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Arsenal haven’t
won a major piece of silverware since 2005 when they beat Manchester United in
a penalty shoot out to win the FA Cup final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
But they will be hoping to change the unenviable record when they face
Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final today at London’s Wembley
Stadium.Since that scrappy victory over Manchester United six years ago, Arsene
Wenger’s side have left their former home at Highbury for the Emirates Stadium,
reached the final of the UEFA Champions League (in 2006), the Carling Cup final
in 2007 and have been in the title race for the English Premier League title
again and again, but all without success.The club, despite the trophy draught,
continues to keep faith with the Frenchman who will no doubt be confident of
his team’s chances of breaking their hoodoo against a Birmingham City side they
have beaten twice already in the ongoing Premier League season.The first
victory was in October, at the Emirates Stadium, where the Gunners won 2-1
despite having Jack Wilshere sent off. It was then followed by a more
convincing 3-0 win by the London side on New Year’s Day at Saint
Andrew’s.However, for a side that prides itself as one of the best teams to
have ever come out of England, having finished as league champions on 13
occasions, and won 10 FA Cup titles, the Carling Cup is without a doubt far
less prestigious than the league title, as well as the Champions League
trophies that the Emirates faithful crave.

Fabregas out

Nevertheless, winning any trophy – regardless of stature – is
now a key priority for the north London outfit.”I don’t know if not winning a
trophy for a few years puts more pressure on us or not,” Wenger said.”All I do
know is that when you go into a final, you desperately want to win it.”It does
not matter who the favourites are, it depends on how you play on the day. There
is nothing we can do about not winning a trophy since 2005, you have to accept
it, but people should consider how consistent we have been.” If they have to do
it today, they will need to do it without their talismanic captain, Cesc
Fabregas, who has been ruled out of the Wembley final with a hamstring strain.
Fabregas has been joined on the injury train by Theo Walcott, a development
that has dampened the spirits of not a few Arsenal faithful in England and
elsewhere.Fabregas copped injury in Arsenal’s game against Stoke last
Wednesday. Commenting on the development, Wenger said:”It is a very small
injury but Cesc will be out for Sunday. He is disappointed. We all feel sorry
and sad for him. The only way we help him now is to win the Carling Cup as he
contributed a lot in this competition.” It is not certain whether the Spain
international will be fit for the trip to Camp Nou for the second leg of the
Champions League tie against Barcelona. Wenger has refused to comment on the
matter but Fabregas’ personal trainer, Juan Ferrando said on Spanish radio last
week that the midfielder should be fit for the clash against Barca.Despite
being injured, Fabregas wants to play but Wenger is having none of that. With
Arsenal still in contention for a Champions League quarter-final place after
beating Barcelona 2-1 in the first leg of the Round of 16

Birmingham desperate for vic-tory

If Arsenal have gone six years
without a trophy, Birmingham have waited ages for one. The Alex McLeish-coached
side has not won a major trophy since 1963 when they clinched the League Cup
after beating city rivals, Aston Villa in the final. The closest they have come
to laying their hands on a trophy was ten years ago when they lost on penalties
to Liverpool in the League Cup final.Currently in fifteenth place in the
Premier League, the team, which is fighting to avoid relegation, is more than
happy to be in the final having not been given any chance to do so by
bookmakers and football fans.Against Arsenal today, Birmingham would want to
win for yet another reason. Club owner Carson Yeung turns 51 today and the boys
want to give him a quality birthday present.”Carson has had a great run since
he came in here,” McLeish said.”The final will be momentous for him, not least
because it is his birthday. We would all love to give him the best birthday
present ever.With a player such as Nikola Zigic, who at 6ft 8 inches tall is
the league’s tallest man, filing out for Birmingham, Arsenal defenders will
have their work clearly cut out. Apart from Zigic the Gunners’ defenders will
also have to find a way to neutralise the threat of Birmingham’s new signing,
Obafemi Martins who is eager to prove that his goal against Sheffield in a an
FA Cup match on Tuesday was no fluke.But Birmingham are not without injury
worries of their own. Team doctors are working round the clock to ensure that
former Arsenal midfielder, Alexander Hleb, who had stints with Barcelona and
Stuttgart before joining Birmingham, overcome knee injury to feature in the
game.With Hleb’s fitness still a source of concern, another former Arsenal
player, Sebastian Larsson, is hopeful of action against a club where he started
his professional career.Other injury concerns for Birminhgam include the
absence of defenders, Scott Dan and Liam Ridgewell who are hit with hamstring
and calf injuries respectively. Central defender Martin Jiranek has been
declared fit after battling thigh injury.match played at the Emirates Stadium
on February 15, the manager does not want to risk such a key player especially
as the Gunners, currently placed second behind leaders, Manchester United, have
their sights set firmly on the Premier League title.

