01122020 - Why Nigeria's at mercy of terrorists — LAI MOHAMMED

46—Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020
Messi’s Maradona tribute to
cost Barca $3,600
Lennox Lewis wants
boxing comeback aged
55
ENNOX LEWIS admitted he could stage a
Lsensational boxing comeback as he has ‘unfinished
business’ with his old heavyweight rival Riddick Bowe.
After Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr - with a combined
age of 105 - drew in an eight-round exhibition on Saturday
night, former world champ Lewis hinted he could be
next to return to the ring.
The British-born star, 55, told BT Sport: “Sure! I
mean, it seems like a lot of fun.
“You have to look at Mike Tyson; Mike has
been doing a lot of different things like
wrestling, he’s been doing acting and he
even had his own one-man band show.
“So he knows how to entertain
people, he knows what to do in
these situations.”
Lewis KO’d Iron Mike in
Memphis in 2002 and retired
soon after his TKO win over
Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko
the following year.
Lewis added: “When I
was commentating for
HBO, they had me put in
there right in the action.
“It was maybe to make me
feel like I could come back
for HBO whatever. But I just
never caught it, it never
happened.
“I looked at the history of why
boxers come back and most
boxers come back because
they have nothing else to do.
“People keep coming up to
them and saying to them, ‘Hey,
when is your next fight? Who are
you going to fight?’
•Lewis
By John Egbokhan
President of Nigeria Football Federation,
Amaju Pinnick, has expressed utter
disappointment with the trio of Kano Pillars,
Plateau United, Rivers United in last
weekend’s continental matches.
Speaking on the occasion of his 50 th
birthday celebration, Pinnick, said the three
sides did not show the Nigerian spirit in their
respective CAF club games, which they all
lost.
Reacting to the below-par outing of
Nigerian clubs in the continent, Pinnick said,
‘’I am very disappointed. In as much as we
can point to the fact that the League has not
Awoniyi wants to
terminate Liverpool
contract
H
aving failed to secure United
Kingdom work permit,
former Golden Eaglets star,
Taiwo Awoniyi is looking to end
his Liverpool contract.
Awoniyi joined the Reds in
2015 but has not been able to
play in England. He has gone
out on loan deals to different
clubs in Holland, Belgium
and Germany. He is
currently with Union
Berlin, after his hopes of
starring for Liverpool this
season was dashed.
“It is my dream to play
for Liverpool. But me
playing for Liverpool has
to do with getting my work
permit,” Awoniyi told ESPN.
“Liverpool have been great, they
have been so supportive and we
always talk with the director and
every time, they tell me to be patient.
“But the reason I discussed
something permanent this season was
Pinnick lambasts Pillars, Plateau Utd, Rivers Utd
•Pinnick
•Ndidi
Ndidi eyes Leicester
return in Ukraine
Europa clash
uper Eagles and Leicester City
Smidfielder Wilfred Ndidi could
make a return to action in Thursday’s
Europa League clash against
Ukaraine’s Zorya Lugansk.
Ndidi suffered a long injury lay
off last in September in
Leicester 4-2 win over
Burnley. He has
underwent surgery
and last week he
started training
started, there is something called the
‘Nigeria spirit’ and we expect teams flying
Nigeria’s colours to have that in them. I
am at a loss as to how Kano Pillars could
be playing away from home, and they led
their hosts, only to collapse to a 3-1 defeat.
‘’Nigerian teams should be made of
sterner stuff. I commend Enyimba FC that
won away against their opponents in
Ouqgadougou; that is the way to do it. My
challenge to the other clubs is to turn
things around in the return legs and qualify
for the next rounds of the CAF Champions
League and CAF Confederation Cup
competitions.’’.
Lionel Messi and Barcelona to pay a
fine of for his tribute to Diego
Maradona last Sunday.
Messi, after scoring a goal Maradona
would be proud of in the 4-0 win over
Osasuna at the Nou Camp, he removed
his Barcelona shirt and revealed an old
Newell’s Old Boys No.10 shirt that the
late 60-year-old wore.
Boyhood Newell’s fan Messi kissed his
hands and pointed to the sky, recreating
an image of Maradona in his brief spell
at the Argentine outfit.
