14012020 - 50 years after: Let's revisit issues that caused Civil War

44 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020
•High-Altitude
Barcelona coach
applauds Oshoala’s
African player award
Barcelona ladies coach
Lluis Cortes disclosed
that his side was happy to
have a player in the caliber
of Asisat Oshoala in their
team.
Cortes was reacting to
Oshoala emerging the
Africa Woman Player of the
Year. The Super Falcons
top striker beat
Cameroon’s Ajara Nchout
and South Africa’s Thembi
Kgatlana for the award and
equalled the record of her
compatriot Perpetua
Nkwocha.
Oshoala joined the
Spanish outfit on loan from
Chinese side Dalian
Quanjian a year ago, but
she was handed a threeyear
permanent deal last
summer and the Super
NPFL: Wiki Tourists
officials lament poor
performances
Wikki Tourists officials
have pressed the panic
button after they lost 1-2 to
visiting Sunshine Stars of
Akure in the Nigerian
Professional Football League
match played last Sunday at
the Tafawa Balewa Stadium
Bauchi.
The club’s spokesman,
Nasiru Kobi, described the
performance of the team as
“terrible and very disturbing.
“We played three home
matches away in Gombe and
lost them and now anticipated
doing better while at our real
home in Bauchi.
“But it is rather unfortunate
that we lost it too, in spite of
the teeming supporters.
“The supporters have been
expecting the team to return
here for their home matches,
but this performance and
Falcons striker hasn’t
disappointed, raking 14
goals in 14 games for the
Spanish side, including the
four goals she scored as
Barcelona beat Tacon 6-0
last week.
“Having the best African
player (Asisat Oshoala) in
my team means a lot,”
Cortes told Goal.
“She earned the award
and they aren’t giving her
for who she is but based on
merit. This in part benefits
us, from her success and
her individual
performances.
“We are privileged to have
her because she is a very
different player with a
different physical form in
comparison to any other
player in the league.
result are
disappointing
to the team,
the
management,
the
government
and the
teeming
supporters,”
Kobi said. •Wikki
He
however
appealed to the club’s fans,
supporters and other
stakeholders to exercise
patience, assuring that the
team would improve in
subsequent matches.
Amaka Anthony opened
scoring for Sunshine Stars
Faux Ekelojuoti doubled up,
while Mohammed Garba
scored a consolation goal for
Wikki from the spot.
Akeredolu woos Nigerian-
American Football Association
•Says Ondo Football Academy to commence soon
AKURE — GOVERNOR
Rotimi Akeredolu of
Ondo State, yesterday, urged
the Nigerian American
Football Association, NAFA,
and Lagos Marine American
Football Club to consider
visiting his state to explore
youthful talents that are in
abundance, promising to
partner the organisations to
use sports to grow wealth
and promote peace in
Nigeria.
Akeredolu, who is
Chairman, South West
Governors Forum, also
declared that his
administration will soon
build a world class football
academy to train, grow and
expose youths in Ondo State
to the international clubs,
stating that sports is a
goldmine that his
administration and
Governors in Western
Nigeria plan to use to wage
war against the surge of
youth unemployment
currently ravaging the
country.
Speaking at the maiden
edition of American Flagship
Football exhibition game held
at the National Stadium in
Surelere, Lagos, Akeredolu
vowed to use his connections
across the length and breadth
of Nigeria to revolutionise the
growth of American Flagship
Football Game in the country.
Represented by the state
Commissioner for Sports and
Youth Development, Mr.
Dotun Owanikin, Akeredolu
said: “The National Sports
Festival is our home-grown
Olympics tagged EDO 2020.
•Oshoala
Access Bank Lagos City Marathon:
High altitude runners
target 30-year-old
Nigerian record
Nigerian long distance runners in the
stable of the High-Altitude Athletics
Club of Jos, Plateau State, are targeting the
30-year-old national marathon record at the
2020 edition of the Access Bank Lagos City
Marathon on February 8, 2020.
The current national record of 2 hours 15
minutes was set the Army Officer Abass
Muhammed about three decades ago.
