The often recalled continental match involving Shooting Stars of Ibadan is their 1984 encounter with Zamalek of Egypt. Well, the match etched its self into history.

But before then, there was even a more memorable encounter of both teams. It is 45 years today since that match.

As most football followers will agree, matches do not necessarily have to be cliff-hangers to be ranked as memorable.

Neither do encounters have to offer high individual skills or spectacular teamwork.

Matches are remembered for various reasons. Some matches became spectacular as teams put up courageous performances against heavy odds or sprang back from the brink of glaring defeats

The 2 October 1976 IICC Shooting Stars – Zamalek match fall in this category.  Zamalek had won the first leg  2-0, which the then IICC could not cancel until six minutes to the end of the return leg match.

That was the match that converted me to a Shooting Stars supporter. As a teenager growing up in the sprawling ancient city of Ibadan, I was not particularly a keen follower of IICC.

Perhaps it was because some of the players , especially those of Ghanaian descent were living in the same neighbourhood with me.

I saw them daily and were therefore just too common for me to attach any element of importance, let alone greatness to them.

I found stars in the players of Mighty Jets, a flamboyant club at the time and I got attracted to them. But they soon faded out. The rampaging Enugu Rangers caught my fancy with their performances at the 1975 African Cup of Champion Clubs.

So in the 1975 Challenge Cup semi finals that paired Mighty Jets with the IICC, my favoured club was the former. After all, they paraded my favourite players like Sam Garba, Olayiwola Olagbenro, Ismaila Mabo, the Atuegbu brothers, Baba Otu Mohammed, Gabriel Babalola, Sule Kekere among others. I never gave the ‘local’ boys in my neighbourhood any chance of survival.

I considered it a major upset when IICC scaled the hurdle into the final to face Enugu Rangers, my team of the moment.  

I expected a complete annihilation. Rangers have had continental experience and, almost with religious devotion, I was following their exploits. To my surprise, Shooting Stars put up a spectacular performance and almost won the Challenge Cup.

So by virtue of being runners-up to Rangers who had also picked the ticket for the more prestigious  Cup of Champion Clubs, IICC were registered in the second-tier African Winners Cup which was in its second edition in 1976.

I saw them as mere participants even after achieving a double against Kenya Breweries in the opening round.

There was a sort of justification of my views when they barely beat Zambia’s Rokana United 3-2 in Lagos in the first leg of the next round. But against all odds, they survived the return leg with a 1-1 draw in Ndola.

Significantly, it was from Zambia that emerging football legend, Segun Odegbami was drafted into the Olympic Games-bound national team. The NFA had to crop his passport photograph from newspaper cuttings to fill his accreditation form.

Jide Dina was dropped for the new discovery, Odegbami. Yet, IICC had no place in my heart. Being at home in September 1976, awaiting my WASC result, I had ample time to begin to get informed about the club.

At the time, they had lost 0-2 to Zamalek in Cairo. In the first leg match on Friday 24 September 1976, Shooting Stars with their array of young talents like Muda Lawal, Segun Odegbami, Kunle Awesu, Philip Boamah, Best Ogedegbe among others were more than intimidated by the large and cheering crowd at the Cairo Stadium.

After holding on grimly for 75 minutes, a tightly knit defence suddenly crashed under a 10-minute blitz and conceded two goals by Zamalek’s Wahid Kamel which gave the home team a 2-0.

Perhaps the tally could have been more but for the agility of Goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe who had been thrown into the international assignment, owing to the injury sustained by first choice goalkeeper, Zion Ogunfehinmi.

The eventual scoreline was enough to paint a picture of gloom for the Shooting Stars despite their putting up brilliant performance. They fell to the antics of the capacity Cairo crowd who continuously whistled, causing confusion to the Shooting Stars players

In Ibadan, the atmosphere during the week preceding the return leg was very electrifying. On daily basis, radio and TV jingles on the ‘big match’ filled the airwaves.

Every one seemed to believe that Shooting Stars were going to turn the table. “How can?”, I silently asked myself. Anyway, seeing is believing.

I was part of the enthusiastic crowd that besieged the then Liberty Stadium on 2 October 1976.   

The tension was very palpable. Before noon, the stadium had already been filled up.

Months, before then, the old Western State of which Ibadan was the capital had been divided into three – Oyo, Ogun and Ondo.

The three state governors – Colonel David Jemibewon of Oyo State, Lt. Colonel Saidu Ayodele Balogun and Wing Commander Ita David Ikpeme of Ondo State – were among the capacity crowd at the match venue.

The match was fixed to kick off at 3pm in the afternoon so that the weather would have effect on the Egyptians.

