Nigeria Content Online

If
Formula One world champion Jenson Button has to help McLaren team mate
Lewis Hamilton’s title challenge in Brazil this weekend, it will be his
own decision.

The Briton, who won
the crown with Brawn GP at Interlagos last year, must win Sunday’s race
to have any chance of retaining it this year.

Button is fifth overall, 42 points behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and 21 adrift of Hamilton with two races remaining.

“I have a chance to
still win the world championship, it’s a very small chance, but because
it’s a small chance I’ve got to go hell for leather, give it all I can
and enjoy it,” he told Reuters.

“I’ve got to finish
first. You can’t finish second. It’s not like I’m racing one other guy,
I’m racing four other guys and if one has a bad race, maybe the others
won’t.” Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber is second overall, 11 behind
Alonso, with his German team mate Sebastian Vettel 25 points off the
lead.

Button made clear
that, should he be out of the title reckoning and also in a position to
help his team mate, he would do so. But there would be no question of
surreptitious — and banned — ‘team orders’.

“I want to win the championship. I don’t want anyone else to win the championship,” said the 30-year-old.

“But if I suddenly
were to find myself in a position where I can’t win it, you are a team
and you do what you think is right…I will never be ordered to do
anything, but I will do what I think is right.

“I would not be
ordered. (team principal) Martin (Whitmarsh) knows I’m intelligent
enough to make my own decision, and the right decision.”

Webber situation

Button’s attitude contrasted to that of the Red Bull pairing, whose relationship has become increasingly strained.

Webber said on
Thursday that he felt the team favoured Vettel emotionally and
described his own title tilt as “inconvenient.” Button, far more
relaxed than this time last year and enjoying being out of the main
spotlight with all the burden of expectation, expressed sympathy for
the Australian.

“I think we’ve all
found ourselves in a situation where we don’t feel happy within a team,
where you don’t feel that you’re really wanted within that team,” said
the Briton, who was dropped by Renault in 2002 to make way for Alonso.

So yeah, it must be tough (for Webber).

“At my previous
team, for me it was so important to be involved with that team, and to
feel part of the team, and for the mechanics and engineers to actually
want you to be a part of that team, and be very sad to see you go,” he
said of Brawn.

“That is important to me, to know you are wanted.

“I had that there,
and I was worried that, moving teams, I wouldn’t have that, but I found
it very quickly and I feel very at home here,” continued Button.

“But not having
that must be tough, and I’m only going on what I read and hear what
Mark says, but he doesn’t look like he’s very loved there and that must
be tough and a difficult position to be in.” Pull Quote: I’m racing
four other guys and if one has a bad race, maybe the others won’t.

When Segun Fayose, Head of Corporate Communications of
Multichoice, Nigeria, informed me that SuperSport, cable television channel,
which some weeks ago signed on the German Bundesliga, was taking some Nigerian
journalists to Germany to see how the Bundesliga worked, I looked forward to
the trip with excitement.

Having watched German football from a distance for decades, I
was thrilled that I was finally going to get a first hand feel of the game and
how it is organised. It was a one week trip but there was so much packed into
it that it appeared much longer.

The first thing that struck me about the Bundesliga when we
visited its headquarters in Frankfurt was the sheer youthfulness of its
officials. The men and women administering the league had age on their side.

As we listened to, Katja Beck, Events & Promotions Manager;
Kay Langendorff, its press officer; Kay Dammholz, Vice President Sales &
Audiovisual Rights; and Patrick Stuber, Manager Sales & Audiovisual Rights,
talk about the organisations, goals and landmarks achieved by the Bundesliga
over the last few years, it was clear we were listening to people who knew
their business.

That knowledge has seen the league move from an obsession with
what Mainz FC’s Haruna Babangida describes a power football to a more fluid,
easy on the eyes game that has clubs like Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Mainz,
winning over foreign football fans.

One thing that struck my colleagues and I about the Bundesliga
was the passion of the football fans. It was quite simply electrifying the way
they chanted support for their teams. On Saturday, October 30, 2010 when our
hosts took us to the Fritz Walter Stadion in Kaiserslautern to watch the match
involving FC Kaiserslautern and Borussia Monchengladbach, the stadium was
filled to overflowing with as many as 16000 fans standing to watch the
encounter.

