RandaFooty: Everything Nigerian football, home and abroad

So someone called to ask who Anthony Nwakaeme is. I gave him a lowdown on the Hapoel Beer Sheva striker and what he can bring to the Super Eagles. 'Tony' is big, strong, pacy and quite technical or a lad his size. He also has pace to burn. Here is a video of the 28 year old doing some wonderful things with the ball Enjoy the video.

  The Super Eagles will aim to achieve a 12 th   triumph over the Lions of Cameroon when both teams go for each other’s jugular at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo   on Friday . In 19 previous encounters, Nigeria have been winners 11 times, with Cameroon winning four times and four matches drawn. Of these games, three happened to be the Final matches of the Africa Cup of Nations (all won by Cameroon, including a nail –biting penalty shoot-out session in Lagos in February 2000), and there were two different fixtures of FIFA World Cup qualifiers (1968 and 1989) shared equally. Nigeria eliminated Cameroon from the qualifying race for 1970 World Cup finals, winning 3-2 in Douala after a 1-1 draw in Lagos. But the Lions took their revenge in 1989, snatching the minimum win they needed in Yaounde (1-0) to kick the Eagles out of the race for Italia ’90, only two weeks after Sam Okwaraji’s death.  While Cameroonians treasure the wins in Abidjan (1984), Ca

It's crunch time in the Nigeria Professional Football League as we head into the final stretch. Match Day 36 is here upon us. Nine games across the country as teams do battle for places on the log. Akwa United beat Lobi Stars 2-1 in Uyo on Friday to open this weekend's proceedings. Leaders Plateau United will be home to Rivers United in a game that hopefully should go well for my home state team. A win and we are one hand on the title before the final game against Rangers. Sunshine Stars travel to Katsina, Gombe host ABS while Enyimba will be hosting Wikki Tourists in Calabar. Below is a graphic of all the games. I also did a preview on the game via a pod, here is the link in case you missed it. Listen here Do go to a stadium near you and watch your favourite team play.

Had to do this quickly and didn't edit properly because of reasons beyond me. My preview of this weekend's games in the NPFL and a little bit about the Super Eagles and the Aiteo Cup. Do enjoy it and please leave comments below on areas I can improve on and what you will like to see added to the podcasts which by the way will be a regular thing now.

Touted to be better than Kelechi Iheanacho at U17 level, Ibrahim Alhassan aka Muazzam has left Nigeria Professional Football League side Akwa United for Austrain Bundesliga side Austria Vienna who had Kayode Olarenwaju in their books before his move to Girona via Manchester City. Muazzam was part of the Super Eagles squad that defeated Benin 2-0 in Kano less than a week ago. We wish him all the best in his career.

I woke up this morning to a video of former Kwara United forward Samuel Adegbenro scoring a fantastic goal for his new side FK Rosenborg as they defeated Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League. The victory meant Rosenborg are into the group stage of the Europa League. Thing is, I totally missed his move to the Norwegian giants. Last I watched him, he was strutting his stuff with Viking in Norway. Here is the goal against Ajax. Brilliant individual effort I must say. 🇳🇬 Nigeria's Samuel Adegbenro with a brilliant solo effort for Rosenborg vs Ajax, the goal could see them thru to next round of EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/u18pQ3NqOW — Mesfouf & Koshary (@MesfoufKoshary) August 24, 2017 So in honor of the forward I had to go dig out a video of Adegbenro-goals, skills and assists. Who knows, he might just be the next big thing.

Team captain Mikel John Obi and forward Odion Ighalo are back, and Israel –based marksman Anthony Nwakaeme gets a first call as Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, on Tuesday released his list of players for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying duels with Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions. Germany –based defender Leon Balogun returns after missing the World Cup qualifier against Algeria and the Africa Cup qualifier against South Africa, while Chelsea of England’s wing back Victor Moses is also back after sitting out the duel with the Bafana Bafana in June due to injury. Rohr has largely kept faith with his regular army, including goalkeepers Daniel Akpeyi, Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Dele Alampasu, defenders William Ekong, Elderson Echiejile and Abdullahi Shehu, midfielders Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu, Wilfred Ndidi and Oghenekaro Etebo, and forwards Ahmed Musa, Moses Simon, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho. Nigeria welcome the reigning African champions to the Godswill Akpa

My good man Akin Bolarinwa has decided to bless us with his personal experiences during the CHAN qualifier against Benin Republic last weekend. It is a two part series. ENJOY. Reporter’s Diary: My Trip to Kano state (2nd leg, Chan qualifier)  Akin Bolarinwa, Abuja... Shortly after I arrived at the Super Eagles camp in Kano after a long trip with my colleague Ola Aro of ITV Abuja, on Saturday, I received a call from Ex-international Patrick Pascal (Super Eagles coordinator) stating that he would like to see me.   What came to my mind immediately was that it was going to be an interesting interface with journalists and other administrators but first I needed to refreshen up after that torturing road trip, so I put up with Biola Shodiya of ITV and I left for the appointment a few minutes later.  11:45 Am I proceeded to the Super Eagles camp and stepping out of the reception of the Eagles hotel  was the man who had been hoping to meet me in person for a very

