Nigeria Content Online

Twelve years after
playing at the maiden edition of the African Women’s Championship (AWC)
in Abeokuta, Nigeria, where the Super Falcons won their first African
title, veteran winger, Stella Mabchu has continued to wax stronger. The
32-year-old capped her wonderful performances over the years with the
Most Valuable Player Award of the just concluded AWC in South Africa.

It was the first
time Mbachu would be recognised as such at any AWC but it wasn’t her
first time of being a member of a championship winning side. In fact, it
was the sixth time Mbachu would be winning a gold medal at the AWC.

She has been a
member of every Nigerian side that has won the African title since 1998
and has taken part in every tournament except for the 2008 tournament in
Equatorial Guinea where the Super Falcons lost out in the semi finals
to the Equatoguineans.

Back in 1998, the then 20-year-old Mbachu played second fiddle to Patience Avre on the right side of the midfield for team.

But her speed both
on and off the ball, as well as her good dribbling skills, were not to
be ignored by the team’s coach Ismaila Mabo, and he duly rewarded the
youngster with a place in the team for the final match against Ghana’s
Black Queens where she rewarded the coach with a goal.

She sealed her place in the team after her performance at that year’s Africa World Championship.

Mbachu went on to
feature at three Olympic Games, the All Africa Games, as well as the
last three editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. With her current form
she is likely to make it to Germany in June next year for her fourth
World Cup appearance.

Mbachu currently plays her football in China for top division side Tianjin Teda.

A few weeks before the commencement of the World Youth Soccer
Championship for U-17, Nigeria 2009, ex-Green Eagles winger, Adokiye Amiesimaka
caused quite a stir when he claimed that Nigeria’s team captain Fortune
Chukwudi was over-age.

Schools of thoughts came up with positions at variance on the
matter as to the timing, appropriateness or propriety of Amiesimaka’s action.
My reaction then and now is that the truth has only one version. Anytime it’s
told it remains the same. Amiesimaka was correct then, is still correct and will
always be correct, especially because of the negative impact of age-cheat on
our football.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the time stood facts on
its head and claimed Chukwudi was within the age limit. At the time, some said
bringing up such facts at that particular time was unpatriotic. For me
Amiesimaka did what he had to do to save our football from further decay and
rot. A little more introspection also reveals that the age-bending tactics has
superannuated our football and there is a strong need to return to grassroots
football development – the very essence of youth football as the conveyor belt
of the Super Eagles and the path to glory in world football.

In times past, Nigeria used to be able to ship her players in
droves to the big markets in Europe (England, Germany, Italy, Spain, France,
Holland and Belgium). Today we are unable to find Nigerian players commanding
good transfer fees. Austin Jay-Jay Okocha remains the highest Nigerian transfer
at $17 million. He has been beaten in Africa by Didier Drogba of Cote d’
Ivoire, Samuel Eto’o of Cameroun and Michael Essien of Ghana (the highest at
$32 million). No Nigerian has crossed $12 million in recent times and that is
because the talent pool is almost dried up.

Of thieving officials and
unscrupulous agents

There are many reasons for the decline. Unscrupulous player
agents, and thieving NFF officials, who are ready to sign-off grannies as U-17,
or U- 20 using “football age”. The “football age” of Nigerian players is at
least 6 years less than their real ages. This is not very good for their
playing careers as the peak age of a football player is 25-29 years, when they
can give value for money. By the time the average Nigerian is sold abroad for
the first time, he is already over 27 years with no chance of giving more than
two years before old age starts wreaking havoc on his career.

Europe is looking for young players that they can readily verify
their ages, and this search is slowing down on African players, where the issue
of overage players is the order of the day.

The way out of this problem is through the Academy system. This
is why European clubs are setting up partnerships with academies, in Asia and
Africa, so they can verify the ages of prospects and ensure optimal profit from
such players.

FIFA, the World football governing body, also encourages the
sale and transfer of players through the academies, as this is one sure way of
gaining on investment in youth football development.