I couldn’t help thinking about our senior national football
team, which plays to near empty stadiums whenever it takes to the field in
grade A international matches.

Another impressive thing about the trip to Kaiserslautern was
the large number of the aged who had come to watch the game. Put
conservatively, the percentage of fans over 50 years old who turned out for the
match should hover between 30-40 per cent. There was also a sizeable number of
children under 18 years of age coming with their parents to watch the match.
With both old and young turning out in the colours of their club, it was quite
a spectacle.

Electrifying atmosphere

Throw in the fact that day was the birthday of Fritz Walter,
Germany’s 1954 World Cup squad winning captain, who happens to be the most
respected player to star for Kaiserslautern, then you had an explosive
situation, one that inspired the players to trounce hapless Borrusia
Monchengladbach 3-0.

After watching that match, my colleagues and I looked forward to
an exciting time at Mainz the following day when the home club, perched atop
the table squared off against second placed Borrusia Dortmund. As we toured the
Mainz Stadium that Sunday, our guide assured us, just like our Bundesliga hosts
had done two days earlier, that the atmosphere in the Stadium was going to be
quite literarily, explosive. Pointing to one end of the stadium, he said:

“That is the West end of the stadium. It is here that you have
the most fanatical supporters. In that corner, you have 17 thousand fans
chanting non-stop. Whether the stadium is full or not, the west end is full,”
he said.

Indeed, before the game commenced, that end of the stadium was already
filled up with fans waving flags and mufflers of their darling club. When in
the end Mainz was beaten 2-0 by the more experienced Dortmund, the fans were
crestfallen. Such is the bond existing between the club and its fans that it
took a long time for most of the fans to straggle out of the stadium. Most of
them hung around the club house drowning their sorrow in the many litres of
beer provided by club management.

As the D-day for
the much-awaited election into the executive board of the Nigerian Polo
Federation (NPF) draws ever so near, polo clubs across the country have
for the past months become a battle field of sorts with high class and
expensive “polotickings”.

From every
indication this election promises to be the most closely fought polls
in the over a century old history of Nigerian polo. As you are reading
this, all the affiliated clubs have submitted their nominations and
forwarded their list of delegates to the NPF secretariat.

Though the national
body has refused to disclose the names of nominees and delegates, our
findings reveal an interesting mix of candidates jostling for the five
elective positions.

While the post of
the Executive Secretary may not be up for contest as the polo
fraternity is comfortable with the incumbent, Mohammed Baba Kyari, who
has been unopposed for three years running, the posts of President,
Vice President, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, Legal Adviser and
Assistant Secretary will be decided at the polls.

One post that has
hotly dominated the various campaigns ever since, is that of the
all-powerful President. This is one strategic post that has truncated
two election attempts. Great polo administrators like Abubakar Umar,
Lawal Kaita, and Umaru Shinkafi have all been pointed to as possible
candidates, but none of them seem to be interested.

Our investigation
revealed that the race is likely to be a two horse race between the
former Lagos polo captain, Francis Ogboro, and former Kaduna polo vice
president, Alhassan Dantata.

While Dantata has
been on the project for the past three years now, Ogboro whose campaign
is catching on like wild fire came on board early this year. It will
take the 120 voting delegates to separate these titans who believe they
have what it takes to give polo a new face.

The post with the
longest list of contenders would be that of the first and second Vice
Presidents, where more than eight candidates are lined up. Our sources
reveal that big guys like Hadi Sirika, Kenneth Edet, Suleiman Abubakar,
Tajudeen Dantata, Alaba Alakija and Bashir Yar’Adua are on the list.

Another post that
is too close to call, is that of Treasurer, where Abubakar Kari is
likely to face opposition from Femi Oladele, Ibrahim Kontagora, Salmanu
Tilde and Abdullahi Ibrahim from Lagos.

Eddie Onah who has
been holding forth as acting Legal Adviser, will have a tough duel in
his hands as the President of Lagos Polo Club, Dolapo Akinrele (SAN) is
believed to have joined the race.

It was also
gathered that the Assistant Secretary post will be a hot race pitting
Hassan Gashash, Aliyu Sambo and Adeoye Ajibade from the Ibadan Polo
Club.

