15022021 - Nigeria being set on fire, Northern elders tell FG

30— Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2021
Zaha warns Eze
not to dump
<strong>Nigeria</strong> for England
Cote d’Ivoire and Crystal
Palace winger, Wilfred
Zaha has sounded a note
of warning to his clubmate
Eberechi Eze to think twice before
making a decision on his
international future.
He said he was dumped by
England after he played two
friendly matches for the Three
Lions.
Zaha played regularly for England
at the U23 level before
stepping up to the senior team
where he played in two friendly
matches against Sweden in
2012 against and Scotland in
2013.
In 2018, Zaha made a U Turn
and pledged his loyalty to Cote
d’Ivoire. Zaha has since established
himself as a regular and
even attended the Africa Cup
of Nations with the Elephants.
Joshua
Anthony Joshua’s £200million
fight with Tyson Fury could
be signed as early as next week.
Reports say Joshua is due to meet
with his promoter Eddie Hearn
this week to discuss the finer details
of what will be the biggest
bout in British boxing history.
A first draft of the fight contract
was exchanged a fortnight ago,
and with the exception of a handful
of unresolved minor points, including
the order of the ringwalks
and whose name appears first on
the billing, there is believed to be
a clear path to the completion of
the paperwork.
The location of the fight will not
“It was just like I was rejected
by England because for four
years they never gave me a look
in as I wasn’t called up again. No
one even gave a thought about me
anymore,” Zaha told CNN.
“Four years is a long time in football,
so I have no regret switching
nationality because no one
thought of me.”
He recalled that Cote
d’Ivoire that he earlier rejected
welcomed him with
open arms. “Even though I
told them no, they still had
the belief in me and still
wanted me because they
knew what I could do for the
team.
“As for me, no regrets over
dumping England because I
am happy with the decision I
made.”
be finalised until after the contracts
are signed, but the Middle
East remains the likeliest destination
for a date in June.
There has been interest from
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, the US, Australia and Singapore,
with a large site fee required
to partially cover the huge
purses for both men.
The split for the fight will be 50-
50 between Joshua, the WBA, IBF,
WBO and IBO champion, and
Fury, the holder of the WBC belt.
The proposed rematch is understood
to be on the terms of the
winner of the first fight drawing
a favourable 60-40 split.
Kamaru Usman knocks out Burns
to retain UFA title
<strong>Nigeria</strong>’s Kamaru Usman re
tained his welterweight title
with a third-round knockout
of Gilbert Burns at UFA 258 at the
Apex facility in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Usman floored Burns with a
straight jab in the third round and
went ahead to land devastating
punches before referee Herb
Dean decided to stop the fight.
Kamaru Usman has now taken
his overall MMA win streak to 17
in a row and he hasn’t lost a fight
since May 2013.
The <strong>Nigeria</strong>n Nightmare is a
perfect 13-0 in the UFC and he’s
currently overseeing the longest
winning streak in welterweight,
a record he took from Georges
Saint Pierre.
Speaking after the win Usman
said: “That was the thing with me,
even when I first kind of started
and was striking, it was a lot of
Fury
Joshua/Fury’s £200m
mega-fight deal may be
done this week
that Dutch kickboxing. It gets you
tough and lets you defend a lot of
shots.
“I wanted to work that southpaw,
and I wanted to work that jab. I
just worked it, and worked it a lot.
Coach Trevor Wittman said, ‘You
need to stay on that jab. you have
a freaking good jab.” he said.
Usman also called out long term
rival Jorge Masvidal, saying he’s
ready to give him another title
shot.
Kamaru
Simon
Eze
Moses Simon on
target for Nantes
Super Eagles star Moses Simon yes
terday opened the scoring for
Nantes, who defeated host, Angers 3-
1in their Ligue 1 clash.
Simon put Les Canaries ahead in the
fourth minute, finishing off a superb pass from, French
midfielder, Ludovic Blas.
It is Simon’s third goal in 19 Ligue 1 matches this season.
The <strong>Nigeria</strong>n international is yet to hit last season’s form,
which saw him won the club fans player of the year and also
earned him a four-year contract at Stade de la Beaujoire.
