KESHI WRITES YOU

 THIS IS DIRECT FROM THE BIG BOSS FACEBOOK ACCOUNT,THANKING NIGERIANS FOR THEIR SUPPORT DURING THE AFCON 13 QUALIFIERS

I Stephen Okechukwu Keshi wants to thank you all my fellow- Nigerians for your immense support during the first and the second stage of qualification for the 2013 nations cup in South Africa. The sunday's triumph against the lone stars was just a tip of an eyesberg. Like i keep on telling people, better is not good enough but the best is yet to come in no distant time. Many have been praying and glamouring with the fact that eagles should not grouped with tougher opponents when the draw will be held but for me, I prefer meeting me tough opponents first because in the continent of Africa, there are no minnows as far as football is concern. After the African cup of nations in South Africa, the world cup qualification matches start and I pray that GOD ALMIGHTY who has been with us all will continue to be with us and also bless the goodworks of our hands.

What else can i say than a resounding AMEN

NIGERIA 6 VS LIBERIA 1: THE SIX THINGS WE LEARNT:

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, The Super eagles of Nigeria thrashed the lone stars of Liberia 6 goals to 1 at the U.J Esuene stadium in Calabar thus qualifying for the nations cup in South Africa billed to take place January next year.

That’s no more news you want to say because a lot has been said and written before and after the match but the gist is that like every event under the sun there will always be a lesson to learn by every student of history  and this match is not an exception, because after the era of the gangling Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory) in the Super Eagles I cannot recall when the team is so convincing in front of their opponents goal post. Especially when those goals were needed most because in those era the team manufactured goals as at when due, with ease, then the team is a force to reckon with , in Africa football and the world over.

Perhaps the biggest lesson learnt from the Saturday encounter is that the super eagles are still a force to reckon with in Africa. The result may look flattery when you considered the general performance of the boys as a team on the day but the signs that this team is bound for glory are obvious only that the coaching crew should not rest on their oars, and the NFF should continue to support the team and the fans be patient enough to understand that it’s only a matter of time, The Eagles will fly past their hurdles and bring back the glory of Nigerian football,the task ahead is enormous though but it can be done.

The second lesson is that Keshi should not deceive himself that the boys are ready, Now is time to for the gaffer to roll up his sleeves and ensure that team rebuilding work is concluded on time before January, when Nigerians will be hoping for at least, a performance they can be proud of at the AFCON’13’.

The “re-building” and “Work-in-progress” Alibi will not fly if the team fail to meet the minimum expectation of Nigerians come January in South Africa, because the general performance of the team is not the best, the defense is too poor, the midfield lack the coordination of modern football, thanks to the individual display of the likes of Mikel Obi, Nosa Igiebor and Obiora Nwakwo, when they put to maximum use; the individual prowess of Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses on the wings with their constant supply of defense wreaking passes and the strikers don’t disappoint in the final third which is much more aided by the poorly managed high line of defense of the lone stars

Any fairly good side in Africa will trouble the eagles defence without stress especially the central defense paired by the two home based, Azubuike  and Oboabona Godfrey, They are constantly off guard,as they struggle to match their excellent attitude with their ability    their performance gave credence to that line,” The home based players are not ripe for the eagles” and that was the third lesson learnt.

 The home boys need to be encouraged no doubt  and be given some match international experience but In as much as I love to see a lot of them play for the Eagles, they must prove that they merit the eagles shirt and not on the sentiment or for parochial reasons because the Super eagles shirt should be an exclusive right of our best legs, always, Irrespective of where they are based. The CHAN should be given greater attention and now that that home based eagles now have a nucleus, the team can be built around them and the platform should be used to bring out the best out of them, as this will give them the necessary exposure, maturity and ultimately the much needed experience at the international stage.

The fourth lesson learnt is that Nigerians still love the Super Eagles despite the Craze for European football and the growing pessimistic tendencies that are that trailing Eagles since the beginning of the so called rebuilding process, you have a feeling that nobody cares about the eagles success or failure anymore, especially your next door ‘football fan ‘as long as my club is doing fine” is a popular line in any one of the numerous ‘cubicle’ viewing centre but on saturday when the goals kept raining ceasely until the net of the Liberia was flooded with goals, you need to see the excitement and joy on the streets of Calabar and elsewhere the celebration that follow our qualification actually shows that Nigerians are willing to give their all in terms of support to the Super Eagles, that it is a team they love with passion, that they only transfer the love for the premierships, La-ligas of this world because the of the poor performance of the Super Eagles in recent years ,the turn of event last Saturday showed  that once the eagles are back to their best shape the fans are always ready to support them.

