Nigeria Content Online

Aiyegbeni Yakubu,
who scored one of the three goals against North Korea in the last
tune-up match for the Super Eagles played over the weekend, believes
the inclusion of Lukman Haruna could help the team in getting more
goals when the World Cup kick offs in South Africa on Friday.

“As for Haruna, I’m
not surprised with what he has so far achieved because he has been
training with us since 2008. In Angola (2010 Nations Cup), we had so
many defensive midfielders and it was difficult for the strikers. We
needed a creative midfielder and with what we have already seen, we
have found one. He will do more for the strikers,” Yakubu told
mtnfootball.com.

“He can do more to help this team even though I do not wish to put pressure on the young player.”

Mikel miss

Though the Everton
forward admitted that the Eagles will miss Chelsea midfielder John Obi
Mikel, who has been ruled out of the World Cup by injury, he has backed
Haruna to take his place and solve the problem the Super Eagles have
struggled with in recent years since the 2006 retirement of former
Super Eagles captain Jay-Jay Okocha.

“Mikel’s absence is
a big blow for us because he is a very good player, who has the
experience of playing on the big stage like the UEFA Champions League,
but we expect the other players to do their best and hopefully, we will
get the desired results,” said Yakubu.

Yakubu’s inclusion in the final list of players for South Africa 2010 has been questioned by some pundits.

However, it appears
he has silenced most of his critics with his clinical finish against
the North Koreans and is looking even more assured as the Super Eagles
set to face Argentina on Saturday at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

“I’m in good shape, most probably the best shape of my life, for this World Cup,” he continued.

“The training under (Super Eagles coach Lars) Lagerback has been superb not only for me, but the entire team.

“The belief in the team now is that we can achieve something here.”

Argentina defender,
Martin Demichelis, believes the Albiceleste will have an edge over the
Super Eagles when both sides meet on Saturday owing to the fact that,
unlike the Nigerians, they don’t have any injury concerns.

The Super Eagles,
like so many other teams taking part in the World Cup, are in South
Africa without some of their best legs, most notably Victor Anichebe,
Onyekachi Apam, and John Obi Mikel, no thanks to injuries.

Anichebe and Apam
were not selected for the World Cup as a result of their inabilities to
shrug off their respective injuries; while Mikel, who made the final
squad list for the World Cup, had to pull out after failing to overcome
a knee injury he picked up while on duty with his English Premier
League side Chelsea.

In contrast,
Argentina don’t have any injury problems to contend with, and
Demichelis believes that will give them an upper hand ahead of their
opening encounter against the Super Eagles.

Good fortune

“We are having the
good fortune that other teams are not,” Demichelis told a news
conference at Argentina’s base in the University of Pretoria sports
complex. “We’ve had no injuries and that gives the coaching staff the
confidence to demand the maximum from us,” added the Bayern Munich
star. I’m confident that in the remaining days we’ll be able to get
there in very good shape,” he said, with reference to Saturday’s
encounter against the Super Eagles scheduled for Ellis Park in
Johannesburg.

Demichelis added: “Some teams have played too many friendlies. Luckily Diego opted to come here and train in tranquillity.”

Selection headache

In Lionel Messi,
Argentina boast the world’s top player. They also have other top
forwards like Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Diego
Milito; but only Messi is guaranteed a starter’s shirt with their coach
Diego Maradona left with the burden of selecting who will get to
partner the Barcelona superstar in the attack against the Super Eagles.

But irrespective of this, Demichelis still thinks the Albiceleste
have an edge over the Super Eagles who, in his opinion, still don’t
have a team. “Diego has a big headache picking his side while Nigeria
have doubts,” he said. “I think that they may have some issues to
resolve in some positions and won’t get there (to the match) as good as
us.”

The winner of the
highest goals scorer awards of the just concluded Gulder Five-a -side
tournament, Happiness Okuoka, says winning the award is one of the best
things to happen to him in a long time.

Attributing his
feat to the efforts of his team mates, Okuoka said the award will spur
him to greater heights. The player, who was the hit man for
Ajegunle-based 401 Road Planners, notched up seven goals to emerge the
tournament’s leading scorer.

“I am excited by
this award,” he said. “It was the result of hard work. More
importantly, it was the result of collective effort of the team.
Without the co-operation of my team mates, I would not have been able
to accomplish it.”

