Humble Pie

As the finalists have emerged, it is pertinent to say that, no one is a write off.
In my last piece, I said Juventus were not deserving, lo and behold, the "old ladies" proved me wrong. As for Real Madrid, they couldn't break the jinx of no team has ever won the UEFA champions league back to back.
When will this feat be achieved?
Back to Real Madrid's penultimate night, is it only me that noticed that the fans weren't encouraging enough or they were just too posh for their team at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu? I thought they said the fans at home were the 12th man of the team, of course this didn't  apply to Real Madrid fans.
Oh Bayern Munchen left it a little too late. As you rush to score goals don't be caught napping on the defense. Well well, you played for glory. See you next season with or without Pep Guardiola as we wait to see his next move.
Barcelona FC, just in a class of its own.
It is certain, one of the finalists is doing the treble this season. Will it be the Catalans or the Old ladies of Turin? Well 6th of June seems far enough. But why do i feel Juventus won't turn up for the finals? As i replay Euro 2012 finals in my mind.
To the other teams that participated in this season's competition, i say better luck next season.
#RoadtoBerlin2015

New year in the fourth month.....

As I sat to watch Real Madrid's game on Wednesday, it occurred to me that I have not posted anything on my blog since September 2014, and that is really bad.

  Since September so many things has happened in the world of soccer, some of which are the qualifications of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus for the semifinal stages of the UEFA Champions League.

This league in the quarter final stages has proved again why we love football with Bayern Munich turning a 3-1 goal deficit at Allianz Arena with a full force of attack against FC Porto. This is why football is indeed the game of the champions.

Like I posted on twitter that "no be who first call police dey win case." The situation with FC Porto says it all. For many people, from the first leg last week, it looked like a competition had come to an end for Bayern Munich. But a 6-1 turn over haha! Was definitely not scripted.

Real Madrid wanted it at all cost thus the starting position was given to Chicharito which finally yielded result at the 88th minute of the game. The other Madrid (Athletico) had a plan of going into extra Time but alas! The sending away of Adnan Turan gave Real Madrid the break they wanted

FC Barcelona whew! What can we do with a team that has a combination of Neymar Jr, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi? I leave that for you to answer. Their display against Paris Saint Germain (PSG) home and away was pure class. If I have never seen Andres Iniesta play over and over, I would have thought this guy isn't over 30 years of age. One thing is sure, the semis are going to be interesting.

Now to Juventus, I didn't see the first leg against Monaco but this second leg was a boring fest. Personally, I think they won't go beyond the semis. But some think otherwise.

So far, it’s been interesting and it promises to be more interesting as it gets to its climax. Amongst the last four, I think three of them are truly deserving (pardon me Juventus) .Will Real Madrid break the jinx? Well, well your guess is as good as mine.

Enjoy your weekend.

Nigeria at 54: The Game so Far

Annually, the first of October means so much to the most populous black nation on the surface of the earth. This time of the year is used to reflect on how far we have gone in our journey to nationhood after we got free from the clutches of colonialism. Usually we do a reality check to see if we have done well or otherwise. And if we dare to tell ourselves the truth, the verdict year in, year out is that so many things are not going on as they ought to.

For example, power supply is still epileptic in our 54 years of existence and most of our youths, who are referred to as the leaders of tomorrow, have still not found their bearing (politically,socially and economically) so there is no need to even go further.

However, surviving despite all odds has been the Nigerian way and one of the ways in which surviving has been easy for us is our obvious love for the beautiful game of football. Men women and children alike in Nigeria are passionate about this game.

In 54 years, Nigerian has not fared badly in the comity of sporting nations. We have won the Confederation of African Football(CAF) Nations cup thrice, 1980, 1994 and 2013. The Super Falcons hasn't fared badly same goes to the other age grade competition like the U-17 winning FIFA U-17 competition four times 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013. Also, not pushing aside the gold medal received in Atlanta 96 by the Olympic dream team. Not forgetting Eyimba FC of Aba’s back to back winning of the CAF championship in 2004 and 2005.