The fifth lesson is a little bit controversial, the match again returns the debate topic who is a better coach between Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi, the streets and social media was lively with the debate, it clearly shows that some folks are still bitter  about and are yet to come to terms with the sack of the Samson Siasia as the coach of the super eagles.

I don’t want to say more on that, you can continue the debate but the fact remains that  both Nigerians have a considerable knowledge of the game, they need to constantly improve their technical and tactical knowledge too, So that Nigeria can benefit from the wealth of experience having played the game to the highest level and their combination will form a deadly combo on the bench of the eagles come Brazil 2014 or what do you think?This surely a debate for another day.

The sixth lesson learnt is the fact that CAF will not seed nigeria for the AFCON 13 draws, no matter how high is the score line,the implication is that the Eagles could face either the host south africa,the defending champion, zambia,his perennial rival Ghana or the dreaded elephant of Coted'voire when hostilities begin in south africa next year.

Written and edited by olusola adebayo

SENEGALESE RIOT BAD TAG FOR AFRICAN FOOTBALL

SENEGALESE POLICE ON SATURDAY AS FANS WENT ON RAMPAGE

 Football should not be do or die if both side do there home work perfectly. But its a continental disgrace for this to have happened in Africa and most especially Senegal.

Senegal will accept punishment for the violent riot that caused their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ivory Coast to be abandoned, team manager Ferdinand Coly told AFP on Sunday.

Ivory Coast players and fans were targeted by stones, bottles, and chairs hurled by angry Senegal supporters during Saturday’s game at Stade Leopold Sedar, after the visitors had taken a 2-0 lead for a 6-2 aggregate advantage in a qualifier for the 2013 finals in South Africa.

As fires were set in the stands and missiles rained down, the players –as well as some 300 visiting fans – were forced to take refuge in the centre circle, while the security forces used tear gas to quell the rioting fans.

“We are going to face some difficult days but Senegal will accept the sanctions,” said former international Coly.

“In the meantime, we must apologise to the Ivory Coast and make sure we do everything to avoid this happening again. I feel great sadness because this type of thing has no place on a football pitch or anywhere else.

“For the players, it was traumatic, especially the young ones. The psychological work needed will be extremely difficult.”

“But we say bravo to the Ivory Coast team for their achievement, their behaviour, their wisdom, and their sense of fair play.”

Trouble broke out in the 60 000-capacity stadium after a penalty converted by Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba 15 minutes from time gave the top-ranked African nation a 2-0 lead.

AFCON 2013 DRAWS SEEDED TEAM REVEALED

The top prize

The Confederation of African Football has revealed the seeding for the draw for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ivory Coast are among the top seeds, despite the abandonment of their second-leg tie with Senegal and no news of an official result from Caf.
The Ivorians were 6-2 up on aggregate when Saturday's game in Dakar was called off because of crowd violence.

Tournament hosts South Africa are also among the top seeds, along with reigning champions Zambia and Ghana,all the seeded team made pot one.
Cape Verde, who qualified for the first time in their history by pulling off a shock 3-2 aggregate victory over four-time champions Cameroon, are in the fourth pot.

The super eagles of  Nigeria was in pot two along side Mali,Angola and Tunisia,after missing the last edition of the tournament in Gabon and cape verde earlier in the year.

Also among the lowest-ranked teams are 1962 champions Ethiopia, who have qualified for the first time since 1982.
The tournament takes place in South Africa between 19 January and 10 February 2013.

Teams in the same pot cannot be drawn against each other. The draw will be held on 24 October in Durban.

Seedings:
Pot one: South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast

Pot two: Mali, Tunisia, Angola, Nigeria

Pot three: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Niger

Pot four: Togo, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ethiopia.

ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA :FLYING THROUGH LIBERIA

GIVE US 3 POINTS

 All is set for the decisive encounter between the super eagles and the lone stars of liberia in calabar on 13th of october,the preparation of the super eagles has been top notched,the team had seven different training sessions under the watchful eyes of the coaching crew led by the boss himself stephen keshi.

