Nigerian News Beat

President, Goodluck Jonathan, will today the 13th of February host the Super Eagles team that participated in the African Nations Championship, CHAN, 2014 in South Africa.

Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati confirming this said “Yes, there is an event scheduled for Thursday evening,” he said early in the week, adding that the event was mainly to give the team a presidential recognition.

“The emphasis here is not on monetary reward, but the presidential recognition of their efforts,” he said. The event will take place at the state banquet hall, Aso Villa, Abuja.

The Super Eagles won the bronze medal at CHAN after defeating Zimbabwe 1-0 in the battle to secure third place.

Stephen Keshi insists he wants no other assistant other than Sylvanus Okpalla  former assistant coach of the Super Eagles who was sacked by the Nigeria Football Federation after the Eagles won the African Cup of Nations in South Africa.

Okpalla, an ex-international was disengaged after the Nations Cup in South Africa. Then, NFF said it was due to the large backroom staff they had and that they needed to downsize. Just recently when Keshi insisted on the recall of Okpalla the reason changed to ‘’gross insubordination’’.

As the NFF seeks to employ an assistant coach that would add value to the Eagles bench during the Brazil World Cup, embattled Keshi insists that he wants Okpalla re-instated.

But a member of the Technical Committee, Paul Bassey stated yesterday that the issue of Okpalla coming back to the Eagles had been closed.

‘’The issue of Okpalla is closed because he was sacked for insubordination”, Bassey, an accomplished Journalist and a member of CAF and FIFA media Committee said.

When asked what the insubordination was that made them sack Okpalla? “Okpalla was said to have reported NFF President Aminu Maigari to the then Director General of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Dr Patrick Ekeji and the Board did not like that one bit’’, Bassey retorted without explaining why and what made Okpalla report Maigari to Ekeji.

It was learned that Okpalla told Ekeji that their bonuses and allowances had been slashed without reason. Ekeji felt that such actions could jeopardise Nigeria’s chances of winning the Nations Cup and directed NFF to restore their allowances. Maigari took offence and has not forgiven Okpalla since then.

To foster unity in the North-West Zone 1, National Sports Commission (NSC) commenced a soccer and athletics competition at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium yesterday.

Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Ademola said that the soccer competition has 32 teams participating.

“We are organising this as one of our first activities this year to foster unity among soccer teams in Kaduna. We are also staging the athletics meet which is open to all athletes without an age limit,” he said.

According to him, the competition is also aimed at building the spirit of sportsmanship among athletes within the state.

The competition is expected to be declared closed on February 3.

He piled on the pounds after gorging on pizza and Chinese takeaways following his Olympic success in 2012. 

But Louis Smith proved he was well and truly back to his buff best as he got to work in the gym for a gruelling training session this week. 

The silver medal-winning gymnast displayed the fruits of his labour as he went shirtless during an intense Tabata workout at Fusion Gym in central London.

Working out under the watchful eye of his personal trainer Lisa Welham, the former Strictly Come Dancing winner stripped down to just a pair of white shorts as he tried his hand at the Japanese high-intensity workout regime. 

Concentrating on his moves with precision, the Olympic hero was deep in thought as he rehearsed his moves and pushed his stamina to the brink

Yaya Toure has won the 2013 African footballer of the year. He beat out 2 other competitors to make himself and his nation proud!

The Manchester City midfielder has been instrumental in his club and countries endeavors last year.

Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel came second, with Didier Drogba finishing third.

According to the Madiba, Nelson Mandela: “There is one regret that I have had all my life – that I never become the heavy weight boxing champion of the world.”

Nelson Mandela grew up with a love for sport. He was an ardent boxer in his younger days and used it to keep fit.

Look, it is the nature of sport generally – and boxing in particular – that you will have trials and reversals.”
After Madiba’s release from Robben Island, he set out, in his own unique way, to unite a nation through sport.
Ali Bacher (Former Cricket Administrator): “He was the first person to realise the importance of sport, particularly in our divided country, of bringing black and white people together.”
1995 found the new South Africa struggling to find a way to cross the racial divide.

