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It’s hard to
believe that the World cup final is here. It has been an interesting
one month in South Africa and I truly can’t imagine a better organised
tournament. Contrary to all the negative reports from the European
journalists on security, incomplete stadia, etc, prior to the World
Cup, South Africa has pulled off a remarkable feat. I hope those
journalists will now bow their heads in shame. FIFA must be proud even
though this is probably not the final pairing they wanted.

A World Cup final
without the ‘big four’? Who would have thought so? Personally, I love
the fact that today, a new winner will emerge. Who will it be? My heart
goes to the men in orange. They have been perennial underachievers, and
considering Spain are the current European champions, it would be nice
for the Netherlands to finally win a trophy.

Its crunch time and
you hear all sorts of predictions, to the extent that an animal is
involved in the World Cup. You must love the game of football. An
Octopus named Paul has become the most famous animal amongst football
fans. Octopus Paul rightly predicted the outcome of the semi-final
match between Germany and Spain. It’s all quite hilarious.

Not too long ago,
two years ago to be precise, Rafael Nadal won his first Wimbledon
title, dethroning then five-time champion Roger Federer, making him the
first man since Borg to win the French open and the Wimbledon titles.
The same year Nadal won his first Wimbledon title, his country, Spain,
became champions of Europe. Two weeks ago, Nadal won his second
Wimbledon title and Spain of course are in the World Cup final for the
first time. Nadal himself is a passionate football lover and a diehard
Real Madrid fan; I can almost bet anything that he will be at the
stadium later today. Perhaps the wonder boy of Spain will bring them
the title once again. We shall find out in a few hours.

Nadal or no Nadal, the ‘orange boys’ are not joking.

The key man on the
team, Wesley Sneijder, who happens to be my player of the tournament,
has consistently demonstrated his importance to the team by scoring
crucial goals at crucial moments. He is playing like he has a point to
prove. Why not? After all, Real Madrid didn’t think he was good enough;
they off loaded him and Arjen Robben for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka,
for the most ridiculous of amounts.

Talk about ‘the
stone that was rejected becoming the chief corner stone’. He couldn’t
have asked for a better year, coming from winning the treble with Inter
Milan, he is in the World Cup final and to crown it all, may win the
golden boot today, and he is set to be married to one of Holland’s
hottest TV stars next week. Could life get any better?

Captain, Van
Bronkhorst, will end his career as a footballer today. He scored the
opening goal against Uruguay. I truly hope that he can finish his
career on a high.

Their opponents
today boast an array of skilful players, with most of the team playing
for Barcelona. In fact, against Germany, seven Barcelona players
started the match. Their passes were so sublime that you could see
‘Catalunya’ written all over. Star striker, David Villa, believes Spain
have shown throughout this tournament that they are able to produce
their best when needed. “We’ve shown that in the big moments, we’ve
risen to the occasion,” Villa said.

Like Sneijder,
Villa himself is a contender for the golden boot. Thirty-two-year-old
Puyol for me has been the best central defender in the tournament and
it was rewarding that his header helped his team to the final. He
showed the German young guns what experience can bring. Iker Casillas
made some brilliant saves also from the young Germans but the Spanish
side were unstoppable. They dominated possession as we have seen all
through the tournament. One thing I noticed though is they never take
their chances. Against Swizerland, they had 14 shots on goal and didn’t
convert any. The Swiss had two shots on goal and they took one. If they
do not take their chances against the Dutch today, they will be
punished.

I see free flowing football today, and as much as I want the orange
boys to lift the trophy, I would like to see good football; after all
it is the World Cup final.

I had looked forward to the extraordinary congress of the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which held last Friday.

Somehow, I had nursed the hope that something positive would come
out of it given developments of the days leading up to the congress.

In the immediate aftermath of the impeachment of NFF boss, Sani
Lulu, and two of his lieutenants, a member of the football house’s congress had
wryly remarked that the next step would be to sack the entire board of the
federation.

Given the fact that the sacked NFF chiefs were not alone in
their misadventure, I had been impressed that the effete congress was finally
going to do something reasonable. That expectation proved to be forlorn.

The whole exercise, rather than deal with key issues relating to
the administration of the game particularly the vexed issue of Lulu’s
unilateral tinkering with the NFF statutes, turned out to be a huge waste of
time.

Rather than dissecting the Lulu statutes to see whether the
changes are such as may not have a salutary effect on the running of football,
they tactlessly adopted it wholesale.