High Altitude Head Coach Steve Nuhu told
journalists on Monday that, “Access Bank
Lagos City Marathon is our premium event
and there is no better place to set a new
national record than our best races as the
attention of the world media will be on us”
said the Nuhu
With all the nation elite runners like
Emmanuel Gyan, Deborah Pam under his
stable, Nuhu assured that out of the 30
runners coming to Lagos one of them will take
down the record.
Nuhu said he is proud that Nigeria is the
nation that is behind the biggest one-day
event in Africa,
“Everywhere I go out, I sing the praises of
the organizer and sponsors of the Access Bank
Lagos City Nigeria.
Guardiola to give City
players time off
Manchester City will not be going on a
warm-weather training camp during
the forthcoming Premier League winter break.
Pep Guardiola will instead give his players
some extra time off during the 13-day break
between matches next month.
City play West Ham on February 9 with their
next game 13 days later, at Leicester City,
before a Champions League meeting with Real
Madrid the week after.
Several Scottish clubs have used the gap in
their fixture list to train in Dubai, but Guardiola
will allow his players to
recuperate and spend
some time with family.
This will be the first
Premier League season
to have a mid-season
break in February, when
four games of a normal
round of 10 will be
played on the weekend
of February 8/9 and the
remaining six games on
the following weekend.
Oshoala
FIFA tells NFF to pay club's
compensation money
Football governing body
FIFA will pay
compensation to Barcelona for
releasing the CAF African
Women’s Player of the Year,
Asisat Oshoala to the Nigeria
Football Federation for the
2019 Women’s World Cup,
which was held in France last
summer.
FIFA launched the Women’s
World Cup Club Benefits
Programme in 2019 to reward
those clubs playing a role in the
development of the women’s
game.
For the 2019 edition of the
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Benefits Programme, the total
amount of US$8.48 million will
be paid in rewards to clubs and
this is part of FIFA’s overall
contribution of US$50 million
for the World Cup in France.
With regard to the payment
procedure, the releasing club
will be paid 50 percent of the
money distributed based on the
number of days a player
participated in the tournament,
while the remaining 50 percent
goes to the clubs the player
represented from the ages of 12-
22 years.
Using Super Falcons captain
Oshoala as an example,
Nigerian clubs FC Robo,
Rivers Angels and
Women’s Super League
sides Liverpool and
Arsenal are entitled to
receive half of the benefits
since she played for those
teams before she
celebrated her 22nd
birthday, while the other
half goes to Primera
División club Barcelona.
•Iniesta
Iniesta
backs Xavi
Andres Iniesta has
backed his former teammate
Xavi Hernandez to
become Barcelona’s new head
coach but has criticised the
club for their treatment of
Ernesto Valverde.
Xavi Hernandez confirmed
he met club officials despite
Valverde still being in charge
of the club.
Reports in Spain claim that
Xavi has turned down an
approach to take charge
immediately but expressed a
desire to become a coach at
the Nou Camp in the future
Iniesta was asked who he
would choose between Xavi,
who manages Qatari club Al
Sadd SC, and Netherlands
boss Ronald Koeman.
He told Spanish radio
channel Onda Cero: “The
one who knows best is Xavi,
he will have analysed all the
variables that there can be
and let’s see what happens.
“Koeman has a lot of
experience as a coach and
Xavi is starting out now. But a
lot of times experience counts
for nothing. Both of them
have been at Barça and know
the club.”
Enyimba coach tips
team for Confed
Cup success
Enyimba head coach Fatai
Osho has praised the
character of his players after
their CAF Confederation Cup
win against Paradou AC at the
Enyimba Stadium.
Stanley Dimgba netted a hat
trick and Victor Mbaoma scored
his eighth of the season to render
Abdelkahar Kadri’s late goal a
mere consolation as Enimba ran
out 4-1 winners on Sunday.
The result has taken the
People’s Elephant to second in
group D, heading into the final
two matches of the current stage.
Speaking to the club’s media
channel after the fixture, Osho
hailed his players’ ability to
adapt to new tactics within only
a few days.
“The time was never there so
we had to (do) a crash program
to encompass a lot of things into
what we wanted to do, and today
we are happy that whatever we
were able to do within those four
days we were able to get a result
with it.
“You could see the
manifestation of whatever we
have been doing in the training
session in their play. It’s not an
easy thing to do.
•Enyimba