Nigeria Content Online

The UEFA Champions League draws, to be held on Friday, August 27, will be broadcast live on Hi Soccer channel.

The league is
expected to generate more followership from the home front this season
as more Nigerian players are likely to play in the group phase.

Super Eagles
goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel-Aviv) and defenders; Elderson
Echiejile (SC Braga), Taiye Taiwo (Marseille), and Mikel Obi (Chelsea)
are all expected to feature in the league this season.

Tolu Badejo, the sports manager of TV company, HiTV said
arrangements have been concluded to air the draws live from Monaco
where it will be held. The company, which recently lost the English
Premiership broadcast rights to South African pay TV company DSTV, has
exclusive right to broadcast the UEFA Champions League, Carling Cup,
Europa Cup and Serie A in Nigeria.

FIFA has dismissed
allegations that North Korea’s coach and players were punished for
losing all three of their games at this year’s World Cup.

Asian media
reported the side had been publicly shamed after returning from South
Africa having conceded 12 goals in the first round.

Soccer’s governing body FIFA insisted it was business as usual for North Korea and that no such witchhunt had taken place.

“The (North Korean)
FA assures FIFA that Mr Kim Jong-hun, head coach of the national team,
and all the other members of the national team are training as usual,”
FIFA said in a statement.

“The association also indicates that there were no sanctions to the coach and that the reports on this matter were baseless.

“With all of the information at hand, and having checked all of its sources, FIFA has decided to close the matter.”

North Korea lost 2-1 to Brazil, were humiliated 7-0 by Portugal and easily beaten 3-0 by Ivory Coast at the World Cup.

Radio Free Asia and
South Korean media claimed Kim and his team were forced onto a stage at
the People’s Palace of Culture in front of 400 government officials,
students and journalists.

Reports said the players were subjected to six hours of criticism
for their performance at the World Cup, their first appearance since
1966.

Brazil will need to
prepare psychologically for the huge pressure they will face as World
Cup hosts in 2014, when a second failure on home soil is simply not an
option, former coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said.

Parreira, who
steered Brazil to their fourth world title in 1994 after a 24-year
drought, felt the weight of expectation himself and told Reuters it
would be worse in four years’ time.

The 67-year-old
knows the size of the task facing Brazil, who were shocked by Uruguay
in the deciding match of their previous home finals in 1950.

“We’ll be coming
from two defeats in the 2006 and 2010 Cups and you can be sure the
pressure will be very big on the national team. It will be a huge
responsibility,” Parreira said in an interview.

“We’ve already lost
one World Cup at home and we can’t lose a second one at home, we can’t
allow that to happen,” said Parreira, who is in line to take on a role
in new coach Mano Menezes’s technical staff.

“That’s going to
put gigantic pressure (on the players) and, as well as technical
preparation, we’ll have to have a very big psychological preparation.”
Such concern has already been voiced by Menezes, who said after his
appointment as Dunga’s successor last month that he plans to have a
psychologist working alongside him.

Parreira added the
buildup to 2014 would be harder with Brazil going through a radical
renewal of the team and knowing that by then they will have gone 12
years without winning the title.

“After two failures
a renewal is almost mandatory for the coach. A new cycle always opens
when you lose,” said Parreira, who is resting at home after coaching
South Africa at their World Cup.

Great expectations

Parreira, in charge
again when Brazil lost their 2006 quarter-final to France in Germany,
was encouraged by Menezes’s debut in a friendly against United States
in New Jersey last month which Brazil won 2-0.

With youngsters
like Neymar, Paulo Henrique Ganso and Alexandre Pato, the team played
the attacking football fans and media demanded of Dunga’s side that
lost to Netherlands in this year’s quarter-finals.

“I liked the new faces, the new players. We don’t lack quality. Brazil is the best country for a renewal.

“Now we have to
give those lads a run-in and experience before the Cup,” Parreira said,
adding there was room for 2010 World Cup players like Kaka, Robinho,
Daniel Alves, Ramires and Thiago Silva.