However, these achievements are occasional flashed which we have been unable to sustain. Even now at 54, we do not see ready or even willing to work towards the sustainability of gains that we have made. Although the problems bedeviling the development of football are glaring and clear to us, we have not reached a point in which stakeholder agree to work to deal with these problems once and for all. I have identified some of the problems with suggestions on dealing with them as follows:

Mal-Administration

Over the years, we have put people without any knowledge of the game in charge of football administration in Nigeria. Nigeria is perhaps the only place where you find people who have never kicked the ball or even studied the game taking the reins of affairs at the Federation level. In serious countries, people in football admin are those who must have adequate knowledge of the game either as former players or coaches.

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has had a series of crisis
 year in year out nearly leading to courting a ban by FIFA. The most recent crisis in which Mr. Christopher Giwa, who emerged in an election organised by a faction of stakeholders has refused to leave office in spite of a much popular congress held at the beginning of this week where Mr. Amaju Pinnick as the new President.

Government Interference

I choose not to start by saying government is one of our problems, because FIFA has stipulated in its rules that every government stay out of the administration of football.
But that's just funny and unrealistic. This is because he who plays the piper usually dictates the tunes. And the government in Nigeria will continue to interfere in the affairs of the NFF until the federation can give a good account of themselves.

In the just concluded FIFA World Cup, there were allegations upon immediate past President of NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari for misappropriation of funds, on returning from Rio, he was arrested at the airport, FIFA then told the Government to stay out of it or we face a ban.

As long as government is funding the football federation, it will continue to interfere as bad as this is for the development of football.

No-Planning

When they are saying "the young shall grow" was made, Nigeria was definitely not part of the deal. As far as I understood, it is only in Nigeria that an U-17 player would not be able graduate into the senior team and when , he would have become a tired leg before too long.

The Germans who won the World Cup in Rio, didn't just stumble on this success. They planned it well by giving themselves a 10-year plan having been ousted disgracefully in the group stages of Euro 2004, thus, investing in their youth academies. The likes of Marco Rues,Toni Kroos and Mario Gotze were introduced to the World in FIFA U-17 championship held in Netherlands in 2007. Funny enough, Nigeria clinched the gold medal in this tournament, but where are the youths of that tournament in our football today?

 

Equally the situation with our leagues is appalling. A league that ought to prepare and produce players for international tournaments is so poor and marred by poor officiating, match postponements, poor playing pitches, transfer problems and violence to the extent that it is stagnated.

The Nigeria Football Federation therefore has a long way to go, if they give a give a good account of themselves, the government has no business interfering. , Nigeria is bigger than anybody thus Nigeria must come first before personal pride. NFF should put their house in order and preserve our image that is just improving after a long while. Part of the plan for the development of football should be to see that Youth Academies are able to compete with the best in the world. And this league, should be taken care of by the NFF, its their duty to do so.

As the Queen rules

On September 7, 2014, tennis lovers all over the world, yet again celebrated Serena Williams, as she clinched her 18th grand slam title and her 6th US open title in New York. Without mincing words Serena is phenomena. Even the commentator testified to this when he said: “she is a standard". This lady who would be 33 in the next couple of weeks is just such a pride to the game of Tennis.

That draws me back home to Nigeria and I ponder over the question of who the best tennis player are?  Where do they go to when tournaments like these take place? What does the body in charge of tennis in Nigeria do to improve the lot of game in Nigeria?
Is this just my imagination? Is Nigeria not big enough to produce stars amongst the comity of Nations not just because of our population but for the sheer number of talents that abound in the country?

For example, South Africa which lost its biggest economy badge to Nigeria a couple of months back has Kevin Anderson who is amongst the 20 world top tennis players, that is with a population just about one third of Nigeria's!
So why Nigeria with its enormous talents failed to have its name on the list of the world’s greatest?

