Nigeria Content Online

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

You must be very
familiar with the phrase “a coach is as good as his/her last match
result”. This is especially so in Nigeria, where winning at all costs,
by hook or by crook, is becoming the standard pattern in our sporting
activities. It can be argued that it is so in other parts of the world,
since sports, especially football, has a universal appeal and language.
Yes, this may be correct. The difference may be the level of moral
decadence and utter shamelessness with which we deal with issues
concerning competitions in this part of the globe. Decorum does not
seem to be part of our sports vocabulary. What a shame!

Past performances

We are now becoming
uncomfortable with the results of your recent performances, especially
some very crucial ones that now make you, with all due respects, look
like a tiny start-up, taking on giants.In Nigeria, advantage
increasingly depends on strategic manoeuvres with the highest level of
dexterity, rather than political position.

I am sure that you
also know, more than before, that mediocrity is not only celebrated in
Nigerian sports, it is preferred to professionalism. You must have also
come to realise that lawlessness, ineptitude, absolute disregard and
disrespect for the laws of this country, are being legitimised.

Otherwise, how do
we reconcile the fact that Nigerians are now being made to believe that
the so-called NFF congress and FIFA are more powerful than the Federal
Government? How does anyone explain why the FIFA statues have rendered
our law courts ridiculously nonsensical? The truth is that, honourable
minister, you have lost three games in very quick successions, and
these results have affected your rating terribly.

Repercussions

But what went
wrong? Well, since we are talking sports, permit me to draw from my bag
of Judo experience. Maybe this metaphor will help, if only you will
have time to practise some of the tips.

For instance, how
do you compete with opponents who have size, strength, and history on
their side? Maybe I should warn you never to believe anyone who tells
you that your opponents, the enemies of sports in Nigeria, are
toothless or powerless. A bulldog is a bulldog, just as a snake will
remain a snake – big or small, it is dangerous.

Believe me, your
opponents are not only desperate, they have the size, strength,
history, and most importantly, the money to squander. They are also
experts at fighting without rules. My advice is simple. Please get one
of our Judo masters as a personal coach, and you will discover that
with the core principles of Judo – movement, balance, and leverage, you
can easily turn your opponent’s weight and power to your own advantage.
My coaching instinct tells me to keep the details for ‘security’
reasons.

But then, something
tells me that your opponents have successfully studied your antecedents
as transport minister, discovered your strength and weaknesses, and
bang…bang…bang…

The average
Nigerian athlete is not happy with you, sir. Why postpone the National
Sports Festival? Thousands of these athletes have been training – in
very terrible conditions, and they have been looking forward to the fun
derived from participating in this festival.

Poorly paid coaches
have worked on these athletes. Parents have bought training kits for
their wards, believing that this may be the sports festival that will
provide the platform for their wards to become national champions and
eventually have the opportunity to represent Nigeria at international
competitions. Whoever is responsible for the postponement has not done
any good. The postponement is counter-productive.

Did anyone in the
Sports Commission think of the implications? What happens to the
training regimen put in place by the coaches and trainers? Do athletes
and trainers also “postpone” their training programmes? What happens to
the funds already allocated for the festival? Would this not be another
opportunity for the hawks in Nigerian sports to swoop on?

If the state to
host the festival is not ready, is there no back-up state standing by
to host? Has Abuja not got the required facilities to host? And to
think that February 2011 is the new period being considered, is beyond
reasonable imagination, except this is an indication that there will be
no “operation totality” (sincere apologies to Uncle Aremu) general
elections in January 2011, in Nigeria.

Sincerely, the odds
seem to be against you, sir. By the way, are Nigerians sure that we
will be adequately represented at the forthcoming Commonwealth games?
Is the NOC still in existence in this country?

I wish these thoughts will find an echo in your heart. There is the
urgent need for a review of your strategy. There may be hypocrites and
very obsequious people around you. Please do not forget that this is
Nigeria, where money talks. Watch out for the banana peels. For the
sake of millions of Nigerians praying for you, please, beware!

Ismaily’s coach,
Mark Wotte, has accused the Confederation of African Football (CAF),
following the Egyptian side’s defeat at the hands of Nigeria’s
Heartland in last weekend’s CAF Champions League fixture.

This follows the
decision of the football governing body to reject the Egyptian club’s
request to alter the timing of the game decided at the Dan Anyiam
Stadium in Owerri.

The match got
underway at 1500 hours local time, with Heartland securing their first
win of the group stage of the tournament after coming from a goal down
to win 2-1 with the winning goal arriving five minutes from the end of
the game.

With only two games
left before the end of the group stage, Sunday’s loss all but ended
Ismaily’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals, but Wotte feels the
situation would had been different had CAF, whose headquarters is in
Egypt, accepted their request to change the kickoff time after his
players refused to break their fast.

Depleted energy

Last Sunday was the
19th day of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan and the Ismaily coach
believes the fasting depleted his players’ energy levels.

“I don’t want to
speak about religious issues but the fasting affected my players
today,” Wotte said, following Ismaily’s third group stage defeat in
four games.