Nigeria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles on Thursday,
arrived in the United States of America with scores of Nigerians attending to
welcome the side ahead of this weekend’s commencement of the United States
President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer Tournament. The Super Eagles contingent
arrived at Dallas’s Fort Worth International Airport around 10am local time on
Thursday (4:00pm Nigerian time) following a few hours’ stopover in Atlanta,
Georgia.

The United States-based supporters of the Super Eagles, mostly
residents of the city of Dallas, in the state of Texas, were also at the
national team’s Double Tree Hotel base camp to receive the players along with
the accompanying officials following their departure from the airport.

The team of 20 players – all of them from club sides in the
Nigerian Premier League – and nine officials led by head coach Samson Siasia will,
while in the United States, play two matches in the invitational tournament
also known as the Green Bowl Soccer Tournament, holding at the Cotton Bowl
Soccer Stadium this weekend.

Their opening match comes up by 7:00pm local time on Saturday
(1:00am on Sunday in Nigeria) against Mexico at the Cotton Bowl Stadium before
playing the winner of the tournament’s opening game between Panama and Costa
Rica the following day at 7:00pm local time, that is, if they are able to
overcome the Mexicans.

If Siasia’s side however fails to overcome the Mexicans in
Saturday’s opener, they will have to make do with the Losers’ Final which comes
up by 4:30pm local time (10:30pm on Sunday in Nigeria). Both games – the
Losers’ Final and the Final itself – will also come up at the Cotton Bowl
Stadium which was the venue of the Super Eagles’ first ever FIFA World Cup game
back in 1994 against the national team of Bulgaria.

Good opportunity

Siasia, had in an interview with NEXT prior to the team’s
departure for the United States expressed optimism regarding his team’s chances
at the tournament which he hopes to further use in discovering new players for
the national side ahead of future engagements, most notably the qualifying
matches of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

“It is a good opportunity to get to see what some of the boys
can do outside of the training ground. It is also a good opportunity to see how
many of them will get to remain in our plans for the challenges ahead,
especially the qualifiers,” he said.

The Super Eagles had previously played two matches in the Cup of
Nations qualifiers winning 2-0 against Madagascar in September before suffering
a 1-0 loss to Guinea at the start of October. Their next game comes up against
Ethiopia on March 27 at a yet to be decided venue in Nigeria before completing
the qualifying series with the reverse fixtures against all three nations.

But with only the winner of the group guaranteed a qualification spot to
next year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be jointly hosted by Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon, the Super Eagles need to win all of their remaining fixtures
if they are to stand any chance of overtaking current leaders Guinea on the log
standings.

After
West Bromwich Albion’s new manager Roy Hodgson declared that he will
need at least five months to guarantee the Baggies’ continued stay in
the Premiership, the immediate task of keeping the team in the
Premiership now rests on the slim shoulders of Nigerian striker, Osaze
Odemwingie.

The Nigerian has so
far scored nine goals for his side in the league but more goals are
expected from the £1.5m man. Odemwingie picked up his second HomeServe
Player-of-the-Month award of the season and he said the new manager’s
experience in football matters will help West Brom escape an immediate
drop back to the Championship.

“This is the second award for me so I am very happy,” Odemwingie said.

“In your first
season in a new country and new club it normally takes a little bit of
time to adapt and feel at home when you play – but it’s happened very
quickly for me so I am very happy.”

The former
Locomotiv Moscow striker admitted to being a little bit tired in the
dramatic 3-3 home draw with fellow relegation-threatened side, West Ham
last Saturday. He had gone to represent Nigeria in a friendly match
against Sierra-Leone.

Though he admitted
that a change of manager was not easy, he insisted the target of
securing Barclays Premier League survival remains the same.

“I was sad because
it’s never good news when they change a coaching staff during the
season. Personally I never like those situations during the season when
there is a change of manager. It affects me a little bit and it was a
difficult week because everything was a little bit different. It wasn’t
that I didn’t like who was coming in next, it was just that that’s how
I feel. It’s not a happy time but life goes on in football and the club
continues to exist.”

Osaze also admitted
that he knew very little about the new manager. “I knew a little bit
from his work. I saw him as a coach of Liverpool and I knew he did very
well with Fulham.

“I didn’t know his
whole history but I have been told about the clubs he has coached and
the number of games he has – almost 900 – and all of those things say a
lot.

“I’m sure he knows the job and people obviously trust him if he’s got big jobs like he has and worked in the Premier League.”

Games between these two sides has been tight in recent years but
when West Brom face Wolves, who sit last on the table, today, goals
from Odemwingie and the three points will be all that is wanted to help
the Baggies’ bid to stay in the elite division.

This season’s
Champions League final at Wembley in May will be the most expensive for
fans with the cheapest ticket for a neutral costing 150 pounds.

UEFA, who have
moved the game to a Saturday evening for the first time, announced
their ticket policy at London’s City Hall on Thursday, saying they
expected record gate receipts of 14 million pounds from football’s most
prestigious club match.