Bad blood

Dawule Baba, Musa
Yahaya and Prince Umar Kabir are favoured as Ex Officio members of the
NPF. At the height of campaigns leading to the polls billed for this
week at the Ahmadu Yakubu Club House in Kaduna, some contestants have
resorted to mudslinging and pure blackmail. This is in spite of the
fact that they are all friends, bonded by the noble game.

According to
election guidelines released last August in Katsina, delegates are to
be drawn from the ten functioning polo clubs that have been classified
into three categories.

The Category A
clubs, which includes Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Port Harcourt,
will provide fifteen delegates each. Ibadan, Bauchi, Jos and Yola,
which make up Category B clubs, will elect ten delegates each, while
Minna, which is the only Category C club, has five delegates. Zaria
Polo Club, Sokoto Polo Club, Nigerian Army and Police polo associations
that are associate members of the NPF are not allowed to participate in
the polls.

In offering to lead
the renaissance, Ogboro and Dantata looked very much sincere and
committed to the crusade, each citing the need to promote the noble
game and return polo to its past glory as their major concern.

Both are great
administrators with records that speak volumes. Ogboro who held forth
as captain for a decade, has the laudable achievement of transforming
Lagos Polo Club. He almost single-handedly turned the foremost club
into a million naira outfit, while Dantata restored order in Kaduna and
donated a viewing pavilion to the club.

The major
responsibility before the delegates now is to carefully study the
manifestoes of these leading candidates, ask the hard questions on how
each of them intends to turn things around, before taking a proper
position.

Finally, in voting, delegates should listen to their conscience.
They should not vote the interest of an individual or group. Rather,
they should vote in such a way that Polo the king of sport will emerge
the ultimate winner, bearing in mind that posterity will judge everyone
according to his decision.

Arguably
one of the most successful clubs in the country, Enyimba International
of Aba will today begin their quest for a record seventh League title
as the 2010/11 Nigeria Premier League (NPL) season finally gets
underway.

The Peoples’
Elephant will be up against Ocean Boys of Yenegoa in one of today’s
interesting fixtures and for Coach Okey Emordi, his team cannot afford
to start on a wrong footing.

“First and
foremost, I must say I am very glad that the league has finally begun
after suffering series of postponement. For us every match is important
and that is why we will be taking today’s match very serious. We have a
target of doing well in all the competitions that we will be playing in
this season and we are ready to meet that target,” he said.

Emordi is one of
the coaches who have won several laurels for Enyimba with the peak
performance being a CAF Champions League crown in 2004, which in turn
fetched him the continent’s best coach award.

Gunning for the treble

Enyimba will be
campaigning on three fronts; the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), the
Federations’ Cup and the CAF Champions’ League, this season.

Already the club
has shown signs of what to expect this season after adding the 2010
Charity Cup title to its growing list of honours recently. Enyimba
defeated Federation Cup Champions, Kaduna United, 4-2 on penalties, to
lift the season’s opening trophy.

Aware of the
daunting task ahead, the head, media and publicity of Enyimba, Tonnex
Chukwu, said the team has beefed up its squad with both young and
experienced players to continue the tradition of winning trophies.

“Enyimba has a
tradition of getting the best legs in the country. At the end of each
season, we beef up the squad and make the necessary changes in the
perceived areas of weakness and this season was no different.

“We have made a
number of signings who will help us continue our tradition of winning
titles and trophies. The season is a long one and we know we need a
very solid squad to effectively challenge for honours in the coming
season,” he said.

A better finish

Ocean Boys on their
part will be attempting to better their 14th place finish last season
in the league. Their last visit to Aba ended in a 2-1 defeat.

Already, one of the
clubs’ new signing, Andrew Michael has been picked as one of the ten
players to look out for in the new season. Michael, 19, is strong and
speedy on and off the ball and can also shoot with both feet. League
experts have predicted that he could finally break the duck at Ocean
Boys this season.

South West Derby

In other matches,
the ancient city of Ibadan will be aglow with action as local rivals,
Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Sunshine Stars of Akure go head to head in
the South West derby at the Liberty Stadium.