Alas! An early morning rain ensured that the weather was cool. All the same, the atmosphere was frenzied. Amid rhythmic sensation of talking drums and other musical instruments, the game kicked off.

The dream of early goal did not materialise despite Shooting Stars opening the game with ferocious attack.  

Zamalek were forced to concede a corner kick within two minutes of kick off. In the first 15 minutes, the visitors had conceded five corner kicks as Kunle Awesu on the left flank and Philip Boamah from the right, created a lot of opportunities for Segun Odegbami and Moses Otolorin in the central position to connect.  

They piled pressure upon pressure, but the Egyptians were able to absorb all. Goalkeeper Adel El-Maamour was particularly very outstanding, making saves after saves.

At a point, it appeared the ball would never get past him. Hassan Shahetan also fell back to help the defence as the anxious crowd was kept on the edge.

Otolorin and Odegbami’s sizzlers either hit the post or got blocked by the defenders. The agony increased as the minutes ticked away.

The pressure was intense and the misses were many and also very painful. After the half time, with goals refusing to come, it appeared the Shooting Stars were on a ‘mission impossible’.

The crowd at the stadium was getting frustrated. So also it appeared the Shooting Stars’ players too.

At half time, Skipper Samuel Ojebode reportedly broke down in tears in the dressing room and had to be psyched up by Governor David Jemibewon.

In the second half, the crowd cheers had given way to deafening silence. The match seemed to be heading for a scoreless draw and an elimination of Shooting Stars.

There was even a terrible fright mid way into the second half when a Zamalek striker almost scored.

But barely 15 minutes to the end, just as it happened for the Egyptians in the first leg, Skipper Ojebode, overlapping from the left steered the ball past two defenders, floated the ball into the Egyptian penalty box.

Odegbami took a great leap to nod the ball past Goalkeeper Adel El-Maamour. Even Mahmoud El-Gohary’s last ditch effort to retrieve the ball failed. Shooting Stars were a goal up!

There was renewed vigour in the attack. The stars were all over the field looking for the important second goal. Then six minutes to end the match, Otolorin volleyed in from a goal mouth scramble for the second goal.

The crowd went wild with joy. The game then went into penalty shoot-out, the very first in an international match in Nigeria.

Ojebode, Otolorin, Odegbami, Idowu Otubusin and Ogedegbe all took the kicks successfully for Shooting Stars.

After three kicks, the pendulum was already swinging in Shooting Stars’ favour as they converted all, while Zamalek had lost one.

Otubusin took the fourth kick which Adel El-Maamour made spirited efforts to stop, but it slipped off his hands into the net.

He was in agony. Goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe took the decisive kick to give the Shooting Stars a 5-3 win by penalties!

Lionel Messi endured his first defeat as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday (Oct 3) as their perfect start to the French Ligue 1 season ended with a 2-0 loss at Rennes.

The Argentina star smacked the crossbar with a free kick in the first half at Roazhon Park, before Gaetan Laborde volleyed the hosts ahead just before the break with his league-leading sixth goal.

Flavien Tait struck less than 20 seconds after half-time to double the lead for Rennes, with Kylian Mbappe seeing a goal ruled out for offside as PSG’s eight-match winning run in the league this term ended.

“We didn’t start the match well but then we played the best 25-30 minutes of the season. It’s a shame we didn’t score. We conceded two goals that were hard to take,” said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino.

PSG lost in the league for the first time since April, when they were beaten 1-0 at home by last season’s eventual champions Lille.

“In general, I’m satisfied, we created a lot of chances. Rennes scored with their first and the goal had a big emotional impact,” said Pochettino.

“I don’t like to lose, there’s a bit of anger. To go 2-0 down after a good period… We’re disappointed not to have finished off what we had. It leaves us a bit bitter and disappointed.”

Messi lined up alongside Neymar, Mbappe and Angel di Maria for just the second match, making only his second league start for PSG after missing the past two Ligue 1 games with a knee injury.

Gianluigi Donnarumma again got the nod ahead of Keylor Navas in goal, having kept a clean sheet midweek in PSG’s Champions League win over Manchester City.

Looking to keep pace with the team who won their opening 14 games under Thomas Tuchel in 2018, PSG created a series of chances midway through the first half – all of which went to waste.

Woodwork denies Messi

Neymar skied horribly after the ball broke kindly to the Brazilian inside the Rennes area and Mbappe was guilty of another glaring miss when he scooped over after getting in behind the home defence.

Messi, who bagged a spectacular first goal PSG against City on Tuesday, nearly got off the mark in Ligue 1 but watched his curling free-kick from 25 yards clatter the bar on the half-hour.