“CAF is to blame for that because it forced us to play during the day. It should have changed the timing of the match.

“Food is very
important for the players. They couldn’t perform well in the second
half. They lost energy and concentration.” Ismaily’s defeat leaves them
at the bottom of the Group B standings with three points, one behind
third-placed Heartland and two behind fellow Egyptian club side Al-Ahly
who lie in second place following their unimpressive 1-1 draw against
visiting JS Kabylie of Algeria, also on Sunday.

The draw in Cairo
ensured Kabylie, who finished the game with 10 men, became the first
club to advance to the semi-finals of this year’s CAF Champions League
with an unassailable 10 points.

Al-Ahly or
Heartland can still join Kabylie if they win their remaining two games
but they’ll have to play each other in Cairo on September 12, making it
impossible for both teams to overhaul the Algerians.

Al-Ahly’s coach
Hossam Al-Badri however feels his side, rather than Heartland, will be
the ones to join Kabylie in advancing to the last four of the
tournament they have won a record six times.

When asked about Ahli’s hopes of reaching the Champions League semi-finals,

Al-Badri, who berated his strikers for fluffing the numerous chances
that came their way against the Algerians, replied: “We are in second
place, so our chance to qualify for the next round is substantial.”

Nigeria’s Samuel
Peter has disclosed that his next bout following the September 11 world
title fight against Wladimir Klitschko, will be against Britain’s David
Haye.

Haye is currently
one of the top heavyweights in the world and is the holder of the World
Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title. The Briton has for long
been linked with a fight against either Wladimir or his elder brother
Vitali, but that has yet to see the light of day.

Peter, a former
heavyweight champion, has fought against the Klitschko brothers, losing
on both occasions. The first was against Wladimir in 2005, before
coming up against Vitali in 2008.

Speaking recently
on a radio programme in the United States of America, the 29-year-old
Peter discussed why he continues to reach agreements for Klitschko
fights, while other prominent heavyweights like Alexander Povetkin,
Nikolai Valuev and, especially the very outspoken Haye, are unable to
reach a deal with the Ukrainian-born brothers.

Promoters

According to the
Nigerian, a lot of the negotiations are political and some have too
many promoters involved. He then went on to disclose that if he ends up
winning his September 11 bout, he will request his promoters, Top Rank,
to make a deal for him to get into the ring with Haye.

“In each case,
there are issues,” said Peter. “Take Valuev, he has two promoters, and
each of them takes a certain percentage for their fees. After this,
there remains little money. So he wants to get paid more.

“David Haye is
another story. In the press, he has made these aggressive attacks and
gave the image of a fighting boy,” Peter said. “But once Haye took the
WBA title from Valuev, he grew up from fighting boy into a businessman.

“He no longer wants
Klitschko. To him, it’s better to earn without the risk of defeat.
Let’s see if my promoters can agree on a fight with Haye after
September 11, when I’ll take the championship belt from Wladimir,”
boasted Peter, before adding: “To tell you the truth, I already feel
like a champion.” If Peter emerges victorious on September 11, he will
annex the WBO and IBF titles from the Ukrainian. A fight against Haye,
who plans on taking on Audley Harrison before the end of the year, will
thus act as a unifying bout.

The WBC crown is, however, held by the older of the Klitschko brothers.

Kenya’s David
Rudisha lowered the 800 metres world record to 1 minute 41.01 at a
meeting in Rieti in Italy on Sunday, just a week after first breaking
the record.

The 21-year-old,
who broke the record that had stood for 13 years in Berlin last Sunday
when he ran 1:41.09, powered down the home straight at the IAAF World
Challenge meeting to easily better that mark.

Denmark’s Wilson
Kipketer set 1.41.11 in 1997 in Cologne, Germany but Rudisha has
suddenly ripped up the record books twice and told Reuters on Monday he
can go even quicker in his pursuit of world and Olympic gold.

Promise to return fulfilled

Last year at Rieti
he had told the crowd he would “return to do something great”. Rudisha,
who made a surprise semi-final exit at the Berlin world championships,
last year, is the son of Daniel Rudisha who was a member of the 4x400m
Olympics silver-winning relay team in Mexico City in 1968.

The small city of
Rieti near Rome, celebrating the 40th anniversary of its meet, has a
long heritage of records being broken at the quaint track and Jamaica’s
Nesta Carter also ran the joint-fastest 100 metres this year to win the
final.

He scorched down the track in 9.78, equalling Tyson Gay’s effort at the London Diamond League meeting earlier this month.

American Ryan
Bailey and Jamaican Mario Forsythe ran personal bests of 9.88 and 9.95
for second and third while France’s European champion Christophe
Lemaitre set a national record of 9.97 in fourth.

Olympic 110m
hurdles bronze medallist David Oliver of the United States, who has
been enjoying a stunning season, failed in his bid to break the world
record but set a meeting record of 13.01 despite hitting two hurdles.

Italy is again the focus for athletics on Tuesday when world 800m
champion Caster Semenya and 2004 100m Olympic champion Justin Gatlin
are in action in Rovereto.