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Although his late
goal was responsible for securing a win for Birmingham City over
Arsenal on Sunday, Obafemi Martins has played down his new-found
legendary status by admitting he just wants to carry on scoring goals
for the Blues. The Super Eagles striker came off the substitutes’ bench
at London’s Wembley Stadium to score the match-winning goal that helped
the Blues win the Carling Cup, and in the process secure their first
piece of major silverware for 48 years.

The last time Birmingham City
won a major title was back in 1963 when they defeated fierce local
rivals Aston Villa 3-1 over two legs to claim the Carling Cup, which
back then was known as the Football League Cup. With just over six
minutes left until full time, and with Arsenal launching wave after
wave of attack on the Birmingham City defence line, Blues manager Alex
McLeish threw Martins into the fray. And it immediately paid off in the
89th minute as Martins latched onto a defensive mix-up by defender
Laurent Koscielny and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and coolly jabbed
the ball into a gaping net to spark wild celebrations among the over
30,000 Blues fans at the venue.

Birmingham will now
feature in next season’s Europa League while Martins, who has been at
Birmingham for only one month, looks set to be remembered as a Blues
legend with his name expected to go down in Blues folklore.

But the former
Inter Milan player who is currently on loan from Russia’s Rubin Kazan
insists it is his teammates who deserve all the credit for Sunday’s
shock victory over the Gunners.

“I don’t know that (I’m a legend now),” he told reporters. “I just want to play my football for the team.

He added: “It’s not
easy coming in when the team are doing well so they deserve all the
credit, they did well (on Sunday). I’m happy for the team and the
fans.” After celebrating his goal with an extravagant back-flipping
somersault, Martins almost scored again when he attempted to lob the
ball over Szczesny only to see the young Polish stopper block his
attempt. In the last minute of stoppage time Martins then rounded
Szczesny but failed to hit the back of the net with his speculative
effort.

Important and easy

However, his vital
goal was enough to secure a memorable victory for the Blues, and he
insists the strike is the most important of his career, as well as the
easiest he has ever scored.

“I have scored a
lot of important goals but since I was at Inter Milan this is the most
important because it won a trophy,” Martins continued.

He added: “I think this is the most easiest goal that I’ve ever scored in my career and it’s very important.

“I’m glad I scored
and we won — I’m very happy. The gaffer (McLeish) said to me I was
going to come on in the second half and I was going to try my best.

“The gaffer did it
right. I think it was my second touch. It seems easy, but I took my
time to score and I’m glad we won.” It was a header from giant striker
Nikola Zigic, who had earlier opened scoring for the Blues, that led to
the mix-up between Kocielny and Szczesny. Martins admitted he was
shocked to see the ball fall at his feet but his instinct for goals had
brought him to the right place at the right time.

“The chance came and I took my time,” he continued. “Sometimes as a
striker you just have to be there. You can never tell what might
happen.”

The battle by the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Aminu Maigari and other
elected members of the federation to remain in office will today resume
at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, as Justice Okon Abang will hear
arguments on the preliminary objection filed by the football officials
challenging the relist of a suit filed by the National Association of
Nigerian Footballers (NANF).

NANF had filed a
suit urging the court to stop the conduct of elections into the
executive board of the NFA last year on the ground that the process of
the election was perfected without recourse to its members and contrary
to FIFA statutes and other extant laws relating to football
administration in Nigeria.

Contrary to the
court order secured by NANF then, the elections went on with Aminu
Maigari emerging as the federation boss in polls conducted on August
26, 2010.

After series of
negotiations with the leadership of the NFF and other football
faithful, NANF agreed to discontinue its suit against the respondents
and opted for an out of court settlement. The Harrison Jalla led body
however relisted the suit last month citing breach of the agreement
earlier reached.

Justice Abang, it
would be recalled, had nullified elections that brought Maigari into
office as NFA president, on the ground that the elections were
conducted in flagrant disregard to a subsisting order of court that
parties should maintain status quo.

Last hearing

At the last hearing
on the case, lawyer to the NFA, Akin Olujimi (SAN) informed the court
of the preliminary objection to the relist of the matter, adding that
he had served the plaintiff with the objection.

Responding, NANF’s
lawyer, Bello Aideloje applied for adjournment on the ground that he
was just served with the objection and that he would need time to react
to it.

For the NFF, NANF
which is supposed to be a players’ welfare union is not a recognised
body neither by FIFA or FIPRO the world body for football players.