Rennes goalkeeper Alfred Gomis crucially stuck out a hand to deny Neymar a tap-in as di Maria squared across the six-yard box, and PSG paid the price for their missed opportunities on the stroke of half-time.

Kamaldeen Sulemana whipped in a cross from the left which was thumped beyond Donnarumma by Laborde, a deadline day signing from Montpellier.

Rennes, who spent €80 million (S$126 million) on new signings in the summer – more than any team in France including PSG – caught the visitors cold right at the start of the second half to make it 2-0.

Laborde, released down the right, pulled back for Tait to sweep in first time – the goal upheld after a Video Assistant Referee check for offside, and greeted by a deafening roar from a full house of close to 30,000 once it was confirmed.

Sulemana fired a ferocious drive narrowly over but PSG appeared to have pulled one back when Mbappe squeezed beyond Gomis, only for it to be chalked off upon review.

It could have been worse for Pochettino’s side had a penalty awarded to Rennes not been overturned in the closing stages, after replays exonerated Achraf Hakimi from a foul on Laborde.

Instead PSG, who stay six points clear of second-placed Lens, must now reset after the international break that will see Messi and Neymar jet off to South America for a gruelling series of three World Cup qualifiers.

Rennes are ninth with 12 points from nine games ahead of the later matches.

Ahead of the Group C World Cup qualifying match with the Central African Republic (CAR), players of the Super Eagles are expected in camp from Monday.

This is in preparation for Thursday’s match at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos. It will be first time both Nigeria and CAR will be engaged in a fixture at football’s highest level.

A top official of the NFF confirmed that most if not all the players in the list from the United Kingdom will form the early birds in camp while the rest of the players will come in on Tuesday for a full training session on Wednesday morning.

“Most of the players in United Kingdom are expected in camp on Monday morning because the arrangement was that after club engagement Sunday afternoon, they should start coming.

“All have confirmed flights to Lagos in the evening,” he remarked.

Expectedly, Kelechi Iheanacho who was on score sheet for Leicester FC 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, Leon Balogun, William Ekong, Joe Aribo and captain Ahmed Musa who star for Fatih Karagumuk in Turkey are among the players expected on Monday morning.

Watford, which parades six Nigerian players, has become the first English Premier League club to sack its manager.

Among the Nigerian players in Watford are Oghenekaro Etebo,  William Ekong,  Emmanuel Dennis and former junior internationals Isaac Success and Tom Dele-Bashir

 The manager, Xisco Munoz was on Sunday sacked after just 10 months in charge following Saturday’s defeat to Leeds United.

The newly-promoted side are currently sat 14th in the table after recording two wins from their opening seven games.

But the club’s hierarchy have moved to remove Munoz from his post less than 24 hours after the 1-0 defeat to Leeds.

A club statement read: “Watford FC confirms Xisco Muñoz has left his post as the club’s Head Coach.

“The Board feels recent performances strongly indicate a negative trend at a time when team cohesion should be visibly improving.

“The Hornets will always be grateful to Xisco for the part he played in securing last season’s promotion and wish him well for his future career in football.

“No further club comment will be available until the imminent announcement of a new Head Coach.”Munoz only led Watford  back to the Premier League  via automatic promotion back in May and his team started the campaign superbly with a 3-2 win over Aston Villa.

However, three successive league defeats followed, to Brighton, Tottenham and Wolves  respectively, with their only other victory coming against rock bottom Norwich City.

They did manage to earn a point at home to Newcastle, but the loss to Leeds – who were yet to record a top-flight victory this season – was seemingly the final straw.

Watford were also dumped out of the Carabao Cup last month to Championship side Stoke, having beaten Crystal Palace to progress to the third round.

Munoz becomes the latest short-term casualty by the club, who have developed a reputation for sacking their managers harshly and abruptly.

He was only appointed in December 2020 as a replacement for Vladimir Ivic and became Watford’s seventh manager in only three-and-a-half years.

Watford were somewhat unfortunate to be on the losing side against Leeds after having a goal controversially ruled out by the VAR.

But goalkeeper Ben Foster feels a draw would only have been hiding the shortcomings of their otherwise dismal performance.

“I thought if we would have [equalised] it would have been papering over the cracks,” said Foster. “We were very poor today. We didn’t have a shot on target, so can’t expect to come away with anything.

“They were very sharp and worked their socks off but if you allow them to do that it’s going to be a long day. If that goal had been given it would have been very unjust to the overall picture.

“I think we’re a better team than what we are showing. We were very poor today – miles away from it. We haven’t had a shot on target and didn’t lay a glove on them.”

The international break now gives the club time to find and appoint a successor, with Watford’s next fixture against Liverpool  on October 16.

But it seems they have already got someone lined up, after stating there would be an “imminent” announcement.