Already, both teams
have a score to settle as the Akure based team edged out 3SC 1-0 in a
pre-season tournament held last week in Ijebu Ode and the Sunshine Boys
went on to lift the trophy at stake.

While 3SC coach,
Fatai Amoo has played down the defeat in Ijebu Ode, he said his boys
have learned from their mistakes and will be all out for the three
points today. 3SC defeated Sunshine 2-0 in the corresponding fixture
last season.

Hence, Amoo
reaffirmed his confidence in the ability of the Oluyole Warriors not
only to repeat the feat but to also clinch at least a continental
ticket at the end of this season.

“The club’s
preparation for the season have been thorough and painstaking, the
frequent postponements of the league have also helped us to play many
grade ‘A’ friendly matches like the South West tourney that just ended,
which gave us the ample opportunity to test new players during the
screening exercise. I can assure our fans that Shooting will favourably
compete with all top teams in the Premier League and come out with good
results,” the former assistant Super Eagles coach said.

Last time out in
the league, it was contrasting fortunes for both teams; while the going
was good for Sunshine Stars who finished third in the league, earning
their first continental ticket to the Confederations Cup competition,
Shooting Stars were battling relegation for the better part of the
season with Amoo coming in to finally rescue the team.

This time around the chairman of the club, Joseph Ladipo, has promised the teeming fans of the club a good outing.

Ladipo commended
the efforts and cooperation of the Oyo State Governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala, towards the club, describing him as number one supporter of
Shooting Stars.

League newcomers

In other fixtures,
Premier League newcomers, Bukola Babes of Kwara, Crown FC of Ogbomoso
and JUTH FC will be hoping to get their campaign in the top flight off
to fine starts.

Of the lot, only
Bukola Babes will be playing at home as they host Zamfara United at the
newly approved Offa Township Stadium. Bukola Babes have revealed that
they will get their Nigerian Premier League debut underway with 29
players.

“We are aware that
the NPL rules guarantees each team a maximum of 35 players but we just
want to be modest and careful about it all.” the Manager of the newly
promoted side, Alloy Chukwuemeka, said.

“That is why we
want to start off with 29 players whose registration formalities we
have completed. We will make up the required number as the season goes
on, and by the time the tear and wear sets in.”

Not just making up numbers

The Bukola Babes
team manager added that the club is not in the top flight to make the
numbers. “That we are new in the Premier League does not make us
inferior or less ambitious.

“We are not here
just to make up the number. We really mean business as the only
privately owned and sponsored club in the Premier League,” he said.

Other matches

In the other games,
JUTH FC will be away to Port-Harcourt to face Sharks FC, The Plateau
State-based team is returning to the top-flight division in Nigeria
after they were relegated two seasons ago. The team has retained 21
players from the squad that helped it gain promotion last season. It
signed twelve more players to beef up the squad.

The last of the
newly promoted sides; Crown of Ogbomosho will travel to Minna to face,
Niger Tornadoes in another newly approved stadium; Bako Kotangora
Stadium in Minna.

Though the league
is starting out without a title sponsor, the new NPL board has promised
that tremendous improvements will be seen in the league this year. The
board said it will not condone any act of hooliganisms while reassuring
players that their welfare will be adequately protected.

According to the fixtures released by the NPL, the season is meant to be concluded on June 12, 2011.

For
the first time in more than five years, Tiger Woods became reacquainted
with life away from the number one spot in the official world rankings.

The 14-times major
champion was deposed by Britain’s Lee Westwood when the world rankings
were released on Monday, but Woods can return to the top should he win
this week’s WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.

For the moment,
though, the 34-year-old American is well aware that a mediocre 2010
season without a single victory would eventually result in one outcome.

“As far as the
ranking is concerned, yeah I’m not ranked number one,” Woods told
reporters on Monday. “In order to do that, you have to win tournaments
and I didn’t win this year.” Speaking after he had played an exhibition
match with Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa at Yokohama Country Club, Woods said he
was adjusting to not being the top-ranked player.

“As far as emotions
go, it is what it is,” he added. “You have to win in order to become
number one in the world and you have to win a lot to maintain it. This
is the way it goes.” Woods had been the game’s leading player for the
previous 281 weeks, and a total of 623 in his career, before he was
finally toppled by Englishman Westwood.