However, president
of NANF, Harrison Jalla said he is not bothered by the said
non-recognition by the international bodies as he reckoned that the
association is duly registered and recognised in Nigeria by the
relevant bodies.

While the legal
battle continues , FIFA through its Secretary General, Jerome Valcke
had warned that the world football governing body will not hesitate to
use the full weight of the law on Nigeria should the court disrupt the
smooth running of the NFF as presently constituted.

The
Shell sponsored Governor’s Cup football tournament, which ended in
Rivers State at the weekend, has been praised by three former members
of the Super Eagles for its quality.

One after the
other, former Eagles captain, Segun Odegbami, Henry Nwosu and John
Fashanu said after the match that the skills exhibited by the young
players indicate that the future of football in Nigeria lies at the
grassroots.

Odegbami, who in his days entertained football fans with his dribbles down the flanks said:

“First, the idea
is fantastic, secondly, it is at local government level which means we
are going to the grassroots and I was highly surprised to find the
quality of players and quality of football we saw today.

“In fact, I am
going to go out of my way to pass on the message to one or two people
in authority to invite one or two of them for trial at the national
team level that goes to show how impressed I am with what I saw today.
Technically, organisationally, I am impressed.”

Encouraging display

His teammate in the
Green Eagles and a former coach of the Golden Eaglets, Nwosu weighed in
noting that the display put up by the youngsters is encouraging: “I am
impressed with what I saw today (Saturday) most especially from the two
teams that I watched, they showed class, skills and discipline which is
very important. There are some budding talents among them that if
nurtured, they will go places in the nearest future,” he said.

For Fashanu, who
played his professional football in England, the players who featured
in the Shell Cup particularly in the final will excel globally if given
proper exposure.

The final match was
played between defending champions, Okrika and new comers, Obio Apkor
Local Government councils with Obio Akpor running away with a 3-1
victory.

Meanwhile, Shell
Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), sponsor of the
tournament has restated its commitment to continue sponsoring the event.

Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of the organisation who was pleased with the outcome of the tournament,

said: “Shell is
committed towards the development of grassroots football; I must
confess to you that this year’s game is one of the best I have watched.”

The
maiden edition of the South-East Cricket Championship for Anosike Cup
ended on Sunday February 27, at the Government Secondary School Owerri
where the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) Cricket Club emerged
victorious.

The University team defeated Unity Cricket Club of Awka, by just one run in a highly competitive 25 Overs.

The Anambra team
batted first scoring 97 runs for 9 wickets while the UNN team led by
the former Nigeria International, Jacob Onyechi levelled up at 24.2
Overs scoring 98 runs for 5 wickets.

The match was
described by the Chairman of the occasion, E.E. Njemanze, the Ozuruigbo
V of Owerri as challenging and entertaining. The former cricket player
described the match as tension soaked as the two teams fought to the
last minute. Njemanze afterwards encouraged the organisers to reach out
to other states of the South-East and the old Eastern region.

In his opening
speech, the sponsor of the Championship, Chuma Anosike thanked the
dignitaries and the participating teams: Unity Cricket Club of Awka,
from Anambra; Owerri Cricket Club, Imo and UNN Cricket Club, Enugu, for
their spirit of sportsmanship. He further called on all lovers of
Cricket in the country to support the growth of the game in the region.
He encouraged sponsors to team up as much as possible to make sure the
game is kept alive through sponsorship of tournaments.

While acknowledging
the co-sponsorship of Ekulo Group of companies who within the short
notice agreed to co- sponsor the tournament, Anosike also praised UAC
Foods for providing snacks during the entire duration of the tournament.

To qualify for the
final match, the Anambra team defeated Imo 86 runs to 83 runs in the
opening match but lost to UNN in their second match. In the final match
of the round-robin game, the Owerri team lost to UNN by two runs – 65
to 63 runs.

Joseph Agada of UNN
won the Bowler of the series Award, while Ugochukwu Umeh of Unity won
the Fielder of the series. Other awards like Wicket Keeper of the
series went to Okey Okeke of UNN while Chisom Adagu and Joseph Agada
won the Batsman and Man of the series Awards respectively. The
competition took place between February 25 and 27.

Tiger
Woods returned to competition at last week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play
Championship in the Arizona desert under increasing pressure to clean
up his game and his on-course demeanour.

Although he showed
distinct signs of improvement in the latter category, his week ended
abruptly when he was eliminated by Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn after 19
holes in the opening round.

