Giants of African women football, Nigeria and Cameroon will be taking no prisoners when they clash in Douala on Friday for a place in the final round of the African qualifying series for this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

The Super Falcons, rated top in Africa and still walking with springs in their steps after reaching the Round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Down Under, exiting the finals without losing a match in regulation time, will remember at kick-off that the Indomitable Lionesses stopped their march to the London 2012 Olympics.

On their part, the Lionesses have grouses of their own, having been bumped by Nigeria in several major events including being denied the Women Africa Cup of Nations title in front of their own fans in 2016, and being shoved out at the quarter-finals of the last Women AFCON tournament in Morocco.

Coach Randy Waldrum has recalled fabulous defender Ashley Plumptre, now based in Saudi Arabia, and Halimatu Ayinde, Toni Payne and Christy Ucheibe will get to play together in the middle again after a stirring outing at the World Cup in Australia. There’s also the talented youngster Deborah Abiodun.

Nigeria’s goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie is one of the most respected safe hands globally, and in forwards Asisat Oshoala, Rasheedat Ajibade, Uchenna Kanu, Gift Monday and Esther Okoronkwo, the Super Falcons boast one of the most stellar attacking ensemble in women’s football.

Captain Ajibade scored two of the five goals that eliminated Ethiopia in the second round of the qualifiers, with Oshoala also scoring, and Okoronkwo and Kanu were on fire as Cape Verde were put to the sword in the final round of qualifiers for this year’s Women AFCON championship.

Veteran defender Osinachi Ohale is peerless on her day, and younger stallions Tosin Demehin and Rofiat Imuran have grown to become true fighters whenever the occasion called for such.

Cameroon, who edged Uganda 3-2 on aggregate in the second round, will be missing star player Ajara Njoya Nchout. Yet, it will be dangerous to underestimate what the Lionesses can come up with right in their own den.

Both teams will join the same flight to Nigeria’s administrative capital, Abuja for Monday’s return leg at the MKO Abiola National Stadium.

South Africa’s Banyana Banyana will take on Tanzania the same weekend, with the winner over two legs to clash with the winner of Nigeria/Cameroon for one of the African tickets to Paris in July.

Tunisia clash with Morocco in an all-North African affair while Ghana host Zambia in Kumasi. Winners will face off for the second African ticket to Paris.

South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has shed light on his challenges in saving penalties during his team’s AFCON 2023 semifinal encounter against Nigeria.

Despite emerging as the hero in South Africa’s shootout victory against Cape Verde in the quarterfinals, the 32-year-old shot-stopper faced difficulties in thwarting Nigeria’s spot kicks.

Williams, who had previously demonstrated his penalty-saving prowess, found himself unable to replicate his success against the Super Eagles.

Reflecting on his performance, Williams disclosed his strategy of attempting to unsettle Nigeria’s penalty takers but acknowledged that his plan did not yield the desired results.

“Obviously, it is either you are going one of three sides, it’s either down the middle or left or right. Now they don’t want us to talk to the players anymore,” Williams explained. “I tried to push the limits, by going up to them to tell them where they are going so that at least I have cut out one side.”

Despite his efforts to gain a psychological advantage, Williams noted that Nigeria’s penalty takers adapted to his tactics, posing a new challenge for him to overcome. “They started studying me as well; you know, four out of five penalties went down the middle, so now I need to come up with better ideas,” he remarked.

Ultimately, South Africa secured a third-place finish in the tournament by defeating DR Congo on penalties in the third-place match with the goalkeeper the hero with two penalty saves.

Ronwen Williams was named goalkeeper of the tournament, beating Nigeria’s Stanley Nwabali to the award.

This astounding feat not only shatters his own PB but also smashes the longstanding African indoor record of 21.47 meters, which had stood since 2001.

Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi has set a new African record in the men’s Indoor Shot Put event.

Enekwechi launched himself into the record books with a monumental indoor personal best (PB) of 21.63 meters at the Hvezdy v. Nehvizdech competition in the Czech Republic on Tuesday night.

This astounding feat not only shatters his own PB but also smashes the longstanding African indoor record of 21.47 meters, which had stood since 2001.

Enekwechi’s dominating performance saw him consistently exceed the 21-meter mark on every attempt in Tuesday’s meet; showcasing his exceptional control and power.

This remarkable achievement of the four-time Nigerian champion marks a significant milestone in his career and solidifies his position as a top contender in the shot put world.

Enekwechi’s latest feat is also an Olympic qualifying standard and a big boost ahead of next month’s African Games in Ghana.

Enekwechi is the defending champion in his event having won gold last in the 2019 African Games in Morocco.

Aside from Enekwechi, another Nigerian, Tobi Amusan, has also set an African record in the 2024 Indoor Season.

She set an African women’s indoor record in 60-meter hurdles after she dipped 7.77 seconds at the Astana Indoor Meet, Kazakhstan in January.

The former record of 7.82 seconds was set by Gloria Alozie in Madrid, Spain, in 1999.

Sporting Lagos has experienced a significant uptick in performance during the second half of the NPFL, moving up from 17th to 13th after two straight victories in a week.

Sporting Lagos at the weekend recorded two clean sheets in a row for the first time since September 2023.
Tochukwu Micheal’s free kick in the 56th minute earned the Noisy Lagosians the win over Bendel Insurance.
“I feel good, I have worked for it,” said Tochukwu while speaking with PREMIUM TIMES.

This is a new lease of life for the Noisy Lagosians, who sought goals in every area around the end of the first stanza.