From the communiqué adopted at that meeting, it was clear that
the bulk of the individuals who gathered in Abuja that day were more interested
in rubber stamping Lulu’s removal and clearing themselves of allegations of
wrongdoing in respect to the alleged jamboree in South Africa than charting a
new course for football in the country.

This fact is made clear from the communiqué when they took pains
to state that the congress: “Noted with satisfaction the submission of the NFF
Executive Committee that there is no iota of truth in the allegation that State
FAs were each bribed with the sum of N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira)”.

Knowing the lack of morals and fidelity of some of the men who
run football in Nigeria, the truth of what happened in South Africa will come
out one day; maybe even sooner than we think.

If I were to hazard a guess however, I’ll definitely wager that
something untoward must have transpired to have pushed members of the congress
to rush to deny receipt of any bribe. For the duration of the World Cup, there
were speculations that Lulu took the 37 state football association chairmen to
South Africa in order to win them over to his side.

When you consider that Lulu’s original move was to trim the
number of members of congress eligible to vote at the August elections to 44
including the 37 chairman of state FAs then you begin see that the allegation
of wrongdoing may not be farfetched.

A missed opportunity

As things stand, nothing has changed. We are still stuck with
the same old characters; men who lack spunk and ideas to drive Nigerian
football. We are stuck with a collection of yes-men, a motley mix of goons and
timeservers incapable of generating new ideas.

The speed with which they disowned Lulu and his impeached
henchmen and embraced their ‘sworn enemies’ in the sports ministry clearly
shows that they lacked the courage of their convictions. To just keel over
without making a stand shows clearly that they are just plain craven. An
individual should stand for something or he will fall for anything. No matter
how untenable a man’s beliefs are, he should be able to defend them until a
superior argument knocks it over. For the men in the NFF interim executive
committee and the congress at large, that seems not to be an option.

Now, I do not suggest that the removal of Lulu was wrong. If
anything, I believe it was the best thing to happen to Nigerian football in a
long while. My point is that Nigerian football would have been better served if
the entire leadership of the NFF had thrown in the towel or at least tried to
defend their performance in office instead of capitulating without a fight.

How these men hope to organise an election in which credible
people will emerge remains to be seen. With the present statutes in place, any
hope of an inclusive administration of football may be farfetched. The reason
is that the statutes put too much power in the hands of the president who may
decide to wield it arbitrarily. In a sense, it can be said that Lulu himself
became a victim of the near unbridled powers he was handed by the statutes.

And so, rather than address this important issue, the congress
elected to maintain the status quo to the detriment of Nigerian football.

Heartland FC have
promised to be the better team when they take on Algeria’s JS Kabylie
in their next match of the 2010 CAF Champions league campaign. The Naze
Millionaires were held to a one all draw in their game against Egypt’s
Al-Ahly last Sunday in Owerri in a game that saw Heartland creating
numerous chances only to be denied either by the Egyptian goalie or
their profligacy in front of goal. It was only four minutes into the
second half that they were able to convert a chance into a goal with a
simple tap-in from Bello Koformata.

Al-Ahly on the other hand scored
from the penalty spot. “It was a mistake,” declared the team’s
assistant coach Emeka Ezeugo while talking about the goal that saw the
Egyptian club equalizing in the 75th minute following a rash tackle on
Mohammed Barakat in the penalty area by Emmanuel Olowo with Mohammed
Abou Trika converting the resultant penalty kick.

Heartland’s new
coaching crew is made up of the duo of Samson Siasia and Ezeugo who
recently took up the appointment of managing the team and had just four
training sessions with the first team squad before their match against
the Egyptian side that has won a record six Champions League titles. At
the moment the coaching crew is concentrating on the getting to know
the team but they also want to see how best they can work together to
achieve their goals in subsequent games beginning with their July 31
game in Algeria against JS Kabylie.

Rest days

The players didn’t
train on Monday and Tuesday but preparations for the tie against the
Algerians will begin in earnest on Wednesday according to Ezeugo.
“There’s no training today,” disclosed the former Super Eagles
midfielder in a telephone interview with NEXTSports. “We gave the
players an opportunity to rest but training will begin on Wednesday.”
The Algerian side currently top the Group B standings after securing a
crucial 1-0 away win over Egypt’s Ismaily with the only goal arriving
15 minutes from time from the head of Essaid Belkalem after a corner
kick. “We will try to know the players and their coaches, see the way
they play and build up from there,” continued Ezeugo who also added
that the coaching crew saw last Sunday’s game as an opportunity to
watch the players in competitive mood and discover their loopholes, top
of which is their inability to convert chances that came their way into
goals. “We would have to work on their finishing. The boys created good
chances but failed to convert them,” added Ezeugo who also disclosed
the club’s plans to play a series of friendly matches with some local
teams even though the specifics have not been put in place. The team
would be in Nigeria until July 29 when they plan to head out to Algeria
to acclimatize. The match will be played in Algiers on July 31, a day
before Al- Ahly takes on Ismaily in Cairo.

