• LMC will give way for more effective league management system
Nigeria’s football architecture needs total restructuring if the country must meet the demands of the modern era, Head, CAF’s Safety and Security Department, Christian Emeruwa, has said.

Emeruwa, who affirmed that the country has the human and material resources to rank among the best football playing nations of the world, said what Nigerian football lacks, currently, is proper planning and the will to do the tough, but right things.

Speaking in Lagos while unveiling his campaign for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) presidency, Emeruwa said the current strategy and vision of the country’s football is inconsistent and no longer fit for purpose.

“The time for change is now. Football is a powerful instrument that we have failed to utilise in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that the NFF has become a beggarly organisation that does not give anything back to the society. That is what we want to change.

“We have to push and break boundaries. Transparency, accountability, careful planning and a growth that creates opportunities for all stakeholders is what I am offering Nigeria,” he said.

Emeruwa described football as a powerful tool, which, however, cannot be effective without activities. According to the former head of NFF’s Integrity Unit, “Nigeria is too big a nation to be made to look like a joke by poor management.”

To change the narrative, he said his administration would ensure that only the best available coach is employed to handle the national team, adding that no player will be invited to the national team if he has not proved that he is the best in his position.

“Our statute will be reviewed to accommodate the dynamism of football. Excellence is non-negotiable because we want to build a virile football economy so that when players, coaches, football journalists and other stakeholders retire from their primary function, they will be absorbed by that economy.

“I am committed to using Nigeria as an example of progress in African football. That is why I am not looking at running a local football that is not in tune with the best global practices.

“If I become the NFF president, I will be holding the game in trust for Nigerians. The people will know how much we make and how we spend it. Every employee, including players, coaches, staff and media officers, will have contract duly signed by the NFF and the employee. It will spell out everybody’s rights and obligations. This will eliminate verbal agreements that usually lead to discontent and rancour among stakeholders.”

On the local league, Emeruwa said he would hand over the organisation of the various competitions to the clubs, who, on their part, will appoint officials to run them. He added: “I will dissolve the League Management Company (LMC) and help the clubs to elect leaders for the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL). The same thing will happen to the women league and all the other lower leagues.

“We will control referees appointment and arbitration of cases arising from the leagues and other competitions.”

“To get officiating right, we must change the system to make it more attractive. Nigerian referees are poorly paid because we operate an outdated system. They cannot be at the World Cup and big CAF competitions because they are not well-trained in modern officiating. They also lack the basic equipment for the modern football. 

“Morocco uses VAR in their local matches, which prepares their referees for games where such equipment are deployed. You cannot say that of Nigerian referees, some of who don’t even know how to use goal line monitor and sundry equipment.”

Nine-Time African champions, Super Falcons of Nigeria, are in the United States of America (U.S.) on a two-match tour with the country’s women national team. The first of the two matches holds at the Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, on September 3.

oth teams, who have qualified for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand, will have a go at each other’s jugular once more at the Audi Field in Washington D. C. on September 6.
 
Coach Randy Waldrum has picked four members of Nigeria’s girls that reached the quarterfinals at the just-concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. They are defenders Oluwatosin Demehin and Rofiat Imuran, and midfielders, Esther Onyenezide and Deborah Abiodun.
 
Home-based professionals Christy Ohiaeriaku, Akudo Ogbonna and Gift Monday are also in the delegation. First-choice goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, defender Osinachi Ohale, midfielder Toni Payne and forwards Rasheedat Ajibade and Uchenna Kanu will provide the spine for an interesting Nigeria selection.
 
The Children’s Mercy Park is home to Kansas City in the U.S. National Women’s Soccer League and Sporting Kansas City in the Major League Soccer, while Audi Field is utilised by National Women’s Soccer League side, Washington Spirit and Major League Soccer team, D. C. United.
 
The match in Kansas City will see Vlatko Andonovski, appointed Coach of USWNT at the end of 2019, return to his home area for the second time. It is the sixth time that the USWNT will be playing at the Children’s Mercy Park but it is their first time at the Audi Field, though they have played 10 times previously in Washington – all at the RFK Stadium.
 
Andonovski says he’s excited to send out his girls against the Super Falcons: “First, I’m just excited to play two matches against Nigeria. They have some very talented players who will present a lot of different problems for us to solve on both sides of the ball.”

The Nigerian side has earned qualification for the main CAF Champions League event scheduled to be held in Morocco in October

Nigerian representatives in the second CAF Women’s ChampionsLeague Bayelsa Queens, have reached the final of the WAFU B Women Champions League qualifier after thrashing Benin Republic side, Espoir 6-0 on Wednesday night in Cote d’Ivoire.