Sporting Lagos has experienced a significant uptick in performance during the second half of the NPFL, moving up from 17 to 13 after two straight victories in a week.

With a strong backline and decent composure between Adeleke Adekunle and Salawudeen Aliu, Sporting Lagos kept five clean sheets in the first stanza, three coming when they started the season against Gombe United, Akwa United, and Doma United.

After this bravery, it took the Lagos team two months to record another clean sheet against the Kano Pillars and Katsina later in December.

However, of all the teams they have kept clean sheets against, only Doma United posed more dangerous threats compared to both Rivers United and Bendel Insurance, who had histories of being offensive on the road.
Despite boasting one of the most threatening attacks in the NPFL, Rivers United failed to register two shots on goal against Sporting Lagos on Wednesday.

It got worse for Bendel Insurance, a team with one of the highest goal chances on the road being subdued to zero shots on target.

This is a change from Sporting Lagos, a team that conceded goals in seven consecutive games before the first half of the season started.

Meanwhile, the marriage between new signing Adeleke and captain Salawudeen Aliu at the centreback has brought a covering on goalkeeper Christian Nwoke.

One of the highlights of Salawudeen against Bendel Insurance was his defensive mechanism, which he used to deny Chisom Okereke a counter that could have caused harm to his side.

A very similar attitude was used to dis-harm Nyima Nwagua of Rivers United on Wednesday.

Christian Nwoke, in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES after the game, said their idea of being focused in each game they play going forward has earned the team a change of fortune.

“As a team, we remained focused despite our shortcomings, and that gave us the motivation to keep working hard and remain focused on the game. The second half has just started, and we have to remain focused to end well on the table.”

The current team looks prepared

Another home win for the team, and Godwin Enakhena, Sporting Lagos’ General Manager, just as he did after Rivers United’s game, shook hands with his players for the work well done for the second time in a week.
He waved to the fans, thanking them for their usual cooperation.

But the hands of the players he shook are a different set from those that started the first stanza, a lot of reshuffling has been done.

Tochukwu Michael, the goalscorer, is a new player who started the season with NNL side Nasarawa United.
He said the review from the first stanza posed a challenge for them to involve the technical director, Paul Aigbogun, more about the team’s technicalities and also drop players who didn’t seem to fit into their profile.

“The first thing we did and realised was that we needed a change of personnel involving our technical director more in our football to lend a helping hand, and we had to drop a lot of our players, not that they weren’t good enough, but this is the Premier League, and the second stanza isn’t tomorrow.”

And about the goals, Mr. Enakhena said the issues will be sorted out going forward.

Aigbogun on missed chances, other issues

Reflecting on Sporting Lagos’ wasted chances, Paul Aigbogun told PREMIUM TIMES the team is transitioning at the moment with new ideas hoping to evolve in the coming games.

Sporting Lagos missed chances starting with Jonathan Alukwu’s miss to Pascal Onyekachi’s through ball in the 11th minute.

Onyekachi also failed to connect to a pass from Alukwu later in the game.

Alukwu missed a sitter in the second half as well.

“I feel we had a lot of chances earlier on and when you don’t take your chances earlier on, the other teams try to counter. We should have scored two goals in the first half. We have a lot of new players trying to blend more as fast as possible. We take one game at a time.”

He also added that Alukwu’s playing as a pointsman was a reflection of his impact on the training. Alukwu made a lot of draw-back which helped the team to outweigh Bendel Insurance’s midfield.

And about Jamiu, who returned to active football after a year, Aigbogun said the defensive midfielder is just getting his feet, and Samuel Ayanrinde, who’s currently recovering from injury.

Onyekachi is a surge

One of the active players on the pitch on Sunday was Paschal Onyekachi, whose involvement broke the firewall of Bendel Insurance a couple of times.

Julius Emilokan had to struggle several times to stop Onyekachi, and his take-on saw Sporting Lagos have two clear chances on goal in the first half.

However, the absence of Taminu Benjamin caused an imbalance in the Benin Gunners’ team.

Just before being substituted, Osimhen equalised with his last touch of the game.

Victor Osimhen marked his return from the Africa Cup of Nations with a vital goal, helping Napoli snatch a 1-1 draw against Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie at the Diego Maradona Stadium on Wednesday night.

Napoli’s form had dipped during Osimhen’s absence, managing only three wins in 11 matches.

The tide seemed to turn against them again when Barcelona dominated the opening 25 minutes.

Youngster Lamine Yamal made history as the youngest player ever in a Champions League knockout stage game, testing Alex Meret with a shot.

Meret then pulled off impressive saves to deny Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan.

Despite the initial pressure, Napoli gradually grew into the game.

However, they created no shots in the first half, making this the first time in their Champions League history.

Barcelona finally broke the deadlock in the 60th minute. Pedri’s clever through-ball found Lewandowski, who controlled, turned, and drilled a low shot into the net.

Crucial moment

Just before being substituted, Osimhen equalised with his last touch of the game.

He displayed excellent strength to turn Inigo Martinez inside the penalty box, latching onto Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s pass and firing the ball in from 14 yards.

This goal boosted Napoli’s confidence and deflated Barcelona’s.

The hosts pressed forward, with Anguissa heading wide and Simeone sending a half-volley just over the bar. Gundogan almost snatched a late winner for Barcelona, but his shot hit the post.

Despite dominating possession, Barcelona will be left ruing their missed chances. Lewandowski and Araujo were particularly wasteful in front of goal, and the Blaugrana could have secured a better result.