Colombia 2024: Danjuma picks 19 players to face battle of Dar es Salaam

Captain Oluchi Ohaegbulem

By Rasheed Adewuyi

Head Coach Chris Musa Danjuma has selected Captain Oluchi Ohaegbulem, goalkeeper Faith Omilana, defender Shukurat Oladipo, and midfielder Taiwo Afolabi among a list of 19 Falconets of Nigeria who will file out against Burundi’s U20 girls in a FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup final qualifying fixture, first leg encounter in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Sunday.

Goalkeeper Shukura Bakare, who was in goal for the home game against Tanzania in the first round (which the Falconets won 2-1 to reach this final stage of the series) has also been picked, alongside defenders Jumoke Alani and Oluwabunmi Oladeji, midfielders Adoo Yina and Chima Olise, and forwards Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, Janet Akekoromowei, Yemisi Samuel and Opeyemi Ajakaye.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finalists are scheduled to travel out of Nigeria on Tuesday for the first leg encounter, for which the Confederation of African Football has picked South African official Nonjabulo Nonhle Ndlela as referee.

Her compatriots Maneo Evodia Tau and Nandipha Menze will be assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2, respectively. At the same time, Nteboheleng Theresia Setoko from Lesotho will serve as fourth official.

Sunday’s encounter at the Azam Stadium Complex will see Tanzanian Somoe Robert Ng’itu play the commissioner role, while Fransiska Katjaimo from Namibia will be the referee assessor.

The return leg match will occur at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, 20^th January.

FALCONETS TO TACKLE BURUNDI:

Goalkeepers: Anderline Mgbechi, Shukura Bakare, Faith Omilana

Defenders: Oluchi Ohaegbulem; Jumoke Alani; Rebecca Adegbemile; Shukurat Oladipo; Oluwabunmi Oladeji

Midfielders: Adoo Yina; Taiwo Afolabi; Olushola Shobowale; Aminat Folorunsho; Chioma Olise

Forwards: Opeyemi Ajakaye; Chiamaka Okwuchukwu; Chisom Chima; Janet Akekoromowei; Chiamaka Osuigwe; Oluwayemisi Samuel

As Africa’s first FIFA World Cup-winning coach passes on

Sabastian Brodericks (far left) poses with his Gold winning side after the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Cup triumph in China

By Rasheed Adewuyi

The Nigeria Football Federation has expressed deep shock over the news on Wednesday morning of the death of the first man to lead an African team to win a FIFA World Cup, Coach Sebastian Brodricks-Imasuen, at a hospital in Benin City, Edo State.

The 85-year tactician, according to his family, was undergoing treatment for stroke and diabetes but gave up the ghost at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital in the early hours of Wednesday, 3^rd January 2024.

“The demise of Coach Sebastian Brodricks-Imasuen sorely pains the NFF and the entire Nigeria Football fraternity. He worked very hard at his craft and was tireless in his efforts to bring honor to the homeland through the various National Teams he worked with. No one can ever forget how he led an unsung group of boys to China to win a first-ever FIFA World Cup for Nigeria and Africa,” NFF General Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi said on Wednesday.

Brodricks-Imasuen was Head Coach of the Nigeria U-16 squad that won the inaugural FIFA Cadet World Cup in China in 1985, defeating West Germany 2-0 in the final at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. Two years later, in Canada, he led the team to runner-up position after a penalty shootout defeat to the former Soviet Union, and two years later, in Scotland, his team lost to eventual winners Saudi Arabia on penalties in the quarter-finals. Two years later, FIFA upgraded the competition to a U17 tournament.

The soft-spoken, easy-going tactician also assisted Dutchman Clemens Westerhof as Nigeria finished as runners-up at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Algeria.

Nicknamed Sabara, Brodricks-Imasuen featured for Bendel Insurance in his playing days, famously scoring the winning goal when Insurance edged feisty Mighty Jets in a replayed 1972 Challenge Cup Final in Ibadan after both teams were deadlocked at 2-2 in the first match at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos, thanks to the heroics of late Sam Garba Okoye.

Apart from his successes at the international level, Sabara also coached El-Kanemi Warriors, Udoji United FC, and Bendel Insurance.

Nigeria seek Falcons’ scalp in friendly game tie that has been earmarked as preparations for AFCON 2023 truly begins

Super Eagles  in preparation for Afcon

By Rasheed Adewuyi

Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Saudi Arabia’s Green Falcons will be at each other’s jugular on Friday evening in a friendly encounter in the Portuguese city of Portimao that promises so much. Nigeria are three-time champions of Africa just as Saudi Arabia are three-time champions of Asia.

Both countries have met only once previously, also in a friendly match, also in Europe. That scoreless encounter in Wattens, Austria on 25^th May 2010 was as part of the Super Eagles’ final preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa. The Saudis did not qualify for that tournament.

As both teams lined up at the Alpenstadion that evening, 13 years ago, the Super Eagles were rated 21^st in the world while the Green Falcons were 66^th. Today, the Eagles are 40^th in the world while the Falcons are 57^th. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia’s best-ever ranking was at 21^st in July 2004. The Eagles were ranked 5^th in the world in April 1994, just after winning the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.

For Friday’s encounter, Head Coach Jose Peseiro, who coached Saudi Arabia that evening in Austria 13 years ago but is now in charge of Nigeria, will have exciting talents Bright Osayi-Samuel, Jordan Torunarigha, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi, Raphael Onyedika, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Terem Moffi, Victor Boniface, Samuel Chukwueze, Sadiq Umar and of course FIFA Ballon d’Or Dozen-Shortlist member, Victor Osimhen, at his disposal.

There are also experienced defenders Kenneth Omeruo (who was in the 2013 AFCON-winning squad and is happy to echo ‘Let’s Do It Again’), Semi Ajayi and Chidozie Awaziem, midfielders Wilfred Ndidi, Frank Onyeka, Joseph Ayodele-Aribo and Alex Iwobi, and forwards Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho.

While Peseiro will surely miss in-form Nottingham Forest of England forward Taiwo Awoniyi, who is sidelined by injury, there is the opportunity to either start Victor Boniface or see what ratemaking France-based Terem Moffi can truly offer. Moffi was in Peseiro’s first roll-of-the-dice with the Eagles in the friendlies against Mexico and Ecuador in the USA last year’s summer, and scored as the Eagles marched on Sao Tome and Principe to set a record international scoreline in an AFCON 2023 qualifying match in Agadir, Morocco some days later.

With the recall of goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, the rivalry between him and Francis Uzoho for Nigeria’s number one jersey resumes, and both goal-tenders know that only the best will keep the gloves in next month’s World Cup qualifiers and at the AFCON early next year.