A brace from Chinyere Igbomalu and strikes from Kafayat Bashiru, Glory Edet, Etim Edidiong, and Anjor Mary in both halves of the game saw the Prosperity girls advance to face Ampem Darkoa in the final.

The Queens managed just one goal in the first half courtesy of an Igbomalu strike in the third minute from a free kick just outside the box after Flourish Sabastian was fouled.

Kafaya Bashiru scored the second goal in the 49th minute while Glory Edet got on the score sheet three minutes later.

With three goals in the bag for the four-time NWFL Champions, Bayelsa Queens controlled most parts of the game, and created more goal-scoring chances.

Etim Edidiong added to the woes of the Beninese scoring the fourth goal in the 64th minute, and Igbomalu completed her brace nine minutes later.

Anjor Mary, who just returned from an injury, added the sixth in the 88th minute to send the Nigerian side to the main CAF tournament in Morocco with a game to spare.

Having ruthlessly put Espoir to the sword, Bayelsa Queens will seek to end the tournament on a high when they once again confront group rivals, Ampem Darkoa, in the final after the Ghanaian side defeated Africa Sports 6-5 on penalties in the second semi-final.

The final of the zonal qualifying game is scheduled for Saturday, 3 September by 7 p.m., Nigeria time.

Mr Peterside promised that if elected, state FAs will get enough money to run football from the grassroots.

Ex-International football goalkeeper, Idah Peterside has said that his biggest fear, if eventually elected as the President of theNigerian Football Federation (NFF), is impeachment.

Mr Peterside, also a former Media Officer of the Super Eagles, said this on Wednesday in Abuja while declaring his intention to contest for the position of NFF president.

He said his leadership style, if elected into office, might make him come into conflict with those who usually do things the wrong way.

“We are going to change the face of football; my biggest fear is that they might try to impeach me because we will be transparent, we will shake the table, suspend referees, close down stadiums and instill discipline,” he said.

Mr Peterside told the football stakeholders who came to witness his declaration, that he had no godfather or sponsor going into the election but that he had strong feelings that he would emerge victorious.

“We don’t owe them any thank you because it is our right. I know what grassroots football is all about because I played in South Africa and Israel.

“Grassroot football is state football. I say this without fear that all the FA chairmen have been cheated for years but I will give you money to administer football in your states if I am elected because we must develop the game from the grassroots,” Mr Peterside said.

According to him, the time when the leadership of the NFF collects billions of Naira as sponsorship money and gives peanuts to state FA chairmen to run football in their domain, is past.

He urged the FA chairmen to disappoint anybody who gives them money to vote by collecting it and voting for those who mean well for Nigeria’s football.

Mr Peterside, who noted that he did not believe in zoning arrangement for football, said that he would change the face of the game if given the mandate to pilot its affairs.

“When they give you money take it because it is what they didn’t give you in eight years for football development; when you get there, look for my picture and vote for me.

“A vote for me is a vote for change and restoration. I am not contesting for money because I am contented. I am contesting to make Nigerians happy. I have a television station and I pastor a church of about 4000 worshippers. I will carry everybody along.”

NFF’s 2nd Vice President, Shehu Dikko, who witnessed the declaration, said he believed so much in the capability of ex-internationals and urged them to join hands in moving the game forward.

“I don’t have a sponsor; nobody is sponsoring me except football. My biggest sponsor is my passion.

“If people have money to give, I don’t have to give and the truth about it is that our football needs surgery in too many ways.

“I have spoken to some of the administrators about the wrongs in our football leagues and they have explained a lot of things to me, but I said to them, yes you have explained to me but nobody cares until it is fixed, and it must be fixed.

“There are times that I have seen people in charge of our football doing so little for the game and expect us to say thank you or clap for them.

What Peterside is doing today is the way to go. It is not for you to sit down in your comfort zone and be talking about how things are not being done correctly, while you have the opportunity to throw your hat in the ring or send your ideas forward.

“I am excited about the way the election process is going because we are actually defining the way politics should be played and we are redefining the democratic process of Nigerian football.

“And I believe that if it continues this way, by the end of this election, Nigerian football will be much better.

Super Eagles B coach, Salisu Yusuf, is confident his side will overturn their 2-0 first leg deficit against Ghana’s Black Galaxies and qualify for the 2023 African Nations Championship billed for Algeria next year,

Second half goals from Daniel Barnie and Seidu Suraj handed the Black Galaxies a 2-0 win over the Nigerians in Cape Coast in the first leg of their final qualifiers.

Salisu’s side are currently intensifying their preparations ahead of the crunch second leg clash in Abuja on Saturday.

Speaking after his side’s training on Wednesday, Yusuf said, “We have the capacity to turn things around this weekend.

