Match report Congo 0-2 Nigeria

 Super eagles of Nigeria put themselves on course for qualification to AFCON 2015 after a 2 nill win away at Congo in Pointe Noire.
In a keenly contested encounter the Eagles began the encounter the livelier of the two sides, pushing early on for the opener, in the 7th minute the Eagles launched an onslaught, Ike uche pushed the ball towards the left and then squared the ball to Mikel in the box whose shot kept rising over the bar. In the 10th minute the Eagles where at it again uche once again finding Emenike who's shot was deflected wide by goalkeeper Massa for a coner, the resulting coner taken by musa was headed wide by mikel.
Congo seemed to come to life after that coming at Nigeria with waves after waves of attacks but being unable to break the deadlock. At half time it was still nill nill with Nigeria happy to hear the whistle, after the break the game continued in its usual fashion with both teams failing to take the initiative. Nigeria was forced into making a substitution when Reading's midfielder Hope Akpan was stretchered out after falling awkwardly from a corner, he was subed by Sony Aluko. But it was to be Nigeria who would draw 1st blood, Mikel slid the ball to Emenike who was hacked down by goalkeeper Massa before he could take a shot, referee Grisha promptly pointed to the spot and returnee striker Ike uche stepped up and buried it low to the right of Massa. The Red devils where to win their own penalty minutes later when Rizespor defender Godfrey was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, Congolese striker Bifeoma stepped up and blasted his kick straight at Enyeama who had been terrific all through.   China based Aaron Samuel was later introduced for Emenike, and it was to be Samuel to get the 2nd, firing past Massa from a tight  angle.
Then it was to be fans trouble as irate Congolese fans started throwing objects at the Super Eagles players with the stadium almost empty. The referee was forced to stop the game for over 7 minutes. At full time at Pointe Noire it was Congo 0-2 Nigeria.
Nigeria now have 7points going into the game against already qualified South Africa on Wednesday and would require nothing short of a win to get a ticket to Equatorial Guinea.

OnThisDayInNigerianFootball: November 15

-15 November 2012: Goals from Ogenyi Onazi, Nosa Igiebor and Brown Ideye gave the super eagle's a 3-1 victory over Venezuela in an international friendly game played in Miami, Florida.

-15 November 2011: The Uche brothers, Kalu and Ikechukwu were on song as Stephen Keshi recorded his first victory as head coach of the Nigerian national team against Zambia.

-15 November 2009: Switzerland pip Nigeria 1-0 to become FIFA U17 world champions hosted by Nigeria.

-15 November 1982: Former Espanyol and Almeria midfielder Kalu Uche was born

-15 November 1983: In the Cedeao tournament played in Nigeria, the super eagles beat Senegal 1-0.

Congo vs Nigeria: Head To Head

 With the all important battle of Pointe Noire looming, We take a look at the previous meetings between these two sides.

Nigerian and Congo have met eight times at full international level with both sides notching three wins, three losses and two draws respectively.

Flashback: Duels between Nigeria and Congo.

30 November 1970 Africa Nations Cup, Congo 2 Nigeria 1

5 August 1972, Fifa World Cup, Africa qualifiers , Nigeria 2 Congo 1

15 August 1972 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Congo 1 Nigeria 1

13 June 1975, Africa Nations Cup qualifiers, Congo 0 Nigeria 1

20 December 1992, Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Group D Congo 1 Nigeria 0

7 February 1993 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Group D ;Nigeria 2 Congo 0

28 January 2000, Africa Cup of Nations, Group D game; Nigeria 0 Congo 0

7 September 2014, Africa cup of Nations qualifier
Nigeria 2 Congo 3

Form coming into the game;

Nigeria;

 L D L W W

Congo;

L W W L D

Enyeama, Okagbare Dominate Nigeria Sports Awards 2014

Incase you missed the Nigeria Sports Awards 2014 held thursday,13th November at the Muson center Lagos, here's a run down of the award winners.