Messi was booked for his emotional
celebration by referee Mateu Lahoz and
SPORT say he and Barca could be
punished further for the way in which
he paid tribute.
FIFA’s official website states: “The
IFAB, the body responsible for the Laws
of the Game, decided to add a detail to
Law 12 relating to ‘Fouls and
Misconduct’, stating: “A player who
removes his jersey after scoring a goal
will be cautioned for unsporting
behaviour.”
with the
squad.
Leicester coach Brendan
Rodgers said on LCFC
website: “Some of the
injured players are
training. We’ve got the
likes of Ricardo, Wilf
and Çalar… we’re
hopeful of getting
them some game
time in Luhansk
when we go
there for our
next European
venture
Thursday
night,” he added.
Ndidi’s potential return is
a massive boost for Leicester
ahead of the busy festive
period.
•Cavani
•Awoniyi
just that I felt most
loans I have been to,
have not really been
the way I want it.
“And I felt like it
happens that way
because the loan players
get less of an advantage
than the players of their own
club.
CAF Champions League:
It’s not over for Plateau
United, says Maikaba
Why Rivers United
lost to Futuro Kings
—Afelokhai
Anyansi Agwu celebrates
Enyimba’s victory
E
•Maikaba
DINSON CAVANI apologised
Efor his ‘racist’ social media post
as he celebrated the win over
Southampton.
The Manchester United striker,
33, took to Instagram on Sunday
night and replied to a comment
with ‘Gracias Negrito!’.
Cavani deleted the post from his
story and has now issued an
apology - claiming it was an
‘affectionate greeting to a friend’.
marting from their
S 1-0 home
defeat to Simba FC of
Tanzania in a CAF
Champions League
qualification match in
Jos, Plateau United
coach Abdul
Maikaba said his
team can salvage
qualification for the
group stages of the
tournament.
Plateau United will
be away to Dar es
Salam on the
weekend of
December 4 for the
second leg, and
Maikaba believes it would not be mission
impossible.
“We have done it before. I believe we can do it
again winning away from home.
“We only need support and trust. We still have
another 90 minutes to decide who’ll move to the next
round.”
He explained that his wards were still match rusty
having stayed for months waiting for the Nigeria
Professional League to start.
“Simba are just few inches ahead of us because
they’ve played 11 league games before now.”
•Afelokhai
Rivers United FC goalkeeper
Theophilus Affelokhai has
revealed that the NPFL side lost their
first leg continental game against
Futuro Kings due to
overconfidence.
Speaking after the loss, the
former Enyimba shots
stopper affirmed that too
much of confidence led to
the loss and the team
must do better in the
second leg to advance.
He also said he has
never bowed out during
the preliminary stages of the CAF competition in his career
and it won’t happen now with his new club Rivers United.
“We have resolved that we will not relent ahead of the
second leg, the confidence we placed on ourselves ahead
of this game was too much despite the fact that we know
how much football has changed.”
“As long as I’m here with the team because I don’t know
when last I played with a team and we lost out from the
preliminaries, we have to qualify and I have assured the
team handlers that we will do better in the second leg.
nyimba chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu said his
side’s 1-0 win against Burkina Faso outfit Rahimo
FC in the CAF Champion League has rubbished the
plans of his detractors.
“There were a lot of things that happened. We went
through difficult moments to be in Ouagadougou,”
Anyansi-Agwu, who is an Executive Committee
member of the
•Anyansi
Nigeria Football
Federation, said.
“I am very happy
that God has really
rewarded us this
team with victory
“It’s a clear
indication that this
team would bring
honour and glory to
the country and it is
unfair to attempt to
bring us down.
‘’That is why I’m
extremely happy,
more than any other
day, about this
result.”
Cavani sorry for ‘racist’ post
after win
The forward said in a statement:
“The message I posted after the
game on Sunday was intended as
an affectionate greeting to a friend,
thanking him for his congratulations
after the game.
“The last thing I want to do was
cause offence to anyone.
“I am completely opposed to
racism and deleted the message as
soon as it was explained that it can
be interpreted differently. I would
like to sincerely apologise for this.”