Nigeria’s Falconets
have set their sights on securing their place in the knockout rounds of
the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany by getting a result
against their upcoming opponents Mexico on Wednesday in Bochum.

With four points
already in their nest, following a 1-1 draw against England and a 2-1
win over Japan, the Falconets only need a draw on Wednesday to qualify
for the quarter finals.

A draw will see
both Nigeria and Mexico advancing to the quarter finals and the team’s
coach Ndem Egan is hoping to lead the Falconets to their fourth
successive quarter final appearance.

“As I said after our opening draw with England, my players have a winning mindset,” said Egan in an interview with Fifa.com.

“In the first game,
all we were lacking was that little bit of luck you need to claim three
points. Against Japan our game clicked into place right from the
kick-off, and we overcame them with our strength and speed.

“I’m very pleased and happy for my players. But we now need to focus on Mexico, our upcoming opponents.

“We’re not quite there yet – we need to make sure of our place in the next round in the final group match.”

The Falconets were
wasteful in their opening game against England and had to come from
behind to pull off a 1-1 draw against the European champions. They,
however, displayed better finishing skills against the Japanese,
winning 2-1 with goals from Amarachi Okoronkwo and Desire Oparanozie
with the first Falconets goal arriving after just six minutes.

“After grabbing the
opening goal, the only thing I could think of was to run to the bench
to celebrate with my team-mates,” described Okoronkwo, who also scored
during the group stage of the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in New
Zealand.

“It was very important to score first.”

Goals provider

Ebere Orji was the
creator of both Nigerian goals against the Japanese side. She was also
the provider of the cross that led to Nigeria’s equalizer against
England and currently has three assists in the tournament.

Together with the
team’s leading scorer, Oparanozie, she has been one of the stars of the
tournament and explains the secret to the Falconets’ success, just as
she looks forward to her first goal of the tournament.

“We try to stamp
our style of play on games, by controlling possession and attacking in
numbers,” said Orji, who took part in the last U-17 World Cup in New
Zealand.

“Many of the
players in the squad know each other from our New Zealand 2008 campaign
and that familiarity extends to the field of play.

“I want to help out
my team with my ability to put the ball in the net, but for the moment
I’m not having much luck in that department. I am happy to have played
some part in the goals, though,” added Orji, who scored once at New
Zealand 2008 and three times at the previous FIFA Women’s U-20 World
Cup in Chile, also in 2008.

After a nerve-wracking 2-1 win over Japan, the U-20 female
national team, the Falconets will have to keep their wits to get the result
needed to progress to the quarter finals.

In the 22nd match at the tournament in the German town of
Bochum, Desire Oparanozie, who has scored two goals in the two matches and her
strike partner, Ebere Orji will hope to score the goals to conquer the Mexican
girls. Orji, with all her all-action style has not hit the target in Germany
but her work rate has produced some assists told fifa.com that all she is
thinking of is helping her team to the next round.

“I want to help out my team with my ability to put the ball in
the net, but for the moment I’m not having much luck in that department. I am
happy to have played some part in the goals, though.” The Nigerian defence led
by Joy Jegede, captain of the side have to stay concentrated for the duration
of the match as the duo of Charlyn Corral and Stephany Mayor are blessed with
silky skills and will hurt the team if not well shackled. Their goal tender
Cecilia Santiago will also play a vital role as she has 17 saves in the
championship so far.

How to play the Mexicans The Les Aztecas are a very skilful
bunch and pack a very fast counter-attacking system. The captain, Renae Cuellar
is the midfield dynamo who keeps the motor running.

Esther Sunday must be more productive in her link-up play and as
she has shown so far, she could become the Nigerian team’s joker if she
concentrates fully on the job to be done. The Nigerian team must also make sure
that they score at least 70% of all chances created. In their first two
matches, the team created a lot of chances, especially against England, a game
that they should have comfortably seen off.

Coach Egan has to be in touch with his defenders so that their
concentration is tip-top.

The coach, Adat Egan has shown that he will tinker the team if
necessary is optimistic but also cautious as his team faces Group C leaders,
Mexico in the game that will determine who tops the group.

