team in the last four. They beat MFM Kano
3-0.

Fidelis Ilechukwu, coach of the team said the ability of his boys to listen to instructions gave them victory.

The other two
quarter- final, which involved MFM Kwara and MFM Ijaiye as well as the
one involving MFM Benin and MFM Ejigbo were still on as at the time of
writing. The Olukayo is in its fifth edition.

The Reds seek to
repair some of their dented pride after the 3-0 loss to Manchester
City. Roy Hodgson and his team have been given the perfect opportunity
to do so with the visit of newly promoted Albion, who got hammered 6-0,
on the opening day by Chelsea.

It will be strange
surroundings for a lot of the Albion players and playing on the revered
Anfield could be a motivation, or they could be caught in the harsh
glare of the Kop.

Liverpool manager,
Hodgson, has earlier revealed that neither Fernando Torres nor Steven
Gerrard are included in the Reds’ squad that will travel to Trabzonspor
for the second leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday.

Both Steven Gerrard
and Fernando Torres were rested for the trip to Turkey but are expected
to be fit for today’ clash. Argentine Maxi Rodriguez is unwell, whilst
defender Daniel Agger is still suffering from the concussion he got in
the match against Arsenal on the opening day.

Hodgson said, on
Liverpool’s official site – liverpoolfc.tv, that, “Steven Gerrard
unfortunately has had a recurrence of the back problem which he gets
from time to time. The same applies to Agger for Sunday. He played in
the game on Monday which was to some extent against medical advice.

He wanted to play
but felt a bit sick after the game. That’s mainly due to the concussion
he suffered, so it would be foolish for us to risk him.

“Maxi is sick. He’s
in bed at the moment with a bit of gastroenteritis, so he’s out of the
question. With Fernando Torres we’ve made the decision that we don’t
wish to risk him three games in a row at this stage of the season with
him having done so well to get back this quickly.” One other player
that will not be on the Anfield pitch is Javier Mascherano.

A rebel, Mascherano
had refused to play for Liverpool recently and that led to a change of
formation and probably the hiding they got from City.

A statement on
Liverpool’s website read: “Liverpool Football Club have agreed terms
for the transfer of Javier Mascherano to FC Barcelona. The Spanish club
have now been given permission to speak to the Argentina midfielder.”
Without the Argentine captain, Hodgson said, “if we come through it
we’ll come through it stronger.” Liverpool got through and he will hope
they show their strength against the minnows.

Though West Brom
have a new hero in Nigerian striker Osaze Odemwingie, who scored on his
debut against Sunderland to give his new club three precious points,
Anfield may be a road too far for the Nigerian.

City need to change away form

Going away from
their City of Manchester Stadium base has not been good enough and it
probably cost the Blues of Manchester qualification for the lucrative
Champions League. This season has to be different if they are to
challenge for the title and a berth in Europe’s top club competition.

Though things seem
to be going great for the manager with the deepest purse – Roberto
Mancini, four games into the season, his team has scored six goals and
conceded none plus the humbling of Liverpool, which has definitely left
a marker for the rest of the season.

The Italian gaffer
has set up his team in the flexible 4-3-3 formation and his stars have
responded to the challenge. His challenge will be to maintain the edge
when they play away from home against supposedly weaker opponents,
apologies to Sunderland. After the exertions on Thursday against
Timisoara, he will be lining up his best eleven at the Stadium of
Lights today.

Sunderland
meanwhile have not started well and Steve Bruce will be looking for
quick improvements from his team. And Sunderland, will be hoping to
catch the millionaires unawares today.

The Sunderland
manager believes City will be a test for any team in the Premiership
this season. “Games don’t come much tougher than this one in the
Premier League. I watched them against Liverpool and they were
impressive.

“We’ll have a big
crowd behind us – it’ll be a different atmosphere to Tuesday night, for
sure – and we’re looking forward to the challenge.