I have been in a conversation with an enthusiastic tennis player in the city of Abuja in the past couple of days and it is sad that she confirmed by fears that authorities in Nigeria and most of the continent are talent killers,
For example,  the Nigeria Tennis Federation is said to have organized only one tournament this year. Those events held in the month of May after which our tennis players have not had any serious challenge. What do we then expect players to do for the remaining part of the year.

To maintain their fitness and develop their skills, I understand that a lot of players do through strenuous personal efforts without an iota of recognition from Federation.
The player I spoke with, who has played professionally since 1999 spoke about a number of talents whom she has encountered in her career but the refusal of the authorities to take the game seriously has made them all frizzle out.

As a nation, we need start investing in people. Imagine a population of 170 million peoples total missing from major global competitions from Australia, Beijing, France, England and now the US, we missing out to stamp our name in tennis. It is to my mind, a disservice to the resilient and dynamic spirit of Nigerians.
We should start by improving on the existing platforms for tennis, increase the number and frequency of tournaments and get to the grassroots to raise more talents. I think Nigeria is just too blessed for this inertia.

The National Sports Commission and sports bodies in the state  must do something serious about developing other sports without necessarily affecting the obvious love that we all have for football.

Once again, The Queen of Queens

The queen of queens Serena Williams  is once again crowned the winner of the female singles US open championship of 2014, after she defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3.
With this, she has in her coffers 18 major trophies and, 6 USopen trophies also with an additional $4million.
She made history once again today by winning her 18th major title on same place she won her first title. And to say she's just some few days shy of her 33rd birthday.
Caroline Wozniacki  was also a worthy competitor, hopefully we'll get to see more of her.
Well done Caroline Wozniscki and congratulations Serena Williams..

Nishikori stuns Djokovic

Kei Nishikori overcame top seed Novak Djokovic in four sets to reach the final of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

The tenth seed from Japan produced a quite superb display to record a 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 triumph, becoming the first Asian man to reach the final of a grand slam tournament.
Despite having to come through gruelling five-setters in both previous rounds, Nishikori displayed tremendous endurance on a scorching day in New York as both players battled the heat as well as each other.
Djokovic - who was bidding to reach a fifth consecutive final at the event - looked to have asserted himself on the match as he raced through the second set after dropping the first, but the nine-time grand slam champion was ultimately undone by the ferocity and consistency of Nishikori's groundstrokes as the 24-year-old clinched a career victory.
"I don't know what's going on," a delighted Nishikori stated immediately after his win. "I was a little bit tight, especially with my first semi-final in a grand slam. It's just an amazing feeling, beating the number one player and playing much better than the last couple of matches.
"I'm so happy. It was tough conditions but I guess I love to play long matches and I hope I can recover well for the final.
If Nishikori was tired or nervous going into his first semi-final, he did not show it, more than matching Djokovic from the back of the court.
An early break came and went but Nishikori was the one dictating a lot of the points and he placed a forehand return onto the outside of the line to move ahead again at 4-3, this time making the advantage count as he served out for the set.
But he could not stem the Djokovic tide in the second set, the 2011 champion stepping up the aggression and winning five games in a row to level the contest.
Nishikori was then forced to dig deep to hold serve in the third game of the third set, but his endeavour was rewarded as he combined a backhand pass with forehand winner to break the Djokovic serve in the eighth game.
That left him serving for the set but, having been so cool, Nishikori wobbled, double-faulting on break point.
Djokovic roared as he held to make it 5-5 but the world number one was strangely passive and paid for it in a lacklustre tie-break, consecutive forehand errors seeing Nishikori move ahead in sets once again.
Clearly fatiguing, when Djokovic handed over his serve meekly at the start of the third set, the alarm bells really started ringing and, although he had three chances to break straight back, Nishikori saved them all.
Djokovic certainly appeared to be struggling more with the heat and he never really looked like clawing his way back as he has done from similar situations on so many occasions before.
Nishikori kept attacking and, with Djokovic serving at 3-5, brought up two match points. The top seed saved the first but went long on the second, allowing a delighted and slightly stunned Nishikori to celebrate the biggest win of his life.