The academies also offer a means of providing education for the
players, so it is not only their skills that are developed, but their intellect
as well. It becomes imperative for agencies, corporate organisations and
wealthy individuals to support and fund academies to be capable of nurturing
top rated football players, who can ply their trade in any part of the football
world beyond the tokenist support from near beggarly academies today.

The academies are sure to provide both academic and technical
education and skills in order to ensure a well rounded development of their
products and provide them the skills necessary for ensuring a well lived life
on and off the field of play, as well as when their active days are over.

I sign-off prescribing football Academies as the engines for
re-building Nigeria’s fortunes in football.

Next week I shall present my thoughts on the appointment of Samson Siasia as
the new Super Eagles Manager.

Milan
are top of the Serie A despite boasting one of the oldest squads in
Italy and they will do all today to remain at the summit. They face
neighbours and rivals, Inter at the San Siro but will be without the
injured veteran striker, Fillipo Inzaghi.

Tests carried out on
Thursday showed Pippo Inzaghi will not just miss this weekend’s derby
but also Milan’s game against Fiorentina. The initial prognosis is worse
than first thought as latest reports also claim Inzaghi’s season could
even be at risk – owing to the fact that the injury has affected his
meniscus and the ligaments around his knee.

Though the San Siro
is home to both teams, Inter will boast more fans in the stadium today
as this is a home tie for the Nerrazurri. Inter have gone on a backward
slide in the last three weeks with three draws from matches where they
had the lion share of possession and new coach, Rafael Benitez must be
feeling the shadow of Jose Mourinho more and more.

Last season,
erstwhile coach, Mourinho blew away the Rossoneri on the two occasions
they met in the league without conceding any goal.

Sneidjer promises a win

Inter midfielder
Wesley Sneidjer has told his teammates to forget their former coach,
Mourinho and concentrate on doing well with new tactician, Rafael
Benitez.

“Mourinho is in the
past,” Sneijder wrote on his Twitter account. “We must think about the
present and no longer in the past. We will get over these moments of
fatigue, and I will be at my best soon. This rest has helped me to relax
and reflect.

“We might be in some
trouble, but there are explanations for this. We come from a fantastic
season that will be difficult to forget. The real fans will never jeer
their own players, especially when they are going through a tough
period.

“I don’t want to
lose the derby because it was my debut match last season. I will never
forget it. I am getting better and need help from the fans and Benitez.

He is a great coach just like Mourinho,” he concluded.

Inter players,
Esteban Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, Maicon, MacDonald Mariga, Thiago Motta
and Sulley Muntari were put through individual sessions on Friday
morning to check on their fitness ahead of Sunday’s derby. They were
joined by Lucio and Dejan Stankovic, who did light training. All eight
players were supervised by rehabilitation coaches Eduardo Parra and
Stefano Rapetti, and physiotherapists Marco Dellacasa, Alberto Galbiati
and Luigi Sessolo.

The stakes are high
in this derby with Inter keen to return to the summit of the league,
despite notable absentees. Walter Samuel is supposed to be out until
February and Maicon will need more time to recover from a back injury.

This will also be
the first time that former Nerrazurri striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovich will
be playing against his former colleagues.

Derby origin

This rivalry started
in 1908 as a group of AC Milan players broke off to form their own
club, Inter Milan. In another parallel, Inter became associated with the
city’s middle classes while AC continued to identify themselves with
workers and migrants. Although these associations no longer exist within
the clubs – AC Milan is now owned by Italy’s Prime Minister – the
rivalry between the two sets of fans is as fierce as ever, and
culminated in a game in 2005 which saw Inter fined 200,000 euro and
ordered to play their Champions’ League games behind closed doors after
fans threw flares onto the pitch, one of which hit Milan goalkeeper
Dida, forcing him out of the game, which was soon abandoned.

Arsenal will hope for last season’s result

Historically,
Everton have normally had the upper hand on the Gunners at Goodison
Park. Everton coach, David Moyes will be hoping to add a fourth home win
to the four defeats and two draws he has witnessed against this
afternoon’s visitors during his tenure.