Vincent Enyeama
 Footballer of the Year (Men)

Vincent Enyeama
 Sportsman of the Year

Falconets
Team of the Year

Asisat Oshoala
Footballer of the Year (Women)

Peter Dedevbo (Falconets)
Coach of the Year

Courtney Dike
 Discovery of the year Courtney Dike

Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Sports Governor of year

Blessing Okagbare (Athletics)
Sportswoman of the Year

Aruna Quadri
Ball sports personality of the year

Odunayo Adekuroye
Combat sports person of the year

Efe Ajagba
 Boxer of the year

Maryam Usman
Weightlifter of the Year

Blessing Okagbare
Track and Field Star of the Year

Godwin Enakhena
Sports Journalist of the year (Radio)

Ayodele Ojo
Photo Journalist of the year

 Miyen Akiri
 Sports Journalist of the year (TV)

teamA9F will be hoping for some recognition and nomination in the near future

Joel Obi Gets New Manager as Inter Milan Fire Walter Mazzari

Walter Mazzari has been fired as coach of Inter Milan after a dissapointing start to the 2014/2015 season reports in Italy claim with former coach, Roberto Mancini set to return to the San Siro.

Mazzari, who led Napoli to runner-up spot in 2013, joined Inter in time for the start of last season but has consistently seen his side Underperform. He was sacked on thursday morning to be replaced by former Man city and Galatasaray boss who led the Italian giants to a club record three consecutive league titles.

Joel Obi has had a new lease of life under the Italian having made eight appearances thus far this season after struggling to make an impact in previous seasons.
The Nigerian will be hoping that a change in management doesnt affect his fine run of form for the club this term.

Konyaspor eyes Yobo

Former super eagles captain and Fernabahce is being reported to be in the sights of turkish super league side konyaspor. Yobo who has been without a club since being released by Fernabahce due to quota system being applied in turkey against foreign players.

Now Konyaspor manager who is former Fernabahce manager Aykut Kocaman, has identified Yobo as a top target and has given the go ahead for the deal.

Equitorial Guinea/Qatar favourites to host Afcon 2015

Equatorial Guinea have emerged as front-runners to host the 2015 African Nations Cup finals after it was revealed that CAF president Issa Hayatou would visit the country on Friday to court president Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

But Middle East nation Qatar have stated that they are willing to step into the breach as well and should be considered a strong option for CAF, with the infrastructure in place and world-class facilities in the 2022 World Cup host country.

But first prize for CAF is to keep the competition in Africa and Hayatou will hope to persuade Equatorial Guinea to take over the hosting after Morocco withdrew due to fears over Ebola.

“Issa Hayatou is arriving here on Friday to offer the organisation of AFCON 2015 to the President of the Republic,” David Monsung Ndrung, the head of Communication for the Equatorial Guinea Football Association, said.

But the country has just two viable venues, both used when they co-hosted the 2012 finals with Gabon.

With 16 teams and four groups, it would appear four venues would be a minimum, potentially meaning CAF will be seeking a co-host, possibly Gabion again.

Qatar would be a ‘safer’ bet with just two months to the finals tournament and they have said they are willing to step in.

“If officially asked, Qatar is ready to offer any help in hosting the African Cup due to its strong relation with Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF),” said Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, head of the Qatar Football Association.

And for the Qataris, it would be an opportunity to dispel some of the negativity around their country following allegations of vote-rigging in their award of the 2022 World Cup.

It would also give the FIFA the chance to test their theory that a World Cup held between November and March would be the right time for the 2022 finals.

We'll do everything to beat Red devils -Samuel

Super eagles and China based attacker has joined in the list of super eagles players who have verbally shown their commitment towards their must win AFCON qualifiers with Congo and then south Africa, you guys remember Samuel right?? He got a goal in his National team debut against the red devils of Congo in Abuja with an acrobatic strike. Samuel described the training procedure employed by coach Keshi as rigorous but healthy, "We want to do our possible best to get victory, so we’ve been working hard to ensure we get all three points in Congo,” the China-based forward said".

Ideye blames slow start on injuries

Super eagles and Westbrom striker has attributed his slow start to English football on his injury problems, Ideye 27, who is Westbrom's record signing (£10million), has found goals difficult to come by, having only one goal in all competitions he got the goal in the capital one cup 

'A lot of people are writing on my Instagram and Twitter page saying "you’re s***" or "you’re not worth the money",' Ideye told the Daily Mail.

 

"You can’t criticise me, I’ve not been playing. How can you criticise somebody who has not been playing?

 

"I have found it difficult but people can’t criticise, pull me down or have a gun at my head for not playing. I don’t think that is fair.

 

"It makes me stronger and makes me want to bounce back as quickly as possible". Ideye said.

His manager  Alan Irvine however believes the nigerian will soon find his feet and believes that Brown's might have been slightly overshadowed by Saido Berahaino's terrific form. He's doing fine but Brown has a stiff competition in Saido. Said Alan

“Brown is suffering a little bit because of how well Saido is playing – and I don’t think people would be too pleased if I left Saido out to play Brown.

