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Football academies
are seen as avenues where football potential can be developed , and in
Nigeria , they run into hundreds. Best known among them are the Kwara
Football Academy, which once had the former Super Eagles coach, Clemens
Westerhof as its technical adviser and the Pepsi Football Academy, which
currently has about 3,000 students and has been able to produce Eagles
players like Mikel Obi, Osaze Odemwingie, Joseph Akpala, Elderson
Echejile to mention but a few.

About two weeks ago,
Paul Hamilton, former Nigerian International who also is the proprietor
of the Weekend Soccer Academy expressed dismay at the speed at which
football academies are proliferating around the country without caution.
The former coach of the Super Eagles and Super Falcons went on to say
that if left unchecked this trend could lead to a decline in the value
of the products gotten from the academies.

A place to discover talents

Speaking with Iain
Nelson, a consultant with the Pepsi Football Academy established in 1992
under the leadership of Kashimawo Laloko, he revealed that though the
Academy started as a marketing strategy of Pepsi, it has come to mean a
lot to the youth in Nigeria. “With Pepsi however, there is the
additional opportunity to go on to win scholarships abroad and play
football while they study, something that may have never happened if
they were somewhere else. One thing about football academies generally
is that it is a place where talents are discovered.”

This assertion may
not be farther from the truth. During the 2009 edition of the FIFA U17
World Cup that was held in Nigeria, it was discovered that a majority of
the players were picked from football academies which even had no
prominence or popularity. A lot of these academies are privately owned
and it is the joy of the financiers and proprietors that the players in
their team are given the opportunities to showcase their talent.

Joy Etim, a former
assistant coach with the Super Falcons speaks on how she started her
academy, Puma Football Academy. “After I got my coaching certificate and
did not get a job in the sports ministry, I decided to create a job for
myself, by coaching secondary schools. Later I thought about it that
not all the children walking on the street would have the opportunity to
go to the schools where I coach, so I decided start the academy. We
have a boy’s team and a girl’s team and some of them have graduated into
clubs for seniors also run by her.

Love for what you do

She speaks on her
love for what she does, “The effort it takes to manage the academy is
not easy but I see these children as my own. Not all of them would have
the opportunity to go to school but in the academies, you are able to
have a kind of influence in their lives and impact them in a positive
way, on and off the pitch.” Another coach, Samson Famose, proprietor of
Akinola Football Academy says he started his academy because of his love
for children. “Every time I see these boys loitering around the area
doing nothing ,I bring them together in the evenings to just play
football.” Famose who started his academy with just five children now
has over 50 of them enrolled in his academy.

Ossy Nwokeabia,
proprietor of Collin Edwin Global Sport Limited, a company that
organises local tournaments says that football academies are the bedrock
of sports in the grassroots. “Though I do not have a club personally, I
have friends who have them and I tell you if the youth have not playing
together as a team, how will they come together for competitions.
Besides when scouts come looking for young players, that is the first
place they go to.” Etim agrees with this assertion.

“When scouts come
over to Nigeria, they get in touch with people who have academies. Just
recently, I had one person come that said he wanted to get athletes. I
refused to help him pick them because he was getting them for the
national team of a West African country.”

Made fit for life

Apart from being an
avenue to showcase talent, Etim said, it helps give the children a form
of stability. “It is an avenue to at least take them off the streets,
even those who are not on the street may have some sort of problem, and
our academy tries to make them feel at home. You know there are times
that as a coach you do the work of a psychologist, parent, advisor etc.

Nelson also agrees
that though the first reason for creating a football academy is to groom
talent, he believes that stay of the child in such a group does more.
“One benefit of this is that the kids get to grow up in a very
structured environment where they are taught discipline because to be
sincere with you, not all of them would grow to become the next Mikel
Obi. But you would have at least instilled in them something that they
get to live with for the rest of their lives.”

For football
academies to reach their highest potential however, Nwokeabia has said
there is the need for the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to have
impute. “The work that the coaches are doing is good but it is important
that tournaments should be organised for the academies, like
inter-academy competition, maybe regionally and then the best in the
regions would face each other in a national final. Most of the
opportunities they have to participate in tournament is by virtue of the
tournament organised by private hands which may be not have a wide
reach like the NFF but if the Federation is able to organise
competitions that would have a wider reach then it would be better for
our football here in Nigeria.

