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The co-ordinator of
the Collin Edwin U-13 Youth Football Championship, Ossy Nwokobia, has
expressed satisfaction at the successful organisation of the just
concluded tournament. He said: “We are both happy and surprised at the
turn up. You know this is the first time we tried something like this
and we have been encouraged.” He has also expressed hope that
sponsorship would come from corporate bodies, so that the development
of sports at the grassroots will continue.

BRF fall by at the semi final

The quarter-final
match of the U-13 Youth Foot ball Championship between BRF FA and
Odofin FA started at about 10 am on Friday. BRF were the better side
with well coordinated passes and beautiful team work. With their no. 11
shirt, Solaja and their goal scorer, Oladele Hakeem in form, it was
expected that it would be a goals galore but it was not to be so
because Odofin FA were also up to the task as throughout the first
half, they gave their opponents no chance to score.

Five minutes into
the second half, Oladele Hakeem was able to find the net and score
their first goal. Fifteen minutes later, Rilwan Aroworanwon made it 2-0
and five minutes to the end of the game Olusola Balogun made it three
goals to nothing.

The BRF team was
not able to take their scoring form to the semi-finals which took place
on Saturday. They had been deemed to be the tournaments’ favourites and
commentators had predicted that they would win the Cup but it was not
to be so.

They were stopped
by Soccer Pro FC who beat BRF FA 5-3 on penalties. BRF played New
Generation FC for third place. In the first half, only one goal was
scored in favour of New Generation FC by Awolesi Quadri. BRF equalised
in the 25th minutes. There were further goals in the second half but
the game was decided by penalties. New Generation won 5-4 to claim
third place.

Soccer Pro prove bookmakers wrong

In the final match,
Soccer Pro FC came from behind to win the tournament. Weekend Soccer
Academy took the lead in the first half to and ended the first half
1-0. They also scored early in the second half but Soccer Pro responded
with two goals to equalise and made it 2-2. The decider, however, came
in the 75th when Raimi Oloye converted a free kick to goal. Speaking on
the victory of his team, Coach Obinna of Soccer Pro FA said: “Today am
happy that we’ve made history, we lost our second game in the group
stage but we were able to bounce back, I had the premonition that we
will win this cup and I thank God that we were able to execute our
match strategy and came out victorious.” Obinna attributed the victory
of his side to his players being very hardworking and dedicated.

Apart from the trophy won by Soccer Pro FA, Loveworld FA emerged as
the best team of the tournament, while Lasisi Wale of New Generation
emerged the Most Valuable Player. Tajudeen Musa of BRF won the Golden
Glove award and Hakeem Olabinjo also of BRF emerged as the highest goal
scorer after scoring 7 goals.

Athletes from the
south-west states of Oyo, Osun, and Ondo, have intensified preparations
ahead of the Special Olympics Nigeria (SONigeria) National Games
scheduled for September at the University of Lagos Sports Complex.

The states, which
will be representing the south-west region at the championship, have
been preparing to be in top shape for the championship which will also
serve as the selection point for the nation’s contingent to the 2011
World Summer Games holding in Athens, Greece. With support from the
State Universal Basic Education Board, the Oyo State government has
organized a four-day training camp for the nine athletes expected to
represent the state at the tourney in Lagos. Commenting on the
preparations of its contingent for the games, the Oyo State
Commissioner for Sports, Joseph Makanjuola, said: “The state is poised
for a good outing in Lagos. Our target is to cart away many gold medals
in table tennis, badminton and athletics and top the medals table.”

Also, the coordinator of Osun and Ondo States, Kehinde Ogunbiyitan,
believes the 17 athletes from the two states will prove a point at the
games. “The preparation of Osun and Ondo teams for the national games
is to a great extent at the peak,” he said. “Osun will present 12
athletes, while Ondo has five. Osun is targeting at least five gold
medals, while Ondo is targeting at least three gold medals.” While Osun
is banking on events like 100metres, badminton and female soccer, Ondo
State which will be giving full sponsorship to its athletes as
incentive, is eyeing top honours in table tennis, shot-put, discuss and
the walking events.

Nigeria’s female U-20 football team, Falconets, arrived the
Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos last night to a heroic
reception by fans, and travelers.

The team, which arrived the country at about 8.30pm via
Lufthansa and KLM flights, spent over two hours inside the terminal, clearing
their luggage and attending to other undisclosed activities, before coming out
to be received by supporters.

Members of the Nigerian Association of Women In Sports,
officials of TomTom, and the Supporters Club as well as family and friends of
the players danced and sang victory songs at the airport, while awaiting the
arrival of the team, which won the Silver medal at the U-20 World Cup in
Germany.