The two finalists
are to receive 25,000 tickets apiece for their supporters, who will
have the option of buying a Category Four ticket for 80 pounds although
UEFA did not say how many of those cheaper seats would be available.

Neutrals buying
through UEFA will be excluded from Category Four, meaning they will
have to pay 300 pounds for a Category One seat, 225 pounds for a
Category Two and 150 pounds for a Category Three. A fee of 26 pounds
will also be applied to European sales.

UEFA’s competitions
director Giorgio Marchetti refuted suggestions that fans were being
priced out and that ticket costs had been ramped up because the final
is in London.

“Last year there was already an increase, a more significant increase compared to the year before,” he told reporters.

“If you look at other comparable events in football, the Champions League final is still priced below that.

Slight increase

“The prices are a
slight increase from last year but these are the prices for an event
which is the most remarkable club football event of the year,” added
Marchetti.

“We don’t think the Champions League final is over-priced.

We do not want to
squeeze every single penny out of the market.” The most expensive
tickets for last year’s Madrid final between Inter Milan and Bayern
Munich were 300 Euros, with the cheapest for a neutral supporter at 155
Euros.

UEFA said 61,000 of the 86,000 tickets would be for “football fans” including 11,000 for neutrals.

Four English teams are still hopeful of reaching the final, three from London.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are well-placed in their last 16 ties
after first-leg wins over Barcelona and AC Milan respectively while
Chelsea face FC Copenhagen next week. Manchester United also meet
Olympique Marseille next week. Tickets go on sale on UEFA’s website on
February 24.

For Nigeria to make
progress in international sports tournaments there must be an
articulated sports programme that works through major international
events like the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, All Africa Games and
the major championships like World Cups for the various sports.

Physical education in schools

The beginning of
any success has to start from the grassroots but right now there is a
shortage of qualified Physical education instructors from primary to
our tertiary institutions. The solution could be pursuance of
short-term courses for volunteers as physical education trainers to be
conducted by the “real” physical education instructors that would be
employed by each of the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

In the long run,
the problem will be solved through massive training of physical
education instructors. As an incentive, government should make the
study of Physical and Health Education free, with the graduates made to
serve for two years, instead of one year for their National Youth
Service Corps scheme. In the second year of their service, they would
be paid salaries, though it is the Government that will still determine
where in Nigeria they would serve.

Preparing for global tourneys

The Olympics – held
every four years, it falls in the year after the All Africa Games, and
two years after the Commonwealth Games. The links are important. The
Commonwealth Games can be used as the mid-way milestone for measuring
Nigeria’s preparations for the Olympics, especially in the sports where
Commonwealth countries are strong like athletics, boxing, wrestling,
weightlifting, judo, karate and swimming.

All Africa Games,
held a year after the Commonwealth Games, and a year to the Olympics,
has assumed a new importance as it serves as the qualifiers for some
Olympic events including boxing, judo, karate, wrestling and
weightlifting.

Commonwealth Games
– held two years to the Olympics, has some of the most powerful sports
nations like Australia, Britain (though fragmented into Scotland,
Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man etc), Canada, India,
South Africa, Kenya, and New Zealand participating.

Nigeria is in a
unique position to benefit from these competitions, if it draws up a
schedule of funding and training that links them, such that
preparations for the Olympics, lead to the next Commonwealth Games and
then to the All Africa Games, and the circle continues.

This schedule must
also reconfigure the place of many international championships as
qualifiers for the major competitions. The current practice of
depending on budgetary allocations that are available sometimes as the
teams are boarding their flights, cannot prepare our teams well.

A thorough
preparation will include proper medical, nutritional and technical
facilities, in addition to scheduled welfare packages, training and
competition tours, and an excellent performance centre that would
provide research support for our teams.

Federal government resolve is needed

These views on
sports development if used will lead to professionalism in sports in
the country. The cost is so negligible, compared to the impact that it
will make on our society and we believe that if the government is
sincere about developing sports, it should adopt a concerted programme
that ties in all the parts and with any other amendments will enhance
its workings.

It is also believed
that it is the duty of all to look at the ways various adaptation of
this programme can work in the various states in the country. If for
any reason the federal government decides to spend its money on “more
important things”, the states working with their local government
councils can adapt this programme to their own resources.

When we start from
re-constructing the decayed base of our sports, we can then move on to
proper professional sports. Any other attempt will be dumping further
weight on the fragile tip our sports pyramid is standing on. The result
will be chaos, worse than the ones we have known.

Professional sports
thrive on mass entry (at the base) and drops of excellence at the top
(from filtering). Without broad participation at the base, we cannot
attain the professionalism that comes from competition, better ideas
and proper sponsorships that are enduring and benefits sports and
sponsors.

We can attain excellence in professional sports, if we are sincere
and have the political will to note that sports, professionally
managed, can provide solutions to many of Nigeria’s problems.