Manchester City will
today continue with their quest to secure a berth into next season’s
UEFA Champions League with a game against Fulham at the City of
Manchester Stadium. Their current position on the Premier League
standings guarantees them a historic spot in next season’s competition
but they will go a long way in further cementing that fact if they
emerge victorious at the end of today’s tie against a side managed by
their former boss Mark Hughes.

And that looks
likely to be the case if one considers the fact that the visitors from
London have won just six times in 25 league visits to Eastlands.
However, Fulham’s recent record at Manchester City has been quite
impressive with three wins, three draws and only two defeats in eight
Premier League visits with their most recent result being a 2-2 draw in
last season’s campaign when they had to come from a two-goal deficit to
claim a remarkable draw thanks to a 68th minute equaliser from Clint
Dempsey. But that aside, they face a Manchester City side who ran out
4-1 winners last time both sides met in November at Craven Cottage
courtesy of goals from Yaya Toure,

Pablo Zabaleta and
Carlos Tevez, who grabbed a brace, with Zoltan Gera claiming a
consolation goal for the home side on that occasion.

Also, they face a
Manchester City side that has, in keeping with the defensive policy of
their Italian manager Roberto Mancini, kept 12 clean sheets in this
season’s Premier League.

Although, their last
outing in the league saw them go down 2-1 to Manchester United at Old
Trafford, City will be buoyed by more encouraging results in the FA Cup
and Europa League that have followed.

Last weekend they
walloped Notts County 5-0 in the FA Cup before following it up with a
3-0 triumph over Aris Salonika in midweek, which booked them a spot in
the Europa League last 16. Injuries But City have won just one of their
last four Premier League games, which came against West Brom and will
be without the influential duo of Adam Johnson and Nigel de Jong who are
both down with ankle injuries. Micah Johnson is also down with a calf
injury while James Milner is also expected to miss out through a
hamstring injury. Irish goalkeeper Shay Given has also been ruled out
for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury even though he
would have had to settle for a berth on the reserve bench owing to the
impressive form of Joe Hart.

Fulham head into
today’s game unbeaten in three of their last games, including two
successive draws against Chelsea and Aston Villa, but they also have
injury concerns of their own. Midfielder Steve Sidwell has been ruled
out for four weeks after damaging knee ligaments, while Philippe
Senderos and Diomansy Kamara are down with back problems. But the
biggest injury problem facing them is Bobby Zamora who suffered a fresh
injury blow on Friday and is doubtful to appear for Fulham.

The striker, who
only returned from five months out with a broken leg in last Sunday’s FA
Cup defeat to Bolton, went over on his ankle in training and faced a
fitness test on Saturday and looks a major doubt for today’s game.

However, Hughes is boosted by the return of Simon Davies (ankle) and Damien Duff (calf).

Liverpool at Upton
Park The other game billed for today in the Premier League comes up at
Upton Park where West Ham will be hoping to secure a win that will
propel them out of the relegation zone against a Liverpool side aspiring
for a top-four finish. Avram Grant’s team have been horribly
inconsistent in the league but must now build on their unlikely recovery
at The Hawthorns in their last outing, together with the FA Cup
thrashing inflicted on Burnley, to inject real momentum into their
campaign. But Liverpool have lost only once at Upton Park since 1999
and could move within three points of fifth-placed Chelsea with a win.
Kenny Dalglish side’s are also unbeaten in eight games and look set to
be boosted today with the return of captain Steven Gerrard after a
three-game absence with a groin injury.

The England international was not risked in last Thursday night’s
Europa League game against Sparta Prague but manager Dalglish later
said the midfielder was close to fitness although there remains doubts
over the fitness levels of Martin Kelly and Daniel Agger, who were both
forced off against Sparta. Fabio Aurelio is equally out of today’s game
as is Andy Carroll who will need to wait another day before making his
debut for the Reds. Luis Suarez will however return to the starting
line-up after being ineligible for the game against Sparta.

Anyone who is
surprised that former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Chairman,
Ibrahim Galadima failed to get on the executive committee of FIFA
clearly did not read the writing on the wall.