The American’s
private life unraveled amid sordid revelations of serial philandering
at the end of last year, an unexpected chain of events that led to the
break-up of his marriage and erratic tournament golf.

His aura of
invincibility on the course was severely dented and he ended his 2010
PGA Tour campaign without a victory for the first time since joining
the circuit in late 1996.

In many ways, it
was something of an anti-climax when Woods was dethroned by Westwood,
who was at home nursing a lingering calf injury after competing only
three times since he finished second at the British Open in July.

The Englishman
became only the fourth player to become world number one without
winning a major title, and many feel third-ranked German Martin Kaymer
is a worthier candidate after clinching this year’s U.S. PGA
Championship.

Model of consistency

Although Westwood
has been a model of consistency over the last two years with four
finishes of third or better in the majors, Kaymer has triumphed six
times in that period, including four victories on the European Tour
this season.

“Kaymer should be
number one,” Tiger Woods’s former swing coach Butch Harmon, who now
works with fourth-ranked Phil Mickelson among others, told Reuters on
Monday.

“If Phil had taken
half the year off like Westwood did, would he be number one? Did
Westwood win a major this year, or any year? I think not.” Asked if he
was surprised Woods had stayed at number one for as long as he did
during 2010, Harmon replied: “Yeah, he didn’t play (for much of the
year) so he stayed at number one. The system sucks.” Whatever the
faults of the ranking system, the battle for the label of world number
one is likely to be extremely volatile over the coming months and
Westwood could be deposed by any of three players by the end of this
week.

“All of the top
four in the rankings, Lee, Tiger, Martin and Phil can go number one
with victory at the HSBC,” Ian Barker, the European Tour’s director of
information services who manages the official rankings, told Reuters.

“And the situation
will remain very fluid next week when Lee, Martin and Phil compete at
the Barclays (Singapore Open) and Tiger defends the JBWere (Australian)
Masters.” Although Woods has clearly struggled with his game for much
of the year, his recent work with new swing coach Sean Foley seems to
be paying off.

He produced his
best golf of the season in the last-day singles at the Ryder Cup in
Wales, where he covered 15 holes in a sizzling nine under par to
complete a 4&3 win over Italian Francesco Molinari.

“I like where my
game is headed,” said Woods who will be competing in three more events
before the end of the year. “I like the pieces of it and how they’re
falling into place.

“I’ve done some pretty good work with Sean and I just took a month
off after the Ryder Cup so it was nice to get that break. It was a
long, frustrating year but in the end it turned out that everything’s
headed in a positive direction now.”

Lee
Westwood on Wednesday tersely dealt with suggestions his number one
ranking was a hollow accolade because he has so far failed to win one
of golf’s four majors.

The 37-year-old,
who ended Tiger Woods’s 281-week reign as world number one on Monday,
has seen his elevation come under fire from some quarters.

Woods’s former
coach Butch Harmon was one who criticised Westwood’s rise to number one
saying the ranking system “sucked.” “Did Westwood win a major this
year, or any year? I think not,” he said.

The last Englishman
to top the rankings, six-times major winner Nick Faldo, said on Sunday
that Westwood needed to cement his new status with a major trophy.

Westwood’s response
on Wednesday was terse. “I would agree with him. I don’t need Nick to
tell me that. That’s fairly obvious,” was his curt response to
reporters in Shanghai.

“I’ve had quite a
good career so far. But a major has been missing and I have performed
well in them over the last couple of years,” he added.

“I’ve given myself
a lot of chances and I haven’t managed to finish it off. You look at
the stats and the previous world number ones and they have all won
major championships. It would be nice to join that club as well,” said
Westwood.

“All I can do is keep putting myself in position and giving myself
chances at winning, which I have done over the last couple of years,”
he added.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale is the envy of Europe’s top
clubs after destroying Inter Milan’s defence for the second time in two weeks
but manager Harry Redknapp said on Wednesday he was not for sale at any price.

The Welsh left winger followed up his hat-trick in the 4-3
Champions League defeat at the San Siro with a spellbinding display on Tuesday
night as Tottenham beat the European champions 3-1 at White Hart Lane to go top
of Group A.