 

“People talk about the fee for Brown but people have also been talking about what fee Saido would command.

 

“You’re looking for partnerships and people who can play together. I’m not saying they can’t play together but they’re both of a similar type and they’re at their best going in behind people.

 

“Unless you’re going to play quite a direct style, two going in behind isn’t very effective.”

Ideye scored in Westbrom's 2 nill defeat of Leicester City in a friendly  played behind closed doors today.

Jeleel Ajagun halted by injury

21 year old Nigeria and panatinaikos of Greece midfielder Abdul Jeleel Ajagun fine form for his Greek outfit has been halted by a 4weeks injury layout, the midfielder who was the former captain of the Flying eagles has been in blistering form of late, scoring twice in as many games. Ajagun scored a goal last Sunday in the 51st minute of the game against PAOK Thessaloniki but picked up the injury despite playing the entire 90, scans revealed that the midfielder will need 4weeks to recover. Ajagun have so far played 8 games this season for his side and has contributed 3 goals in the process.

I moved to England to fufil EPL dream -Ighalo

Nigeria and Watford attacker Jude Odion Ighalo had revealed his reason for his transfer to English 2nd tier side Watford, "I moved here to help this great team return to the premier league so I can also play there myself, as a kid I spent alot of time watching the English league and I've always wanted to be a part of it" he told Watford's official site.

Odion ighalo's Watford currently sit 5th in the championship and are just 3points away from the sumit of the league. The 25 year old former flying eagles striker has been on loan at the English side from Udinese and spent last season on loan at Spanish side Grenada but has finally secured a permanent deal at Watford lasting till 2017.

Eagles face Enyeama dilema

All is now set for the must win AFCON qualifier between the super eagles of Nigeria and the red devils of Congo this Saturday and that is where all our attention is now, and reports emanating from the camp of our dear eagles is that our skipper Vincent enyeama might not be fully fit to feature in the game. The LOSC Lille number 1 arrived the Eagles camp Wednesday evening with a slight shoulder injury but managed to train with the team today. Team goalkeeper trainer Ike Shorunmu is said to be watching the situation closely and would be in position to give advice to Keshi on whether He starts on Saturday

Vincent is okay for now. Yes he has a slight shoulder injury which is not very serious as it was initially thought. But as a precautionary measure, we will still put him through a last training session which we will have in Congo tomorrow (Friday)," Shorunmu disclosed to All9jafootball

"We are hoping nothing goes wrong with him as he is, at present, in fine condition and he is mentally and physically ready for the game. But if he will start the game depends on tomorrow's (Friday's) training session which will be the last before the match on Saturday."

If enyeama is declared unfit for the game He will be aptly replaced by 2nd choice goalkeeper Austin Ejide who has been training with the team since Tuesday. 

Eagles return excites Uche

Super eagles striker Ikechukwu Uche has shown his excitement after being invited to the super eagles fold, Uche who hasn't featured for the super eagles since the Africa Nations cup in February  last year. But Uche has been a regular feature for his side villareal and has been the most consistent African in spain. Speaking from the super eagles Lodge during a media parly at the Bolton white hotel in Abuja, Uche assured Nigerians of his total commitment to the team's success and that he would do everything within his power to ensure that the Eagles qualify for the AFCON In January next year.

“I am happy to be back to the team once again, we have settled whatever difference we had with coach Keshi or any member of the Super Eagles. We just have to work together and win the remaining two games which is more important than anything else now.

“We shall go to Congo hoping to get a favourable result. I won’t assure that I will score goals in Congo but I would work with my team mates to ensure that we win.It is an important and crucial game. We know what Nigerians expect from us and we would try to give them exactly that'’ said the Villarreal of Spain forward.

The super eagles jet out to Pointe Noire on Thursday evening.

Not enough time -Keshi

Head coach of the Nigeria super eagles have expressed his concerns concerning the time he has to prepare his team with regarding the must win game with the red devils of Congo in Pointe Noire.  Keshi told reporters 

“It’s just that we don’t have enough days for training, we just have three days training sessions. Wednesday will be the second day and probably Thursday before we travel,”

The team are expected to train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before jetting out to Congo on Thursday. 

Social life we go!! and Its Adaeze yobo!!

Wife of ex super eagles captain and defender Joseph Yobo, Adaeze, She shared this photos of herself and her hubby on a date via her instagram account.

Here's another pic of Adaeze....

Cute huh?? Think so too