Taiwo Odebunmi, an NFF board member who accompanied the
Falconets to Germany for the competition, said Nigerian youth are capable of
making the country proud, if they are given the necessary support.

“We are grateful to God for taking us this far, and we
also appreciate the president of our country for his support, because this
shows that we still have dedicated youths in Nigeria that can make us proud
when the time calls for it provided they are given all the requested
assistance,” he said.

Mr Odebunmi also said the tournament has given the ladies
“fulfilling exposure,” and that they will be groomed to become the country’s
future senior females team, the Super Falcons.

Comparing the recent performance of the country’s
national senior boys team, the Super Eagles, to that of the Falconets, Mr
Odebunmi, said Nigeria failed to achieve success in South Africa because of the
over dependence on old players.

“The problem we have with the Super Eagles is that we
rely so much on the old players forgetting that there are youths within and
outside Nigeria that are hungry to become famous just like these girls,” he
said.

Former World Boxing
Council (WBC) heavy weight champion, Samuel ‘the Nigerian nightmare’
Peter, is confident his upcoming fight against three times world
heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, will not last the distance.

Peter, who lost his
WBC crown to the older of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, in Berlin,
Germany, back in October 2008, had in September 2005 fought against
Wladimir in an elimination bout for the International Boxing Federation
(IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) world titles.

The Nigerian,
however, lost the bout on points, despite knocking Wladimir down on
three separate occasions over the course of the 12 round contest.

That inherently
makes the September 11 rematch in Germany one of the more interesting
fights that can be made in the heavyweight division, especially since
Wladimir has not been involved in a tough fight ever since their 2005
bout.

Five years in the making

It’s almost five
years since Peter’s painful loss to Wladimir in Atlantic City and the
Nigerian now has a chance to get back at the Ukrainian for inflicting
what, back then, was his first career loss. He has promised his fans
that “it’s going to be a short night” this time around.

“You are going to
see a very good exciting fight this time around,” said Peter. “No
bullshit, I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I know my fans are going to be
really happy with me this time around because it’s going to be a short
night.”

Following his loss
to Vitali, Peter went on to suffer defeat at the hands of Eddie
Chambers in March 2009, but returned with a bang afterwards by
recording four straight wins, with the longest of them lasting just
four rounds, against journeyman, Gabe Brown, in September 2009.

The underdog

Irrespective of
that, Peter will be coming into the bout against Wladimir as the
underdog. He, however, insisted he is not bothered by that.

“I like when people keep on thinking like that because some people, they are thinking with their legs,” he said.

“They are not
thinking with their heads or brains. They don’t see what I see. They
don’t know what I know. Let them keep on thinking. I love that,” added
Peter, who then went ahead to boast that he would be prepared to give
Wladimir the opportunity of fighting him all over again right after
their upcoming rematch.

“Definitely,”
exclaimed Peter. “Even that same night, they better be ready because
it’s not going to be long. I would still beat him again that same
night,” said Peter, who represented Nigeria at the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games.

Wladimir, a gold
medallist at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, hasn’t lost since his April
2004 loss to Lamon Brewster, and knocked out Chambers in his last title
defence in March this year.

He, however,
admitted in a recent interview that he will be prepared for the
hardhitting Nigerian by the time they meet in Frankfurt next month.

“The first fight
against Samuel was one of the hardest combats in my career. He is a
hard puncher who developed further. I know what to expect at the 11th
of September, but I will be prepared,” Wladimir said.

Austin Okocha,
popularly called ‘Jay Jay’, will have to wait a bit more until the
general congress holds in Abuja to know if he is to represent Delta
State on the new Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board.

The reason is that
the much anticipated election of the Delta State Football Association
(DFA) to select its representative for the forthcoming elections was
cancelled due to the new decision of the electoral committee of the NFF.

According to the
chairman of the DFA, Amaju Pinnick, the decision to shelve the election
had to be taken by the board, so as not to be seen to be going against
the rules and guidelines pertaining to the elections.

He added that the
board got a new instruction from the NFF electoral committee that all
persons interested in taking part in the elections should move to
Abuja, where the general congress will then nominate those who will be
on the new NFF board.

Possessing good character traits

While commending
both Okocha and Collins Eselemo for conducting themselves in a
responsible manner, Pinnick urged them to continue to exhibit such
traits if and when they eventually get on the board of the NFF,
assuring them of the total support of the DFA to their cause.

