Confederation Cup is right on the corner, and every team is trying to choose best of its available talents, but on the other side, there is one team who is equally promoting its young talent along with using its experienced players. Nigeria, who won the Africa Cup of Nations in February, has made nine surprising changes to the team that crowned them Africa’s prestigious title. The newly selected teammates include four players who have never played in an international match before. This is rather a brave attempt from the coach who says his team consist a well needed mixture of both talent and experience. As far Nigerian defense is concerned, coach tries to retain a solid firewall by excluding players like Joseph Yobo, Peter Odemwingie, and Obafemi Martins. Earlier, local media aggressively criticized Coach Stephen Keshi for making a biased decision while selecting players; perhaps some of them even blamed him for choosing players out of his local clubs, while on the other side, coach … [Read more...]
Nigeria triumph Africa Cup of Nations title for the third time
Around one month old soccer extravaganza in South Africa finally ended on Sunday when Nigeria defeated first timer Burkina Faso by 1-0 in a tight final at Soccer City in front of a crowd of 87000 energetic fans cheering all the time. This is one of the biggest wins considering their position at the start of the event, coz no one had taken them seriously to bring the trophy back home, even not in their country there were not many believers of their win. Last time, Nigeria did it was in 1994 when Stephen Keshi, who is the coach of current team, leaded the winning squad; perhaps he is the only black African coach to win the biggest prize money over last twenty years. Moreover, he also became the only one to win the title two times both as player and as a coach. For Burkina Faso, it was their first time when they have even crossed the group stage and this would have been a great victory for them if they could overcome Nigerians. Sunday Mba scored the only goal of the game in 40th minute … [Read more...]
Nigeria reaches in AFCON final, but no deal with organizers to broadcast in Nigeria
Maybe Nigeria is on the threshold of making a history after a gap of more than a decade by winning Africa’s biggest soccer title AFCON on Sunday. But, there is a bad news for more than 160 million soccer fans at home coz they may not be able to watch the final live as there is no deal made with tournament’s official broadcaster to stream it live in Nigeria. This perhaps could be the biggest shock if it happens at last. Actually, it did not happen all of a sudden coz no one at home had imagined that their team would even reach at the knockout stage, but when it entered in the final, broadcasting organization of Nigeria started making best of their affords to get the telecast right of the game. Even they had never thought their team could be in the final coz Nigerian team has been performing desperately in recent times. Moreover, there are many rumors in the air expressing two different opinions on the same, like, on one side, confederation of African football is saying, they have … [Read more...]
Nigeria head for Quarterfinal in AFCON
In a stunning finish of the group C group match, Nigeria striker Victor Moses scored two late goals to defeat Ethiopia by 2-0 at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg on Tuesday. With this win; Nigeria has entered into the knockout stage of the tournament where it will meet Cote d’voire in the quarterfinal. Last ten minutes changed the course of the game when Moses got two penalties and he converted them into finely tuned goals to lead his country into the next stage of AFCON 2013. Ethiopia’s long awaited spell at African event finished at the bottom of group C while defending champion Zambia also shadowed its dreams after a 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso. Moses got his two penalties when he was stopped first by defender Alula Girma and secondly by goalkeeper Sisay Bancha inside the area and he brilliantly exploited these opportunities to win a much needed game for his nation. As said, it was a much needed win coz otherwise Nigeria would have a tie with Zambia who also had five … [Read more...]
Peter Odemwingie is ‘available’ for Nigeria
The soviet-born Nigerian footballer Peter Odemwingie was reportedly not available for Nigerian national soccer team, as blamed by Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi. But his allegations have now been ruled out by the striker himself; he says he still wants to play for his nation if he gets the call. The West Bromwich Albion striker was upset over recent comments of Keshi who said that he turned his back to his nation; perhaps, he felt much disappointment to see how he is being labeled as a rebel by his own country’s soccer coach. In a recent interview to an online portal he said, “I did not say I won't play for the national team. I am 31 now, it will be hard to play every game, but I had an open and honest discussion with the coach and I will be available when they call me. If the coach decides to call me, I am still available to play for my country. When I decide I want to stop playing I will come out and say so myself.” Earlier, as told, Keshi had blamed him of showing his retaliation … [Read more...]