The training of the opposition was no less intensive immediately, after the 2 -2 draw with the super eagles at the samuel doe stadium in monrovia,the team defeated the highly favoured black stars of Ghana 2-1 in a friendly and embarked on a training tour of Ghana where the team camped for past 10 days and moved into neighbouring niger republic to put finishing touches to their preparation where they engaged the menas of niger in an international friendly where they were defeated 5-3 in an 8 goal thriller to set up a mouth watering encounter with eagles come 13th of october.

EAGLES 98 SET

The odds are stackingly against the liberians,having conceeded 2 away goals, all the super eagles of nigeria needed is a clean sheet,about the cheapest qualifying odd for the eagles in recent  years in the sense that they can 'decide to park the bus' and grab a ticket to south africa,but feelers from the team camp have it that the eagles have enough in their arsenal to easily unlock their brake and fly past liberia enroute south africa as the players are highly self motivated for this because the painful memory of missing in action the last time in Equitorial Guinea/Gabon is still fresh in their memory.

The liberians are not short in motivation either,the support the team is enjoying on home front is massive.Their number one fan president sirleaf johnson has promised the team with financial reward if they can defeat the eagles come saturday or play a 3-3 draw to pick the ticket to south africa,judging by the tone of the countries minister comment ahead of the cracker,the whole of liberia believe that its a mission possible Mr. Tornolah Varpilah was quoted as sayig "Football is a vehicle of national development, and so, all Liberians must rally around the national team in getting the needed victory," . He said sports including football are a vehicle that can be used to maintain peace in any society.,and their coach kaetu smith has been talking tough and his players are getting the message faster than expected as they all believed that the eagles have lost their wings and agility that they are only living in the shadows of their glorious past, thereby hyping the stage for an epic encounter come saturday.

Meanwhile, the two countries have met a record 10 times in all competitions, with the Nigerians winning six of those matches, drawing one and Liberia winning three. It must said liberia has never elimiminated nigeria in any qualifier and the eagles have vowed to allow the script  to remain so after saturday encounter.

Liberia's first victory against Nigeria was a 2-1 win in the first of two-leg qualifiers of the 1988 Olympics. Francis Manyongo Jallah of St. Joseph Warriors got all the two goals at the SKD. But in the return leg, the Nigerians thrashed the Lone Star 4-1 and qualified for the tournament. James Salinsa Debbah got the consolation goal for the red, white and blue outfits.

Liberia again registered another victory against the Nigerians with a 2-0 win in 1987 in the opening group match of the Eight Nations Tournament played at the SKD. Ezekiel 'Zico Doe opened the scoring and Africa's soccer legend, George Weah sealed the victory from the penalty spot after James Salinsa Debbah was fouled in the area.

Looking at the Nigerians, their beating record against Liberia is dated far back as October 20, 1984. This time, the

Super Eagles got a 3-0 home thrashing of the Lone Star. The Super Eagles doubled their tally against Liberia with a 1-0 win on November 4, 1984 in Monrovia.

The two matches were qualifiers of the 1986 World Cup qualifier between the two countries. Also during the days of the famous "George Weah 11", the Lone Star on July 9, 2000, stunned Nigeria with a 2-1 win in the 2002 World Cup qualifier in Monrovia, thanks to a brace from Christopher Wreh.

The Nigerians won the return leg 2-0 in Port Harcort on March 5, 2001 when an aerially potent Victor Agali was menacing from a Nigerian perspective. The two countries also met in the finals of the AFCON 2002 in Mali, with the Nigerian team winning 1-0 on January 28, 2002.

Julius Agahowa got the only goal of that match as former Ajax and Real Betis winger, Finidi George went on to miss a penalty. The ball was saved by the then Lone Star shot stopper, Louis Crayton. Nigeria's final victory against Liberia was on February 15, of this year when Liberia lost 2-0 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) in Monrovia in a friendly encounter.