It is now a distant
15 months since Woods last won a tournament anywhere in the world and
he would dearly love to end that barren run with the first major of the
year – the April 7-10 U.S. Masters – fast approaching.

Woods is a
four-time champion at Augusta National, the permanent home of the
Masters, and that venue offers him a comfort factor more than most
others.

However, there is
no doubt the American one has been totally frustrated by his inability
to string together four good rounds in one week while undergoing the
fourth swing change of his career.

Comfortably the
best player of his generation, he has struggled to regain his former
dominance after trying to repair his deteriorating marriage last year
and spending less time at practice than usual.

“Still in the
process, still working on it,” Woods said last week about the swing
changes he initiated with Canadian coach Sean Foley in August.

“That’s what I went
through with Hank (Haney) and went through with Butch (Harmon), he
added, referring to his previous swing coaches. “It took 18 months to a
couple of years.”

Erratic Play

Woods arrived at
Dove Mountain for last week’s Match Play event with renewed confidence
in his revamped swing after being blown off course at the Dubai Desert
Classic two weeks earlier.

“The game is
progressing, no doubt,” he said on the eve of the opening round. “Had
to work on a few things that we found were not right in Dubai, which
was good. And it feels like we’re heading in the right direction. Just
have to work on it and solidify it.” However, erratic play continued to
be the order of the day for the former world number one as he came from
two down after five holes to go one up after 12 before losing to Bjorn
on the 19th green.

“Disappointing,
very disappointing,” Woods said before heading home to Florida to
prepare for his next event, the March 10-13 WGC-Cadillac Championship
at Doral.

American television analyst, Johnny Miller, the 1976 British Open champion and U.S. Open winner in 1973, compared the downward spiral of Woods to the spectacular fall from grace by boxer Mike Tyson.

“It’s a little bit
like a Mike Tyson story to be honest with you,” Miller said in a Golf
Channel round-table discussion last week. “Sort of invincible, scared
everybody and performed quickly under pressure until Buster Douglas
came along. Tiger sort of hit that and it’s life. And his life
crumbled.” “It’s like Humpty Dumpty,” Miller added. “He was on a high
wall way above all the other players. He had a great fall and there are
pieces all over the place. He’s trying to put them together.

It’s a tough
thing.” Woods, a 14-times major champion, has not won a tournament
since the 2009 Australian Masters and he has slipped to number five in
the world – his lowest ranking since the week before he won the 1997
Masters.

On
Tuesday, the second day of the ongoing National Open Tennis
Championship, in Port Harcourt, an upset was recorded as unseeded
Kehinde Alade put an end to the journey of highly rated Destiny Da
Silva.

Sixth seeded Da
Silva could not withstand the fire power of Alade who beat the former
national champion in straight sets of 6-3, 6-4.

Speaking on his
victory, an excited Alade said: “I was hoping that I would be able to
beat him when I saw that I had been drawn to play him. However, I
decided that I was not going to allow his status to intimidate me.

“When I was able to
win the first set, I knew that I could end it by winning the second and
that was what I concentrated on.” In other matches decided on Tuesday,
Amidu Abdullahi beat Kunle Maku 6-1, 7-6, while the tournament’s fifth
seed Clifford Enosoregbe defeated Tyav Tyolumun 6-3, 6-0.

Aliyu Umar also
advanced to the next round, but required three sets 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 to
end the tournament aspiration of Etido Udofa, while Albert Bikom
defeated Chimezie Onyejiala 6-3, 6-4 to qualify for the next round.

In the women’s
category, tournament’s fifth seed, Blessing Samuel sent Bridget Chidi
out of the championship in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 while Anu Ayegbusi
advanced to the next round after her opponent, Ronke Akingbade was
forced to retire due to injury.

Both players were tied at one set apiece, 2-6, 6-3, prior to Ayegbusi’s retirement.

Aminat Quadri also
beat Ogechi Eze 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the next round while eight
seeded Nosa Esorae had it easy against Folarin Akosile in a game that
ended under an hour. She won 6-1, 6-1.

Women’s defending
champion, Chidi Abbah also had an easy ride to the next round as she
overcame Osaremen Airhumwumde in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.

Action continues
today with the commencement of the men’s and women’s doubles events. It
will however take a new format in accordance with the new regulations
of the National Tennis Federation.

Henceforth, players are to register separately to play in the
doubles events unlike in the past when a player is qualified to play in
the doubles as long as he or she is already in the singles draws.