Still
keeping the faith that his team will eventually be crowned champions
for this season, Gbenga Odubote will lead Sunshine stars of Akure
against Kano Pillars in the today’s biggest fixture in the Nigerian
Premier League.

Sunshine are
currently placed second on the log behind leaders, Dolphins FC but have
remained invincible at their adopted home ground at the Gateway
Stadium, Abeokuta.

Sunshine who were
2-0 winners in their last home game against Ocean Boys had two of its
players; Ibrahim Ajani and Sunday Abe named in the Nigeria Premier
League team of the week.

Ajani incidentally
is one of league’s joint top scorers alongside Super Eagles attacking
pearl, Ekigho Ehiosun with seven goals and he says he his hungry for
more goals. He is also hoping to increase his tally today against
visiting Pillars.

“Kano Pillars is a
big team and I know that they will give us a good fight but we are also
ready for them, I hope to score in the game to give my team victory and
increase my goal tally,” said the former Dolphins of Port-Harcourt
hit-man.

Ajani added that
though he respected the other strikers in contention for the season’s
highest goal scorers award, he sees himself winning the prized award at
the end of the season.

“I respect all the
other strikers but I think I have the edge because Ehiosun is always
with the National team and Ezeji has won the award before so I am
hungrier.”

Sunshine Stars are
the highest scoring team in the league with 20 goals in 15 matches and
in the corresponding fixture last season they beat Pillars 2-1.

Meanwhile, Ladan
Bosso, Pillars’ new coach will want to continue the impressive start
with his team which has seen him win three out of the four games which
he has handled.

The team is
currently eighth on the log with a game in hand and Bosso said he will
like to shame those who felt he was not good for his current job.

Bosso, who was
coach of the U-20 national team to the FIFA World Cup in Canada in 2007
said, “Pillars former coach Salisu Yusuf knows what I can do that is
why he facilitated my coming in, I have to justify the confidence the
entire management reposed in me.” The former Tornadoes coach is happy
to be working in a conducive atmosphere and believes things can only
get better.

“Pillars have been consistent in the Premier League, the management is committed and they also have the best fans in Nigeria.

“Their position at
the moment is not good but I assure you in the next few matches the
position will improve. That is my mission to Pillars,” Bosso concluded.

Other matches

Warri Wolves
defender and captain, Ike Thankgod should make a return to first team
action against Niger Tornadoes at the Warri City Stadium today.

Thankgod has not played since January 30 when he got injured in the game against Rangers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

“My ankle was sprained and badly swollen,” Thankgod said about his time on the sidelines.

“I missed some
games but I have commenced training and the Doctors say I can play our
next game (against Niger Tornadoes) on Sunday,” he told SuperSport.com.

Wolves are unbeaten in their last six games and sit third on the NPremier League log with 26 points from 15 matches.

Shooting Stars are
also in Makurdi to face Lobi Stars. The Oluyole Warriors will be hoping
for a change in fortunes as the team has been awful on the road,
getting just one point in their away games so far this season.

Aside the absence
of Gbolahan Salami, whose ban is being appealed, 3SC will also missing
the services of three of its players — Laide Okanlawon and Raheem
Owolabi who are in the U-23 camp and veteran Kabir Alausa, whose mother
died on Wednesday in Lagos.

In Owerri,
Heartland will be home to Plateau United, who only recently suspended
their technical crew led by Ndubisi Nduka. The man, who took over,
Bitrus Bewerang, will be cursing his luck for the tough opposition he
has to surmount as he begins his regime. Though Bewerang has a mandate
to help bring the Jos team out of relegation waters, the chances of
getting a point from this game remain very slim.

It will be a
northern affair in Kaduna as Kaduna United play host to Gombe United at
the Kaduna Township stadium. The Crocodiles, who formerly had the
record of scoring in every other league games aside the 0-0 draw with
Plateau United, will hope to move up the league table with a victory in
today’s game.

The last fixture for the week pitches resurgent Ocean Boys against
relegation threatened Zamfara United. Ocean Boys got maximum points in
their last three home fixtures scoring seven goals and conceding once.
While the Yenogoa-based team currently leads the other half of the
table in 11th position, an anticipated victory in today’s game will
considerably improve the team’s fortunes.

Barcelona
must pass a stiff test at home to old rivals Athletic Bilbao in La Liga
on Sunday after failing to win their last two matches including a
defeat in Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg against
Arsenal.

Sporting Gijon
halted Barca’s record 16-match winning streak when they held the
champions to a 1-1 draw last weekend and Pep Guardiola’s side
surrendered the lead to lose 2-1 at Arsenal. Barca still have a
five-point cushion over second-placed Real Madrid, who host promoted
Levante on Saturday, but another failure against the battling Basques
would set nerves jangling in the Catalan capital.

“We are in good
shape and there is no need to ring the alarm bells,” Brazil defender
Daniel Alves told reporters after the defeat in London.

