RandaFooty: Everything Nigerian football, home and abroad

Segun, Coach Ntseki, me and Nahmla Hello everyone, your daily dose of my Niamey Diaries is here. It's a beautiful Saturday and I must say I'm pretty satisfied with how it went. Tomorrow is the final game of the championship and we are going to crown the new African champions at this level.  Ivory Coast who are the defending champions were knocked out of the competition in the group stages so South Africa and Mali have the opportunity to be the new champs.

I had a chat with Emmanuel Amuneke, he had a bit to say as regards Nigeria's outing at Niamey 2015. He breaks down all that happened and his thoughts moving forward, take a view below. My interview with Emmanuel Amuneke

Let me start with some apologies oh!. Things na real wah for dis side. I haven't had time to siddon type any gist for una. But dis na my offering today. Make una watch the video. Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Make una no vex, you can search for the hash-tag #GoldenEaglets on twitter to see what transpired there.  Una to much. Cheers Interview with Amuneke

Right in the middle Hey, It's me again. It's been all sorts of sixes and nines for the past two days. I have finally come to grip with how the money (CFA) works around here and my french has improved a bit. After being scammed of CFA2,000 by a coffee seller, the Naija sharp guy in me suddenly came to fore. My french improved massively and I do know how to handle their denominations now. Unfortunately, I can't say same for Segun Ogunfeyitimi (ShengolPix). I won't tell y'all what happened, maybe you can ask him...his Niamey number is +227 98........

Reppng Naija in the desert Good morning from sunny Niamey and sorry my diaries is coming late. It's been a roller coaster of sorts and I haven't had the time to drop any stuff here. Right inn the middle of town My apologies. Yesterday I tried my hands on some type of rice I haven't eaten before. It was like couscous, but I didn't enjoy it one bit. to make matters worse, I jabbed a big stone in my meal and that was the end of it. Blood bin full my mouth sef. Interview session with Dr Mohammed Sanusi (NFF Director of Competitions) My tummy hurts badly , but work must go on abi? Last weekend was great for Nigerian football. A lot of our boys scored in Europe ( Moses, Ogu, Simon Moses et al). The Eaglets made us proud down here and we danced through the night. I followed the U23's win in Gabon and was quite impressed

The Kennedy Bridge in Niamey, the water you see below is where the River Nile flows into West Africa It’s been a  roller  coaster since I arrived here and I haven’t been able to update the blog as I should. You might already now I’m in  Niamey , capital of Niger Republic for the CAF Under-17 African Championship.  Front view, Stade Seyni Kountche This tournament asides producing the African champions at this level will also produce the four countries that will fly Africa’s flag at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile. Kelechi Nwakali wheels away after grabbing Nigeria's equaliser The Eaglets have won 1 and drawn another as they go into Saturday’s last group game against Zambia needing to earn points to assure passage to the semis and ultimately a ticket to Chile 2015. It’s being great so far asides the mosquitoes that I have to brave every night. I managed to get some insecticide yesterday and it helped a lot.

Former U-20 international Gero Abdullahi was the surprise exclusion from the 21 –man list released by the Head Coach of U-23 National Team Samson Siasia for this weekend's All-Africa Games qualifying game against Gabon in Libreville. Others who failed to make the team are Aminu Umar, who arrived late to camp and Warri Wolves’ forward Freedom Omofonma who also arrived camp late after his club's CAF Confederation Cup game in Burkina Faso.

FC Porto forward Chidera Ezeh has been ruled out of the Flying Eagles second match against the Black Satellites of Ghana on Wednesday after he suffered a mild concussion in the first match.   Ezeh scored in a 2-2 draw with the Black Satellites on Monday at the Accra Sports Stadium, but he had to be replaced soon after when he was involved in a head clash and suffered a mild concussion.   He was replaced for the second half by Wikki Tourists striker Usman Hassan.

Nigerian clubs were in action on the continent the weekend of 14/15 February. Bar Port-Harcourt side Dolphins, all Nigerian teams won against their opponents. Pillars and Warri Wolves won away on Saturday while Enyimba smashed Buffles du Borgu 3-0 in Aba.