There was a rude
shock for Everton in the first match of the 2009/10 season when Arsenal
destroyed history by giving them a 6-1 bashing. The Blues of Everton
recovered a bit of pride in the return leg when they got a creditable
2-2 draw. They were leading 2-1 with a Steven Pienaar break-away goal
till the dying minutes of that encounter but in the second minute of
stoppage-time Tomas Rosicky curled home the equaliser to salvage a point
for the home side.

Everton are
undefeated in five consecutive games and Moyes has just been named as
Manager of the month for October. This will be the incentive to keep
their good home record that has seen them draw 3-3 with Manchester
United even though they were losing the match 1-3 in the 90th minute.

Marouane Chamakh
scored two goals against Wolves, on the day that acclaimed forward,
Robin Van Persie returned to action. That has already generated a debate
about how Arsene Wenger will accommodate both players in his starting
line-up.

The other Marouane, big-hair Fellaini, will miss the match on account of a red card in his first match back from injury.

Jermaine Beckford is
the new hero at Goodison. He scored the injury-time equaliser against
Bolton and proving to fans that he can finish.

“Anyone who has
watched Leeds United over the last few seasons will tell you he can
score an array of goals. It was a fantastic finish, it really was. We
needed something; it was probably the last 10 or 15 seconds of the
game,” Moyes said on Everton FC website.

“I think that is
what Jermaine has got but there is a lot he will have to learn in being a
Premier League player. I put him in a bit earlier than I should have
done. My idea was always to bring him off the bench in games where we
needed a goal.

Going into today’s match, Moyes has Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Loius Saha and now Beckford to choose from.

Victor Anichebe is recuperating from a knee injury and Leon Osman on the sidelines.

Arsenal will be
without Abou Diaby and Thomas Vermaelen while the game may come too soon
for Manuel Almunia. Victory this afternoon for Everton at Goodison will
make it a 98th victory in all competitions, while an Arsenal win will
be their 31st at the stadium.

Chelsea chase another home victory

Stamford Bridge has
been turned into a fortress in the 2010/11 season with six matches
played and six won. Petr Cech has not conceded any goal in that run. The
last time Sunderland won at Stamford Bridge was 2001 when they won 4-2
but last season’s 7-1 hammering is still fresh in the memory.

Chelsea have lost
their assistant coach, Ray Wilkins. His contract was terminated with
immediate effect on Thursday after a 32-year liaison with the club, both
as a player and coach.

As a former Chelsea
captain and coach – he had worked under Gianluca Vialli. Wilkins also
served under Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti, and he would
address press conferences on occasion, to take the pressure off the
manager, most notably when things began to go wrong for Scolari.

Michael Essien will
also be missing as his red card takes effect but Frank Lampard is
supposed to make his come-back from hernia operation that has seen him
miss about 11 weeks – the longest that he has been injured in his
career.

Carlo Ancelotti said Lampard may play on Sunday but surely not for 90 minutes.

“I think he’ll be okay for Sunday. He started to train two days ago with the team.

“He doesn’t have a
problem, (and) is showing confidence. I hope he will be ready, not
necessarily to play for 90 minutes but just to be involved in the squad.
If he’s okay, he can start. I don’t think he will be able to play 90
minutes, but he can play part of the game – he can do that.”

But on Friday,
Lampard got injured with an adductor muscle injury which has set back
his appearance by another three weeks.. He will likely be replaced by
Ramires.

Sunderland’s record
signing, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan has scored four goals in his last three
matches and will be a threat as Darren Bent continues to be sidelined
with a knee injury. Chelsea’s Didier Drogba should have fully recovered
from the Malaria fever that laid him low last week while Nicolas Anelka
is only likely to be fit enough for the substitutes’ bench.

LA LIGA

Mourinho keen to continue winning

Jose Mourinho and
his Real Madrid side warmed up for the trip to Gijon with a 5-1
demolition of Segunda Division B side, Real Murcia at the Santiago
Bernabeau on Wednesday. There were fears Madrid could have suffered
another embarrassing defeat at the last-32 stage, having been knocked
out in this round by other third-tier outfits Alcorcon and Real Union in
the last two years but goals from Esteban Granero, Gonzalo Higuain,
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema (penalty) and Xabi Alonso put paid to
Murcia’s ambitions.