Dwayne
Bravo’s injury could well turn out to be a veiled blessing for a West
Indies team which had to dump their original strategy for one which
recognised spinners’ enhanced role in the World Cup. Coach Ottis Gibson
has admitted that losing paceman Bravo last week through a knee injury
has upset the team’s original strategy built around the talismanic
player and fellow all-rounders Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard.

“With him missing,
it gives us an opportunity to perhaps re-think whether we need another
batsman at six and perhaps an extra bowler,” Gibson said before
Monday’s match against the Netherlands.

“Hopefully, the
next team will reflect our new thinking.” This conspicuous shift in
strategy for a team which based its 1975 and 1979 Cup-winning sides on
its long-standing pace heritage is a direct result of Bravo’s injury
and no wonder Gibson preferred to call it an “opportunity”.

Mirroring the “new
thinking”, Pollard was promoted in the batting order, senior players
like Chris Gayle were asked to shoulder more responsibility and more
emphasis was put on the slow bowlers by drafting in left-arm spinner
Nikita Miller for the 215-run win against the Dutch.

They also decided
to fly in uncapped Guyanese leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo as Bravo’s
replacement, realising a thin spin resource would seriously compromise
any bowling attack on the subcontinent’s dust bowls.

Augur well

All these augur
well for a side that is out to convince the sceptics that the West
Indies are not past their pomp and that it is premature to group them
with the whipping boys of international cricket — such as the non-test
playing Dutch. The manner of the victory was as significant as the
margin and West Indies went into the match with a specific plan their
upstart Dutch opponents had no answer to. Not even Kemar Roach’s
sensational six-wicket haul, including the 2011 World Cup’s first
hat-trick to wrap up the Netherlands’ innings, is likely to sway the
West Indies’ new-found belief in the spinners’ enhanced role. Gayle’s
batting philosophy was a revelation as the left-hander allowed Devon
Smith to dominate their century partnership, a rare restraint from a
man who otherwise loathes playing second fiddle. Pollard’s promotion in
the batting order also paid dividends with the all-rounder celebrating
it with a 27-ball 60 that took them past the 300-mark. The team also
placed faith in Sulieman Benn, opening the attack with the spinner — a
ploy which was a novelty in 1992 when New Zealand captain Martin Crowe
tried it but commonplace in this tournament. In contrast, the
Netherlands will be wondering what went wrong after a near fairytale
outing against England last Tuesday which they only lost with eight
balls to spare. Their bowling was never anything to write home about
and their batting came unstuck against Roach’s pace and Benn’s spin.
Their fielding was sloppy and the overall approach suggested a drop in
their intensity having given their best against England. Dutch skipper
Peter Borren summed it up best when asked whether inserting West Indies
at Feroz Shah Kotla was a good idea.

“If we are going to bat and bowl and field as poorly as we did
today, it actually makes no difference if we bat or field first,” he
responded.

Birmingham
City’s Carling Cup hero, Obafemi Martins appears set to make a return
to Russia’s Rubin Kazan come the end of the English season as it has
emerged that the Blues are yet to tie up a deal for the Nigerian
striker.

Martins, who
grabbed the vital cup winning goal for Birmingham in last Sunday’s 2-1
victory over Arsenal at London’s Wembley Stadium, left the Russian
outfit in January to pen a short-term loan deal with the Premier League
outfit. He etched his name into Birmingham folklore following his cup
winning heroics, and having helped the Blues end their long wait for a
major trophy, he had hoped that he would be offered the opportunity to
extend his time in the English top flight. That however appears to be a
far-off dream for the former Inter Milan and Newcastle United player as
he has been warned by Rubin that he is expected back in Russia at the
end of the English season. Earlier reports suggested that the Blues had
completed a £5million deal with Rubin to make the 26-year-old’s move to
Saint Andrew’s permanent.

No agreement

But according to
Rubin’s coach, Kurban Berdyev, no agreement has been struck to take
Martins back to the Premier League on a permanent basis, and insists he
expects Martins to report back for duty at his parent club when his
deal runs out in the summer. “Martins left Rubin for family reasons. He
has a son and we agreed he will stay close with his family until the
summer and then return to Kazan. We have not received any official
offers,” Berdyev told Championnat.ru.

Martins hasn’t had the best of times in the Russian top flight since
joining from Germany’s Wolfsburg last July for almost £7million. Prior
to joining the Blues in January, the Nigerian international managed to
score only two goals for the Russian giants in 17 appearances most of
which were as a substitute. It was a far cry from a player who earned a
reputation as a proven goalscorer at his previous club sides. He
nevertheless still has a further two-and-a-half years left on his
contract with the Russian side to prove his critics wrong. However, his
exit from Rubin could be hastened if the club manage to sign a new
striker before the Russian transfer window closes on March 10, with
Tottenham’s Roman Pavlyuchenko at the top of their wish list.

