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Safarigirl go endorse this one

ChrisKels:
20 year old Calvin Chinedu Ughelumba joins Glasgow Rangers. Yet another left back to keep an eye on

Victor Osimhen: the young Nigerian on a rapid rise to the top
By Juliet Mafua
BBC Sport Africa
4 hours ago.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/800/cpsprodpb/10C4C/production/_112748686_gettyimages-1164561576.jpg
Victor Osimhen celebrates a goal for Lille in Ligue 1.

Nigeria international Victor Osimhen may have been named Lille's player of the season earlier this week but don't think that means the 21-year-old is satisfied with his campaign.

For when you ask his reaction, the forward's instant response is to bemoan his team's failure to secure a Champions league spot as Lille 'ended' the season in fourth.

The club were just a point behind Rennes in France, where third place secures European football at its highest level, with ten rounds left when the season was finished early because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Winning the Lille player of the season was not my target," Osimhen told BBC Sport Africa. "My target was to help the team finish in the Champions League spot. But I want to thank my team-mates and those who voted for me."

Osimhen netted eighteen goals and recorded six assists in 31 appearances across all competitions, with his tally of 13 league goals equal to that of Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian superstar Neymar.

In what was his first campaign in France, the Nigerian was also named in Ligue 1's team of the season.

"I'm really happy - it's a great feeling - I'm here and proving it," said the former Wolfsburg and Charleroi striker. "The league is not as easy as some people think. It's very competitive and you have to play among the best."

Such has been Osimhen's form that he is being linked with some of Europe's biggest clubs, including several leading Premier League sides, although it is a move to Italians Napoli that has been creating the most column inches in recent days.

Osinhem has denied the reports however, calling for privacy instead as he mourns his late father whose death the young Nigerian revealed late last month.

"There's a lot of fake news about me already agreeing a deal with Napoli - it's sickening," he said. "Please disregard any report of transfers involving me on the news. I want to stay mute on all these as I mourn my late father."

Osimhen shot into the limelight when starring in Nigeria's Under-17 World Cup triumph in 2015
The death of Osimhen's father, who helped his son settle into European football when travelling with him to his first club on the continent, is particularly poignant for a man who lost his mother at a young age.

The footballer grew up in Lagos, sharing one small room with his parents and siblings, and he freely admits that a young life of hardship and survival - sometimes "feeding just once a day" - motivated him to succeed.

"Whenever I'm in my free time, I reminisce on the past," he says. "My humble beginning makes me the person I am today - it's me never, never wanting to give up.

"So whenever I'm on the pitch, whenever I think about where I'm coming from, my family background, I don't want to relent - I want to make them proud and I want to give my all."

Osimhen burst into the spotlight at the 2015 Under-17 World Chile as he clinched the Golden Boot and Silver Ball awards while steering the Golden Eaglets to the title.

The 16-year-old scored a tournament record 10 goals, netting in every one of Nigeria's games, in a performance that helped earn him Africa's Youth Player of the Year for 2015.

His displays in at the World Cup in Chile also earned him a move to Wolfsburg but Osimhen, who turned down Arsenal to play in Germany's Bundesliga, admits to struggling as he slowly adapted to both the league and European football.

Osimhen, 21, scored 13 goals in his maiden campaign in France's Ligue 1
After a barren season in which the striker, affected by injury, returned no goals from 16 games, he moved to Belgium where the goals soon flowed - 19 in his first campaign at Charleroi, where he was originally on loan before making the move permanent.

"I said some years back that I have a point to prove at Wolfsburg but I couldn't get the chance. Now I'm here and proving it and I'm sending messages across and a lot of them are sending me messages also, calling to congratulate me."

Last year, Osimhen joined Lille as a direct replacement for Ivorian international Nicolas Pepe, who had - unlike his replacement - decided to play for Arsenal.

Pepe - who cost the Gunners a record £72m - was Lille's player of the year award in 2019, a title Osimhen has now taken, beating off competition from Benjamin Andre and Renato Sanches to claim the individual award.

Despite his new fame, wealth and coveted status, the youngster - who made his Africa Cup of Nations debut last year - has managed to stay grounded and he says he spends much of his free time reading motivational messages on social media.

"I go to this motivational page on Instagram and save some of the important quotes that I see. In my spare time I go to my saved items and read the quotes - it inspires me," says a rising star who is already inspiring millions himself.

Additional reporting by Oma Akatugba.

white man no dey show bad character? that man who said it is a big frog. . He himself must have a very bad character

daveP:
They should give a female biko. Let Mercy Akide assist her. Anyhow.


Imagine the jostling.