The Galadima FIFA
project was doomed at the beginning and this is not because Galadima as
an individual is a bad product. There are far more important reasons why
he failed. The primary reason is simply because the people who were
supposed to drive the project elected to prevaricate and dilly dally.

The biggest culprit
in this regard is none other than our sports minister, Taoheed Adedoja.
The man, who has boasted that as the first holder of a doctorate degree
to head the sports ministry, he will bring a change to our dying sports
establishment, undermined the Galadima project with the way he tried to
burnish Amos Adamu’s image in the hope that the fallen former Director
General of the National Sports Commission would win his appeal case,
which has been thrown out.

While other African
nations busied themselves with strategy on how to push their candidates
and subsequently lobbied hard for their success, Adedoja was telling
whoever cared to listen to him that Adamu’s case was not as bad as it
had been made out by the media to be. When it became clear to him that
he was making an exhibition of himself following criticisms in the
media, he beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately for Galadima, the precious
time wasted by Adedoja and his team at the National Sports commission
was put to good use by our other African brothers who understand the
important of making hay while the sun is at its zenith.

It is unfortunate,
really that a man like Adedoja who has been sounding off about the
miracles he will do in Nigerian sports in three months can bungle one of
the first major assignments that came his way.

Hard-nosed realists

I am not surprised
really; after listening to his comments on public golf courses, I do not
think I will be surprised any more by any action or utterance that
emanates from him. About two weeks ago when the minister visited Lagos
for a parley with sports journalists at the National Stadium, my friend
Pius Anakali of Daily Independent had asked him whether as a way of
encouraging young Nigerians to take to golf as is the case in South
Korea, government should make available public golf courses.

His response was not
only discouraging but reflected the lack of importance attached by our
sports administrators to grassroots sports development. He said golf was
squarely in the hands of the big men playing golf and they were at
liberty to administer the sport in any manner they pleased. Funny isn’t
it. Anyway, this piece is not about golf but about how the minister and
his men at the National Sports commission bungled an assignment that
required careful planning and strategising.

Aside, the minister
and NSC’s faux pax another reason Galadima failed to get into FIFA is
the fact having been out of the picture for a while he had lost whatever
clout he wielded whilst he was FA boss in Nigeria. This was even one
compelling reason Nigeria as represented by the NSC and Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) should have engaged in high wire diplomacy on his
behalf. They would have entered into hard negotiations with the would-be
voters offering inducements that would have swayed them to Galadima’s
side.

As we see from the
fate of Danny Jordaan, winning a seat into FIFA is not exactly a
popularity contest. Were it down to popular acclamation, the South
African who led the organisation of the hugely successful 2010 FIFA
World Cup in South Africa, would have glided into the Glass House in
Zurich. Some of the men in the Confederation of African Football (CAF)
like their brothers in FIFA are hard-nosed realists and I might add,
streetwise. The know how to play ball and are not squeamish about doing
business no matter how seamy they may appear. With the way our sports
administrators pussyfooted and with Adamu’s chums in the CAF executive
committee still upset by the treatment meted to him by FIFA, Galadima
clearly didn’t have a prayer.

Only Manchester
United or Arsenal can win this season’s Premier League title, United
manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday, four days before his side face
champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

United are one point
clear of Arsenal at the top of the table with a game in hand which they
will use up when they visit Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

With the leading
teams having 11 or 12 matches to play, United are eight points clear of
third-placed Manchester City, 10 ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and 12 clear
of Chelsea.

If United beat Wigan for the 12th successive league match they would be 15 points ahead of Chelsea by the time the sides meet.

Ferguson, who has led his side to 11 league titles, virtually dismissed Chelsea’s chances of retaining the championship.

Consistency

“Normally, two teams
break away when you come to the end of the season, it’s always two
teams — that’s the way it’s looking at the moment,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s either Arsenal or ourselves, either one of us will win it.”

Ferguson also
dismissed remarks made by Chelsea captain John Terry who said United
might buckle under the pressure of challenging for the title, the FA Cup
and the Champions League.

“You try things. We all try things,” he said.

“But it won’t be easy (for Chelsea) to come back from that kind of points deficit.