Skynews.com

Transfers on the last day...

The summer transfer window closed at 23:00 BST.

Biggest signing this window by British club: Angel Di Maria - Real Madrid to Manchester United for £59.7m.
Busiest clubs this summer: Blackpool, Shrewsbury and Crawley Town have signed 17 players.
Busiest Premier League club this summer: West Brom have signed 11 players.

02 SEPTEMBER (all times BST)

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01:31 - Radamel Falcao [Monaco - Man Utd] Loan
01:30 - Tom Lawrence [Man Utd - Leicester] Undisclosed
01:30 - Nick Powell [Man Utd - Leicester] Loan
01:10 - Michael Keane [Man Utd - Burnley] Loan
00:58 - Danny Welbeck [Man Utd - Arsenal] £16m
00:50 - Hatem Ben Arfa [Newcastle - Hull] Loan

01 SEPTEMBER (all times BST)

23:50 - Sadio Mane [Red Bull Salzburg - Southampton] £10m
23:33 - Glenn Murray [Crystal Palace - Reading] Loan
23:31 - Frank Nouble [Ipswich - Coventry] Loan
23:30 - Kevin Doyle [Wolves - Crystal Palace] Loan
23:28 - Toby Alderweireld [Atletico Madrid - Southampton] Loan
23:26 - Krisztian Adorjan (external) [Liverpool - Novara Calcio] Undisclosed
23:19 - Louis Thompson [Norwich - Swindon] Loan
23:19 - Louis Thompson [Swindon - Norwich] Undisclosed
23:17 - Seb Hines [Middlesbrough - Coventry] Loan
23:11 - Jos Hooiveld [Southampton - Norwich] Loan
23:09 - Niko Kranjcar [Dynamo Kiev - QPR] Loan
23:08 - Peter Brezovan [Portsmouth - Tranmere] Free
23:05 - Alvaro Negredo [Manchester City - Valencia] Loan
23:01 - Luciano Becchio [Norwich - Rotherham] Loan
23:00 - Ryan Tunnicliffe [Fulham - Blackburn] Loan
22:58 - Dominic Poleon [Leeds - Oldham] Undisclosed
22:55 - Jack Stephens [Southampton - Swindon] Loan
22:50 - Matt Smith [Leeds - Fulham] Undisclosed
22:49 - Morgan Amalfitano [Marseille - West Ham] Undisclosed
22:46 - Emyr Huws [Manchester City - Wigan] Undisclosed
22:46 - Jason Steele [Middlesbrough - Blackburn] Loan
22:45 - Michael Tidser [Rotherham - Oldham] Loan
22:44 - Jamal Blackman [Chelsea - Middlesbrough] Loan
22:31 - Oussama Assaidi [Liverpool - Stoke] Loan
22:31 - Jonson Clarke-Harris [Oldham - Rotherham] Undisclosed
22:30 - Gaston Ramirez [Southampton - Hull] Loan
22:26 - Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa [Newcastle - Roma] Loan
22:15 - Mark Hudson [Cardiff - Huddersfield] Undisclosed
22:15 - Sandro [Tottenham - QPR] £6m
22:11 - Stefan Scepovic [Sporting Gijon - Celtic] £2.3m
22:06 - Danny Gabbidon [Unattached - Cardiff] Free
22:03 - Micah Richards [Manchester City - Fiorentina] Loan
21:47 - Luke James [Hartlepool - Peterborough] Undisclosed
21:41 - Rakish Bingham [Wigan - Mansfield] Free
21:36 - Souleymane Doukara [Catania - Leeds] Undisclosed
21:33 - James McArthur [Wigan Athletic - Crystal Palace] £7m