It is now 12 wins out of 16 matches for Mourinho and Madrid are yet to taste defeat in the 2010/11 season.

Meanwhile, French
striker, Karim Benzema has promised to repay Mourinho’s faith by scoring
goals for the Blaugrana before their Copa Del Rey match against Murcia.

“I want to score
goals against Murcia to thank [Jose] Mourinho for what he has done for
me. His actions and words help me. He is always here to help me to
become better,” Benzema said before scoring a goal from the penalty spot
against Murcia.

“He says things like, ‘You’ve played well, and you have to continue.’ I want to restore the trust that he has given me.”

Mourinho will expect to be repaid if the striker gets to play against Gijon today.

Manchester City
enjoy flexing their financial muscles but if a title challenge is to
materialise, teams like Birmingham City, who visit Eastlands on
Saturday, must start feeling the force on the field.

Manager Roberto
Mancini’s main concern against lowly Birmingham will be a victory to
consolidate their top-four position but fans of the club, despite the
millions spent, could be forgiven for feeling short-changed in the
entertainment stakes. City have managed just seven goals in six home
matches and have found the net only 15 times this season, a poor return
and one that could undermine their hopes of barging into the title
race. Leaders, Chelsea, who host Sunderland on Sunday, have scored 28,
and second and third-placed Manchester United and Arsenal have bagged
24 each. City ground out a timid 0-0 draw at home to United on
Wednesday, wasting the perfect opportunity to lay down a marker against
their illustrious rivals.

It was telling that
United manager, Alex Ferguson, appeared disappointed that two points
had been dropped, while City’s Roberto Mancini preferred to stress the
fact that his side had avoided defeat. “I thought Nigel de Jong played
well, as did Gareth Barry,” Mancini said of two of his defensive
midfield shield. “It was good we did not concede any goals in stoppage
time like we did last season.” For all the millions spent on players
since City became the play thing of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan
in 2008, the club is struggling to throw off an inferiority complex and
the team, while tough to beat, lacks personality.

Expensive squad

Skipper, Carlos
Tevez, has scored half City’s goals this season; and of the rest of the
expensively assembled squad, only Mario Balotelli, who is suspended for
Saturday’s clash with Birmingham, has managed more than one in the
league. England winger, Adam Johnson, was overlooked for a starting
berth against United with Tevez again left to run himself into the
ground. Emmanuel Adebayor has looked a shadow of the player that used
to terrorise defences at Arsenal, and City get few goals from their
defensively-minded midfield. Despite City’s caution, they remain
well-placed on 21 points, seven behind leaders Chelsea, two behind
Arsenal and three shy of United, none of the top three are firing on
all cylinders.

Manchester United
face Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime knowing victory would close
Chelsea’s gap to a point, but Ferguson will be wary of facing old
adversary, Gerard Houllier. They crossed swords many times when
Houllier was in charge of Liverpool, and the Frenchman achieved the
rare feat of five successive victories over United from 2000-2002.

Houllier’s return
to English football has been low-key with mid-table Villa struggling
for consistency and Wednesday’s last-minute win over Blackpool was
their first in the league since September.

Chelsea have been the model of consistency at Stamford Bridge, winning all six home league games this season without conceding a goal and the champions hope to have Frank Lampard back.

The England midfielder has been sidelined since August with a groin injury and his return is timely in the

light of Michael Essien’s suspension after his red card in the 1-0 win over Fulham on Wednesday.

Arsenal are away to Everton on Sunday while at the other end of the
table on Saturday time appears to be running out for West Ham manager
Avram Grant to turn around the London’s club’s fortunes. Defeat at home
by Blackpool could leave the Hammers dangerously adrift at the bottom.

One
of the African tickets to the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup was secured
by the Falcons when they thrashed the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon
5-1 on Thursday morning at the Sinama Stadium in South Africa.