“Everyone wants to
play against a big team and at the moment they don’t come much bigger
than City with their spending power and the players they’ve brought in.
They’re doing extremely well and we know it will be a tough test.”

Barcelona face Mourinho test

After 12
disappointing months and $358.54 million spent on acquiring the likes
of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, Real ended a second successive season
without any silverware.

This season, they
may have made their shrewdest acquisition in Jose Mourinho, who no one
will deny has a winners’ mentality. There have been huge changes at the
Bernebeu with Raul, Guti and Christoph Metzelder making way for younger
stars like Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Pedro Leon, Sergio Canales and
Angel Di Maria. Ricardo Carvalho has also been bought to bolster a
suspect defence.

Mourinho has now
become the club’s 11th coach in seven years. He quit Italian side,
Inter Milan, after leading them to an historic treble of UEFA Champions
League, Serie A and Coppa Italia titles last season.

In preparing for
the season, Madrid has won four and drawn two of its six pre-season
games, but the Portuguese tactician believes there is still room for
improvement.

“Our pre-season has
been very difficult. With a new coach and six signing, we haven’t had
much time to work if we want play differently.

“We are satisfied with how we’ve been doing and we will improve with time. This is a very young squad, but full of quality.

“The important
thing is that we can grow, that we are solid, and to play at a
medium-high level while being consistent in our style of play and
results.”

The Real team will
be without Fernando Gago and Kaka and defenders Pepe, Ezequiel Garay
and Raul Albiol are also out of the trip to Mallorca.

Mourinho has made
clear he prefers to play Cristiano Ronaldo on the wing rather than as a
centre forward, with Gonzalo Higuain likely to start up front.

Mourinho will be up
against a former Real great in Michael Laudrup who also just assumed
stewardship of Mallorca. He took over after the departure of Gregorio
Manzano.

Mallorca had a fruitful last season and just missed out on qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.

They also possess a
scary home record – 15 wins in 19 home matches. They will not be in the
Europa Cup as they were denied entrance for financial reasons.

Two-time reigning
champion Barcelona has made just a couple of additions in the form of
David Villa, but that is a key addition. They are also looking to
offload Zlatan Ibrahimovic to AC Milan.

One has to recall
that eight members of Spain’s FIFA World Cup-winning squad now reside
at the Nou Camp. They have also brought in the very versatile
Brazilian, Adriano from Sevilla.

The midfield will
be bolstered by the arrival of Javier Mascherano from Liverpool to fill
the void left by the sale of Yaya Toure to Manchester City.

The race in La Liga is shaping out to be a two horse race. Barcelona know the threat of Mourinho,

having knocked the
Catalans out of the 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League and the dream of
achieving an unprecedented consecutive Champions League wins. He will
be the major threat as the Camp Nou team set out to win a third
consecutive La Liga title.

Only one result
will be good enough for Heartland FC of Owerri today as they try to
resurrect their fading CAF Champions League title aspirations; and that
is victory against visiting Egyptian Club, Ismaily at the Dan Anyiam
Stadium in Owerri.

The Naze
Millionaires, as last year’s losing finalist are fondly called by their
supporters are currently languishing at the bottom of Group B with just
one point and a goal from three matches.

ThankGod Ike who is
the Heartland’s captain says his teammates hope to break their scoring
drought in the league and record their first win of the group stage
against their Egyptian opponent as they go head-on in today’s crucial
tie.

“Everything is
possible in football. It’s unfortunate that we are at the bottom of our
group but all we need is just the three points on Sunday and from there
we can find our way out of the group” he said.

Ike, who was a member of the home-based Super Eagles team that won the WAFU tournament some months back continued:

“We’ve had hard
luck in front of goal and we hope to start scoring against Ismaily on
Sunday. Everybody is serious about winning the game; the club’s
management has told us of the importance of the game and we are
confident of a win” he said.