“I said some time
ago, the team that is most consistent would win the league. That is why I
stress that we have to keep our momentum going and get that
consistency.”

Ferguson said
experienced striker Michael Owen, who has made only two substitute
appearances in the league this year and played one full match in the FA
Cup, could face Wigan after recovering from injury.

“He is back training and could be available on Saturday,” he said.

Ryan Giggs could
also return after missing last week’s FA Cup match against Crawley Town
and the Champions League trip to Olympique Marseille.

REUTERS

Birmingham city today at Wembley dashed Arsenal’s hope of winning their first trophy since the FA Cup in 2005.

The game started with great expectation as over 88,000 fans made it to the venue to cheer their teams as they looked to end frustrating spells without silverware.

While Arsenal were victorious six years ago, Birmingham have not lifted a major trophy since they won the 1963 League Cup, and their desperation showed.

Tactically they were impeccable, with their three defensive midfielders an absolute handful. Arsenal were limited to 10 minute spells of superiority, and conceded two extremely soft goals from high balls into the box.

Nikola Zigic gave Birmingham the lead in the 28th minute, but Arsenal fought back with Robin van Persie levelling the scores in the 38th minute.

An awful defending from Arsenal gave Birmingham victory as a header on from Zigic caused panic between Koscielny and Szczesny. The duo fail to deal with the ball and allowing Nigerian striker, Obafemi Martins to knock the ball into the empty net.

Jose
Mourinho hit out at Spain’s football authorities after the 0-0 draw at
Deportivo Coruna on Saturday, saying his Real Madrid players had not
been given enough rest after Tuesday’s Champions League match. The
dropped points at Depor’s Riazor stadium enabled Barcelona to stretch
their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points with 25 games played
after the champions won 3-0 at Real Mallorca in Saturday’s earlier
kickoff. Mourinho, whose side drew 1-1 in their Champions League
last-16, first leg at Olympique Lyon on Tuesday, told a news conference
it would have been easier on Real if they had been allowed to play
Depor on Sunday.

Extra day

“I don’t know what would have happened if we had played on Sunday but it would have been fairer,” the Portuguese said.

“We could have given an extra day off to those who were most tired, we could have trained an extra day,” he added.

“The calendar is
set by people who know what they are doing. They do what they want and
they will carry on like that.” Real, who twice struck a post late on,
face a stiff task to catch Barcelona and end their great rivals’
two-year reign as Spanish champions.

However, Real
director general Jorge Valdano said it would be absurd to give up on
the title with 13 matches remaining and 39 points still available.

“Nobody gives up on
the league in February so we will keep on fighting and see if we have a
bit more luck in the next few matches,” the former Argentina
international said in a television interview.

“The team played with a lot of intensity as usual but we were unable
to find the net,” he added. “We weren’t clinical enough in front of
goal and we were also lacking in luck.”

Wayne
Rooney seems likely to escape punishment for elbowing Wigan Athletic’s
James McCarthy on Saturday as the referee saw the incident and awarded
a free kick against the Manchester United striker. Rooney caught
McCarthy off the ball in an innocuous situation on the halfway line
after four minutes of the Premier League match at the DW Stadium, which
United went on to win 4-0. He was widely condemned for the action. The
referee awarded a free kick but did not caution Rooney, leaving Wigan
manager Roberto Martinez furious.

“I saw the incident clearly and the referee did as well because he gave the free-kick,” Martinez told reporters.

“Once you give a
free-kick it is quite clear that it is a red card. When you look at the
replay, it is quite clear he catches James McCarthy in the face with
his elbow.

“If one of my
players had done that, I would think he was very lucky to stay on the
pitch.” United manager Alex Ferguson, however, said “there is nothing
in it.” “But, what will happen, because it is Wayne Rooney, the press
will raise a campaign to get him hung by Tuesday or electrocuted or
something like that.

“It is unbelievable. Watch the press. It will be interesting to see it.”

United’s victory took them four points clear of Arsenal, who play
Birmingham City in the League Cup final later on Sunday. They can
stretch that lead to seven when they play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on
Tuesday.