Okuoka’s team,
Planners, emerged winners of the five -a-side tournament after beating
a determined Talent builders of Lagos Island via penalty after the game
ended 1-1 at full time. The match, which saw the two teams going for
each other’s jugular was watched by a full crowd of spectators at the
Astroturf of the New Gymnasium Complex of the National Institute of
Sports (NIS) within the National Stadium in Lagos.

The tournament,
which began in March, was played in different centres across the
country with the final 12 teams coming into Lagos for the last leg of
the tournament.

The Nigerian team
to the third edition of the COPA Coca Cola football tournament in South
Africa remains on course to retain the title it won last year after
booking a quarter final slot for the tourney.

The Nigerian team
is one of the twelve African countries taking part in the in
competition, and is grouped alongside South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania
and Zimbabwe. The team began her campaign with a 5-0 victory over
Zimbabwe.

In the second game
against the host team, South Africa, Nigeria gave a good fight and the
game ended 1-1. However, the team was beaten 2-0 by the Tanzania team,
but rose up to the challenge in their fourth game by defeating Namibia.

Speaking to
journalist after their fourth game, Victor Ikpeba, the chief coach of
COPA Coca-Cola Nigeria team said it is good that the team made it to
the quarter finals. “Our target is to get the final four ticke, and I
believe we can get this because my player wants to make name for
themselves and they are ready to go,” he said. “I believe if we get to
the final four, anything can happen. Every team wants to beat Nigeria,
we know this and we will take each game as it comes.”

The Nigerian coach also mentioned that he is happy that Nigeria paraded one of the youngest stars at the championship.

South Africa’s
vuvuzela, the trumpet that will be a fixture at World Cup matches, is
the loudest of all fan instruments and can cause permanent hearing
loss, a global hearing foundation said on Monday.

Sports Soccer
governing body FIFA has okayed the plastic trumpet for the tournament,
which starts on Friday, after organizers did tests at a match at
Johannesburg’s 95,000-seater Soccer City due to worries the din could
drown out emergency announcements.

While normally
reserved for local games, the vuvuzela can now also be heard at warm-up
matches and practice sessions ahead of the tournament, even those not
involving South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.

The Hear the World
Foundation — an initiative formed by Swiss hearing products group
Phonak to raise awareness about hearing loss — said tests showed it
produced a dangerously loud sound, far out-blasting a chainsaw.

The tests,
conducted late last month in a sound-proof studio, found the vuvuzela
emitted 127 decibels, more than the air horn — 123.5 decibels — and
the Brazil’s samba drums.

A referee’s whistle was fourth while the cowbell, a favorite in Switzerland and Austria, trailed at 114.9 decibels.

“To put it in
perspective, when a sound is increased by ten decibels our ears
perceive it as being twice as loud, so we would consider the vuvuzela
to be more than double the volume of the cowbell,” audiologist Robert
Beiny said in a statement.

Hear the World
said extended exposure to 85 decibels risked permanent hearing loss and
urged fans to use protection, such as ear plugs and ear muffs.

The vuvuzela can
be heard across South Africa as football fever grows ahead of the June
11-July 11 tournament, from airports to shopping centers, but at
stadiums tens of thousands of people will blow the trumpet, such like
constant car hooters in a traffic jam.

Some foreign
players complained at last year’s Confederation Cup about the din, and
Thailand manager Bryan Robson that he was unable to communicate with
his players during a friendly against South Africa.

FIFA President
Sepp Blatter has defended it, though, saying it as much a part of local
soccer as bongo drums and chanting in other countries.

South Africa coach
Carlos Alberto Parriera wants even more noise to help inspire the
world’s lowly 83rd-ranked Bafana Bafana through its tough Group A
matches against Mexico (June 11), and former champions Uruguay (June
16) and France (June 22).

The study found
that it was not only trumpets, drums and horns that can hurt your ears,
two excited supporters cheering a goal on either side of you can
produce 121.6 decibels, also drowning out a chainsaw at just 100
decibels.

Nigerian youngsters
wishing to turn to football as career have an opportunity to do so as
the Nigerian arm of renowned Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence,
based in Doha, Qatar, has thrown registration open for this year with
the project beginning next month.

Lamine Savane,
director of the project in Africa, told journalists in Lagos at the
weekend that the aim of the programme is to help youngsters fulfil
their dreams of playing football while at the same time getting
educated.