The Falcons meet
defending champions, Equatorial Guinea, in the final on Sunday.
Equatorial Guinea beat hosts, South Africa, 3-1 in extra-time in the
second semi-final match.

Caging Nkwocha

The Falcons victory
over the Cameroonian Lionesses confirmed their superiority over the
team they beat 4-3 via penalty shootout in the third place match of the
last edition of this championship. In yesterday’s game, the
Cameroonians had set out their stall from the opening whistle – shackle
7-goal heroine, Perpetua Nkwocha, but all the double-teaming was almost
a misnomer in the seventh minute when Nkwocha had a close header saved
on the line by the Cameroonian goal keeper. Cameroonian defender, Cathy
Bou, was the leader of the defenders and she was hard going into
tackles against both Desire Oparanozie and Nkwocha, serving notice to
the two strikers that she intended to keep them at bay.

In the 13th minute,
Oparanozie was roughly brought down by Bou on the edge of the box; and
she being the last defender should have been shown a straight red card
but a yellow card sufficed. Helen Ukaonu blazed the free kick wide off
target. Another chance was frittered away in the 16th minute when
Oparanozie failed to control in front of the goalkeeper. The Nigerian
team was in control of the match but there were no dividends. The
Lionesses could only test the Nigerians with long range shots from
midfield as the defensive duo of Osinachi Ohale and Onome Ebi held firm
against Ngoh Marlyse, who was throwing her weight around. Ebere Orji
headed unto the upright when it was easier to have scored in the 25th
minute. In the 26th and 27th minutes, Cameroon pressed the Nigerians
back and won two consecutive corner kicks.

The game changer

From the clearance
of the second corner kick in the 27th minute, Stella Mbachu is hacked
down by Bou, and she is shown a second yellow card. She is then sent
off and the advantage was now firmly in the Falcons’ side. More
pressure on the Cameroonian defence and they conceded a free kick which
was then headed out by Marlyse for a corner kick. With the wind behind
the ball, Helen Ukaonu floated an in-swinging corner that eluded the
goal keeper and the Falcons had a deserving opener. There was two
additional minutes which was utilised by the Nigerian team. Nkwocha,
who had dropped deep to escape the Cameroonian defence, split the
defence with a pass to Mbachu, who raced to the line and delivered a
pin-point cross which Oparanozie headed into goal.

The second half had
hardly taken off when the Cameroonians clawed their way back into the
game. A free kick from about the centre circle by Marlyse caused
confusion between Dede and her defenders, and the rebound off her
attempted punch is headed into goal by Janet Njok. The pressure was
immediately on the Falcons as the 10-women Lionesses swarmed forward in
search of the equaliser. The Cameroonian goalkeeper however gifted the
ball to Nkwocha from a goal kick in the 57th minute. She controlled
beautifully before slotting home. The Cameroonians still pressed
forward through No.7 and their No.9 but the shots from distance still
failed to trouble Dede, who continued to look good with her dives. The
game was ended as contest in the 73rd minute by Nkwocha.

The Nkwocha show

A marauding run
down the left by Oparanozie was rewarded with a throw in. She quickly
took it to Ukaonu, who then delivered a telling cross into the box
where the Cameroonian defenders were caught out. Nkwocha, on her first
touch, calmly guided the ball into the net and it was effectively game
over. Nkwocha now pressed forward for another goal in the 79th minute,
when she took the ball past two defenders on the left, cutting into the
box where she was brought down by Gaelle Engelment. The referee,
Theresa Sanni, from Guinea, rightly blew for a penalty. Nkwocha dusted
herself off, picked her spot to the right of the goalkeeper, and
scored. She had then scored her 10th goal of the tournament, five short
of her target of 15 goals.

“Goal scoring is in
me,” said the 10 goal heroine. “My team mates told me I would score 15
goals, I have 10 now, and hopefully I will get the rest in the finals.”
The Cameroonian coach conceded that his team were second in the races
behind the Nigerian even though the sending off aided their defeat.
Coach Enow Ngachu said, “Our game plan was disorganised by the red
card. But I think it was a fair decision and the Nigerian team was
better.”