Interestingly, the
Egyptian team earned their first victory (1-0) in the group stage of
the competition against Heartland in Ismaila a fortnight ago, but Ike
believes his team will make amends in today’s reverse fixture to
brighten their chances of advancing from Group B while also expressing
confidence in the team’s technical bench led by Samson Siasia.

“Our coaches have
been doing a great job and the spirit in camp is very high. Samson
Siasia and Emeka Ezeugo are known names in African football having made
their mark as players. They have given us the needed encouragement and
determination to turn things around,” the Nigerian international said.

Tough task

Meanwhile, the
team’s Head Coach Samson Siasia, says he is focused on the day’s
assignment and not distracted by the Super Eagles job lurking around
the corner.

“The job for me now
is to see Heartland progress in this competition. They were at the
finals last year and it won’t be good to see them do less under me this
time around” the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games silver winning coach said.

Siasia who has
continually found it difficult coaching at club level with previous
stints at local sides JUTH FC and Ocean Boys turning out uneventful
hopes, said he can help Heartland out this time around.

“It’s a tough call
but nothing is impossible. There have been issues but I’m happy the
management has done a lot in terms of paying salaries up-to-date. I
appreciate what the government is doing.

“On the part of the
players, we are trying to give them the confidence to play for
themselves and the country. The Orange CAF Champions League is a big
competition and it will expose the players for other bigger clubs to
see.

“I am happy with
the present situation in camp and I believe we can earn the three
points on Sunday with the mood in camp,” he told cafonline.com.

Goals concern

According to
Siasia, his major concern for the team has been the inability to score
goals despite creating lot of chances – a situation he hopes will
change today.

“We can get things
going once we can start scoring. We still have three games and the
outcome of our match on Sunday will be crucial in our chances of
progressing to the next stage.

“Really, we want to
score goals. If you look at the statistics of our games, we had more
chances and better possession than our opponents had, but we failed to
score.

“This time we don’t
want to just keep possession but score as many goals as possible to
give us a chance of qualifying. We didn’t take our chances before now
but I believe Sunday will be the beginning of a new dawn for us,” he
said.

In Bello Musa
Kofarmata, who scored the opener in the 1-1 draw with Al Ahly in
Owerri; winger John Owoeri and midfielder Ikechukwu Ibenegbu; Siasia
has a potent strike force he believes can help wrestle out the maximum
three points at stake today.

Group standings

The standings in
Group B sees Algeria’s JS Kabylie sit in pole position with the maximum
nine points while Six-time champions Al Ahly are second with four.

Ismaily are third
with three points while Heartland, are currently at the bottom of Group
B with just one point from three matches, only managing to score just
one goal and conceding three.

After today’s match
Heartland will travel to Cairo in the second week of September to play
Al-Ahly before they wrap up their group campaign at home to group
leaders JS Kabylie a week later.

Nigeria’s only
surviving club in the CAF Champions League, Heartland on Sunday
recorded their first win of the group stage of the continent’s top club
competition when they beat visiting Egyptian club side, Ismaily.

The encounter
played at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri ended 2-1 in favour of
Heartland but the team’s coach Samson Siasia will still have cause to
complain about his misfiring forward line as all of his side’s goals
against Ismaily came from defenders.

Heartland needed to
win in order to keep alive their fading hopes for a semi final berth
after failing to win any of their opening three games of the group
stage. And to make matters worse for Siasia’s side, it was the visitors
who shot into the lead after 29 minutes through Mohamed Soliman Ali.

That lead, however,
lasted for only nine minutes before the team’s skipper Ike Thankgod
pulled them back on level terms with the Egyptians who two weeks
earlier defeated Heartland in Egypt 1-0.

Heartland’s last
home encounter against another Egyptian side Al-Ahly, back in July, had
ended in a one-all draw and Owerri fans will be forgiven for thinking
that it was going to be the same case scenario against Ismaily until
former Enugu Rangers captain Chinedu Efugh popped up to score the match
winning goal with five minutes left on the clock.