Photocred-newtelegraphonline.com Nigeria's Golden Eaglets got off to a flying start at the CAF Africa Junior Championship in Niamey, Niger Republic, by beating their hosts, the Junior Mena, 2-0. Two first-half goals by Victor Osimhen and captain Kelechi Nwakali were enough to see the two-time winners rake in their first three points of the campaign. Nigeria weathered the early storm by the Junior Mena, who are playing in the competition for the first time and went ahead through Victor Osimhen who slotted the ball home in the 18th minute of the game. Niger came close twice to restore parity through Sourajou and the impressive Mohammed but the Eaglets held firm. Kelechi Nwakali had the chance to edge Nigeria ahead in the 20 minute but his shot failed to test the Nigerien goalie as Mohammed yet again tested Nigeria's goalkeeper Udoh.

Super Falcons head coach, Edwin Okon has called to camp a total of 36 players in preparation for the All Africa Games (AAG), 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers and the Fifa Women’s World Cup final. The players made up of 10 foreign-based and 26 domestic players are to report to the side’s Abuja camp on Sunday, February 22 with their training kits, international passports and birth certificates. Among those listed are goalkeepers, Ibubeleye Whyte and Precious Dede, defenders, Onome Ebi, Faith Ikidi and Ngozi Ebere, midfielders, Halimat Ayinde, Cecilia Nku and Osarenoma Igbinovia and strikers, Asisat Oshoala, Uchechi Sunday and Desire Oparanozie.

  The Nigeria Football Federation and its FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon have confirmed that the Senior National Team,  Super Eagles , will tackle the Senior National Team of Bolivia in  a grade A international friendly in Uyo on Thursday, 26 th  March. “We have had to work at a pace to seal agreement for this match, after the Brazilian Football Federation opted out at the last hour. “However, we believe that the Bolivia team will give the  Super Eagles  a good match, as we continue to work on a second match for the  Eagles  for either 29 th  March,” NFF President Amaju Pinnick said  on Friday .

So I got all mushy today and tweeted some stuff. I'm just sad that we can't see that we aren't doing ourselves any good by blaming others or running away from our responsibilities. No, I'm not speaking politics here, but how our clubs are ran in the country. Below are some of my tweets, read from bottom up But hey, what do I know?, I'm just a 'Bloody bastard' & a poor journo according to Victor Ikpeba. #NoSoHinTokAm — Andrew Randa (@RandaAndrew) February 13, 2015 Our clubs need to be out of government hands, that's my major joy with the @LMCNPFL , that's the vision, that's the dream. But we gree them? — Andrew Randa (@RandaAndrew) February 13, 2015 Clubs need to be treated as a business in Naija. Imagine if the east end of Kano Pillars Stadium is named ' @AlikoDangote ' Stand? Crazy! — Andrew Randa (@RandaAndrew) February 13, 2015 Enugu, Kano & Aba have huge potential. Gov't bottlenecks and greed no go al

Pillars Nigeria’s representative in Africa Club competitions will kick start their campaign this weekend hoping to put Nigerian clubs back on the map in Africa. Glo Premier League cha,champions Kano Pillars, Enyimba of Aba, Warri Wolves and Dolphins of Port-Harcourt will Nigeria’s flag bearers this term out. Pillars and Enyimba will play in the Caf Champions League while Wolves and Dolphins will fly the flag in the Confederations Cup. Nigerian clubs have not been visible on the continent lately, with Sunshine Stars semi finals appearance in the Confederations Cup in 2012 being the best the country can boast of in the last three years. This term, the four clubs will look to change all that, but the signs, going into this weekend has done nothing to make the average fan hopeful of kleig lights at the end of the campaign.