Revenge on their minds

Eucharia Uche was
just happy that her team had not let down their Nigerian fans, “I am so
happy that we did not let Nigeria down.” On Nkwocha’s 10 goals in the
competition, the former Falcon said, “I have always said that Nkwocha
is the motivator in the team and I am so happy that she is scoring all
these goals.” On their desire for a final opponent between Equatorial
Guinea and South Africa, Uche said, “We are not afraid of anyone as we
have shown so far.” But Mbachu wants the defending champions,
Equatorial Guinea. “We want revenge and to prove to them that we are
better.” The final will come up at the Sinama Stadium on Sunday and the
Falcons who were beaten 1-0 by Equatorial Guinea in the semi-final will
be looking to reclaim the title they won on six straight occasions
before that match.

Ready
to prove that the away victory recorded over Plateau United in the
opening weekend of the Nigeria Premier League 2010/11 season was no
fluke, Dolphins captain, Emma Godwin, is confident that his team will
defeat Rangers FC in Port Harcourt on Saturday when both sides meet at
the Liberation Stadium, Dolphins FC’s home ground.

“We have a good
team and we are determined to win,” he said. “Last week in Jos I said
we were going to repeat what we did to Plateau United in 2004 and we
succeeded by winning 1-0. Now we have a game against Rangers in Port
Harcourt and I know that they will be difficult opponents but we will
come out victorious.” Godwin, the captain of Dolphins since 2007, has
been brimming with confidence since the club concluded their pre-season
camping exercise four weeks ago.

Past fixtures

When reminded that
both sides met thrice last season, twice in the league and once in the
Federation Cup with Rangers winning twice and drawing once, Emma waved
that off as history: “Last season has gone and this is a new season,”
he said. “In Enugu last season we were unlucky not to have returned
with a draw and in Port Harcourt we should have won but it ended in a
draw. At the Federation Cup, in Kaduna, we ended it 2-2 against Rangers
and lost on penalties so as far as I am concerned they are not that
much better than we are.” The Port Harcourt based side is currently
relishing the fine start to the season and also hope to maintain the
momentum against Rangers before meeting with their local rivals; Sharks
FC next weekend “We have started on a high and we will take six points
to Sharks Stadium next week where we have the big derby against
Sharks,” he said.

Other matches

Meanwhile, four
other fixtures are also billed for Saturday, as Kano Pillars welcome
Bukola Babes to the Sanni Abacha Stadium in Kano.

Pillars were runners up in the league last season and have already
settled down to life without their top striker Ahmed Musa who has
joined Dutch Side VVV Venlo. Kwara United host Kaduna United in Offa;
JUTH FC takes on Gombe United in Jos, while Crown FC welcomes Warri
Wolves to Ijebu Ode to complete the day’s fixture.

Former
Nigerian star, Humphrey Edobor, believes that the poor sequence of
results posted in recent months by the Super Eagles cannot be blamed on
the team’s playing personnel but, rather, entirely on those charged
with the responsibility of running football in Nigeria.

The Super Eagles
have been far from impressive since the start of the year, beginning
with the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, in Angola, where they
secured yet another third-place finish – their fourth in the past five
edition of the tournament – as well as at the World Cup in South Africa
where they failed to advance beyond the group stage. Just last month,
the Super Eagles suffered a lone goal defeat at the hands of Guinea in
an 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, thus jeopardizing their
chances of qualifying for the tournament, to be co-hosted by Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon.

But Edobor insists
the players are not to be blamed for the team’s inadequacies. “I played
the game so I’m not going to criticize any player but the management,”
Edobor told Sports flight, a sports programme on City FM 105.1, where
he also hailed the selection of Samson Siasia as the new coach of the
Super Eagles. “I am very impressed that the voice of the people have
been heard and we will now have our own coach to take the team to any
competition,” he said.

Battle of the coaches

Edobor, who was a
regular fixture in the national team during the late 80s, also
dismissed the idea that foreign coaches are better than their Nigerian
counterparts. “You see it’s not that the foreign coaches are better but
I see our coaches as far more better because they know the players
better than the expatriates,” he said. “I am impressed that Siasia is
the chosen one and I wish him all the best.”