The last time Barca
slipped up in two straight games was when they drew 1-1 at Rubin Kazan
in the Champions League group stage on September 29 and four days later
were held 1-1 at home by Real Mallorca in La Liga.

Apart from a rare
error from Victor Valdes, who let Robin van Persie’s equaliser through
at his near post, the most worrying aspect of Barca’s performance at
The Emirates on Wednesday was their squandering of numerous chances.

“They were very
effective in front of goal and we were not,” midfielder Xavi said. “In
European competition you end up paying the price for that.” A run of
four straight wins lifted Bilbao to fifth and boosted their chances of
claiming a place in European competition for next season, although they
were beaten 1-0 at Mallorca last weekend.

Media attention

Real survived the
second-minute dismissal of goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas to
grind out a 1-0 win at Espanyol last Sunday and are waiting to pounce
on any more stumbles from their arch rivals. Jose Mourinho’s side were
held to a 0-0 draw at Levante in September but thrashed the
Valencia-based club 8-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of their
King’s Cup tie in December. The outspoken Mourinho at times attracts
more media attention than his players and his Portuguese compatriot
Pepe said that has allowed the squad to focus on football.

“Before he came we
felt the pressure that surrounds Real Madrid more,” defender Pepe said
in an interview with Marca newspaper published on Thursday.

“He tells us that
we only have to concentrate on playing football and he creates all the
necessary conditions for us to improve,” he added.

Valencia climbed
above Villarreal into third with a 2-1 win at struggling Atletico
Madrid last weekend and host Gijon on Saturday.

Villarreal are looking to end their two-match losing streak at home to bottom side Malaga on Sunday.

The
women league in Nigeria has come a long way, but the longevity does not
mean it is better, Pepsie Adiukwu, a pioneer broadcaster in the women’s
league has said. Football among women was introduced in the late 1970s
but it was not until around 1985 that the formation of clubs began when
the likes Jegede Babes and Simbiat babes came on the scene to become
the pioneer clubs. The first league season was inaugurated in 1991 and
Ufuoma Babes of Warri had the honour of being the first club to win the
league title.

“The late Emeka
Omeruah, one time Nigerian Football Association Chairman got interested
in the women’s game and sought for a way to develop it like men’s
football. Omeruah consulted Iain Nelson, a consultant with Pepsi, who
is the brain behind the Pepsi Football Academy to help take football to
greater heights,” Adiukwu said.

Up till that time Nelson was ignorant about women football.

“At the time
Omeruah invited me to head a developmental committee for female
football in the NFA, I did not even know that there was a Female
League,” Nelson said.

“We were the
sponsors of the men’s league, the Pepsi Professional League but when
this challenge of changing a moribund, non-existent league into a brand
that would be attractive and viable enough to get people watching, I
took it up.”

The peak

Being a marketer,
Nelson saw the raw talent of the ladies playing football as a product
that should not be hidden and he made effort to help give them exposure
them.

“What we (Pepsi)
first did was to endorse some of the women who were already in the
Falcons – the national team. The likes of Patience Avre, Mercy Akide,
Florence Omagbemi, Stella Mbachu and Perpetua Nkwocha were given such
an endorsement,” Nelson said.

Why did Pepsi endorse these ladies?

“I observed that
most people may not really go to watch a team play, they want to see
Wayne Rooney in Manchester United or Lionel Messi in Barcelona. So we
wanted to make these ladies heroes like their male counterparts.”

The show

The developmental programme also gave birth to a television show – Female Soccer with Pepsie.

According to
Adiukwu, who was the pioneer anchor, “The programme was used to feature
the girls; what they were doing outside the football pitch, which one
was having a baby, who was getting married and who was attending what…

“The essence of the programme was to give them a lot of publicity and exposure to the public; to show them to the world.”

Nelson said apart
from giving the ladies in the Falcons exposure, they also extended
their reach into the league, “The Pepsi brand got in to sponsor the
league. At that time Super Falcons were rated higher than the Eagles.
These were people who the only thing they had working for them was
their talent and the passion they had for the game.

“They came from nowhere quite frankly and changed things.”

The league

So the name of the league was changed to the Pepsi Female National League.

“Then we also made
certain they were prizes for the challenge Cup, gave cash prizes to the
most valuable player every month,” Adiukwu added.

“Media
participation was also encouraged by instituting prizes to the reporter
of the month. I won that award twice and there was also the challenge
cup, the endorsed players, it was a whole total package for them.”

The high point for Nelson was when he got the wife of the head of state involved.

“We were able to
persuade Mariam Abacha, wife of the then president to sponsor a
football tournament. In 1998 we were able to host the African Women
Championship. It was held in Abeokuta and Kaduna.”

Nelson who saw it as an another big opportunity for exposure recounted his feelings prior to the start of the tournament.

“I remember sitting
in the Kaduna Stadium before the first match begun and the whole place
was empty and I started wondering if I had done the right thing.”