Bale, 21, bamboozled Inter’s Brazil right back Maicon with a
buccaneering performance, creating the second and third goals for Spurs who
came of age in Europe’s blue riband competition.

Former Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter and Portugal winger Luis
Figo watched Bale’s display in awe and Inter boss Rafael Benitez suggested he
would walk into his team.

Glenn Hoddle, one of Tottenham’s greatest ever players, said
Barcelona and Real Madrid would join the clamour for Bale’s signature although
Redknapp is adamant Bale is going nowhere.

“You couldn’t buy him for 25 or 30 million pounds that’s for
sure,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News in an interview on Wednesday. “If he had a
value, if we wanted to sell him, it would be way in excess of that.

“He is an amazing young player. We wouldn’t entertain a bid. The
chairman said he is not for sale and that’s good enough.

“We are building a team at Tottenham and we are a club that’s
going places. The whole thing is going forward and we are not looking to sell
our best players.”

Highly-rated

Bale was highly-rated when he arrived at Tottenham for 10
million pounds from Southampton in 2007 but lost form and confidence and even
became a jinx for the team which failed to win in any of his first 24 Premier
League appearances.

But Redknapp’s arrival worked wonders and now Tottenham can
boast arguably the best left-sided player in Europe.

“It’s amazing how he can run and run and run against the best
right back in the world,” Redknapp said.

Bale was still leaving Maicon, Lucio and any other Inter player
he found in his way floundering deep into stoppage time on Tuesday and looked
as though he could run all night.

“He was ridiculous tonight,” England striker Peter Crouch, who
scored Tottenham’s second goal from Bale’s fizzing low cross, told reporters.

“It’s a dream for a striker to play with him because you know that nine
times out of 10 he will beat his man and deliver the ball into the danger
area.”

After mauling Mali 5-0 in their opening match of the ongoing
Africa Women’s Championship, Nigeria’s Super Falcons will today take on hosts,
South Africa.

The match is billed for the Sinaba Stadium, Daveyton, near
Johannesburg with Kick-off fixed for 10am (local time).

Already both teams have been talking tough ahead of the testy
encounter, which guarantees either of the teams that emerge victorious today a
semi final ticket.

Despite losing out in all her previous encounters with the Super
Falcons, Augustine Makalakane, coach of the South Africa ladies says there is
nothing to fear this time around in the Nigerian team.

“Banyana Banyana hold no fears as far as playing Nigeria is
concerned. The match has the potential of being one of the highlights of the
tournament and we want to make our supporters proud,” he said.

Not intimated

While the South African ladies will no doubt enjoy the support
of their home crowd, with vuvuzelas blaring from the blast of the whistle,
Super Falcons coach, Eucharia Uche says her team cannot be intimidated.

“We have always played South Africa and each time we hear the
same thing. But they cannot intimidate us,” she said.

“This is a match like every other match for us and there is no
room for complacency. We came here prepared to win the trophy and we are taking
every match as it comes.

I know that we will not drop any point.

The Super Falcons coach said the mistakes of the last edition in
Equatorial Guinea have been corrected and the team is now ready to win a third
women’s title on the South African soil.

“We did not play well at the 2008 CAN. We have renewed our team
and we have worked hard with younger players. In this team, there are only four
players that took part in the last CAN. Our girls are ready to confront any
team in this competition,” she said.

Perpetua target

Super Falcons prolific striker, Perpetua Nkwocha, yesterday said
she hoped to score 15 goals at the championship.

Speaking after she bagged a hat-trick in Monday’s tie against
Mali, Nkwocha told reporters in Johannesburg that the 15-goal mark was set for
her by friends.

“My friends told me before I came for the tournament that I have
to score 15 goals,” said the Sweden-based player.

She admitted that she will work hard to meet the target as she
was determined not to disappoint her friends.

She described her three goals against the Malians as a warning
to the South Africans.

“I have started it in our first game so I believe I can
continue. I believe I will do it again, that is my prayer,” she said.

“Let’s see what will happen at the end of the day but I believe I can do it,”
she added.

Former
Super Eagles teammates Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi will be out to
outwit each other today when they face the technical committee of the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The committee will be interviewing
them for the Super Eagles coaching job.

While Siasia had
been deep in negotiations with the former – interim – board, with
remuneration the only grey area, Keshi only joined the race when the
present board decided to advertise the position for interested
applicants.