That France Cheating is as fresh in my head like yesterday.


But once again, the downgrading of locals.....lets be blunt, its true but also shows the way the system doesnt respect locals.

Well I had a max of 5 in each position. .

daveP:
Doesnt he worth a mention? Okay.

See yeye talk

Six foreign coaches battle for Super Falcons’ job

An NFF official told The Guardian yesterday that two female and four male foreign coaches are currently jostling for the Super Falcons job. The official refused to name the nationalities of the job-seeking foreign coaches.


Another official of the NFF who spoke with The Guardian yesterday hinted that the federation had decided to engage a foreigner for the Super Falcons job, thereby ending speculations that the NFF was considering the duo of Florence Omagbemi and Mercy Akide for the job.

“We are going for a foreign coach for the Super Falcons’ job,” the official said. “We want to avoid a situation whereby a local coach will be holding us to ransom after getting the job. They always have that attitude of showing off their bad characters after getting the job. We don’t have time for that any longer.”

Simon bags another awards at Nantes
By Christopher Emenyonu - June 5, 2020

Days after winning the yellow and green player of the season, Super Eagles winger, Moses Daddy Simon has bagged another award of goal of the season at Nantes.

Simon scored 9 goals and assisted 8 times for Nantes in Ligue 1 in the just concluded season.

Expressing his pleasure at winning yet another award, Simon said “Baba GOD had done it again, (I) am speechless haven won the player of the season now the goal of the season all glory To GOD. It can only spur me to do more in my career . Am so blessed this season by GOD the arrival of my new born baby and as well the most valuable player of the season in a club am spending my first season and first time playing In the French league . Am Honoured and grateful to GOD.”

The goal that bagged the award was the one he scored against Nice in the Ligue 1 and was the only goal in the match.

Apart winning the goal of the season, the goal is also placed number 25 in the top goals of the decade in Nantes colours.

Despite only being on loan from Levante, Simon seems to have impressed in France.
--sports247

I only agree with Kayode because he was invited in the past. So he could actually be in the Forwards pecking order

sheyishemba:
remove sadiw and add kayode,mukairu,moffi,zirkzee and olayinka in arsenal (the dude might be moving to arsenal first team next season )

Why Alampasu?

daveP:
Why no Alampasu and Ezenwa for GK?


This Sadiq guy eh. When?!!!

“I am still in contact with Gernot Rohr and Amaju Pinnick, and they congratulated me on my loan deal,” Ighalo told Brila FM.

“I am still thinking about returning to the national team, but right now I want to concentrate on my club career.

“I left the national team because of the distance between Nigeria and China, but now that I am in Manchester and just like life and in my career, you never can tell."

Talking SE depth. Let the argument begin.

Remembering the original Super Eagles
Tolu Olasoji
4 Jun 2020

https://bucket.mg.co.za/wp-media/2020/06/206adf7c-nigeria-gettyimages-809436490-scaled.jpg

Nigerian footballers, some bare-footed, during a training session at Everton's training ground in Liverpool. A squad of fifteen players, the first time a Soccer team has left Nigeria, will tour the United Kingdom playing top amateur sides. Most of the players prefer to play bare-footed and can still drive a ball over 70 yards without boots.

The first time Nigeria’s men’s football team played outside the country, it took them two weeks to reach their destination. They sailed from Lagos to Southampton on board the MV Apapa in August 1949, and every day the 18 players would run around the deck to keep fit.

The team was young, having only played its first international match against Gold Coast — now Ghana — in Lagos in 1938. The tour of England, to test their strength against nine English amateur clubs, was its first major foray on the world stage.

It started well. The opening game against Marine Crosby Football Club was scheduled for just two days after their arrival. The team wore olive green jerseys and white shorts, and only striker Sokari Dokubu wore boots. A crowd of 6 000 watched the Nigerians — christened the UK Tourists for the tour — register a 5-2 upset.

The tour ended with two wins, two draws and five losses. This included a 8-0 thumping by the Athenian League XI, which was largely blamed on the team’s unfamiliarity with football boots. Slippery, wet conditions meant they had to wear them.

Segun Adenuga was only seven years old at the time, but already he was hooked on the beautiful game. When he wasn’t playing on the streets of Lagos Island, he was desperately waiting for news on how the team was faring abroad. Match reports would appear in the West African Pilot — a newspaper owned by Nnamdi Azikiwe, who would go on to be Nigeria’s first president — days after the match took place. “They had fantastic sports writers there like Bonam Ekanem,” recalls Adenuga, who became a prominent journalist and sports writer himself.