The win saw
Heartland swapping places with Ismaily in the Group B standings but
anything less than a win in their upcoming game against Al-Ahly in two
weeks time will mark the end of the Owerri side’s Champions League
aspirations.

Eaglets grounded in Congo

It was, however, a
different story in Pointe Noire, Congo where the Nigerian Under 17
national team, the Golden Eaglets, fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of
their hosts in an African Junior Championship first round, first leg
qualifier.

The Golden Eaglets,
silver medal winners at the last FIFA World Cup held in Nigeria last
year, fell behind after just eight minutes through a penalty kick goal,
but they afterwards kept the Congolese at bay to go into the dressing
room at the half-time break just a goal down.

Worse was to come
their way in the second half as they conceded a second goal two minutes
before the hour mark before the match’s centre referee from the Central
African Republic Bertrand Bekai issued a red card to the Nigerian coach
Monday Odigie for challenging some of his calls.

Odigie’s expulsion
means he will not be on the bench when both sides meet in the return
leg encounter in Nigeria on September 11.

After a brilliant
start in the English Premier League, where he scored on his debut with
newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, Super Eagles striker, Osaze
Odemwingie failed to get on the score sheet as his side succumbed to a
1-0 defeat away to Liverpool.

The Nigerian
striker, who was one of the Baggies best players on the day, proved a
thorn in the side of Liverpool but failed to get the better of the
defenders when it mattered. Liverpool made sure that the hangover of
the 3-0 loss to Manchester City was partially cured with Fernando
Torres’ half volley. Liverpool started the better side in the early
parts looking for the early goal to calm the Kop, but West Brom stood
firm especially through central defender, Jonas Olsson. The Norwegian
stood firm and kept a close leash on Torres throughout the game. There
was a first start for Christian Poulsen and he started in the position
vacated by departed Javier Mascherano. Raul Meireles was also unveiled
before kickoff. Olsson almost scored an own goal in the 36th minute
when his attempted back-pass evaded Scott Carson but it went out for a
corner kick. Liverpool fans were getting restless as the visitors
visibly grew in confidence; and an attempt on target by West Brom, and
subsequent save by Pepe Reina led to the Liverpool goal. A combination
between Dirk Kuyt and Torres freed the Dutchman and he fed the Spaniard
on the edge of the box to volley in. That was in the 65th minute, and
that helped Liverpool to their first three points. Torres almost
doubled the scores in the 72nd minute but Carson made a great block.

City shocked at Stadium of Light

Manchester City had
dominated the early exchanges and was just waiting for the first goal
but £180 million worth of City could do nothing about the 94th minute
penalty goal by Darren Bent. Mancini will be ruing the bad miss by
Carlos Tevez in the 13th minute when Yaya Toure dribbled past Kieran
Richardson and ran through the midfield before serving up the ball on a
plate for Tevez. The Argentinean somehow contrived to scoop the ball
over the bar. Sunderland had to replace Michael Turner and Frazier
Campbell during the half time but started the second half the better of
the two teams. The match will have ended square but Micah Richards
fouled Bent in the 93rd minute. The English international dusted
himself down and drilled to the right side with Joe Hart diving the
other way. Sunderland had snagged an unlikely three points and Mancini
will be asking questions of his squad today.

The Africa Cup of
Nations qualifying match between Nigeria and Madagascar originally
scheduled for the National Stadium in Abuja will now take place in
Calabar, Cross River State.

Robinson Okosun,
Media officer of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who disclosed
this yesterday, said the match was moved from Abuja because of the
ongoing ECOWAS youth games taking place at the National Stadium.

“The match will now be taking place at the U. J.Esuene Stadium in Calabar,” Robinson said.

Two states, Kaduna
and Cross River were pencilled down as possible venues for the match,
given the interest shown by them in hosting the encounter. But NFF
officials favoured Calabar.