King Paul Udoh: Photocred-juventus.com You probably haven't heard of this kid, but you will very soon if his development goes as planned. King Paul Udoh is a 17 year old Nigerian striker who plays for the Juventus Primavera side in Italy and has been among the goals too. Can I also add he has played in the Uefa Youth League? Yes, that's the youngsters version of the UCL. I managed to grab a video of him doing his thing. Impressed? Yes? No? I'm though. Check out the video below

Reuben Ogbonnaya Kano Pillars defender Reuben Ogbonnaya is optimistic that the team’s training tour of Ghana will put them in good shape for their first leg Caf African Champions League preliminary round game against South Sudan's Al-Malakia FC. The reigning Glo Premier League champions spent the last week in Ghana where they played two warm-up matches to test their readiness for the continent's biggest club competition. Pillars drew 2-2 with First Capital Bank Premier League side Accra Hearts of Oak before defeating the Ghanaian Under-23 side, the Black Meteors 1-0 in the last game of the tour.

I was over joyed when I spoke to Mohammed Lawal (former U23 international) about some Kaduna born kid (well, in case you want to know, me and Lawal grew up around Kaduna axis and played football there) Apparently 'Laweelo' knew him quite well and was able to set up this interview, a first by any Nigerian website since Umar moved to Italy. I was surprised how shy and unassuming he was knowing fully well how Croc City cats act ( yeah, that's what Kaduna folks are called.) The interview was done by me originally for supersport.com ( read it here ) but reproduced on my blog for your consumption  All photos are credited to the player. Take a read

It was a good weekend for Nigerian strikers in Europe over the weekend of 07/08 2015. Moses Simon continued his impressive form for Gent by scoring another goal to add to the hat-trick he scored last weekend. Peter Ebimobowei was also on target for Egyptian giants Ah Ahly on his debut scoring the first goal in a 3-1 drubbing of Al Ittihad El Shorta.

This makes for good reading. Nicked it off The Cable Ng. You can read the article on their site here . But if you don't have the patience, then here we go. I must also warn y'all it's actually long and exhaustive. be patient. Economics is a great subject. I love the subject, not because I’m an Economist. I love it because of ceteris paribus! Yes, ceteris paribus a Latin phrase meaning “with other things the same” or “all other things being equal or held constant”.  So, when in doubt, and in need of a clear and focused mind, “hold other things constant” like you often hear motivational speakers telling you to focus on one thing at a time.

Stanley celebrates: Photocred-Kingfut.com Nigeria striker, Stanley Ohawuchi, has continued his rich vein of form in the Egyptian top flight scoring again for his team, Wadi Degla, on Wednesday in a Premier League game. The former Nigerian Under-20 striker was on target for Wadi Degla in their 2-1 home loss to Petrojet in the Egyptian Premier League.

Photocred:DailyMail The winter football transfer window has shut in the major European leagues and in North Africa too with Nigerian players making the moves albeit on the low key. Former Portsmouth striker Yakubu Aiyebeni made a return to England where he is the second top African goal scorer with 95 goals, 6 short of Chelsea legend Didier Drogba who is on 101 goals. Promise Isaac will also look to resurrect his career in a familiar terrain as the former Olympic team captain has penned a deal with  Balikesirspor  in the Turkish Super Lig.     A couple of players from the Glo Premier League also joined the exodus with North Africa being the main attraction.   Last season’s top scorer Emem Edouk finally signed the dotted lines for Tunisian giants Esperance Tunis after some controversy surrounding his deal with Swedish side Sarpsborg while Peter  Ebimobowei joined Al Ahly and former ABS of Ilorin midfielder Stone Evbuomwan signed the dotted lines for Arab Co

So, Moses Simon scored a hat-trick for Gent on Sunday away at Lokeren. Funny part of the story is he wasn't suppose to play the game because he got a red card in their last game. The appeal against the card was successful and it gave him the opportunity to play and he took it with aplomb. Simon also made the Jupiler Liga team of the week

Me, after the medals presentation The Super4 has come and gone, but the memories remain. The Flying Eagles swash buckling display, the goals, the celebrations and the ugly challenges during some games made the whole spectacle what it was. I was down at Abuja for the final three match days and I must say it was fun watching the games, interacting with the players, journos, coaches and administrators. Here are some pictures to wet your appetite.