The Nigerian Representative team take a break from their tour of England to watch Tottenham Hotspur play Sheffield Wednesday at White Hart Lane (Barratts/PA Images via Getty Images)
The tour would lay the foundations for Nigeria’s eventual success on the international stage, and even resulted in the first transfers of Nigerian players to European clubs. From that original squad, striker Teslim “Thunder” Balogun would play for Peterborough United and Queens Park Rangers, while Titus Okere earned a move to Swindon Town. (Always a stickler for facts, Adenuga points out that Balogun’s nickname belied the finesse that made him so effective, and lamented the misspelling of his name — it should be Tesilimi Balogun).

On the way home, Nigeria stopped in Freetown for their first official international away match against Sierra Leone. They lost 2-0 that day, but did win a new nickname: the Red Devils, after the scarlet shirts they wore for that match. The nickname also resonated with Nigeria’s colonial power: “They were under colonial control and they admired their masters, then they wanted a name that they would be using,” said Adenuga.

It would be more than a decade before the nickname changed. Only when Nigeria became independent in 1960 did the football team change its name to the Green Eagles, after the colour of the flag and the animal on national crest. This evolved later into the Super Eagles of today — who, according to Adenuga, for all their flair and prowess don’t hold a candle to the trailblazing footballers he grew up with.

--Mail&Guardian

lol

somehow:
Lol okay, Bronz gold medal cup.

For your point 2, Then the competition should be open to all players based in Africa. No quota.

Danielnino00:
1) I agree. But it should be for interested countries only..we don't want a situation where countries will pull out due to lack of funds.

2) the idea of having foreign based players should involve only foreign based players within Africa ..

3) I totally agree.. but the idea of automatic slot to the defending champions should be squashed.. every team at the tournament most prove that they are worthy of the slots..

4) I agree..

competing with Kane will only make him better. You never know Mou may favor Victor over Kane..

andrewbaba44:
You just Dey happy and you know Kane is there ,now you go call this one good move all in the name of epl

Napoli is the better place

ask me again

somehow:
He will then become the longest-serving coach to handle the SE I believe.
wait o, how many laurels have we won in the past 4 years under Rohr?

Well AFCON got 24 nations now. abi?

Edopesin:
I don't like the idea of two teams getting into a tournament automatically, I agree with the rest of the write up

na my own i dey talk jor

Edopesin:
I'm not doubting o
but does Osimhen know about this?

Yea na.

TheSuperNerd:
Hahahahahahahahahaha...
Joebie dey fantasize Mourinho-Drogba Part 3.

Osimhen and Eze to Spurs. Yes!

na only Pep u know lol

TheGoodJoe:
God forbid bad thing.

This is what I propose for Africa
1. Nations League
2. CHAN (players based in Africa. Up to 3 players who can be based outside Africa but have to be making their debut for their nations at the tournament)
3. AFCON every 4 years. (Host countries will have enough time to plan to host at a world standard). We should go back to the time when defending champions had an automatic slot.
4. WAFU can be strictly home based players.

better.. I like the idea of Mourinho-Osimhen pair

daveP:
Oma Akatugba got thru to him. It seems the Napoli stuff is false. I don taya.

when they should have skipped 2013 and 2014 instead. owambe lol

jieta:
lol, because Africa want to change from even year to odd year.

that one sef na pamparing after almost 6 years

somehow:
I totally agree with you
no more pampering!

Yes Spurs! lol

andrewbaba44:
Leave joebie

Maybe Na Epl be only good move for him eye

He will get his time. I hope he performs though. But the competitive level in Serie A is good.

daveP:
If its the fear of gattuso, there's no need na. See what he did with Golovin? I'm not that bothered.

Just playing time. I believe he will see. Doubt theyll bench 60m buy. Are they mad. Twill gladden my heart to see him ruin cr7 day vs Juve!!

you no lie at all

safarigirl:
This is what a lot of blogs in West Africa call 'journalism', very lazy bunch, that thrive on copy and paste. Not one scent of independent thought on it.

The entertainment bloggers are even worse. Plagiarism is at it's finest on social media.

I’m not comfy about this move

Christology:
osihmen to Napoli .. done deal
he has signed a 5 year deal worth €4M per annum excluding bonus.

Where Oruma come play na?

Kog45:
No Chief, Karine Ojigwe was the defensive midfielder while Kanu played as No 8 behind Anosike.

Wow. I remember someone telling me something like that.

Icon4s:
Kanu played defensive midfield while Oruma played Central midfield. Peter Anosike was the main striker.

Lol

daveP:
He and Isaac Success go like food. Just that Success gyms more.