Another problem
will be the lack of competitive matches for Brazil who, as World Cup
hosts, will not take part in the South American qualifiers.

Despite
difficulties like taking the team to high altitude venues in Bolivia
and Ecuador and bringing a large majority of squad members all the way
back from Europe, Parreira said the marathon qualifying campaign was
essential for team building.

“At first I was
against the qualifiers because of the difficulties and toll they took.
Later I changed my mind and realised they were essential,” he said.

Without the
qualifiers, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) will have to
take full advantage of opportunities like the Copa America in Argentina
next year and the Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013, he said.

“The CBF will have to prepare a good list of friendlies with strong
opponents until 2014. It’s important to play more (matches) in Brazil
and for that the CBF will have to work hard and negotiate a lot. They
have to already feel the climate.”

Robinho has turned
down a formal offer from Fenerbahce hoping to leave Manchester City for
a Spanish or Italian club before the August 31 transfer deadline.

The 26-year-old
Brazil forward has remained out of City manager Roberto Mancini’s side
in the opening games of the Premier League season since returning from
his six-month loan spell at Santos.

“With all due respect to Turkish football, I’m not going to play there at the moment,” Robinho said.

“(Fenerbahce) were
the only team who sent an official (transfer) proposal but it’s already
decided that I’m not going,” he told the Brazilian sports website
globoesporte.com.

“I’ve got talks going on but I can’t reveal anything yet. A week is
time to do a lot of things. The only thing I’ll say is that I’ll carry
on in Europe, in Italy or Spain.” City paid Real Madrid a British
record 32.5 million pounds for Robinho in 2008 but the Brazilian
struggled to settle in England.

Super Eagles
forward, Obinna Nsofor is set to be unveiled by West Ham today after
undergoing a medical at the English Premier League side yesterday.

West Ham boss Avram
Grant is desperate to bolster his attacking options after seeing his
side score just once in their first two Premier League games, and
scrape past lower league side Oxford in the Carling Cup.

The former Chelsea
manager turned to Obinna after failing to sign Manchester City’s Felipe
Caicedo, with Inter Milan willing to loan out the Nigeria international.

The former Chievo forward almost signed for Everton two years ago only for work permit problems to scupper the deal.

He has scored 11
goals in 34 internationals for Nigeria and played two games at this
summer’s World Cup before scoring once in Inter’s 3-0 friendly win over
Manchester City in the USA in pre-season.

Yakubu, Yobo to stay put

Aiyegbeni Yakubu
and Joseph Yobo are presently not having the best of times at Everton
but unlike Nsofor, they don’t look likely to depart the English Premier
League club in the foreseeable future.

Everton’s assistant manager, Steve Round, said the Nigerian pair are not in line to leave the club this season.

Both players did
not feature in Everton’s first two league games of the season, with
striker Yakubu reported to be a target for West Ham and Newcastle
United while defender Yobo has been linked with a loan switch to
Scottish side Celtic.

However, Round said the pair’s absence is down to them improving their fitness.

“They came back from the World Cup a little bit later and have taken a bit of time to get fitter again,” Round said.

Etuhu for Liverpool?

Meanwhile, Roy
Hodgson is closely monitoring Fulham’s contract negotiations with
Dickson Etuhu and is poised to bring the midfielder to Liverpool.

The 28-year-old
flourished under Hodgson at Fulham and is a favourite at Craven Cottage
but he has only a year left on his current deal with the London-based
club, sparking Liverpool’s interest.

English tabloid,
The Sun reports that Liverpool boss Hodgson is ready to make a move for
Etuhu, should he stall on a new Fulham deal, and use him as a
replacement should Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano leave Anfield.

“Unfortunately everything has been left to the last minute,” the Sun quoted a Fulham insider as saying.

“Although the situation is not ideal, no one at the club wants him to go.”

Nigeria’s national Under 13 team has emerged champions at the 2010 International Youth Championship in London, England.

It was the first
international engagement for the newly formed national team and they
defeated Portugal’s Sporting Club 2-0 in the finals to emerge winners
of the tournament.