Egypt
have asked the Confederation of African Football to postpone an African
Nations Cup qualifier in South Africa because of the recent civil
unrest in their country, a CAF spokesman confirmed on Sunday. Egypt
want the game, scheduled for March 26 in Johannesburg, to be put back
to June because of a shutdown of their premier league programme
following the riots and demonstrations that led to the toppling of
president Hosni Mubarak earlier this month. Egyptian clubs have not
played league matches since early January and the federation feels
their players will not have had the requisite preparation for the
qualifier.

CAF said they had received a request from the Egypt Football Association and would discuss it over the next few days.

It is a key game
for Egypt, who have won the last three Nations Cup finals, because they
have fallen three points behind South Africa in the standings after the
first two rounds of matches.

Only the group winner is guaranteed a place at the 2012 finals, co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Egypt have asked CAF to consider their situation a case of ‘force
majeure’, which would allow them to claim a postponement because of
circumstances beyond their control.

Ethiopia’s
Hailu Mekonnen sprinted to victory in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday,
taking advantage of the absence of world record holder Haile
Gebrselassie. Mekonnen won in two hours, seven minutes and 35 seconds
in dazzling sunshine before paying tribute to his countryman, who
pulled out of the race after a freak training injury.

“Haile is an
incredible athlete who can be beaten by no one,” the 30-year-old
Mekonnen told reporters after shaving two seconds off his personal best.

“It’s sad and
disappointing Haile could not participate. There’s no question he would
have made the Tokyo Marathon a much better race.

“I tried to make up
for him not being here by running the best race I could possibly run.
The Tokyo Marathon is one of the biggest races in the world and I’m
very happy to have won it.” Emperor no-show Gebrselassie withdrew last
week after bruising his knees following a stumble during practice.

The 37-year-old, who clocked a fastest ever time of 2:03:59 when he
won the 2008 Berlin marathon, announced his retirement last November
only to make a dramatic U-turn days later. The no-show of the man
dubbed the “Emperor” left Sunday’s field wide open and Mekonnen began
to pull away from Kenyan Paul Biwott around the 35 kilometre mark to
claim the win. Biwott finished in 2:08:17, followed in third by Japan’s
Yuki Kawauchi, who clocked 2:08:37 to qualify for August’s world
championships in South Korea. A record 36,000 runners lined up at the
start of the race in sunny but chilly conditions in the Japanese
capital. Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova won the women’s race in 2:27:29 with
Noriko Higuchi of Japan runner-up a minute and 20 seconds behind.
Russian Tatiana Petrova was third in 2:28:56.

The
Dallas Mavericks got a game-high 25 points from Jason Terry and held
off a late charge by the Washington Wizards for a 105-99 victory on
Saturday that marked the team’s fifth straight win. Washington looked
headed for a surprise win when a 19-foot jumper from Jordan Crawford
capped an 8-0 Wizards run that tied the game at 97-97 with 1:36 left.

However, Tyson
Chandler got the Mavericks back in front with a putback, while Dirk
Nowitzki and Terry each drained a pair of free throws that gave Dallas
a 103-97 lead with 37 seconds remaining.

“You’re up nine in
the fourth early, that’s a situation where you kind of want to go up
15, ice your knees and get on the bus,” Terry told reporters. “It
didn’t happen, but at the end of the day, we want wins.” Back-and-forth
The teams exchanged the lead 10 times in a back-and-forth second
quarter before the Mavericks seized control with a 21-9 run, after
calling a timeout with 5:36 remaining, and led 59-49 at halftime.

Chandler had a
season-high 23 points and added 13 rebounds for a double-double, while
John Wall, the top pick in last year’s NBA Draft, paced the Wizards
with 24 points.

“I wanted to come
out tonight and make a statement,” Chandler said. “I really wanted to
get involved, because coming after the All-Star break, I know it’s the
stretch now here we’ve really got to get focused and make our playoff
push.” The Wizards struggled at the free-throw line missing 10-of-16
opportunities.

“If we shoot free throws we win the game, it’s pretty point blank,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders lamented.

The win moved the Mavericks (42-16) to within six games of the
Western Conference-leading San Antonio Spurs, while the Wizards
(15-43), losers of five straight, are second last in the Eastern
Conference.