All things however went well and Nigeria emerged as winners.

The decline

Things started to go downhill in the league in 2002. By then, the Pepsi sponsorship contract had run through.

“I got discouraged
because it seemed the momentum was lost and we could not get it back. I
stopped my programme in 2003 when it seemed as if I was always
repeating myself and nobody was listening,” Adiukwu said.

Some of the players
who played in the glorious days of the sponsored league and who are
still playing now said they were disappointed at the way things turned
out.

Precious Nnodim currently plays for Ibom Angels in Akwa Ibom and she has decried the state of the current league.

“It is so
deplorable now because you don’t know what is going to happen next.
When Pepsi was still sponsoring the league, you knew your allowances
were coming as at when due. Also there were a lot of tournaments, like
the Super Six which was meant for the teams that finished in the top
six but now even when you finish at the top six, you don’t get to play
in the tournament,” Nnodim said.

“Around 2004 we just saw that things started to change. Then I was still with Delta Queens when all these crises started.”

Bunmi Kayode who currently plays for Delta Queens also gave an account of the glory days.

“Then you were
always certain that games will be played. There were no walkovers like
are the case now. Also we had our medicals attended to but now you will
be wondering and praying when things would get better.”

Nnodim attested to the fact that walkovers have become common.

“Just recently we could not play the game we were supposed to because Nasarawa Amazons could not come over to Akwa Ibom.”

The quest

To bring the women
football league back to life and to sustain it some administrators have
advocated for a separate association for women football.

“I think there
should be a separate football development department for women filled
with committed people within the NFA because most times when the heat
gets on, they will concentrate on the men to the detriment of other
aspect of the sport,” Adiukwu said.

Nelson explained
that, “You do not run your own show with a secretary; you need to have
a form of autonomy to function effectively. That is not to say that
they would not still be affiliated to the Federation. The NFF (Nigeria
Football Federation) already has a baggage but if they can leave a
little of the baggage to some other people, why not?”

The Super Falcon’s coach, Joy Etim, also wants a separate
association for women football. “In the event that problems come up
they will always be there like big brothers. Maybe if they allow those
directly involved to run things, they would see thing differently and
would be able to proffer more concrete solutions.”

“I love to score
goals after passing all the defenders as well as the keeper. This is
not my speciality, but my habit,” Ronaldo Luis Nazário De Lima said in
1997 and all through his career, he achieved this goal and more.

How do you describe
a footballer, who holds the record of being the highest goal scorer in
FIFA World Cup history, 15 goals, a feat that was achieved in 2006, and
is still the youngest man to have won the FIFA Player of the Year
award, aged 20?

There are so many enduring images of Ronaldo, the Brazilian superstar, who retired from the game on Monday, February 14, 2011.

To some football
fans, Ronaldo had retired a long time ago – Monday’s press conference
was just a confirmation of what was already public knowledge since
2008, when he signed for Corinthians looking seriously overweight.

The beginning

Ronaldo started his
professional football career with Brazilian minor league side, Social
Ramos in 1990 and went on to play for Sao Cristovao and Cruzeiro.

His talent was
spotted on the streets of Bento Ribeiro, by Brazilian legend Jairzinho,
who was at the time coaching Sao Cristovao. The 16-year-old signed his
first professional contract with Cruzeiro and in his debut season he
smashed an astonishing 44 goals in as many games, announcing his
arrival on the crowded Brazilian scene.

His decision to play football was not approved by his mother, who wanted him to become a doctor.

“In Brazil every
kid starts playing street football very early. It’s in our blood. Every
time I went away I was deceiving my mum. I’d tell her I was going to
school but I’d be out on the street playing football. I always had a
ball on my feet,” he said when asked about his spellbinding talent at
that time.

His signature from
that early stage was blistering pace, close control of the ball and
shooting technique that stood him out and led to comparisons with the
legendary Pele. This is a burden that almost every exceptional player
has to face since Pele emerged as the star of the 1958 World Cup in
Sweden, aged 16.

Playing at the highest level

In 1994, after he
made his international debut and was part of the Brazilian squad that
won the World Cup, though he did not get to play actually, he joined
PSV Eindhoven in Holland on the advice of Romario.

Wherever he went,
he scored many goals. When he moved to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, he
scored an amazing 57 goals in just 54 games. At the 1996 Olympics,
Ronaldo was the signature player along with Bebeto, Rivaldo and Dida.

Nigeria, however,
contrived to stop the Brazilian team in golden extra time but the world
was now aware of another burgeoning talent from Samba land.

Ronaldo moved to
Spanish club, FC Barcelona for $17 million in 1996 and went on to break
almost all the scoring records that had existed before his arrival. The
Nou Camp side were being coached at that time by the late Bobby Robson
and the Englishman acknowledged that Ronaldo was the best player he had
ever coached. Robson had coached players like Bryan Robson, Paul
Gascoigne, Romario, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy
and Luis Figo.