In Sport, Rugby was predominantly supported by whites, with black South Africans rallying behind soccer.
When the Springboks played in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Madiba saw a golden opportunity to reach out to the Afrikaner, and took it, says Ali Bacher, a former cricketer and sports administrator,  “You remember 1995, the Rugby World Cup? Three weeks before the final he went public to support our rugby team wearing the Springbok jersey, to support the Springbok emblem.”

But this was not an easy road to walk for Madiba. Even in the ANC, not everyone supported the idea. Undeterred, Madiba went for a try and scored, says football administrator Danny Jordaan, CEO WC 2010 FIFA Local Organising Committee: “We sat in his house in Houghton at that time and he said, ‘Listen, first of all, tell me why you don’t want the Springbok emblem, but I think you will all agree with me that when it comes to apartheid, there is not a single one here in the room who could tell me about apartheid and the horrors of apartheid.’ And then he paused a moment, and, of course, we said nothing. And then he said, ‘Okay, fine, you agree with me, now tell me why you don’t want the Springbok, without referring to apartheid.’ Of course we had no argument.”

The final was a rematch of the 6-1 win Nigeria inflicted on the Mexicans in Group F play and sees the Golden Eaglets lay hands on the junior world trophy for the fourth time in their history, one better than South American giants Brazil. When the final whistle blew, players and fans of the golden eaglet rejoiced for the victory.

The Nigerian Golden Eaglets beat Iran 4 – 1 in a round of 16 match  at the Kalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain City Tuesday.

Three-time champions Nigeria had no trouble today with Iran  racking up three goals in the first half en route to a 4-1 scoreline. The result sets up a quarter-final date for the Nigerians with Uruguay, a game in which they will likely be missing two of their best attackers – Kalechi Iheanacho and Success Isaac – through injury.

Iheanacho, who scored four goals in the opener on this very pitch, fired a vicious shot from the corner of the penalty area inside the first minute that only just flew over the bar. It wasn’t long after that Chidiebere Nwakali raced through midfield on the end of an elegant heel flick from Zaharaddeen Bello. His shot from way out, however, also went over the goal.

The pressure was mounting on Iran, who’d been so sturdy up to this point in the competition. 

Nigeria were attacking and crossing dangerously, but the storm subsided and Iran began to get some touches on the ball. And when Nwakali tried to dribble the ball out of defence, he was stripped by Mohammad Bazaj, whose effort from a tight angle after 21 minutes was the Iranian’s first chance of the half.

All that did was make the Nigerians angry. The Eaglets were into the lead just seconds later when Musa Yahaya pulled off an outrageous move to leave his man for dead at the edge of the penalty area. He sent in a low diagonal ball to Samuel Okon, who sliced in from a tight angle. Two minutes later it was 2-0 for the Africans. Taiwo Awoniyi, on for the injured Success Isaac, pulled the ball across the 18-yard line for Iheanacho, who dispatched his fifth goal of the tournament. It would be the impressive No10’s last action, as he pulled his hamstring shortly after and signaled for a substitute.

Captain Musa Muhammed grabbed a third goal for Nigeria five minutes from the interval, taking advantage of some slack marking to burst into the area and score to make it 3-0 at the break.

The second half lacked the total attacking sparkle of the first, but the Nigerians remained in full control. In the 78th minute, Yahaya dropped his shoulder brilliantly again – pulling out his signature move – before firing low into the corner from 25 yards. Iran managed a consolation goal six minutes from time. Substitute Ali Gholizadeh scored from the edge of the box with the Nigerian defenders suffering from a bit of understandable complacency. It was clearly too little too late for Iran though, as Nigeria’s dominant performance will likely send a chill up the spine of Uruguay, who they will meet in the last eight.