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  • Victor Osimhen and Super Eagle set records in Rwanda as Nigeria had victory in Rwanda and other groups results and table.

    Victor Osimhen and Super Eagle set records in Rwanda as Nigeria had victory in Rwanda and other groups results and table.

    It was full of joy for Nigerians, the coaching crew, NFF and players for winning over Rwanda in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Rwanda, played 21 -3- 2025. Back to history, Nigeria has visited Rwanda three times. All three times Nigeria came back home with draws, and the only goal scored on Rwandan soil came from Obafemi Martins in a 2005 World Cup qualifier.
    As Nigeria secured a win in Rwanda victory Osimhen and Super Eagle set records.
    Firstly, the Super Eagles have secured their first win in Rwanda.


    Two goals scored by victory Osimhen broke the record for Obafemi. Martin is the only player to score in Rwanda and lifted Osimhen to second in the Super Eagle’s top five all-time scorers. The overall results of the Super Eagle match raise the hope of Nigeria qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

    The Super Eagle coach and Technical crew did very well but needed to work on these two things.

    Nigeria’s wide players, struggling to stretch Rwanda’s defensive shape, showed that the Super Eagle technical department needed to work on penetration from the flanks and ball crossing for them to create more chances of scoring goals.

    The technical department should please work on how super Eagle can penetrate to attack through
    Penetrating pass because the combination of long ball and wing play failed to break down the Rwanda defensive structure.

    Results from other groups

    Wednesday, 19 March 2025
    Group D

    16:00: Eswatini 0-0 Cameroon
    Group H

    16:00: Liberia 0-1 Tunisia
    Group I

    16:00: Central African Republic 1-4 Madagascar
    Thursday, 20 March 2025
    Group G

    13:00: Mozambique 3-1 Uganda
    Group B

    16:00: Zimbabwe 2-2 Benin
    Group A

    16:00: Sierra Leone 3-1 Guinea-Bissau
    Group F

    16:00: Cape Verde 1-0 Mauritius
    Group C

    16:00: Malawi 0-1 Namibia
    Group F

    16:00: Gambia 3-3 Kenya
    Group B

    19:00: Libya 1-1 Angola
    Group F

    19:00: Gabon 3-0 Seychelles
    Group I

    21:00: Comoros 0-3 Mali
    Friday, 21 March 2025
    Group G

    13:00: Botswana 1–3 Algeria
    Group H

    13:00: Equatorial Guinea 2–0 São Tomé and Príncipe
    Group A

    16:00: Burkina Faso 4–1 Djibouti
    Group B

    16:00: DR Congo 1–0 South Sudan
    Group C

    16:00: Rwanda 0–2 Nigeria
    Group C

    16:00: South Africa 2–0. Lesotho

    Group G

    19:00: Burundi 0 vs. 1 Côte d’Ivoire
    Group G

    19:00: Ghana 5 vs. 0 Chad
    Group A

    21:00: Ethiopia 0 vs. 2Egypt
    Group G

    21:00: Guinea 0vs.0 Somalia
    Group E

    21:30: Niger 1 vs. 2 Morocco
    Saturday, 22 March 2025
    Group B

    16:00: Togo vs. Mauritania
    Group B

    19:00: Sudan vs. Senegal

    Tables stand

  • Who is G.O.A.T. Of Millennium ?

    Who is G.O.A.T. Of Millennium ?

    The GOAT of the millennium should be traced to Lionel Messi or Christiana Ronaldo apart from the fact that both were fighting for the ballon d’or award for 13 good years. Both players had set different craziest records in football.


    Let’s flash back balloon d’or award from the year 2000.
    2000 Luís Figo
    2001 Michael Owen
    2002 Ronaldo
    2003 Pavel Nedvěd
    2004 Andriy Shevchenko
    2005 Ronaldinho
    2006 Fabio Cannavaro
    2007 Kaká
    Messi holds the record for most Ballon d’Ors with eight (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023).
    Cristiano Ronaldo with five:2008,2013,2014,2016and 2017.
    2018 Luka Modrić
    2020 not awarded
    2022 Karim Benzema
    2024 Rodri

    Record set by Lionel Messi
    Messi holds the records for most European Golden Shoes (6), most goals in a calendar year (91), most goals for a single club (672, with Barcelona), most goals (474), hat-tricks (36) and assists (192) in La Liga, most assists (18) and goal contributions (32) in the Copa América, most goal contributions (21) in the World.