“We are here in
Nigeria because we believe there is a large pool of football talent
that need to be developed for the benefit of the game in the country,”
he said. “A lot of these children are yearning to play football but do
not have the opportunity to do so. Our aim is to give them that
opportunity and also to make it possible for them to get some
education.”

He noted that
Nigerian arm of the project, which started in 2007 with eleven young
Nigerians awarded educational scholarship at the academy in Doha, was
impacted positively on the families of the players. He stated that one
of the players in that first set, John Felagha from Bayelsa State, was
one of the goalkeepers in Nigeria’s silver winning U-17 team at last
year’s U-17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria.

Not a scam

Also speaking at
the occasion, Sam Ahmedu, a retired colonel in the Nigerian Army and
director of the project in Nigeria, said progress have been made by the
project in the country. He stated that at the moment, five of the
current set of players under scholarship with the project, have been
invited to the current Golden Eaglets squad being handled by Monday
Odigie.

“This project is
not like others you have where young players are exploited,” he said.
“Like we have always said, this is not one of those projects used to
siphon players abroad to be used for the national of Qatar. The Qataris
who are funding this project can afford to go to Brazil for instance
and buy players and get them to become Qatari citizens. It just one of
the ways they want to reach and help youth in different parts of
Africa.”

Giving details of
preparations for this season, Ahmedu said only children who are 13
years old are eligible to take part in the project.

Presently, there
are eleven Nigerians at the academy in Doha with one of them, Jasper
Uwaegbulam from Imo State distinguishing himself. Only recently he
scored four goals in match against the Qatari U-18 team.

Winners at the 32nd
edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Open Tennis
Championships have solicited for more competitions in order to improve
their ratings on the international tennis circuit.

Sunday Emmanuel
returned to the winners’ podium over the weekend after displacing his
opponent, Henry Atesye, in two straight sets 7-6, 6-2 to emerge the
Men’s Singles champion; while Fatima Abinu retained her Ladies Singles
title as she defeated surprise finalist, Anuoluwa Aiyegbusi, 6-1, 5,7.

“It was a tough
competition for me but I thank God I came out tops. Right now my aim is
to improve on my international rankings and that means I have to take
part in more competitions in order to gather ATP points” an elated
Emmanuel said after his final match.

Improved rankings

Emmanuel is
currently the highest ranked Nigeria player on the ATP World Tour
Rankings on 1230; he believes he can move up the ladder once he is
given the opportunity of participating in different circuits and future
tennis tournaments around the world.

“Of course I can
improve on my position; all we need is support from the tennis
federation, corporate bodies and the government to take part in
competitions. My aim for now is to make it to the top 700 in the
rankings,” he said.

Similarly, the ladies singles champion, Abinu, also appealed for support for the players to regularly feature in tournaments.

Reacting, the
Nigerian Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Sani Ndanusa, hinted that
the federation will soon officially appeal to CBN so that winners from
the tournament can represent the country in tournaments around the
world.

Over 200 players
participated in this year’s edition of the CBN tennis championships and
over six million naira was shared as prize money by the players.

The Super Eagles
continued their preparations for the World Cup with a 3-1 win against
North Korea in Tembisa, Johannesburg yesterday. It was the Swedish born
coach’s third game in charge and Aiyegbeni Yakubu was on hand to open
scoring for the Super Eagles in the 16th minute before Obinna Nsofor
extended the lead from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. A momentary
loss of concentration between Elderson Echiejile and Joseph Yobo
allowed Jong Tae-Se to pull one back for the North Koreans but Obafemi
Martins restored Nigeria’s two-goal advantage with a 90th minute
header. Martins had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he
scored.

The game, which was
played at the Makhulong Stadium in Johannesburg, was however marred by
a stampede which broke out shortly after the start of the second half.

According to police
reports, at least 20 people, including one policeman, were injured
during the stampede forcing the match officials to stop the game for
around five minutes to attend to the injured and ensure the safety of
fans in the overcrowded main stand where the fencing had been removed.

The match itself
saw Lagerback making a few changes from the side that had played a 1-1
draw with Colombia in their previous game as he restored the duo of
Yobo and Danny Shittu in the heart of the defence with Chidi Odiah and
Taiwo at the right and left side of the defence. Dickson Etuhu and
Lukman Haruna, whose work rate keeps increasing with every game, along
with Sani Kaita who played from the right side of midfield and Nsofor,
on the opposite end, were once again in the middle while Osaze
Odemwingie and Yakubu led the forward line.