“The best player I ever worked with? Tough competition, but it has to be Brazil’s Ronaldo,” Robson said in 2007.

During the 1996/97
season the Brazilian scored 47 goals in 49 games and led the Catalan
side to the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup triumph and he scored the winning
goal in the cup final itself and also won a Copa Del Rey trophy.

Youngest FIFA Player of the Year

He was rewarded for
his goals by becoming at 20 years old, the youngest player to win the
FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1996. He was also named the
runner-up to Matthias Sammer of Germany for the Ballon d’Or title.

At the time,
Ronaldo was scoring goals of the highest level; the type of goals not
seen since Dutch striker Marco Van Basten’s verve started waning.

Barcelona’s match
against Compostela in the La Liga on October 12, 1996, showed the whole
world that they were witnessing a real football phenomenon! On that
day, he scored, arguably one of the greatest goals ever. Describing the
goal will never do it justice, it can only be enjoyed when watched
(YouTube still has this goal in their archives).

Ronaldo picked up
the ball just after the half way line and proceeded to dribble five
defenders before scoring, even though he was being pulled and tugged.

At the end of the
1996/97 season, contract talks broke down between Barcelona and
Ronaldo’s agents and with the striker now a very beautiful bride,
sought and wanted by all the biggest clubs in the world, it was just a
matter of time before he moved.

Barcelona had to
accept a then world record bid of £18 million from Inter Milan for
their striker. He moved to Italy to face the Catennacio challenge, and
his career would never be the same again.

1+8

In his first season
at Inter, he scored 34 more goals but that season will be remembered
for an incident involving Ivan Zamarano. The bona-fide owner of the
No.9 jersey before Ronaldo’s capture, he was ‘urged’ to give up the
number to the new striker. Zamarano then chose the No.18 jersey, but on
match days, the 18 on the back of his jersey appeared as 1+8, the
Chilean added the plus sign in-between the 1 and 8.

In 1998, Ronaldo
became the first player to ever win the FIFA World Player of the Year
award back to back, and he went a notch higher by snagging the Ballon
D’or he lost to Sammer the previous season.

The World Cup in
France in 1998 was therefore supposed to be the crowning place for
Ronaldo as the greatest player in the world but a convulsive fit on the
eve of the final match against France scuppered that dream. Whatever
happened the night before the match, Ronaldo said after the tournament,
“We lost the World Cup but I won another cup – my life.”

When Brazil and
France submitted their team sheets before the World Cup final match on
July 12, 1998, there was a noticeable absentee from the Selecao side,
Ronaldo.

But when the
referee for the match went to confirm the official team selection,
Ronaldo’s name reappeared. That final is a match the Selecao will love
to wipe from memory they and their goalscoring sensation, Ronaldo did
not play like they had done throughout the tournament. Afterwards the
Brazilian team doctor Lidio Toledo revealed that Ronaldo had been
rushed to a hospital after suffering a convulsion in his sleep the
night before the final. “I don’t remember what happened but I went to
sleep and, like the doctor said, it seems I had a fit for about 30 or
40 seconds,” Ronaldo admitted after the finals.

Italian tragedy

He returned to
Milan and continued banging the goals until November 21, 1999, when
tragedy struck – and one his career never actually recovered.

Ronaldo ruptured a
tendon in his knee during a game against Lecce and his game which was
built on an exceptional ability to change direction, speed and
ferocious shots had to change from then on.

After surgery and
five months of rehabilitation, he made his return in the Coppa Italia
final against Lazio, but he suffered a relapse on the same right knee
after just seven minutes on the pitch.

He was then
sidelined till about the end of the 2001/2002 season. Ronaldo came back
just in time to grab a spot in the Brazilian national team to the World
Cup in Korea and Japan.

He unveiled a new
hair cut and guided Felipe Scolari’s side to the final to face Germany.
In the 2002 World Cup final, Ronaldo exorcised the demons of the 1998
final and scored two goals to give Brazil victory over a German side
that had not conceded a goal up till the final.

Added to the six, Ronaldo had scored in the knock-out rounds, he ended the tournament as top scorer with 8 goals.

The Galactico

His return to form
aided another transfer – a world record transfer, for a fee of €39
million saw Ronaldo leave Inter Milan to join a growing list of
Galacticos at Real Madrid. Another 30 goals followed even though he was
sidelined with injury for two months. Real Madrid won La Liga and he
scored 104 goals in 184 games over a period of five years at the
Spanish club.

The injuries, an
erratic love life and controversial living were now in overdrive in the
media. Ronaldo was selected for Brazil’s 2006 World Cup squad and
scored three goals to lead his country to the quarter finals where they
lost to France 1-0. Nevertheless, he broke Gerd Muller’s record of 14
career goals in the World Cup by scoring his 15th in Brazil’s 3-0 win
over Ghana on June 27, 2002.