The tournament –
organised by the English Premier League – took place between August 19
and 23 and had a total of 16 youth teams in attendance. They included
English sides Chelsea, Fulham, Portsmouth, Hull City, Aston Villa,
Manchester City, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland,

Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, as well as Spain’s Athletic Bilbao, and Dutch side Feyenoord.

Ruthless Nigerians

The Nigerian side
coached by Bala Nkiyu, were placed in Group B in the five-day
tournament and the youngsters who were identified during the recently
held National U-13 Championship, hammered Liverpool 4-0 in their
opening game before putting six past Fulham in a 6-0 win.

They then wrapped
up their group stage fixtures with a 4-1 thumping of Birmingham to book
a place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they defeated Chelsea
3-0 and proceeded to the final in which they overcame Sporting 2-O.

The victory nothing less than the Nigerian side deserved for their
overwhelming dominance over the course of the tournament which saw them
scoring 21 goals and conceding just one goal. As a result of their
success at this year’s tournament, the Nigerian side have been invited
to take part in next year’s tournament but not only in the U-13
category but the U-15 category as well.

Former Green Eagles
captain, Segun Odegbami, has dismissed the idea that the presidency of
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been zoned to the north, as
laughable.

Odegbami said he is
still in the race for the presidency of the federations, and that he
will contest in the NFF elections – scheduled to hold on Thursday in
Abuja.

There were reports
in the media early this week that the a caucus of the NFF Congress,
which met at the weekend in Abuja had zoned the presidency to the north
effectively ending the ambition of Odegbami and former Nigeria Premier
League chairman, Oyuiki Obaseki as well as journalist, Fan Ndubuoke to
lead the federation.

“How can anyone say
the presidency of the NFF has been zoned to the north? Where did they
get that from? Is it written down anywhere in the books? Odegbami asked.

“I think the whole
thing is just a joke and I am certainly not taking it seriously. I am
still in the race and will not be distracted by such whimsical matter.
I am contesting for the presidency of the NFF because I believe that we
need to change the way the game is been administered in this country
and it will take more such silly rumours to put me off,” he said.

Horse trading

While Odegbami
continues to insist on running, his kinsman, Bukola Olopade, who is
currently the Commissioner for Sports in Ogun State, has shelved his
presidential ambition. His spokesman, Hakeem Ojaleye said the decision
was taken in the ‘overall interest of Nigerian football’.

According to
sources in the NFF, Olopade stepped down because he was promised the
position of Secretary General should any of the northern candidates win
the presidency.

Ojaleye said this is far from the truth.

“He has not struck
any deal with anybody. He is still young and can still lead Nigerian
football in future. Any talk of a deal is totally false,” he said.

FIFA watching

The election, which
takes place tomorrow, is still generating controversy with some people
calling for to be postponement until after elections are held into the
state football association, a move the present NFF leadership headed by
Aminu Maigari has continued to resist.

World football governing body, FIFA in response to a mail on Tuesday said it was monitoring the situation.

“One of FIFA’s duties is to ensure the independence of the Member
Associations from external interference and to ensure that the football
family in each country can have the best possible conditions to develop
the game. That is the reason why we directly monitor the situation in
each FIFA member association that they comply with their statutes. As
such FIFA will also be present as an observer on Thursday when the
election in Nigeria will take place to monitor the process and to
verify that it is conducted in accordance with the NFF statutes,” said
Pekka Odriozola, its acting head of media.

John Utaka’s hopes
of returning to the Premier League may come to pass before the end of
the transfer window as his English Championship side Portsmouth are
hopeful of offloading him before then.

The Nigerian
forward is one of the top earners at Portsmouth, who after going into
an administration-induced relegation from the Premier League, have to
sell some of their players to offset their £130 million debt.

Portsmouth received
around £5m from Genoa for Ghanaian forward Kevin-Prince Boateng, while
veteran English goalkeeper David James and Senegalese midfielder Pape
Bouba Diop have also left. But the cash-strapped club still need to
further slash their wage-bill and are eager to sell Utaka as they look
to raise the £4million needed to reach their £12m target from summer
player sales.