Siasia was selected ahead of Stephen Keshi following a one-on-one
interview session with the technical committee of the Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF). But Edobor picked holes with the NFF’s selection
process. “To me that was not fair enough,” he said. “Both of them
played locally and internationally, they gave their best for the
country and, also, actually best of friends. Even though they (NFF)
made their choice by succumbing to the wish of the people but that was
not the best way to go about it putting both friends head-to-head. Any
of them would have been good for the job having played the game,
coached the game and they know the game. They should have just
identified one and discussed with him instead of that kind of contest.”

Osaze Odemwingie returned to action for the first time in over a
month when he came off the bench to feature for West Bromwich Albion in last
Sunday’s Premier League loss to Manchester City.

And his return couldn’t have been better timed as the Baggies
get set to prosecute two games over the next five days.

The last time the Nigerian international appeared for the
Baggies was in their 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers back at the start of
October but he picked a knee injury late in the tie and was subsequently
consigned to the treatment table.

As a result, he was withdrawn from international duty and missed
Nigeria’s 2012 Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea (which the Super Eagles
lost 1-0).

His combativeness and high work rate, which endeared him to fans
of the Super Eagles was undoubtedly missed in the game against the Guineans but
he was even more sorely missed by West Brom fans, who saw their darling Baggies
plummet down the Premier League table in the absence of their newly acquired
Nigerian striker.

The Baggies have won just one game since the former Lokomotiv
Moscow forward picked up the injury. In Odemwingie’s absence, the Baggies have
added four points from a possible 12.

Although they defeated Leicester City 4-1 in the League Cup,
their only win in the Premier League this past month arrived in their 2-1 home
win against Fulham. The victory came a week after their impressive 2-2 draw
with Manchester United at Old Trafford – a game that was actually their first
without their talismanic Nigerian.

In his absence, they suffered back to back losses to Blackpool
and Manchester City, and dropped from the impressive 6th position they occupied
at the end of the tie with Bolton to 10th.

West Ham and Wigan beckon

Up next for the Baggies is an away game on Wednesday against
bottom of the table West Ham and manager Roberto Di Matteo will love to play
Odemwingie from the start especially going by the impressive 30 minute
performance he churned out in the 2-0 loss to Manchester City where had it not
been for a fine save from City goalkeeper Joe Hart, the Nigerian would have
increased his Premier League goals tally to four from seven matches.

Another seemingly easy game for the Baggies will then come up on
Saturday against 18th placed Wigan. But just like the tie against the Hammers,
this will also be an away game.

With the current poor form of their hosts these games present an
opportunity for West Brom to improve their league fortunes.

That is why they will be glad to have Odemwingie back in their fold
especially with the memories of his man of the match performance against
Arsenal still fresh in the mind.

After an interesting season opener on Saturday between Kaduna
United and Kano Pillars at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium – a game that ended in a
1-1 draw, nine other matches came up on Sunday with a total of 18 goals scored.

The best viewing, as far as goals were concerned, was at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu where Rangers defeated visiting Lobi Stars 3-2.

Fred Okwara shot the home side into the lead in the 15th minute,
but 20 minutes later Kingsley Odoh restored parity for the visitors from
Makurdi with the first of his two goals on the evening.

Rangers however went into the half-time interval 2-1 up after
Ejike Uzoenyi, put them back in front with just a minute left on the clock. But
eight minutes after the restart, Odoh popped up yet again to draw Lobi Stars back
on level terms only for Brendan Ogbu to clinch a last gasp winner for the
Flying Antelopes in added time.

Gombe on top

The win shot Rangers to second spot on the league table behind
Gombe United, who ran out 2-0 winners over visiting Heartland of Owerri at the
Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi courtesy of second half strikes from the duo of
Rafiu Salawudeen and Ifeanyi Okoro.