The beginning of the end

After the World
Cup, he fell out with new Madrid boss, Fabio Capello and returned to
Italy to sign for AC Milan on January 27, 2007. At Milan, he set
another record, becoming the first player to ever score for the two
Milan sides – Inter and AC Milan in the Milan derby, having previously
scored in the fixture for Inter in the 1998/1999 season.

Tragedy however
struck again on an Italian pitch on February 13, 2008, when Ronaldo
suffered a ruptured kneecap ligament following an attempt to win the
ball in a league match against Livorno. After that injury, Ronaldo
said, “My life has always been a series of challenges and I’m
psychologically prepared, but this is the biggest challenge of my
life.” It was one injury too many for the body of the Brazilian star.
His deal at the Italian club was not renewed and he had to return to
his homeland – Brazil.

Free fall

On December 9,
2008, Ronaldo signed a one-year deal with Corinthians to take up
another challenge but it was more like a resignation to fate – the
career of the great man was in free fall.

Ronaldo scored his
first goal for Corinthians on March 8, 2009 in a Campeonato Paulista
match against Palmeiras and went on to help helped Corinthians win the
tournament with 10 goals in 14 games.

On February 2010,
he signed an extension that was supposed to keep him with the club
until the end of 2011, which he declared as his retirement date. But
things did not go as planned. In February 2011, after Corinthians were
eliminated from the Copa Libertadores tournament which was to have been
his swan song, Ronaldo announced his retirement from football.

“It’s very hard to
leave something that made me so happy. Mentally I wanted to continue
but I have to acknowledge that I lost to my body,” he said in a press
conference on Valentine’s day. “I will celebrate, but I know new goals
and objectives will come and I am ready to take them.”

Whatever goals are
in the future for El-Fenomeno, as he became known in Italy, one thing
he can’t do any more is father children.

Ronaldo had a vasectomy after fathering five children with three mothers. He explained that five children were enough for him.

Football fans, players and coaches will always love Ronaldo – for
the goals he scored, for the trophies he won but much more, for the
exuberance and joy that he espoused on the football pitch. That is his
greatest goal.

Feisty Leyton Orient held Arsenal to a memorable 1-1 draw in their FA Cup
fifth-round tie at Brisbane Road on Sunday when a powerful 89th-minute strike
from substitute Jonathan Tehoue stunned the Premier League side.

Manchester City crushed League One Notts
County 5-0 in a fourth-round replay and Bolton Wanderers won 1-0 at Fulham in
an all Premier League fifth-round tie.

The result in east London left Orient fans
celebrating as if they had won the game and dreaming of finishing the job in
the replay at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium to earn a quarter-final meeting with
Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Tehoue, a pacy but erratic 26-year-old French
striker who is often used as a late substitute, squeezed past defenders Kieran
Gibbs and teenage debutant Ignasi Miguel on the edge of the penalty area and
smashed the ball through the legs of Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Until then Arsenal, who made 10 changes from
the side that beat Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, looked
comfortable after taking the lead through a 53rd-minute Tomas Rosicky header.

Orient had been largely outplayed and
outpassed as Arsenal appeared to be coasting to victory and a clash with United
in the last eight.

But Tehoue’s goal means they will replay at
the Emirates on March 2 with the money raised set to provide a financial
lifeline for the League One (third tier) club, 53 places below Arsenal in the
ladder.

Vegas
trip

Orient chairman Barry Hearn promised his
squad a trip to Las Vegas if they avoided defeat and laughed afterwards that
his manager Russell Slade had out-thought Arsenal’s astute boss Arsene Wenger
by leaving it late to bring on Tehoue.

“The best thing for us was that it was
1-0 with only a couple of minutes to play because Arsene is not going to put on
any of his main line from the bench, because he is trying to nick it, get away
with a 1-0 win,” Hearn said.

“If we’d have equalised in the 70th
minute, on would have come (Cesc) Fabregas and all the rest of them, and we’d
have been in trouble.

“But Arsene got a little bit complacent
and our Frenchman put the boot in,” he joked.

Wenger told ESPN that Tehoue had made a
difference.

“He scored a great goal but we had the
right attitude, we were focussed and they took advantage of one of our few
mistakes,” Wenger said.

“It was difficult for us to create more
chances and credit to them for they defended well.”

City through

Manchester City won in style against Notts
County with Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko and Micah Richards scoring late goals to
add to two Patrick Vieira headers.

City, transformed by the money of Abu Dhabi
billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour and seeking their first major trophy in 35
years, face Aston Villa in the fifth round.

Bolton maintained their hopes of a first FA
Cup final appearance since they last won the competition in 1958 by ending
Fulham’s interest at Craven Cottage.

Ivan Klasnic scored the only goal after 19
minutes, and the highlight of the day for the home side was the return of Bobby
Zamora as a substitute for his first appearance since breaking a leg in
September.

REUTERS