Great start

The predominantly
Nigerian crowd at the venue were handed the best of starts after a
sweet interchange of passes between Yakubu and Nsofor ended with Yakubu
slotting the ball into the back of the net.

In the 24th minute
Taye Taiwo’s audacious freekick from well over 40 yards almost proved
more than a handful for the Korean goalkeeper. But two minutes later,
the Olympique Marseille defender almost gifted the ‘Chollima’, as the
North Koreans are known, an equalizer when he was too slow to prevent a
cross across the face of the Nigerian goal by the crafty Mun In-Guk.

The second half saw
Lagerback introducing Elderson Echiejile, Kalu Uche and Yusuf Ayila for
Taye Taiwo, Sani Kaita and the enterprising Dickson Etuhu. Nsofor
almost extended Nigeria’s lead four minutes after the restart but his
deflected shot fell into the hands of the Korean goalkeeper.

Stampede

A minute later, the
match had to be stopped after a stampede broke out in the stands. Five
minutes following the restart, the referee awarded a penalty to the
Super Eagles after a Korean defender inadvertently handled the ball and
Nsofor was on hand to make it 2-0 for Nigeria.

A mistake in
defence however saw Jong getting the better of Enyeama in the 64th
minute, and three minutes later, the Koreans were denied a penalty
after the referee erroneously awarded a free-kick for a foul by Chidi
Odiah. A red card to Cha Jong-Hyok for a second bookable offence
however left room in the Korean defence which Uche capitalised on to
run rings round the backline before crossing for Martins to nod into a
gaping net.

The game was the last warm-up match the Eagles will play before
their opening match against Argentina on Saturday, June 12, 2010.

When the World Cup comes around, as a football fan, I want to see the best players on the planet on show.

Managers of
national teams can pick 23 names for their respective squads, so you
would think they would have enough chances to get it right. However,
glancing at the squad lists of some of the contenders, there are many
stars missing and I am not happy about it. Furthermore, some omissions
will be the reason why some of these teams will fail in South Africa.

Let´s start with
Brazil. The five-time champions have probably the best defensive unit
in their history heading into a World Cup, featuring a stellar
goalkeeper in Julio Cesar and players like Maicon, Lucio and Daniel
Alves. However, in attack, there is a shortage of creativity, speed and
flair, and coach Dunga is to blame. The omission of Alexandre Pato is
baffling to me. Sure, the young forward was injured for a large part of
the season and just now returned to full fitness.

However, even with
all the time he spent on the sidelines, the AC Milan standout still
scored 14 goals in 30 games. If I was picking Brazil’s squad he would
be one of the first names on the teamsheet. He offers something no one
else on the team has and, make no mistake about it, he will be missed.

Argentina’s options

Brazil´s fierce
South American rivals Argentina also left behind some notable names.
It’s always easy to pick on Diego Maradona, isn’t it? However there is
no question that Champions League winners Javier Zanetti and Esteban
Cambiasso should both be travelling to South Africa. Maradona´s team
has plenty of talent, but would have benefited from some extra
experience and class. Zanetti and Cambiasso were ever-present for Jose
Mourinho´s Internazionale this season and would have been invaluable
assets at the World Cup.

Zanetti can play
anywhere across defence and midfield, while Cambiasso is one of the
best midfielders on the planet. Even if he would be playing second
fiddle to Captain Javier Mascherano,

Cambiasso would
still have been an important player for Los Albicelestes. Plus, there
is no reason why he couldn’t play alongside Mascherano. Especially
considering Juan Sebastian Veron may be the other starting central
midfielder.

Domenech blunder

Let´s dissect the
picks of another controversial manager, Raymond Domenech. As if the
French public didn’t dislike him enough, the coach of Les Bleus decided
to leave out the nation’s most exciting forward, Karim Benzema. Is he
overweight? Yes. Did he have a great season with Real Madrid? No.
However, some of the other strikers going to South Africa didn’t set
the world alight either and Benzema still has the talent that can
change the game at any time, even coming on as a late substitute.
Domenech definitely missed a trick here and will pay the price. Up
front, France will rely too much on a man who doesn’t have either the
work rate or motivation to lead the line, Thierry Henry.