“As I said after our opening draw with England, my players have
a winning mindset. In the first game, all we were lacking was that little bit
of luck you need to claim three points. Against Japan our game clicked into
place right from the kick-off, and we overcame them with our strength and
speed.

“I’m very pleased and happy for my players. But we now need to
focus on Mexico, our upcoming opponents. We’re not quite there yet – we need to
make sure of our place in the next round in the final group match.” The Falconets
need at least a draw to be assured of a place in the next round. All last group
matches will kick off at the same time.

Group C Table Team

Results

14 July England 1-1 Nigeria

14 July Mexico 3-3 Japan

17 July Nigeria 2-1 Japan

17 July England 0-1 Mexico

Other fixtures

15:00 Bielefeld Japan vs. England

15:00 Bochum Nigeria vs. Mexico

18:00 Bielefeld Korea Rep vs. USA

18:00 Bochum Ghana vs. Switzerland

Germany have picked top spot in Group A and are through to the
quarter finals of the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women World Cup after a 4-1 thrashing
of France with Alexandra Popp grabbing a hat-trick . It was also the same score
line for the Brazilians in their Group B game against New Zealand but it wasn’t
enough to secure a place in the next round for the South Americans.

The Brazilians came into Tuesday’s game needing a win while
hoping North Korea would be victorious in their game against Sweden. The
Swede’s however defeated the North Koreans 3-2 in their encounter in Augsburg
to finish in first place in Group B with seven points, a point ahead of the
Asians.

Brazil’s elimination comes as a shock for the football world as
they were expected to go far in the tournament and possibly win it after making
it to the semi finals at three of the last four editions of the tournament.

But it wasn’t all bad news for South America as its other
representative Colombia are through to the quarter finals following their 3-0
drubbing of Costa Rica in Group A. The Colombians finished ahead of the French
on goals difference and will next come up against Sweden on Saturday in the
quarter finals.

Saturday will also see the Germans, tournament winners in 2004,
as well as bronze medal winners in 2002 and 2008, taking on the North Koreans.
And if they get to show on Saturday the same level of team work and
determination they had on display in Tuesday’s game against the French then the
North Koreans, who were losing finalists two years ago in Chile, may just be
saying goodbye to the World Cup.

Ruthless Germans

The Germans have so far scored a total of 11 goals in the
tournament and against the French, who finished fourth in 2008, had an
opportunity early on to shoot into the lead only for Marina Hegering to place
her penalty kick wide.

The miss didn’t however demoralise them as they deservedly shot
into the lead in the 10th minute when Popp popped in with a diving header. Popp
again came through in the 35th minute sending the ball over the head of
Laetitia Philippe, the French goal keeper before the introduction of Marina
Makanza at the beginning of the second half saw the French scoring when
following an explosive run from the right, the substitute saw her shot parried
onto the path of Pauline Crammer to give Les Bleuettes their only goal.

The French side sought an equaliser but what they got was a German counter
attack with Popp scoring on the rebound her sixth goal in three games. And she
would have made it a fourth one but for a save by the French keeper. However,
the Germans were not to be denied their fourth which came in the 73rd minute. A
pass from Kim Kulig to Dzsenifer Marozsan saw the fourth goal entering into the
net.

French police investigating a prostitution network questioned
soccer stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema in custody on Tuesday about the
alleged soliciting of sex with a minor, police said.

The police had postponed the hearings at the headquarters of the
Paris vice squad until after the World Cup, in which Ribery, a winger for
Bayern Munich, was part of France’s disastrous campaign.

Ribery was France’s most popular player before the World Cup
fiasco, in which France were eliminated in the first round without winning a
match, and he took part in a revolt by players who boycotted a training session
before their final game.

French media have suggested the players were clients of a
nightclub in Paris’s posh Champs-Elysees district that allegedly featured
escorts, including the under-18 girl at the centre of the affair.

Ribery was questioned in April about his ties with the boss of
an escort girls’ network, according to his lawyer. The player himself has made
no comment about the affair.

Real Madrid striker Benzema’s agent has previously told Reuters
his client had never been to that nightclub, and the player himself told French
television he had done nothing wrong.

The scandal, which gripped France ahead of the World Cup, took a
new twist in late April when the young woman at the centre of the case gave a
lengthy interview to Paris Match magazine, implicating several footballers and
denying being a prostitute.

France striker Sidney Govou, who has just moved from Lyon to
Panathinaikos of Greece, was also questioned by police in April about the
incident.