    Ronaldo’s individual records
    Most UEFA club competition appearances: 197.
    Most UEFA club competition goals: 145.
    Most UEFA Champions League goals: 140.
    Most goals in a UEFA Champions League season: 17 (2013/14)
    Most goals in UEFA Champions League knockout stages: 67.
    Won four Golden Shoes,
    Top goalscorer of all time with 900 with 66 hat-tricks.
    Only player to score three goals at multiple EUROs: 2012, 2016, 2020
    Only player to score at five World Cups: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
    First player to score ten hat-tricks in men’s international football.

    How many officials’ trophies have they both won?

    Both players have won 78 official trophies in total (Messi 45, Ronaldo 33) during their senior careers.

    Globe Soccer award
    Messi won it once, in 2015. While Ronaldo has won the award 6 times (2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).

    For me, I see that two great people have talent, which I think is Messi.
    While Ronaldo has a gift which he works perfectly hard on. Out of 66 hat – tricks, 36 were scored after he was 30 years old.
    To be clear about my statement, check the difference between gift and talent.

    Giftedness talks about potential abilities, whereas talent talks about present abilities that can be demonstrated or performed.

    G.O.A.T.  Means
    Greatest of All Time)

  • Two home-based players from the NPFL are found on Coach Eric Chelle’s list .Hear my fear.

    Two home-based players from the NPFL are found on Coach Eric Chelle’s list .Hear my fear.

    Two home-based players from the NPFL are found on Nigeria’s 23-man list by Coach Eric Chelle, but the question is, is this for integrating or development of talent from the Nigeria Professional league into the national team setup or to win and qualify for the World Cup.
    The two are Kayode Bankole Remo Stars goalkeeper and Papa Daniel Mustapha, Niger Tornadoes midfielder.
    Compared to his colleagues, Coach Adel Amrouche from Rwanda, who invited 13 local players and 15 others from the foreign leagues for the team, and coach Michael Nees of Zimbabwe, who only has fewer than 10 players as foreign base players.
    Although his final squad composition was picked according to the formation he intended to use. I think it is 4-4-2. It comprises three goalkeepers, six defenders, six midfielders, and eight attackers for the two crucial matches.
    But my fear is that here is African football, where our game is physical and powerful and the majority of our players are foreign-based players that don’t want to lose their job because of injuries.
    Our last encounter with the team at home, losing 1-2 to Rwanda, was basically about how our lovely players try to be very careful in contact with the ball and opponents so that they won’t have injuries.

    Nigeria and Rwanda have met in seven previous encounters, which Nigeria has won twice, drawn four times, and lost once. Interestingly, part of this is that Nigeria has visited Rwanda three times. All three times Nigeria came home playing draws, but the only goal scored on Rwandan soil came from Obafemi Martins in a 2005 World Cup qualifier.

    LIST OF 23 SUPER EAGLES FOR RWANDA, ZIMBABWE GAMES
    Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United, South Africa); Amas Obasogie (Singida Blackstars, Tanzania); Kayode Bankole (Remo Stars)

    Defenders: William Ekong (Al-Kholood FC, Saudi Arabia); Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahçe SK, Turkey); Bruno Onyemaechi (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Calvin Bassey (Fulham FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Nottingham Forest, England); Igoh Ogbu (SK Slavia Prague, Czech Republic)

    Midfielders: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge, Belgium); Alhassan Yusuf Abdullahi (New England Revolution, USA); Alex Iwobi (Fulham FC, England); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Southampton FC, England); Papa Daniel Mustapha (Niger Tornadoes)

    Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan, Italy); Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Ademola Lookman (Atalanta FC, Italy); Victor Boniface (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Simon Moses (FC Nantes, France); Sadiq Umar (Valencia FC, Spain); Nathan Tella (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany); Tolu Arokodare (KRC Genk, Belgium)

    List of four new players in the squad

    Tolu Arokodare (Genk), Igoh Ogbu (Slavia Prague), Papa Daniel Mustapha (Niger Tornadoes), and goalkeeper Kayode Bankole (Remo Stars).

    Rwanda vs Nigeria: Match details
    Competition: FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers – Africa
    Fixture: Rwanda vs Nigeria
    Venue: Amahoro Stadium, Kigali
    Date: Friday, March 21, 2025
    Kick-off: 5 pm (Nigerian time)

  • Principle of defending

    Principle of defending

    What is the principle of defender in football?
    This is an arrangement you put in place that helps to get defenders behind the ball in a good defensive shape to help prevent penetration from the attacking team.