Chris Green,
Chairman of the technical committee, has assured football fans that the
process for selecting the new manager will be very transparent.

“Of course there
are no sentiments; the committee is made up of people that have
integrity and would want to protect their names. We are going to be as
transparent as possible in our selection,” he said.

Apart from Green,
who is head of the technical committee, others that will decide who
becomes the next Eagles coach includes Enyimba boss, Felix
Anyansi-Agwu; former national team coach, Christian Chukwu; Paul
Bassey; Garba Ibrahim; Deji Tinubu; and Austell Elumelu.

Other members of
the committee include ex-internationals Austin Okocha, Garba Lawal, and
Victor Ikpeba with Emmanuel Ikpeme as secretary.

The NFF will unveil the new coach on Monday, November 8.

Meanwhile, there have been diverse opinions on who the cap fits between the two men.

For many, both contemporaries have impressive resumes having played together in the most successful Super Eagles team ever.

While Stephen Keshi
was captain of that highly talented side that won the African Cup of
Nations in 1994 and then played in the country’s first World Cup in the
United States, Samson Siasia played an important role up front and he
scored a famous goal against Argentina in the World Cup.

Keshi, 48, help
Togo qualify the World Cup in 2006. He was later to relinquish the
position after the dismal performance of the Hawks at the African Cup
of Nations in Egypt. He has also coached the Malian national team which
he led to the Cup of Nations in Angola this year.

The Malians were knocked out of the competition in the first round without a win and Keshi left the job.

Siasia, 43, has
seen a bit more success. He was the coach of Nigeria’s U20 side that
won the silver medal at the World Youth Championship Netherlands 2005
as well as the U23 side that won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics
in 2008.

However, as coach of Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland FC,
Siasia failed to match his predecessor feat; he failed to make it
beyond the group stage of the African Champions League whereas his
predecessor, Kelechi Emetiole, made it to the final last season.

Nigeria Premier League (NPL) defending champions, Enyimba
International, alongside last season’s runners-up, Kano Pillars, are favourites
to win the 2010/2011 League season, which gets underway this Saturday, former Heartland
midfielder, Uchenna Agba, has said.

Agba, who now plays in the more lucrative Tunisian League with
CS Sfaxien, said the Peoples Elephants and Pillars are head and shoulders above
the other sides competing in this season’s competition.

He explained that the two clubs are the biggest in the country
at the moment and have the best players compared to the chasing pack.

“Enyimba and Kano Pillars are the teams I can say will win the
Nigerian league this season,” he said. “They have the best players and they
have always had the structures. That was evident from the way the two teams
played last season, which led to the title being decided on the last day before
Enyimba won it.”

The Tunisia-based player said he left out his former team from
the hot contenders for the title because they are undergoing a rebuilding
process under Samson Siasia and with a new management in place.

However, he still believes that since football throws up the
impossible in terms of results the Naze Millionaires could still pull a
surprise, though they are outsiders for the title.

“Heartland are still a good side but for now they are going
through a rebuilding period and that’s why I don’t think they might compete for
the title yet. But anything can happen in football and Heartland may still come
in and compete with Enyimba and Kano Pillars for the title. Like I said
earlier, Enyimba and Kano Pillars really look good for the title this season,”
Agba said.

League opener

Kano Pillars and Kaduna United are primed for the season’s opener
on Saturday as both teams have promised to give a good account of themselves in
the first game of the season.

Coach of Kaduna United, Maurice Coreman, said after his team
lost the Charity Shield to Enyimba over the weekend, his focus was on the game
with Kano Pillars and not the Charity Shield match.

Also, Chairman of Kano Pillars, Tukur Babangida, has promised
Kaduna United a tough battle this Saturday.

Babangida said that despite the limited time they had to prepare
for the new season; they will still give the Kaduna side a good fight for the
three points.

“I am very confident of my team this season. We may have lost
some players but we have capable replacements.

“We are going to Kaduna with the intention of getting the three
points at stake. We know Kaduna United is also preparing very well, but we are
equal to the task,” Babangida said.

Kano Pillars defeated Kaduna United in the same fixture last season with the
goal from former striker, Ahmed Musa.