Australian Open:
Djokovic
overcomes injury
to beat Raonic,
zoom into q/
finals
Novak Djokovic fought into
the quarter-finals of the Australian
Open despite concerns
over a muscle injury, seeing off
Milos Raonic in four <strong>set</strong>s
Djokovic’s hopes of defending
his title appeared to be in doubt
when he said he had a “muscle
tear” and was unsure whether he
would play the fourth-round
clash.
But his history of dominance over
Raonic was perhaps a motivating
factor in him taking to the court
and he stretched his head to head
lead to 12-0 with his 300th grand
slam win, becoming only the second
player in history to reach the
landmark.
He did not have it all his own
way, a spirited Raonic levelling
matters in the second <strong>set</strong> after losing
the first on a tie-break.
However, Djokovic was in control
thereafter, progressing 7-6 (7-
4) 4-6 6-1 6-4, though a last-eight
meeting with Alexander Zverev
may prove a sterner test.
Ligue 1: Super Eagles hopeful,
Moffi can’t stop scoring
Struggling Lorient have
risen to 17th on the
Ligue 1 table after <strong>Nigeria</strong>n
striker Terem Moffi netted
a brace to earn a valuable
2-2 draw for his side at
high-flying Monaco.
Moffi has been turning
heads since scoring a fine
winner in Lorient’s 2-1 win
Galatasaray are looking to
sell Senegalese striker
Mbaye Diagne in the summer
to fund the permanent acquisition
of Henry Onyekuru.
Diagne has been loaned out
to Premier League strugglers
West Brom for the remainder
of the 2020-2021 campaign.
According to Turkish sports
daily Fanatik, Diagne, who
was bought for 13 million
euros from Kasimpasa in
January 2019, could be
offloaded for a fee of six million
euros.
There is an option to buy,
until June 11, 2021, <strong>set</strong> at 4.35
million euros in the deal taking
Onyekuru from Monaco
to the Lions.
Galatsaray are operating under
Financial Fair Play restrictions
and cannot bring in new
players without gener- ating
r e v e n u e s
through the sell
of players.
Onyekuru was
loaned out
t o
Moffi
over champions PSG a couple of
weeks ago, including grabbing
the attention of Super Eagles head
coach Gernot Rohr.
The former Kortrijk striker
grabbed his seventh and eighth
goal of the league campaign to lift
Lorient out of the relegation zone
for the first time this year
And the Lukaku-like forward,
with a man-ofthe-match
performance,
showed
he is no flash in
the pan with another
excellent
display at the
Stade Louis II Stadium
on Valentine’s
Day.
Moffi’s first came
from the penalty
spot in the seventh
minute, the
<strong>Nigeria</strong>n converting
beautifully
from 12-yards out
– his seventh goal
in Ligue 1 – after
M o n a c o ’ s
Benjamin Lecomte
tripped Yoane
Wissa in the host’s
danger area.
Wissam Ben
Yedder equalized
for the
home side also
from the penalty
spot shortly after
the break but the
spectacular Moffi
show was far from <strong>being</strong>
over.
The ex-Kortrijk ace has
been leading the visitors’
charge up the
French league able from the relegation
zone, and he was at it yet
again on the hour-mark to bag his
eighth goal in his last nine appearances
in all competitions.
A Djibril Sidibe defensive blunder
allowed Moffi advance on
goal and he punished the Frenchman’s
error to place Lorient back
in the driving seat.
But Yedder equallized with a
magnificent volley deep in injury
time to deny Moffi and Lorient all
the three points at stake.
Moffi, who joined Lorient for €8
million, has been the French
side’s most remarkable player
this term, keeping them within a
touching distance of safety in the
league.
Galatasaray looking to sell Diague to
fund permanent deal for Onyekuru
Galatasaray for the third time
in his career during the January
transfer window and has
been in fine form since his return
to the Istanbul club, scoring
three goals and providing
an assist in his first three
matches in the Super Lig.
The 23-year-old has a contract
with his
parent
club, Mon
a c o
until
June
30,
2024.
Onyekuru