Meanwhile, the
board of the DFA has disclosed that plans are underway to host players
of Delta Queens Football Club of Asaba, who were part of the Falconets’
team that did the country proud at the just concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s
World Cup in Germany.

The board disclosed
that the players have truly done not only the state proud, but have
also shown the talents in the Delta Queens Football Club and as such,
deserve to be hosted as worthy ambassadors of the state.

The DFA said plans
for the hosting would soon be made public so that the true hospitality
of Delta State being the number one state in sports in the country
would be displayed.

Five players from
the state-owned Delta Queens FC were part of the silver winning
Falconets. They are: Captain Joy Jegede, Helen Ukaonu, Rebecca Kalu,
Desire Oparanozie, and Osinachi Ohale.

Nigeria’s U-19
cricket team returned from Swaziland on Sunday to a moderate reception
organised by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) at the Tafawa Balewa
Square (TBS), Lagos.

The team defeated
Gambia, Rwanda, hosts Swaziland, and Mozambique to qualify for the
final round of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier that will take place in
Namibia from August 28, 2010.

The Nigerian lads
will play against the best cricket nations in Africa. To make it to the
world stage, the team will have to beat Sierra Leone, Zambia, Tanzania,
Botswana and Kenya.

At a reception
organised for the team, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation,
Kwesi Sagoe said the majority of cricket enthusiasts in the country are
happy with their performance in Swaziland. “You have done the country
proud with your performance on and off the field. This is a wonderful
performance and I believe you will form the nucleus of the senior
national team in the next two years or so,” he said.

Getting ready for Namibia

Sagoe, however,
warned the team that the real journey had just begun, and that they
still have to go all out to get the World Cup ticket. He also promised
that the federation will do everything in its power to motivate the
team by providing all the logistics to ensure qualification.

According to him,
the team would go on a week recess and resume for a closed camping
exercise in Lagos from August 10-19.The team will later camp in South
Africa for one week to acclimatise and get additional training before
hitting Namibia for the World Cup.

Nigeria came back from Swaziland with many awards such as the Best
Bowler of the tournament won by Adeniran Olumide; Best Batsman by James
Chukwu, who scored 103 runs against Mozambique; Man of the Series,
Olumide Adeniran with a total of 180 runs in all his innings and so
many man of the match awards. They were later rewarded with undisclosed
cash prizes by the president.

Watching a
happy-sounding Danny Jordaan’s interview after delivering what many
foreign journalists said was impossible, a successful world cup finals
and the first on African soil, I was so proud of him.

According to him “I
told you way back in 2004 when South Africa won the bid to host the
2010 FIFA World Cup finals that “only God could stop us hosting the
best World Cup ever. I am delighted with the way the tournament was run
both on and off the field. It was a tremendous advert for South Africa
and Africa and shows that this continent can succeed in hosting the
biggest sporting event in history. It was a stunning achievement and
one we as a nation can be rightly proud of”.

In fact, when I
heard a couple of days ago that Jordaan, the former LOC head for South
Africa 2010 had joined the FIFA World Cup inspection team to run the
rule over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues in Australia, Japan,
Russia, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and the United
States I wasn’t surprised. I was really happy for him to have been
rewarded for his brilliance in this manner.

It was indeed the
best World Cup ever with the third highest attendance in the history of
the tournament. I dare say it couldn’t have been any better than it was
and I am yet to hear one negative comment about the month long event.

It was overwhelming, and for me, a once in a life time experience.

Shame on Charles Dempsey

Sure we all
remember in 2000 the man from Oceania who was directed by his region to
vote for South Africa to host the tournament in 2006. Dempsey decided
to abstain and thereby, by that one vote tilted the balance in favour
of Germany.

By 2006 every
continent had hosted the World Cup except Africa and with that decision
in Zurich in 2000; it meant Africa continued to be seen as the
“hopeless continent”. It might have been a blessing in disguise because
that outcome confirmed exactly what we sought to bring to an end; the
confinement of Africa and Africans to the periphery of human society.
Though South Africa had to wait for four years, it was well worth the
wait for the continent as a whole.

While I was proud
to be African based on the success of the event, I also harboured a
tiny bit of jealousy. I couldn’t stop thinking about my dear country,
the “giant of Africa”, wondering if my generation will ever witness
Nigeria successfully hosting an event of that magnitude. Thankfully our
officials were there and saw for themselves. Will they learn from the
South African experience? My faith tells me YES! My head tells me NO!
Most probably because their next priority seems to be to buy houses in
the rainbow nation, following the trend of past leaders. Perhaps we got
our independence too soon and maybe easily.