The federation has
been in dire financial straits since the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), which is investigating allegations of financial
impropriety against the last board headed by Sani Lulu, had its
accounts frozen in July.

The situation
forced the federation to go begging for funds to organise the last
Federation Cup final, which took place in Kano. It finally reached an
agreement with the Kano State Government, which bankrolled the event to
the tune of N30 million.

It is not yet clear
how much the cross river State government will be making available to
host the match. What is certain is they will be splashing money on the
hosting of the encounter.

Pros flock in

Meanwhile, Eagles
coach, Austin Eguavoen stepped up preparation for the encounter with 21
players in attendance during yesterday’s training session. Eleven of
these were the foreign-based professional most of who started coming
into the country on Sunday. Present at yesterday’s session were
Fulham’s Dickson Etuhu, Obafemi Martins, Michael Eneramo, Vincent
Enyeama, Kalu Uche, Olufemi Ajilore, Solomon Okoronkwo, Stanley Okoro,
Dele Aiyenugba, Chidi Ordiah, and Sam Sodje who was recently linked
with a move to MK Dons in the English premiership.

Robinson revealed
that the team’s assistant captain, Joseph Yobo, who was expected to
wrap up a deal with Turkish side Fernabache yesterday evening after
being initially thought to be close to a deal with West Ham, is
expected to fly in tomorrow along with Mikel Obi, who was reported to
have been threatened by the NFF to forget about future invitations to
the national team if he does not show up for the match against
Madagascar.

Bolton defender,
Danny Shittu is also expected in camp today. The player who was in
Lagos on Monday to promote a football talent programme, which he is
organising along with a sports paper based in Lagos, flew out of the
country immediately to wrap up a deal with an undisclosed club. Shittu,
who has endured a difficult time on the bench at Bolton Wanderers since
his move there in 2008, was said to have two offers on the table.

Players in Dickson Etuhu Obafemi Martins Michael Eneramo Vincent
Enyeama Kalu Uche Sam Sodje Obafemi Ajilore Solomon Okoronkwo Stanley
Okoro Dele Aiyenugba Chidi Ordiah

For Nigeria’s U-17
women’s team, the Flamingoes to excel at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which
begins in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, the ladies need to be
motivated.

Joy Etim, former assistant coach of the Super Falcons, said this is what guarantees a splendid performance.

“You know you
cannot expect people to do well if they are not encouraged in what they
do. Passion is good but motivation will encourage people to make a
better effort,” she said.

The newly elected
President of Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari, had said at
the weekend that the federation will give the Flamingoes enough
attention as they represent the future of Nigeria. But Etim is
sceptical about his promise.

“It is not enough that we make promises to the girls; we must also back it up with action,” she said.

“You know they have
heard a lot of these promises but you know this man (Maigari) is new,
we practically know next to nothing about him. Since he has promised to
do his best, let us wait and see. If at the end of the day he does not
do what he is supposed to do, then we can talk but now, I will like us
to wait and see before we react”.

More female coaches

The former Falcons assistant coach also called on the NFF to employ more female coaches for our national teams.

“It is a man that
is in charge of the present U-17 whereas we have trained women coaches
who are without work after they graduate from the National Institute
for Sports,” she explained.

The FIFA U-17 Women
World Cup started two years ago and Nigeria was the first African team
to qualify but they did not reach they knockout stage after losing to
England and recording a draw against Brazil.

In this year’s
edition, the Flamingoes were drawn in Group A with newcomers and host,
Trinidad and Tobago; Chile; and Korea DPR, who are currently the title
holders.

Team coach, Peter Dedevbo is hoping for a good start in the first match against Korea DPR on Sunday.

The Flamingoes, who travelled to Florida, USA last week for a
training tour before heading to Trinidad and Tobago for the tournament,
hope to better their performance in 2008. Ghana and South Africa,
Africa’s other representatives at the World Cup which will last from
September 5-25, were drawn in Groups D and B respectively.