The Brazilian government announced measures on Monday to speed
up preparations to host the soccer World Cup in 2014, boosting spending and cutting
red tape for public works projects.

The move follows growing concern in recent weeks, including by
the soccer world governing body FIFA, that preparations for the sporting event
were seriously delayed.

The debate put the spotlight on numerous obstacles to investment
in Brazil’s fast-growing economy, and angered President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, who has been touting the tournament as an accomplishment of his
government ahead of October’s presidential election.

Brazil will also host the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In a signing ceremony arranged at short notice, Lula pledged 5.5 billion reais
to revamp airports in the 12 cities that will host the soccer tournament. He
also lifted restrictions on the ability of cities to raise debt to pay for infrastructure
such as roads, stadiums and trains.

Lula, who called some of the concerns senseless, said the latest measures
would avoid problems Brazil had with funding the 2007 Pan-American Games in Rio
de Janeiro.

The federal government also donated real estate and earmarked 740 million
reais on Monday to allow seven cities, including Rio de Janeiro, to overhaul
their ports and facilitate docking of large cruise ships. “Certainly it will be
an alternative to the lack of hotels,” said Pedro Brito, the ports minister.

Lula blamed the Sao Paulo state government, which until April was run by the
opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra, for failing to provide an
adequate stadium to host the World Cup. “Frankly, I can’t imagine a World Cup
in Brazil without Sao Paulo as one of the corners for athletes to play ball,”
Lula said during the ceremony in the capital Brasilia.

Super Eagles defender Taye Taiwo is close to completing a switch
from French champions Olympique Marseille to Atletico Madrid, according to the
BBC.

The Nigerian left-back, who has been tipped to move away from
Marseille in search of first team football, after he lost his place in the
Marseille side when Argentina international Gabriel Heinze was shifted from
centre half to full back towards the end of last season, is expected to
finalise the deal on Wednesday.

The news arrived hours after Marseille’s president Jean-Claude
Dassier was quoted in The Daily Mail saying that Taiwo will remain with the
club till the end of the season regardless of whether he decides to renew his
contract, which runs out at the end of the season, with the Frenchside.

But the BBC in its report said the Nigerian is on the verge of
joining the Europa League champions who had earlier had a £4.2 million bidfor
Taiwo rejected by Marseille.

Close to completion

According to the player’s agent Michael Coker, only minor
details between both clubs need to be sorted out.

“I’m presently in Madrid now and everything is almost done,”
Coker told the BBC on Tuesday.

“I have been in a long meeting with the club director [Jesus
Pitarch], and they are excited knowing everything is almost sorted out.

“We had little challenges at some point but right now everything
is back on track with the player and clubs involved.”

The 25-year-old joined Olympique Marseille from Nigerian side
Lobi Stars in 2004 and was a regular at the club until last season.

He won the French double with Marseille last season.

Liverpool and Tottenham were also interested in Taiwo and last
week he declared his desire to join the London based Tottenham to boost his
chances of regular first team football.

Success story

Atletico Madrid, who goes by the nickname Los Colchoneros or The
Mattress Makers due to their first team stripes being the same colors as
old-fashioned mattresses, is one of the most successful clubs in Spain, having
won both the league and cup on nine occasions, including a double in 1996.

The club also won the old European Cup Winners Cup in 1962, and in May this
year ended their 48-year wait for continental honours by defeating Fulham 2-1
in the Europa League final in Hamburg.

Reports suggesting that Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Bio, has
disqualified ex-international Segun Odegbami from contesting election into the
board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have been described as untrue.

Olukayode Thomas, Media Consultant to the minister, said such
reports were fabricated by individuals seeking to put the minister and Odegbami
on a collision path. “There is no iota of truth in the story, the minister did
not issue such directive,” he said.

“It is the imagination of some people who want to cause
confusion or disrupt the election. Odegbami, and other member of the Task Force
who have signified their intention to contest in the coming election, are
Nigerians who have every right to contest any position in the country, and Bio
will not deny them of their rights to contest elections into the board of NFF
or any elective position they want to contest for in future.”

Thomas went on to explain that the minister is interested in having
credible, transparent, free and fair elections that will produce a board that
every Nigerian will be proud of.

“Bio is not backing any candidate, and he has vowed not to back any, but
like most Nigerians, he wants on the new NFF board eminent Nigerians who will
run football like business, so that the sport will be less dependent on
government for funding in the nearest future,” he said. “Bio strongly believes
that football can fund itself once we have a credible board.”

The NFF elections have been slated for August with several candidates
already in the race to direct the affairs of Nigerian football for the next
four years.