“We have an idea of where they have strength as a team and we will seek how we can restrict their strength and explore their weaknesses.

“Football is a game of 90 minutes and we must look to overturn the two goals we conceded. We need to work even harder than we did in the short time we had to prepare for this game. We have to turn things around in Abuja.” 

Meanwhile, Ghana coach, Annor Walker, believes the Eagles are no threat to his side.

“It (not qualifying) will not be possible because I have not seen any threat in their (Nigeria) attack,” Walker told Ghana Soccernet.

“I have seen the way they play, we will also strategise for it and when we get to Nigeria, it will be a different strategy that we will use to approach the game.

“We are going to Nigeria and for sure we will qualify for CHAN next year,” the coach added.

Unlike Nigeria, Ghana has not qualified for the last three editions of the CHAN tournament and that explains why they are desperately looking forward to breaking that jinx.

Following their poor performance at the just-concluded window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, D’Tigers forward Michael Gbinije has stated that the men’s basketball team must win their remaining games in the next window of the qualifiers to stand a chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

D’Tigers recorded one win in three games, losing 78-66 to hosts Ivory Coast on Friday night at the 3,500-capacity Palais des Sports Treichville and putting their qualification hopes for next year’s World Cup in a tight corner.

Stand-in coach Mfon Udoh guided the team to an 89-70 victory over Guinea in their second game to bounce back from their earlier defeat to the Ivoirians, but they were brought down to earth in their last game of the series, losing 70-67 to Angola.

The 2.01m (6ft 7in) forward, who helped Nigeria win their only AfroBasket title in 2015, remained optimistic that it was not over for Nigeria, with a final window in February 2023.

“The other games we have ahead of us are must-wins,” he told FIBA.basketball.

“We didn’t have a good showing in this trip (in Abidjan) and we have made it tough on ourselves. Our only redemption is to look forward to the last window by winning all our games.

“I have had a lot of opportunities playing at the AfroBasket, exhibition games, the Rio Olympics 2016 and the World Cup qualifiers. Nigerian basketball is great on the global stage but we got to be better moving forward.”

Speaking on the one factor that has kept Nigeria as a force in African basketball, Gbinije said, “For every player, it’s different because we got some young and older players.

“Some of us play out of experience and teach the younger ones as we’re playing but as I said, the roster changed so much that one needs to start getting used to the new players. Overall, the chemistry off the floor helps us bond.”

Sixteen African teams are competing in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers through five tournament windows over 15 months.

The qualifiers run from November 2021 to February 2023, with five African national teams earning a spot in the FIBA Basketball World Cup scheduled to hold from August 25 to September 10, 2023 in Japan, Indonesia and The Philippines.

Ivory Coast have qualified to pick one of the slots, leaving the other 15 countries to vie for the remaining four slots.

According to Spanish publication, Mundo Deportivo, Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze is close to joining Everton on loan.

Chukwueze’s loan move comes with a €45m mandated permanent transfer option at the end of the season.

“Villarreal is about to close the departure of Samu Chukwueze to Everton in England,” the website wrote.

“The 23-year-old Nigerian striker would join Liverpool’s ‘blue’ team on loan, although with a mandatory purchase option for €45m.

“The departure of Chukwueze from Ceramics would be one of the unexpected news of the final stretch of the winter market since Everton’s interest did not reach the ears of the ‘grogueta’ entity until this Tuesday. From that moment on, the negotiations that led to an agreement in principle were intensified, pending the last fringes so that it becomes a reality.”

Should the deal go according to plan, Chukwueze will share the same dressing room with compatriot, Alex Iwobi, who joined the Toffees from Arsenal in 2019.

He will also become the eighth Super Eagles player in the English Premier League for the 2022/23 season joining Nottingham Forest duo Taiwo Awoniyi AND Dennis Emmanuel, Brentford’s Frank Onyeka, and Joe Aribo, who recently joined Southampton.

Leicester City duo Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi are the other Nigerians in the Premier League this season.

Chukwueze has spent the entirety of his European career at Villarreal after coming through the ranks at the club.

Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates after winning her second round match against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit

Playing more like a world number one than a player ranked outside the top 600, Serena Williams turned back the clock on Wednesday to stun world number two Anett Kontaveit 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 and move into the third round of the U.S. Open, putting her retirement plans on pause.

Defeat has always been hard to swallow for the fiercely competitive Williams and the 40-year-old American’s relentless will to win was on full display during an absorbing two-hour 27 minute contest of unexpected high quality, breathless intensity and drama.

Williams had signalled her intention to retire earlier this month, saying she was “evolving away from tennis” but never confirming the U.S. Open as her final event.