Post World Cup withdrawal syndrome

People feel South
African’s may not be able to deal with the “withdrawal syndrome”
post-World Cup. On the contrary, I think it is time for them to shine.
We can see that the World Cup forged some unity across political lines
and a remarkable display of patriotism across the racial divide. And as
President Zuma said, “South Africa is in the marketing mood, explore
the opportunities, find new partners and see the return on your
investments. We are blowing our vuvuzelas and encouraging the world to
partner with us as we build a better Africa”. There’s hardly anyone I
know who was at the World Cup that doesn’t intend to go back to South
Africa.

South Africa has
proven the Afro-pessimist who thought we will fail wrong. The success
of the World Cup has helped Africa regain her pride as equal members of
the human society.

No doubt, the
tournament united Africa and we saw the support the Ghanaian team got
when they faced Uruguay in the quarter final. I hope that this will
continue to unite us not just on the field of play but in all aspects.

And like former
president Thabo Mbeki said, “For us our success in hosting the World
Cup means Africa is well poised to continue its renaissance, hopefully
supported by the rest of humanity. Africa must therefore proceed from
the playing fields to claim the 21st century and liberate itself from
the weight of centuries of the denial of human dignity”.

Well done South Africa, well done Africa!

Nigeria’s Falconets
will be treated to a grand reception by the presidency today following
their historic second place finish at the just concluded FIFA Under 20
Women’s World Cup in Germany.

The Falconets, who
went all the way to the final of the tournament before losing to the
hosts, despite starting the tournament as rank outsiders, arrived Lagos
on Monday from Germany to a warm welcome at the Murtala Muhamed
International Airport. They were met on arrival by an appreciative
crowd that included the wife of the Lagos State governor, Abimbola
Fashola, and other state officials. They were expected to spend the
night in Lagos before departing for Abuja on Tuesday morning for the
reception which NEXT gathered has been planned in their honour by the
wife of the Nigerian president, Patience Jonathan.

Surpassing expectations

The Falconets
surpassed the expectations of Nigerians by going beyond the quarter
finals at the U-20 Women’s World Cup; a feat they had failed to achieve
at their previous four tournament appearances. Their quarter final
victory over defending champions, United States of America, was
arguably the biggest upset in the history of the women’s game, and
prevented the Americans from making it to the last four of the global
tourney for the first time in their history. It was also the first
appearance for an African team in the last four of a global football
tournament. However, the Falconets didn’t stop at that, as they went on
to defeat tournament debutants, Colombia, in the semi finals to set up
a dream final with the Germans who had practically destroyed every team
they came up against over the course of the tournament to confirm their
pre-tournament favourites tag.

They even destroyed
another pre-tournament favourites South Korea 5-1 in the semi-finals
but met stiff resistance in the form of the Falconets in the final. A
goal inside the opening 10 minutes by the tournament’s top scorer,
Alexandra Popp, and an own goal late in the game, gave the Germans
victory against the Falconets who look set to form the backbone of the
Super Falcons side expected to qualify for next year’s Women’s World
Cup, also to be hosted by Germany, at the end of the African Women’s
Championships coming up in October in South Africa.

Goodies from sponsors

In a related
development, the official candy of Nigeria’s national teams, TomTom,
has congratulated the Falconets on putting up a good fight in the
final. TomTom, which has been rewarding all the national teams since
signing on as the official candy in 2008, is also giving the Falconets
$250 for each shot they hit on target over the course of the
tournament.

The Falconets were credited with 46 shots on target in
Germany, and as a result stand to earn the sum of $11,500 from the
candy company.

Austin Okocha,
popularly called ‘Jay Jay’, will have to wait a bit more until the
general congress holds in Abuja to know if he is to represent Delta
State on the new Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board.

The reason is that
the much anticipated election of the Delta State Football Association
(DFA) to select its representative for the forthcoming elections was
cancelled due to the new decision of the electoral committee of the NFF.

According to the
chairman of the DFA, Amaju Pinnick, the decision to shelve the election
had to be taken by the board, so as not to be seen to be going against
the rules and guidelines pertaining to the elections.

He added that the
board got a new instruction from the NFF electoral committee that all
persons interested in taking part in the elections should move to
Abuja, where the general congress will then nominate those who will be
on the new NFF board.

Possessing good character traits

While commending
both Okocha and Collins Eselemo for conducting themselves in a
responsible manner, Pinnick urged them to continue to exhibit such
traits if and when they eventually get on the board of the NFF,
assuring them of the total support of the DFA to their cause.