A changed man

Defending World Cup
champions Italy also left behind a couple of potential game winners.
Antonio Cassano is the obvious example of this. I understand Marcello
Lippi believes the Sampdoria forward can be a disruptive influence on
the team, and up until this season, I would have agreed with him.
However, Cassano is a changed man. His serious relationship with an
Italian swimmer has made him more content and mature and there is no
doubt he would have been a key player for a side that relies too much
on older legs and established names. Cassano would have been a breath
of fresh air that could have inspired the Azzuri to an extended stay in
South Africa. Without him, I don’t see them making it past the round of
16.

So those are my
views concerning a quartet of traditional World Cup contenders; that
this time around will be coming back from FIFA´s showpiece event
empty-handed. For a competition like this, you have to take your best
men. And in my opinion, none of these teams are doing that.

Nigeria will square
up against Argentina on June 12, a day made remarkable by Nigeria’s
former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida.

A good many
Nigerians are running scared of the outcome of that encounter. Given
our history going into the match coupled with the fire power at the
disposal of the Argentines, it is easy to understand why most Nigerians
believe our Eagles are going to have their feathers plucked by Diego
Maradona’s men.

Nearly all my
friends and football fans I have talked to predict a bag full of goals
for the Super Eagles, with many saying Nigeria will trail the South
Americans by at least three goals by half-time. My assurance that that
may not necessarily be the case has been nothing but cold comfort to
them.

I am not scared of
the Argentines. I know they have enough in their arsenal to sink even
the most fortified armada. But as we have come to see again and again,
even the best trained marksmen sometimes miss target.

A history of upsets

As a student of
history, I know that the FIFA World Cup is replete with instances where
even the most formidable squads buckled under the weight of expectation.

The same Argentina
we are talking about went into the 1990 edition of the World Cup as one
of the teams tipped to win the championship (indeed, they went all the
way to the final of that tournament only to lose to a much organised
West German squad) but what did they have waiting for them on the
opening day of the tournament?

The star-studded
Argentine squad boasting among others, Diego Maradona, Claudio
Caniggia, Jorge Burruchaga, Roberto Sensini, Nery Pumpido, and Oscar
Ruggeri, fell 1-0 to an unheralded Cameroonian side with half of its 22
players playing in the Cameroonian league. Of course, that was not the
first time an African side would be humbling a football power house.
Eight years before, their African brothers, Algeria, had scalped
two-time champions at the 1982 edition of the tournament in Spain.

To come back home,
our own Super Eagles stunned the world when they scored three times
against Spain to run away 3-2 winners in their opening group game of
the 1998 World Cup in France. Before that match nobody, not even the
players themselves, would have wagered they would beat the Spaniards
who had gone on an unbeaten run of over thirty matches, during which
they played the top teams in the world.

But we beat them.
Why? For the simple reason that the boys were fired up, and not
necessarily because they were among the finest players in the world.
Then as now, Nigerians felt the Eagles were a bunch of talent but
undisciplined players incapable of accomplishing big things.
Disparaging comments of Nigerians about them filtered to the boys in
France and they were determined to prove a point against Spain and
prove it they did. While the Eagles this time around may be lacking the
quality of the 1998 squad, two factors may work to their advantage.

Keen competition

In the first place,
the competition for shirts in the squad is keener than it had been in a
long while. Lagerback’s late arrival on the scene and the fact that
none of the players in the current team has played under him before,
means that they will go the extra mile to impress him and secure places
in the squad. The game against Argentina will be their first real
opportunity to show the Swede what they are capable of, and this means
they will go full throttle against the South Americans.

The second reason
our boys may not roll over for the Argentines has to do with the
quality of the Eagles bench. Granted that Lagerback has not spent
quality time with the players, the Swede is a wily old tactician who,
having led a squad against the South Americans at the 2002 Korea/Japan
World Cup, will find a way to checkmate them. Pound for pound,
Lagerback is rated a better coach than Maradona, whose unpredictability
may play into the hands of his opponents at the World Cup.

The World Cup is a
coach’s tournament. Yes, the best players on the planet show up there
but left to themselves, they cannot accomplish much. It requires the
genius of the coach to turn them to a winning team. Proof of this can
be found in the inability of Brazil, with their alluring style of play,
to win the World Cup for twenty-four years after their triumph in 1970
in Mexico. Their 1994 squad, which won that year’s edition of the
Mundial, lacked the flair and fluidity of either the 1978 or 1982
squads, but still went on to win the tournament due to the tactical
changes made by coach Alberto Parreira.

So, as we wait for
the Eagles to file out against Lionel Messi and company on Saturday,
let us breathe easy. The worst may not be upon us.