The die is cast and the eagles are ready the whole nation is solidly behind them,calabar is agog and i pray and hope that goals will rain in favour of the eagles and the loud mouthed kaetu smith can be shut once and for all and the eagles can safely fly to south africa where they will show the Whole of africa that they are back to take their rightful driver's seat in africa football and the whole world too can testify that  the eagles have landed

THE GLORY BOYS ON WHOM THE QUALIFYING HOPE OF THE NATION DEPEND

Foreign-based players                                            Home based players

Goalkeepers

Enyeama Vincent – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel              chigozie agbim                -- Warri wolves

Ejide Austine – Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel               Azubuike Egwueke             Warri wolves

Defenders                                                               Godfrey oboabona           sunshine fc

Yobo Joseph – Fenerbahce FC, Turkey                    Henry uche                         Enyimba fc   

Efe Ambrose – Celtic FC, Israel                              Benjamin Francis                 Heartland

Echiejile Elderson – FC Braga, Portugal                   Umar Zango                         Kano pillars

Midfielders and Forwards                                    Ejike uzoneyi                    Rangers fc 

Nwankwo Obiora – Calcio Padova FC, Italy

Mikel Obi – Chelsea FC, England

Joel Obi – Inter Milan FC, Italy

Victor Moses – Chelsea FC, England

Ahmed Musa – CSKA Moscow, Russia

Uche Ikechukwu – Villarreal FC, Spain

Emenike Emmanuel – Spartak Moscow, Russia

words by olusola adebayo www.facebook.com/olusola adebayo

As a coach I have my own standards and that is to deliver good result at all times." said Keshi.

Eagles' coach Stephen Keshi yesterday disagreed with suggestions from the Nigeria Football Federation, that he must achieve victory against Liberia in Saturday's 2013 Nations Cup qualifier against Liberia in Calabar.

NFF technical officials were quoted as saying that Keshi has been given all that he needed and there will no excuse, if he fails to deliver the Nations Cup ticket. But Keshi declared that he doesn't need such 'must win' mandates to deliver results.

"I don't need the NFF to give me conditions. As a coach I have my own standards and that is to deliver good result at all times. "Besides no player wears the national colour and goes into the field with the mind of losing," said Keshi.

He assured Nigerians that they will have all course to smile after his team is through with the Lone Stars of Liberia in the crucial encounter the Eagles must win and qualify for the Nations Cup, which they missed in 2012.

U17 WOMEN WORLD CUP ; flamingoes failed from the spot

The first penalty shootout of Azerbaijann 2012 saw Marion Romanelli strike the winning spot-kick for France as they beat Nigeria to reach the semi-finals after a 0-0 draw as the African side fell at the quarter-final stage for the second tournament running.

Ghoutia Karchouni almost punished the Flamingos early on when they fell asleep during a short corner, but Gift Andy saved her curling shot. Aminat Yakubu then reminded France that they must stay on their toes, bursting down the right to cross, but it was well cut out.

A touch of brilliance almost brought Cousin the opener, her neat touch nutmegging Victoria Adelomon, but she could only fire straight at Andy. Griedge Mbock Bathy then missed a free header at the back post from Lea Declercq’s corner with Andy stranded.

Nigeria looked dangerous on the break but France were controlling possession and the play. Kadidiatou Diani was next to test Andy, with the No9’s header from Declercq’s cross sending her sprawling to her right.

LE BLUES

It was Nigeria in fact who had the ball in the net first, with their No9 Yakubu heading between Romane Bruneau’s legs, but Chinwendu Ihezuo had long been flagged offside.

Ihezuo was gifted a golden chance on the stroke of half-time though. The prolific forward latched onto Mbock Bathy’s weak back-pass but Bruneau stood tall and saved well.

The pendulum swung marginally in Nigeria’s favour after the break, withholding possession much better, though chances remained scarce.

Declercq eventually jarred what had become a stagnant game back into life, charging into the Nigerian area and crashing a fierce drive off the underside of the bar. It was then cleared, but her corner found the head Mbock Bathy who headed narrowly wide for a second time.

The night took a turn against Nigeria when captain Adielomon received only the second red card of the tournament for her second yellow of the night. Her stand-in Halimatu Ayinde almost snatched the game on 84 minutes though, but she slid her shot into the side-netting when baring down on Bruneau's goal.

With time up, Sandie Toletti, Ugochi Emenayo and Declercq exchanged efforts before Sarah Nnodim put horribly wide. It fell to Romanelli to tuck home the winner.