    The principles of defense are:
    Delay
    Compactness
    Depth
    Balance
    Control/Restraint
    Pressure
    Cover

    Delay : this way of delaying an opponent’s attack buys time, disrupts their rhythm, and allows teammates to recover. Don’t just tackle straight. Use jokes to delay.

    Compactness : ensures that the defensive unit stays tight and denies space to the attacking team. By limiting passing lanes and forcing the opposition to play wide, away from goal-scoring areas.

    Coaching Point : Tell your defenders to maintain close distances between themselves and their teammates to closely packed together.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Depth : this is an arrangement put in place to ensure defenders cover behind the player pressing the ball, preventing attackers from easily breaking through the defensive line.
    Coaching point : Train your defenders to position themselves with depth, so when one player steps out to pressure the ball, another player provides cover.

    Balance: An important element of balance is positioning. A player must position himself in other ways to know the right places to block passes, intercept the ball, and prevent shots on goal.
    Coach point :always tell your defenders to focus on the ball and read the players.

    Control & Restraint: this is the habit of preventing the attacker from turning as well as controlling the play and not diving in.
    Coaching point : tell your defenders to be tightly close to the opponent i:e close mark.

    Pressure : It’s a skill put in place in areas of the pitch – to win the ball back, dictate play, or delay the opposition.
    Coaching point : tell them when they apply pressure on the player or the team that’s in possession focus on the pass lane.
    Cover : this method requires three steps.
    VQ- forces the attacker to look down and protect the ball. “PRESS DON’T DIVE’.
    2) The second defender covers three things: the ball, the man and space.
    3) Teamwork Defending: Work together to force your opponents into an error.
    Coaching point : tell your defenders to stay calm when approaching the ball and to place themselves appropriately in relation to their teammates, the opposition, and the ball.

    All these principles depend on the style you intend to use.
    Remember. Your defending shape must be zonal.


    Anticipation : this is the ability to imagine what is going to happen and quickly react to the ball.

  • Attacking principle in football

    Attacking principle in football

    attacking principles provide both coaches and their players with a framework of how you will play in possession, allowing you to build tactics/strategies around these to help you with the desired outcome.
    Or
    It is the structure of how a team should behave when in possession of the ball and dictates how players should move to create space, manipulate the defense, and ultimately score goals.

    There are five attacking principles.
    Dispersal
    Penetration
    Movement
    Support
    Innovation/Creativity.

    Dispersal : this to how your team will create space by providing both width and depth for the player with the ball. This is done when your goalkeeper gains possession of the ball as soon as you’ve done that you want your full backs to create width and depth by moving high and wide up the pitch, Remember your midfield need to come down and triangulate formation in field are very important to maintain possession.

    Penetration: This is coming to attack through midfield. This is done to make your team focus on playing the ball through, around or over your opposition by using the midfield, passing ball to no 4 and for no 4, passing to no10 for no 10 passing between two opponents defenders to break lines or playing into the space behind.
    Or
    Ability for a team to be able to break line collectively or individually. So an example of a way which a team may penetrate may be the setback playing into a center midfielder to play forward.

    Movement : this is how players moves off the ball to create space for their teammates or for themselves.
    Or
    Relate to movement for players between spaces to receive the ball also around as well. So for example, if your opposition team is in a low block defensive principle it may be that the movement of the central forward comes down to get the ball.

    Can you remember Fernando Torres Chelsea against Barcelona after Torres lost the ball once he noticed one of his team has got back the ball, he keeps on movement until he got it to score goal?
    Here is the highlight.

    Support: this has to go with movement in how individual player’s depth support their teammates on the ball either behind, ahead, and beside all this coaches need to teach players how they want it.

    Innovation /creativity: This is the innovation of an individual player in attacking third of the field, dribbling one or two players to score a goal or as well as combining with another player to play to -me to -you combination move to score goal.

    Watch how Messi did a solo move to score a fantastic goal.

    Summary :the principle of attacking is based on coaches perfective either he would like to start his building plan to score goals from defense, midfield or attacking third of the opponent.

    All this go with your choose style or system.

  • Ipswich of English premier league and Shooting stars of Nigeria premier football league set the same record.

    Ipswich of English premier league and Shooting stars of Nigeria premier football league set the same record.

    Oluyole Warriors (shooting stars) and Ipswich set the same records by playing five matches without winning.