According to
reports in the English tabloid The News, the side’s administrator
Andrew Andronikou is confident Utaka will be a Premier League player
again by the end of the month.

Andronikou
confirmed that although no firm offer has been tabled yet, there have
been plenty of enquiries about the 28-year-old who arrived at
Portsmouth three years ago from French side Rennes.

Eager to sell

“We want to sell Utaka and he has also made himself clear he wants to leave,” Andronikou told The News.

“There have been a
number of clubs who have been taking interest, which is obviously
encouraging,” added the Pompey boss who went ahead to suggest that the
club might even accept a much lower bid for the player who cost them
£7million when he arrived in 2007.

“We have put a price tag on him – but the closer we get to the transfer window closing, it will be coming down.

“However, I will be very surprised if he is still at the club after the transfer window.

“I’m very confident
he will go, most likely to the Premier League. There are one or two
Premier League clubs which feel he could do a job.

“Others include one in Scotland, three in France and a long time ago there was one in Saudi Arabia.

“But I think he will end up in the Premier League.”

Nigerians love and
know their football and are also a proud stock. We are proud of our
population – ‘150 million strong,’ we like to boast – but there seems
to be another breed of Nigerians who do not care about pride – our
footballers.

Firstly, Nigerian
players all over the world will play for any football side as long as
it is outside the shores of their country. We have had players going to
Vietnam to play professionally and unfortunately they died there. The
circumstance of returning the corpse for burial actually showed that
the trip was not worth the sacrifice.

Moving just for the money

In the current
transfer season, many have been left dumb-founded by transfer logic our
players are exhibiting – the phenomenon did not just start now. The
question on the lips of many football enthusiasts is, can our players
not play for the biggest football clubs in the world? The answer may
well be no and it is not because they are necessarily lacking in
quality.

Osaze Odemwingie,
Nigeria’s best player for 2010, formerly of Lokomotiv Moscow has just
transferred his services to West Bromwich Albion (WBA), a team that
just got promoted to the Premiership, and who were hammered by Chelsea,
6-0, in the opening weekend of the Premiership. Odemwingie has had to
take a pay cut to realise this move. But why is he paying this premium
to appear in England for a lowly club?

Odemwingie told the
BBC: “These are the opportunities you hope for when you decide to
become a footballer. This is the next chapter of my career.” Playing
for a third rate club with a dimmer chance of not being relegated than
an ice-cube melting in the open?

No other choice

Odemwingie, must
feel that time is no longer on his side, having turned 29 with no big
club offer on his doorsteps. So what makes an Obafemi Martins leave
Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga to join Rubin Kazan in Russia?

Former Super Eagles
player Garba Lawal said that it is never going to be easy for Nigerian
players to make it to the very big clubs because “we are not good
enough”.

“Even when I was
playing in Europe and Nigeria was on everyone’s lips, it was very hard
to move to those really big clubs. The Real Madrids of this world have
extensive scouting systems and if you are not in the top five of your
position then most likely, you will never get an offer. If we have
players in that top echelon, then sooner or later, they will play for
these top clubs but right now can you point to any Nigerian player that
is in the top five in his position? We can hardly get into the top 10
not to say top five.

“Another minus is
the fact that Nigeria has not performed well in the big competitions
for some time, while other African countries are doing well so the
focus is on this other countries,” Lawal said.

There are also fears that the present bunch of ‘big players’ have done nothing to help the coming generation.

Ajibade Babalade, who also played for the Super Eagles disagrees with Lawal.

“The problem that
we are having now did not start today. When we were up there we did not
do things that would have sustained us there. Simply put, we do not
have quality players coming through and it is everyone’s fault.

Are our players moving for the dollar or in the hope of bettering their careers?

Martins has said he
needed to recreate a very promising career that has gone off the track
and the move to Russia was basically a career move.

“I have to thank
the fans of Wolfsburg, my former colleagues there and wish the club all
the best for the future. I am joining a team of champions and I hope to
bring my best to the club to make them even greater.” Joseph Yobo,
Super Eagles assistant captain to South Africa 2010 is also rumoured to
be moving to Scotland on a one-year loan after being frozen out of the
Everton team.