It was not the sort of start new Super Eagles coach Samson
Siasia had wished for, heading into the encounter, but his counterpart, Bernard
Ogbe, was impressed with the display churned out by his Desert Scorpions.

“It was a really nice performance from the boys. I was impressed
especially with the way they kept fighting for every ball in the second half,”
said Ogbe. “Without taking anything away from Heartland, we deserved to win and
I look forward to a better performance in our next match.”

The game will come up on Saturday at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos,
against a JUTH side that played an impressive 1-1 draw against Sharks in Port
Harcourt courtesy of a goal in added time by the Jos side’s Ghanaian import
James Amankwei.

Sharks’ veteran forward, Victor Ezeji, had shot the home side
into the lead 15 minutes from the end.

Amankwei wasn’t the only Ghanaian to hit the back of the net in
the opening weekend of the Nigerian Premier League – his counterpart Owusu
Addae was on target for Dolphins of Port Harcourt in their 1-0 away win at
Plateau United.

At the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Shooting Stars defeated visiting
Sunshine Stars 2-1 courtesy of a brace from ex-Sunshine player Gbolahan Salami,
while John Chukwudi’s 35th minute goal was enough to see holders,

Enyimba overcome an Ocean Boys side inspired by some spectacular
goalkeeping heroics from former junior international Femi Thomas.

Emmanuel Omodiagbe was the star in Warri Wolves 1-0 win over
Kwara United while in Minna, Sule Adamu’s 15th minute strike earned maximum
points for Niger Tornadoes over visiting Crown.

The only game which failed to produce a goal was between Bukola Babes and
Zamfara United at the Offa Township Stadium.

The Super Falcons’ quest to reclaim the African title
relinquished two years ago in Equatorial Guinea will be put to test on Thursday
when the team confronts the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroun in the first semi
final match of the ongoing Africa Women’s Championships in South Africa.

While the Falcons secured their semi-final ticket by topping
Group A – having won their three group matches, Cameroun got their berth
yesterday after defeating Algeria 2-1 to finish as the second best team from
Group B. The Cameroonians will be hoping to break the jinx of having never
beaten the Falcons in the four times they met at the African Women
Championships since 1998.

The other semi final fixture also billed for Thursday will see
host, South Africa play defending champion, Equatorial Guinea.

Nigeria and Cameroun were both ousted at this stage of the
tournament in the last edition; while Nigeria was edged out by Equatorial 1-0;
Cameroun was pummelled 3-0 by South Africa.

The losers’ final for both teams was keenly contested ending 1-1
in regulation time before Nigeria nicked the third place spot after winning the
ensuing penalty kicks 4-3.

Only four members of the team that played against Cameroun last
time out are in the current Super Falcons team. Perpetua Nkwocha, who is one of
the quartet has hit superb form in South Africa netting seven goals in three
matches.

She scored a brace during the first half of the Super Falcon’s
last game against Tanzania’s Twiga Stars on Sunday to consolidate her position
as the tournament’s top goal scorer “I am looking forward to being the top
scorer at the end of this tournament.” Nkwocha who has set a target of 15 goals
for herself said.

Nkwocha was the tournament’s top scorer when South Africa hosted
the championship in 2004 with nine goals.

Falcons will get better

Bala Nikya, the Super Falcons’ assistant coach said the team
will put in a better performance than in their previous matches when they face
Cameroun in the semi-final on Thursday.

“I think the team is getting better going by the way the team
has been improving with every game”, Nikya said in a post-match interview with
reporters on Sunday after the Falcons dimmed Tanzania’s Twiga Stars 3-0 at the
Makhulong Stadium.

He said every member of the team had been improving and that
there was no cause for alarm no matter who they meet in the final stages of the
competition.

“The players have been improving and I can say the team overall
has been doing well, not minding today’s performance and result.

“We have been assessing them vis-à-vis what we have ahead of us,
and I can assure you that the players will get better and the team will do
better than this in the semi-finals.”

Apart from moving closer to winning the African crown, the prize awaiting
the finalists of this year’s championships will be the chance to represent
Africa at the 2011 FIFA women’s World Cup in Germany next year.