    Although Ipswich has reached ten straight matches without a single win in March with the record of Watford, Birmingham, Wolve and Southampton, Ipswich lost 2-4 to Nottingham Forest on Saturday 15th 2025, making them have 10 Premier League games without a win.
    1) 11 – Watford (2021/22)
    2) 10 – Birmingham (1985/86)
    3) 10 – IPSWICH (2024/25)
    4) 9 – Wolves (2011/12)
    5) 9 – Southampton (2024/25)

  • 10 African stars doing wonderfully well in foreign leagues.

    10 African stars doing wonderfully well in foreign leagues.

    Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly, known as Mohamed Salah, plays as a right-winger or forward for Liverpool. He was born 15 June 1992, joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017 and had 279 appearances with 182 goals for the
    Liverpool.

    Victor James Osimhen, a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker, born 29 December 1998, joined Napoli 2020 with
    108 appearances and a 65-goal loan to Galatasaray in 2024 had
    20 appearances and 17goals for the team.

    Ademola Lookman is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Atalanta. From 2022 on
    Atalanta’s current African footballer of the year had 101 appearances. With 50 goals for the club.

    Simon Kofi Adingra is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. He had 61 appearances for the team with 12 goals, joined Brighton on 24 June 2022, and was born on Jan 1, 2002. Simon is on loan to union SG.

    Achraf Hakimi Mouh is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a right-back or right-winger for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Hakimi is rated as one of the best full-backs in the world. From 2021, he has joined the team and had 105 appearances with 17goals.

    Amad Diallo is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger, midfielder, or wing-back for Manchester United. Born 11 July 2002, he was signed by Manchester in 2021 and loaned to Sunderland had 37 appearances with 13 goals. Returning to Manchester, he played in the vast majority of their Premier League games in 2024/2025, making 22 appearances overall and playing 1,594 minutes, and scoring 7 goals.

    Victor Okoh Boniface is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Born 23 December 2000, joined
    Bayer Leverkusen in 2023 with 37 appearancess and 21 goals.

    Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller is an Ivory Coast professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club Utrecht, on loan from Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Born on 22 June 1994, on loan to Utrecht in 2025, he had 8 appearances with 1goal.

    Issa Kaboré is a Burkinabé professional footballer who plays as a right-back or right wing-back for Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, on loan from Premier League club Manchester City. Issa was born on 12 May 2001, signed for Manchester City in 2020 and had no appearances before loaning out to Mechelen, Troyes, Marseille, Luton Town, Benfica and is currently at Werder Bremen, still on loan.

    Omar Khaled Mohamed Marmoush is an Egyptian professional
    The footballer plays as a forward for Manchester City, born on 7 February 1999, joined Eintracht Frankfurt in 2023–2025 from VfL Wolfsburg, had 46 appearances with 27 goals for Frankfurt and later joined Manchester City this
    2025 with 6 appearances and 3 goals.

  • Niger got talent meet Malomo Taofeek Ayodeji and Tolu Arokodare.

    Niger got talent meet Malomo Taofeek Ayodeji and Tolu Arokodare.

    This two wonderful kids are perfectly doing well in various club scoring and assisting  the team  Malomo Taofeek Ayodeji and Tolu Arokodare.

    Malomo Taofeek Ayodeji, a 21-year-old right-foot player currently at KF Bylis, makes me remember Andrés Iniesta with his ability to control perfectly and keep the ball in close space, combined with skill to score goals and good composure on the ball.

    Toluwalase “Tolu” Emmanuel Arokodare is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a centre-forward for Belgian club Genk.
    The 24-year-oldTolu Arokodare scored his 17th goal for Genk this season in a 2-1 home win over Union St. Gilloise on Saturday.

    It is time for Nigeria national team coaches to look beyond players’ agents or NFF recommendations.

    watch their highlight  to see little out of all

  • Shooting stars have now moved 6 points clear to second on the table, while the gap separating shooting stars and top-flight safety stretches to 14 points.

    Shooting stars have now moved 6 points clear to second on the table, while the gap separating shooting stars and top-flight safety stretches to 14 points.


    As we enter the nine matches to the end of the Nigeria Professional League, the race for Continental places continues to give us more dramatic uncertainty. When it comes to where the action lies, it’s not the top nor the bottom that are giving us the storylines, but rather the middle — this weekend’s games added more fuel to the fire.

    Remo Stars maintained their first position by beating Heartland 2-0 with a 8point gap between second.

    Rivers United stand in second position with 49 points after beating El-Kanemi at 2-1.

    Rangers Int’l seating in third position with 45points after defeating Kware United 3-0 at the weekend.

    Ikorodu City are in 4th position with 45point after playing a 2-2 draw at home against Enyinba.

