Sports

Kelechi Iheanacho vows to help Leicester City bounce back

Published

11 months ago

May 31, 2023

Nigerian international, Kelechi Iheanacho has vowed to remain with his relegated English Premier League side, Leicester City and help the team bounce back from the Championship next season.

Iheanacho who, alongside other African stars, compatriot Wilfred Ndidi and Zambian Patson Daka, could not help Leicester City maintain its premiership status, expressed hopes that the club could recover immediately and get back to the EPL after one season in the lower league.

Iheanacho who spoke to English journalists, displayed his emotions to the point of tears, and insisted that despite insinuations that he would dump the team following the relegation, he was determined to stay and help the team get back to where it belonged as quickly as possible.

“I don’t even know how I feel right now. I’m so disappointed. I don’t know what to say. I just need to thank the football club, the fans, everyone who has supported us from the start to now,” the Nigerian striker said.

“I know it’s a hard one to take but if life kicks you, you just need to stand up and keep going. Whatever it is, we just keep going, stay strong, and hopefully we get back up.

“Nobody’s really happy at this time. It’s a bad time for the club and everyone. We need to take it on the chin and move on. It’s really not what we want but we can’t go back now. We have to move forward.”

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Sports

Nigeria’s football federation appoints Finidi George as Super Eagles coach

Published

23 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has approved the appointment of former international, Finidi George, as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

The board of the Federation
on Monday, approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint George, a former Eagles winger, as the manager of the Nigeria’s men national football team.

Before his appointment, George, served as assistant to José Peseiro before the Portuguese voluntarily resigned from post after leading the Eagles to the final of 2023 Africa Cup of Nations where they lost 2-1 to host Cote d’Ivoire.

Following Peseiro’s departure, George took charge of the squad in interim capacity during two friendly matches in Morocco last month.

He led the squad to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in the first match but lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.

The 52-year-old George was a member of the Eagles team of the early 90s fondly called the “Golden Generation” that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and qualified Nigeria for its first ever senior FIFA World Cup in 1994.

During his playing career, George starred for Sharks of Port Harcourt and Calabar Rovers in Nigeria before moving abroad where he played for Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Real Betis of Spain.

He won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals and also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

George’s immediate task will be to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks.

Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

3 days ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.