President
of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Aminu Maigari has vowed to
revoke the licence of Pius Oleh, the FIFA agent who helped to arrange
the United States President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer Tournament.

The Super Eagles
were billed to take part in the four-nation tournament, also known as
the Green Bowl Soccer Tournament, involving the national teams of
Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica. They were already in the United States
of America (USA) before receiving news of the postponement of the
tournament.

The Super Eagles,
made up entirely of players from the Nigerian domestic league, returned
home on Monday while the NFF is exploring ways at getting an expense
refund as well as compensation from Oleh, whom they have also
threatened to report to FIFA.

But the NFF isn’t
going to stop at just reporting Oleh to FIFA as they are also keen to
see his license revoked by the Switzerland based body.

In a telephone
conversation with NEXT, Maigari declared that the NFF is not taking the
issue lightly and were going to see the matter to the very end.

“We have set
machinery in motion and we want FIFA to investigate the organiser of
the tournament and to also have his license, which he is using to
parade about as a FIFA agent, revoked,” he said.

He added: “We
trusted him implicitly and we did not expect such from him.” Speaking
on why he was accorded such trust, Maigari explained that: “In football
circles, in as much as you come and tell people that you are licensed
by FIFA, UEFA or any of these bodies that regulate the sport, we do not
think of checking out if the signature is correct or not especially if
the agent is already known to some people.” The Nigerian delegation for
the tournament, made up of 20 players and nine officials had already
touched down in Dallas, Texas on last Thursday morning before it was
made known to them that the tournament had been put off for two weeks.

Asked if the Super
Eagles would honour the new date that has been set, Maigari was
vehement in saying that the NFF is no longer interested in sending
another delegation to the United States.

“To us, the
tournament is nonexistent. We do not even want to have anything to do
with people who organise things in such ways,” he continued.

“Already, our
players are back home. Where do we place the unnecessary expense? We
are just sorry we wasted the time of those players.” He added.

Government demands explanation

Meanwhile, Sports Minister, Taoheed Adedoja is demanding an explanation from the NFF over the botched tournament.

According to Laja
Akintayo, the minister’s special assistant, Adedoja is seeking for
clarification as to how and why the national team and the entire
country were exposed to the embarrassment.

“The minister is
miffed about the whole saga,” Akintayo said. “He has invited Maigari
and his people for a meeting and wants to know the circumstances
surrounding the botched match and why the team was stranded in the US.

“The organisers
have embarrassed the government and people of Nigeria. The minister is
utterly disappointed with the turn of events and has called for details
in order to prevent future occurrence.” NEXT learnt that, Adedoja, who
also made the trip to the United States for the invitational
tournament, has summoned Maigari and other members of the NFF’s
executive committee to a meeting to know the financial details of the
postponed tournament.

NEXT also learnt
that a query was issued to the NFF on Monday demanding that the
federation explain before the close of work on Wednesday the
circumstance surrounding the botched tournament.

In the letter
signed on behalf of Adedoja by Alhassan Yakmut, the sports ministry
expressed dismay at the way the NFF handled the situation while also
ordering the football federation to give full details of the entire
saga.

West
Ham United climbed off the bottom of the Premier League with an
uplifting and well-deserved 3-1 home win over Liverpool on Sunday. West
Ham went ahead after 22 minutes with a superb goal by Scott Parker as
the England midfielder played a one-two with Thomas Hitzlsperger before
placing a shot beyond Pepe Reina.

They doubled their lead at the end of the first half when Demba Ba headed in a Gary O’Neil cross.

Liverpool struggled
to get control and managed only one goal in reply when Glen Johnson
tapped in a cross-shot by Luis Suarez four minutes from time.

West Ham had the final say though when Carlton Cole blasted in their third in stoppage time.

The victory took
West Ham to 28 points and above Wigan Athletic and West Bromwich Albion
and completed a good week after they thrashed Burnley 5-1 on Monday to
reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

It was sixth-placed
Liverpool’s first defeat in eight league games and, following a 1-1
home draw with Wigan after five straight wins, severely dents their
outside hopes of snatching a Champions League place.

Manchester United, who beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 on Saturday, lead the standings on 60 points, four clear of Arsenal.