“A number of clubs
have indicated their interest in having him, and Everton have no
objection. But the firm interest has come from Scotland and discussions
are taking place,” A sports news website reported recently.

Christian Chukwu,
a former captain, and coach of the Eagles wants everyone that has
anything to do with Nigerian football to take the current situation as
a slight that must be remedied.

“We have some of
the best players in the world, we hear it everywhere but we have not
lived up to these expectation except during the 1996 Olympics when we
won football gold. From the top to the bottom, we must start doing the
things we were doing before – getting back to the schools, if we do it
properly, ten years from now, it will be another story.”

Two girls from the
Hope 4 Girls Basketball Foundation programme will tomorrow fly to the
United States of America to begin a scholarship programme.

The move,
facilitated by Hope 4 Girls founder Mobolaji Akiode will allow the
girls, Ijeoma Frank and Nkiru Uju study Computer science and Education
respectively at the Grayson College in Texas.

For Akiode, this is
a sign of better things to come as her dream of giving hope and
empowering young girls through sound education and the game of
basketball is gradually taking shape.

“It’s rewarding to
know that you are positively impacting lives. It makes all the hard
work worth it and it will bring me greater joy to see the girls not
only succeed but also impact the next generation as well,” she said.

Route to greatness

Akiode who also
trod the same path en-route to becoming one of Nigeria’s best female
basketball players featuring at both the Olympics Games and World
Championships for the country, believes the girls are on a journey to
greatness.

“For me the key is
free education and an opportunity to expand their minds, change their
future and be anything they want to be. Basically, I think they can
gain everything,” she said.

For the girls who
interestingly were part of the Nigerian Junior women U-18 basketball
team, the Junior Tigress which recently secured a berth to the World
Championships scheduled to hold in Chile next year, it is a dream come
true.

“I have always
wanted to play basketball and study in America, I am very much excited
with this opportunity, and I hope to make the best use of this,” an
elated Uchendu said.

Both girls thanked Akiode, who they call Mo, and expressed confidence that their success will open doors for the other girls.

“It’s a once in a life time opportunity and we will not disappoint Mo for this chance and believe she has in us,” Ugoka said.

Multiple benefits

Coach of the Junior
Tigress team Adewumi Aderemi said the exposure the scholarship will
have a positive impact on the national team.

“I am very happy
with that, it’s a step in the right direction. I only hope they don’t
get carried away. Once they are focused out there, it would improve
their game and the country even stands to gain from that,” he said.

College basketball
is usually the prelude to a future career in the WNBA but Akiode,
herself a former college and WNBA star, hopes that more girls from her
foundation will be given opportunity to pursue not only a career in
basketball but also in academics.

“A career in
basketball is always a good way to have a positive impact in the
society but they cannot play basketball forever,” she said.

“By going to
college and earning a degree there’s that guarantee of a life after
basketball, and that is what I want for these girls.”

According to
Akiode, it was not just a stroll in park to secure both the scholarship
opportunity and the travelling documents for the girls.

“Visa and
documentation process is always difficult. But if you are legitimate
and the girls’ papers are legitimate then you just have to follow due
process and hope for the best.”

Sustaining Hope 4 Girls

The Hope 4 Girls basketball programme is in its second year with Ogun State and Lagos hosting the editions so far staged.

Fifty five girls
from within and outside Nigeria participated in the second edition of
the programme held in Lagos State. The edition, held some weeks back,
had been rounded off with an all-star match.

Unlike the first
edition made up solely of Nigerian girls, this year’s edition had seven
girls from neighbouring West African countries in attendance which to
Akiode is a testimony to the success of the programmes thus far.

Though happy with
the progress made thus far, Akiode appeals to more individuals,
corporate bodies and even the government for support.

“We are always looking to support girls and their education, but we
can’t do it alone its financially tasking and these girls without our
financial support would not be able to even pay for the flight. So we
need people to join and support us and help us help impact the lives of
many more to come.”