Meanwhile, the
board of the DFA has disclosed that plans are underway to host players
of Delta Queens Football Club of Asaba, who were part of the Falconets’
team that did the country proud at the just concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s
World Cup in Germany.

The board disclosed
that the players have truly done not only the state proud, but have
also shown the talents in the Delta Queens Football Club and as such,
deserve to be hosted as worthy ambassadors of the state.

The DFA said plans
for the hosting would soon be made public so that the true hospitality
of Delta State being the number one state in sports in the country
would be displayed.

Five players from
the state-owned Delta Queens FC were part of the silver winning
Falconets. They are: Captain Joy Jegede, Helen Ukaonu, Rebecca Kalu,
Desire Oparanozie, and Osinachi Ohale.

Enyimba FC will try
to re-enact another ‘Miracle of Damman’ today in Aba as they face the
daunting task of reversing a 4-0 loss to Zanaco suffered two weeks ago
in Zambia. In 1989, the Flying Eagles overturned a 4-0 deficit to the
former USSR, drew the match to 4-4 and then won on penalties. A
comeback of that proportion is what the Aba Millionaires will be hoping
to enact today at their fortress, the Enyimba International Stadium.
The match is the Second leg 1/8th round match of the Orange CAF
Confederation Cup before the lucrative mini-group stage.

Two-time African
champions; Enyimba will need at least a five goal margin for an
outright win or four goals to even the score line, and for the team’s
captain, Okey Odita both options are possible.

“Nothing is
impossible in football. It’s a herculean task but also achievable. We
are definitely going to make Nigeria proud by qualifying to the
mini-league stage,” assured the defender.

Taking by surprise

Odita, who was used
as a substitute during Enyimba’s loss to the Zambian side, said in an
interview on the club’s website that the team was caught unawares in
Lusaka.

“Zanaco have had
their day. In fact, they caught us napping when we were not ourselves
but I’m very confident that if they can score four goals in the first
half, then nothing says they cannot concede five goals within the same
first half.” The central defender further reminded the Zambians and
everyone that may have written Enyimba off to note that history favours
his side to stage a comeback, having done that twice so far in the
Confederation Cup.

“With all due
respect to Zanaco, I and my colleagues are united in saying that they
will fall here in Aba. We cannot come this far only for Zanaco to shut
us out,” Odita said.

“We have our pride
and pedigree to stage a big comeback and nothing can be better than
now. Enyimba have been champions before and have the zeal. With God on
our side, we will prevail,” he concluded.

The “People’s
Elephant” as the club nicknamed have been invincible at their Aba
fortress, and Odita predicts another surprise is in the offing.

A similar situation

The recently
crowned Nigerian champions have found themselves in similarly tight
situations as these and they had to overturn a 0-3 loss to AS Vita Club
of DR Congo in the first leg of the previous phase of the competition
to march on 6-5 after penalties, this kind of feat Odita maintains is
replicable.

“Most people ruled
us out after that loss in Congo but we came back to show the stuff we
are made of. Though I am not too happy that we are back in similar
situation almost immediately, we know what is at stake and we are ready
to give our best to move on again,” he said.

Enyimba on course

On his own
admission Chairman of the club, Felix Anyansi feels his team is not new
to this type of situation and cited the 6-1 loss they suffered against
Ismaily in Egypt some years back but then went ahead to win the CAF
Champions League trophy.

He said the players were now more committed to the team than they were two weeks ago when they travelled to Zambia.

“We in Enyimba
have erased the word impossibility from our dictionary long time ago
and this philosophy has seen us through and this match against Zanaco
cannot be an exception. ‘We are the architects of this situation we
find ourselves, but I am happy that the boys have woken up from their
slumber.

“I have always
believed that we have the best legs in the continent of Africa, which
saw us win the Premier League recently and qualify for the final of
Federation Cup. “What we need is discipline and commitment from the
players.

“I want to ask our supporters to come out en-masse to support us on Sunday” he said.

The coach of the team Okey Emordi told supporters to expect a better performance from his players.

Emordi, who decided
to wield the big stick by turning back players that decided to stroll
into camp days after opening of the exercise prior to their first leg
tie says the players have turned a new leaf.

“We have no problem
in the camp now; all the players are in high spirit as they have all
resolved to make the fans happy and make it to the next stage. We want
Nigerians to pray for the team to succeed,” he said.

Enyimba have their eyes on treble, they have been crowned champions
in the NPL and have also qualified for the finals of the Federation Cup
while also hoping to add the Confederations Cup title to the trophy
cabinet.