Any farewell has now been put on hold with Williams back on centre court on Thursday for a doubles match with older sister Venus, followed by a third round clash with Australian Ajla Tomljanovic who was a 1-6 6-2 7-5 winner over Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.

“I’m a pretty good player,” said Williams with a sly grin when asked how she downed the world number two. “This is what I do best – I love a challenge, I love rising to a challenge.”

“The last couple matches here in New York it’s really come together.

“I’m super competitive – honestly I’m just looking at it as a bonus.

“I have absolutely nothing to prove.”

With 23 Grand Slam titles and widely regarded as the greatest women’s player of all time, Williams indeed has done it all on the tennis court.

But after two wins and now safely through to the third round the once-unthinkable dream of a Hollywood ending to Williams’ career just might be in the cards, walking off into retirement with an elusive 24th major that would put her level with Margaret Court at the top of the all-time list.

Having been world number one for 319 weeks, Williams arrived in New York ranked below 600, unseeded and with just a single match win from three events coming into the season’s final Grand Slam.

It had been over a year – at the 2021 French Open – since Williams last posted back-to-back wins. She faced a daunting challenge in 26-year-old Kontaveit, a player whose game was built for the hardcourt and who won five of her six career titles on the surface.

With none of the pre-match festivities that took place ahead of her first round match to distract her, Williams stepped onto the court with her game face on and delivered a performance that had a packed Arthur Ash Stadium on its feet.

Williams claimed the first break to go 5-4 up but faltered serving for the set and Kontaveit broke back to ensure a tie-break.

The tie-break was of no less quality, Williams clinching it 7-4 in classic fashion with a thundering ace.

But the Estonian would not be intimidated by either Williams or a frothing crowd, grabbing two early breaks in the second set to jump 3-0 in front and easily take the set.

The third got off to a scrappy start with three breaks in the opening four games but two of those would go to Williams. She got in front 4-1 and never let go.

Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi in action with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Arsenal maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a fifth consecutive win but Manchester City’s new signing Erling Haaland stole the limelight with his second hat-trick in 6-0 romp over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

Newcastle United’s record signing Alexander Isak scored on his debut to put his side ahead at Anfield but Liverpool snatched a 2-1 victory deep in stoppage time through Fabio Carvalho.

Tottenham Hotspur remained unbeaten but were held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham United.

Haaland’s eagerly-awaited arrival at Manchester City has seen the Norwegian make a spectacular impact.

After scoring three times in the second half in a win over Crystal Palace at the weekend, Haaland struck three times in the opening 38 minutes as rampant City overwhelmed Forest.

He has scored nine goals in five league games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund — a record.

“It was about keeping doing what we did in the second half against Palace, play, play, play — it was nice. It’s been good so far, I’m not complaining,” he said.

Haaland put City ahead in the 12th minute after a pass by Phil Foden and Foden provided the assist for Haaland’s second.

Haaland completed his treble with a powerful header.

Argentine Julian Alvarez, another new signing for the champions, scored twice after the break as City again displayed their formidable firepower.

City have 13 points from their five games and have scored 19 goals but Arsenal are setting the pace.

Mikel Arteta’s claimed a fifth win as they edged Aston Villa 2-1 at The Emirates — Brazilian strike duo Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli both on target for the Gunners.

STRUGGLING VILLA

Jesus opened the scoring in the 31st minute and Martinelli grabbed the 77th-minute winner, three minutes after struggling Villa had equalised when substitute Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner.

“We are really happy because we are winning football matches the way we deserve,” Arteta said. “We need to improve and you could see that in the second half, but the way we played in the first half is really pleasing as a coach.”

Liverpool have made a stuttering start and when Isak, signed for a reported 59 million pounds from Real Sociedad, latched on to Sean Longstaff’s pass to put Newcastle ahead in the 38th minute it looked like being another night of frustration.

The 22-year-old had a goal disallowed in the second half as Liverpool were rocking.

Liverpool finally woke up and struck back in the 61st minute when Roberto Firmino drove home Mohamed Salah’s cut-back.

Newcastle defended desperately for a point but were left crestfallen when Carvalho thumped home the winner in the eighth minute of stoppage time to move up to fifth in the table on eight points, with Newcastle 11th on six.

“Football can go in both directions but tonight it went in the right one, a perfect end of the game,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp, who accused Newcastle of time-wasting.

His opposite number Eddie Howe was less happy.

“I am really proud of the players, proud of the commitment but that is very painful,” he said.

Tottenham, who could have joined Manchester City on 13 points, led at West Ham thanks to an own goal by Thilo Kehrer.

But Tomas Soucek earned West Ham a deserved point with a 55th-minute leveller.

Bournemouth, who sacked manager Scott Parker this week in after their 9-0 hammering at Liverpool, regrouped with a 0-0 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.