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Friday 15 May 2015<br />
28 BUSINESS DAY<br />
SportIllustrated<br />
Fan shares experience on<br />
Star Football SuperFan<br />
game show<br />
If you ever thought yourself a ‘crazy’<br />
football fanatic, then wait till you<br />
read the story of 46-year-old Ejike<br />
Maduekwe who says watching his<br />
favourite club, Arsenal FC win matches,<br />
helps him sleep well.<br />
He revealed this while taking part<br />
in the fifth episode of the Star Football<br />
Superfans TV game show powered by<br />
leading beer Star Lager.<br />
“I love football, I love watching football,<br />
and I eat football. It gives me joy<br />
especially when I watch Arsenal play on<br />
their good day. Their winning makes me<br />
sleep very well,” Maduekwe said.<br />
Maduekwe, who was part of Five Star<br />
FC had James Samuel, Trust Monday,<br />
Mmadu Chinedu and Kelechi Ohaju as<br />
team mates. They won the N1million star<br />
prize after defeating Ultimate FC made<br />
up of Chelsea fans, Babatunde Clement,<br />
Chukwuma Oragui, Colins Ugwu, Timothy<br />
Ike and Patrick Oti.<br />
The show tests the knowledge of football<br />
fans regarding the game, its history,<br />
characters and everything else that makes<br />
it Nigeria’s number one sport. The show is<br />
aired every Thursday and Friday on Africa<br />
Magic and AIT respectively.<br />
2017 AFCON qualifiers: Keshi<br />
to name squad for Chad<br />
Keshi is not Super Eagles’<br />
problem – Weah<br />
ANTHONY NLEBEM<br />
The news of Stephen Keshi’s<br />
return as the coach of Super<br />
Eagles is still generating comments<br />
from soccer pundits.<br />
George Weah, a Liberian<br />
former African and world footballer of the<br />
year, has absolved Keshi of any blame as<br />
regards the problems facing the national<br />
team.<br />
Weah said the struggle with Nigerian<br />
football over the last two years has nothing<br />
to do with coach Stephen Keshi, but<br />
rather with the team.<br />
The Liberian was speaking with regards<br />
to the concerns over the Nigeria<br />
Football Federation’s decision to award<br />
Stephen Keshi a 2-year contract extension<br />
despite failing to lead the country to this<br />
year’s Africa Cup of Nations.<br />
“Nigeria is a great nation and the fact<br />
that they didn’t qualify for AFCON 2015<br />
doesn’t mean they don’t have a good team<br />
or a good coach,” he said.<br />
“They need to find a rhythm, try again<br />
and redouble their efforts and get back on<br />
the world stage.<br />
“Sometimes it is not about the coach,<br />
but about team work because Nigeria<br />
may not have a team but they have lots of<br />
players but you should know players win<br />
games and teams win championships.<br />
“So I hope they rebuild their team so<br />
they’re seeded again at the world stage,”<br />
Weah added.<br />
Weah is a member of the Liberian<br />
parliament, representing Montserrado<br />
County in the Senate.<br />
Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Pharaohs<br />
of Egypt, both past winners of the African<br />
Cup of Nations (AFCON), have been<br />
group together in Group G with Tanzania<br />
and Chad, ahead of qualifiers for the next<br />
edition of the biennial tournament billed<br />
to take place in Gabon.<br />
Keshi had memorable and success<br />
moments with the national team in 2013<br />
where he guided the Super Eagles to<br />
winning the AFCON trophy. But things<br />
fell apart after then as he failed to qualify<br />
Nigeria for the 2015 edition of AFCON<br />
where the Eagles could not defend their<br />
title and the poor run of Nigeria at the<br />
2014 World Cup in Brazil.<br />
Now that Keshi is back as coach of the<br />
Super Eagles, soccer-loving Nigerians<br />
who have waited patiently and painfully<br />
for NFF to name a new manager are expecting<br />
him to deliver on the job.<br />
The 2017 AFCON qualifiers kick off<br />
in June.<br />
Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi<br />
is set to name a 26-man squad<br />
for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations<br />
qualifying game against<br />
Chad.<br />
The players will be picked for the<br />
domestic league as successful ones will<br />
battle for place in the final squad with<br />
the overseas-based players who will be<br />
called up.<br />
It’s time to “return to basics” as he<br />
looks to “build a solid squad that will<br />
make Nigerians happy again”, Keshi<br />
said.<br />
“We have to return to basics and do<br />
the things we did that helped us win the<br />
2013 AFCON in South Africa.<br />
“I want to start from scratch to build<br />
a solid squad that will make Nigerians<br />
happy again.<br />
“It is important to give players in the<br />
local league a chance to show us what<br />
they can do and that is why I am inviting<br />
26 of them to prove themselves,”<br />
the former Mali and Togo coach told<br />
supersport.com.<br />
He added that the overseas-based<br />
players who will be handed call-ups are<br />
those who “play regularly for their clubs”.<br />
“Anyone who knows me will tell you<br />
that I am not a coach that will invite<br />
players based on what they have done<br />
in the past.<br />
“Only those who play regularly for<br />
their clubs will be called up.<br />
“There is no automatic shirt for anyone.<br />
If anyone thinks that we just need<br />
to turn up and beat Chad that person is<br />
making a big mistake.<br />
“They are a good side and we have<br />
to work hard to beat them. We will approach<br />
the game with all seriousness<br />
and hopefully we will get good result,”<br />
he said.
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