21:30 - Ryan Cresswell [Fleetwood - Northampton] Undisclosed
21:14 - Ryo Miyaichi [Arsenal - FC Twente] Loan
21:14 - Ignasi Miquel [Arsenal - Norwich] Undisclosed
21:02 - Alex Kacaniklic [Fulham - Copenhagen] Loan
21:02 - Ryan Bird [Portsmouth - Cambridge] Free
20:52 - Sam Clucas [Mansfield - Chesterfield] Undisclosed
20:43 - William Kvist [Stuttgart - Wigan] Free
20:35 - Zeki Fryers [Tottenham - Crystal Palace] Undisclosed
20:20 - Betinho [Sporting Lisbon - Brentford] Loan
20:00 - Kris Scott [Swansea - Leicester] Free
19:46 - Daley Blind [Ajax - Man Utd] £13.8m
19:29 - Bruno Ecuele Manga [Lorient - Cardiff] Fee in excess of £5m
19:27 - Saphir Taider [Inter Milan - Sassuolo] Loan
19:15 - Ricardo Alvarez [Inter Milan - Sunderland] Loan
18:51 - Mohamed Diame [West Ham - Hull] Undisclosed
18:36 - Andy Procter [Bury - Accrington] Free
18:30 - Sebastian Coates [Liverpool - Sunderland] Loan
18:30 - Jack O'Connell [Blackburn - Rochdale] Loan
17:45 - Andrew Surman [Norwich - Bournemouth] Undisclosed
17:37 - Brian Montenegro [Nacional - Leeds] Loan
17:34 - Lewis Holtby [Tottenham - Hamburg] Loan
17:30 - George Donnelly [Rochdale - Tranmere] Undisclosed
17:26 - Benjamin Stambouli [Montpellier - Tottenham] Undisclosed
17:08 - Royston Drenthe [Reading - Sheff Wed] Loan
17:00 - Ryan Watson [Leicester - Northampton] Loan
17:00 - Jose Canas [Swansea - Espanyol] Free
16:22 - Achille Campion [Norrby IF - Port Vale] Loan
15:58 - Abel Hernandez [Palermo - Hull City] £10m
15:46 - Nathaniel Chalobah [Chelsea - Burnley] Loan
15:01 - Alex Nicholls [Northampton - Exeter] Loan
15:00 - Jonathan Obika [Tottenham - Swindon] Undisclosed
14:54 - Alex Bray [Swansea - Plymouth] Loan
14:45 - Andy Delort [FC Tours - Wigan] Undisclosed
14:21 - Holmbert Fridjonsson [Celtic - Brondy] Loan
14:16 - Adam Forshaw [Brentford - Wigan] Undisclosed
14:16 - Vitalijs Maksimenko [Brighton - VVV-Venlo] Loan
14:08 - Jelle Vossen [Genk - Middlesbrough] Loan
13:58 - Jordan Cranston [Nuneaton - Notts County] Free
13:56 - Michael Gardyne [Dundee United - Ross County] Loan
13:52 - Dylan McGeouch [Celtic - Hibernian] Loan
13:38 - Nathan Eccleston [Coventry - Partick Thistle] Free
13:20 - Javier Hernandez [Man Utd - Real Madrid] Loan
13:08 - Jack Price [Wolves - Yeovil] Loan
13:00 - Stuart Beavon [Preston - Burton] Undisclosed
12:58 - Marco van Ginkel [Chelsea - AC Milan] Loan
12:37 - Modu Barrow [Ostersunds - Swansea] Undisclosed
11:55 - Tom Koblenz [Hoffenheim - Derby] Free
11:30 - Shane Duffy [Everton - Blackburn Rovers] Undisclosed
11:24 - George Boyd [Hull - Burnley] £3m
10:59 - Yanic Wildschut [Heerenveen - Middlesbrough] Undisclosed
10:13 - Karim El Ahmadi [Aston Villa - Feyenoord] Undisclosed.
Source: bbc.com/sport