    Abia warrior managed to beat Bendel Ins. 1-0 and be in a 5ft position with 44points.

    The Shooting Stars cracked to 6th position with 43points after mismanagement of their two home matches: a 2-2 home draw against Lobi on 19 February 2025 and a 0-0 draw against Rivers United on 3rd March 2025 and also lost to Akwa United 2-0 on the weekend.

    Kano Pillar are in 7th position with 43point after a 1-1 draw at home against no. 17 in the NPFL table, Nasarawa United.

    Niger Tornadoes beat Kastina United 1-0 to sit in 10th position.

  • D pride fc vs Teaf fc 7-1 Ibadan football Council league – as it happened

    D pride fc vs Teaf fc 7-1 Ibadan football Council league – as it happened

    Exhibitions of skill and talent continued at Olubadan stadium Iyageku for the Ibadan football council league.

    3SC int’s feeders 0 vs 0 New Starlets
    It was the best game of football between 3SCINT’L and NEW STARLETS on Thursday 13th 2025 as the game went to a goalless draw between the two teams.

    PSI Int 2 vs 0 Jogbin fc
    It has been an unexpected success for PSI Int as they struggled to win 2-0 over Jogbin fc. The goals from Olalekan Ridwan on 50 minutes and Adeleke Ibrahim on 65 minutes of the game gave PSI leads because PSI didn’t play expected style.

    DRAGON FURY FC 2 vs 3 YOUNG STARS FC
    Young stars fc, after dropping two points in their last match, playing a goalless draw against fc peridot ,,went on to win 3-2 over Dragon Fury from
    Kehinde Abraham 32 mins
    Sheu Agunbiade on 48 mins and Dragon Fury got their fighting back by scoring their first goal on the spot through Ogunbunmi Azeez on 57 minutes with an equalizer goal on 75 minutes from Animashaun Kamal. The game keeps on drawing on till
    Quadri Raheem’s goal at 90 plus secs gives youngsters chances of claiming all three points on Friday.


    FC PERIDOT.0 VS 1 MARVELOUS
    Fc peridot have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, having avoided defeat in their last two games, but Friday’s match was a better impressive game for them, keeping ball possession 50.5% with the top team side MARVELOUS fc but age and experience judge at 73 minutes when a childish mistake at field from just introduced player from fc peridot resulted to goals scorers by Yemi Akanmu. Peridot got their chance to equalize but were quite unfortunate and were unlucky to miss them.


    DE PRIDE FC 7 VS 1 TEAF FC-2PM
    From the opening whistle, D Pride FC displayed their intent to dominate the game. Moments after, moments of relentless attacks bombarded the Teaf fc defense, setting the tone for the rest of the match.

    In just the view minute, Akande Bunmi announced his presence with a clinical finish, marking the beginning of goals.

    Busari Uthman continued his torment in the TEAF fc defense, netting the second goals in the short minutes shittu Basit and Akande Bunmi scored third and fourth goals.

    Raji Malik’s exquisite finishing granted him a sensational hat-trick in the game. TEAF fc struggling to find answers to D Pride fc relentless onslaught by returning a goal through Yusuf Azeez.


    12 ALIVE FC 0 VS 1 KARIM ADEYEMI FC

    It wasn’t an easy evening for Karim Adeyemi, but a goal from Victor Okeleke ensured the Adeyemi boys secured a 1-0 victory over 12Alive fc to move back into the Ibadan league’s top-leading team.

    Emotional, very emotional at Olubadan Stadium main bowl, iyaganku Area Ibadan It was a crucial victory over a crucial team. Elite Sporting fc defeated Saky United 2-0. The goals came from Adigun Yusuf on 56 minutes and Oyewole Taorid on 90 minutes of the game.

    ABIOLA BABES 4 vs1 SDK
    At the beginning of the game, Sdk showed strong teams ready to fight for survival and break down the opponent with a fast break attacking football which resulted in what bring their first goal on 37 minutes from Ayo Giwa and ABIOLA babes focused on ways to overcome Sdk, but that couldn’t. Archived due to waste of too many more chances. At the turn of the second half, ABIOLA Babes appeared to be providing more of an attacking threat after making two replacements and started building up the attack and the pressure resulted in Oladejo Jamal equalizing goal at 51 minutes and keeping it up to get the second goal through Adebayo Usman at 54 mint also third and fourth goal at 60 and 67 minutes from Wasiu Azeez aka Messi at exactly 90+2 minutes Refeer ended the match.

    Venue : Olubadan Stadium main bowl, Iyaganku Area, Ibadan.