Super Eagles v Benin in Kano I ’m sorry this is coming late but it is for good reason, one that I won’t bother you with. So my Day 1 in Kano ( click here if you missed it ) was okay but Day Two topped that (or so I think). I woke up on game day with a lot on my mind. I said a few prayers for the players to behave themselves and up their game (they eventually did, who says prayers don’t work in sports?).  Day started with a few phone calls to some radio stations to update them with events in Kano and also previewed the game for a Jos based station before catching up with my social media. My stomach rumbled a bit and I knew it was time to grab some breakfast.  If you know me, you’ll know I’m not a big fan of hotel food and so I sauntered off to the road adjacent my Nimah Palace Guest House lodge and found a woman frying akara and just beside her was a ‘Mai Shayi’. No need to add more, y’all can do the maths. Work mode.   A quick

Kano.... Kano has always been a city I love since my secondary school days as passing through on my way to Azare was always a pleasure, so you can imagine my joy when the Nigeria Football Federation decided to take the second leg qualifier of the 2018 CHAN against Benin to the ancient city. My journey started from Zaria, another town that is close to my heart. A quick two hour drive and I was in Kano and off to Nimah Guest Hotel to meet up with Kola Daniel of ScoreNigeria who decided to host me. Despite keeping me waiting at the hotel lobby for nearly an hour, I forgave him for all his sins when he decided to be my host. His sins were washed away there and then. I later met Callistus Ebare at the same hotel hotel and we decided to head over to Bristol Hotel to see some NFF officials. After a brief period of back chat, we headed back to town but not after some pleasantries with the cute receptionist at the hotel who kept smiling at me. With Jane and

Adeshina Gata, Yinka Adewale and Wasiu Alalade's heroics was enough for Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC, to bundle Enyimba International FC of Aba out of the Aiteo Cup (Federation) with a 2-1 victory.  It took the Saraki Boys only three minutes to go in front from the spot kick when Enyimba goalkeeper Fatau Dauda brought down Alalade in the box.  Gata made no mistake from spot. The visitors capitalized on an ABS defensive mix-up when Ernest Governor's back pass was picked up by Ikechukwu Ibenegbu whose pass find an unmarked Eric Frimpong who easily tapped in from a close range in the 22nd minute.  12 minute later , ABS should have doubled the lead when Adeshina Gata's another clear cut chance was fired inches away from goal by Abubakar Chindo. 

Rivers United produced a fantastic performance to beat Remo Stars 3-1 in Sagamu for the only away win of MD34. Leaders Plateau United are now six points clear after defeating second placed MFM 1-0. Enyimba smashed ABS 3-0 the same scoreline between Akwa United beat visiting Niger Tornadoes. Rangers eased their relegation woes with a slim 1-0 win over Duke Udi's Sunshine Stars while Katsina United dispatched Wikki Tourists 2-0. The graphic below details the results of all the results from MD34 apart from the El-Kanemi vs FC IfeanyiUbah game that had to be postponed because the Nnewi side could not connect a flight to Maiduguri on time.

Got this off the NFF's press release unedited. I'm not sure how the rules will pan out. I do hope it ends well though. We need the glory days back. Check the 'new' rules at the end of the fixtures.

The 2017 Aiteo Cup fixtures were finally reeled out last night live on Channels TV. NFF's Demola Olajire was involved in the draws for the Round of 64 matches. From what I garnered, the teams listed as the host teams will be given a pool of venues to pick from for their games. If the game ends in a draw, the 'away' team will then pick a venue of their choice for the replay. This automatically rules out penalty kicks in the Round of 64. No confirmation yet if that will be the norm throughout the competition but we wait and see. The full Fixtures for the RO64.

  After the brouhaha that emanated from Daniel Etor’s disappearance at Rangers International and his eventually show up in Iran, I decided to take a peep into the Iranian top flight to see what was the catch. Etor is a bundle of talent and one wonders why Iran of all places. Has to be the money definitely as I’m well aware the top teams there pay relatively well, in fact better than some European countries and. I know a bit about Iranian football, I remember Ali Diae quite well. He racked up a record number of internationals back int he day and also played at the World Cup in 1998. Then there is the sad and unfortunate demise of former Flying Eagles goalkeeper Sam Okoye in Iran in 2004.  So when Etor decided to take his trade to Iran, the ‘ojokukuru’ in me decided to do a bit of research on the Iranian top flight league and even though I didn’t find anything I wasn't  aware of, I stumbled across a player who caught my fancy. His name? Godwin Mensha, a big 

Coach Salisu Yusuf has opted for goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa, defenders Orji Kalu and Osas Okoro, midfielders Alhassan Ibrahim and Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, forwards Stephen Odey and Ifeanyi George, and 13 other players for  Sunday’s  2018 African Nations Championship qualifying match away to Benin Republic. There are also goalkeeper Dele Ajiboye, defender Chima Akas, midfielder Rabiu Ali and forward Thomas Zenke. Goalkeeper Theophilus Afelokhai, defenders Ariwachukwu Emmanuel, Stephen Eze and Nasiru Sani, midfielders Hafiz Aremu, Raphael Ayagwa and Samuel Mathias and forwards Sikiru Olatubosun and Kingsley Eduwo complete the list of the playing body that will fly from Kano to Lagos  on Friday  and then make the short trip to Cotonou by road same day.

Bayelsa Queens, Rivers Angels, Delta Queens and Nasarawa Amazons all booked their tickets to the NWPL Super 4. #NWPLFinalDay pic.twitter.com/IIHpTJixEb — Nigeria Women League (@NWFLLive) August 2, 2017

Who you got? Fantastic goals from the Nigeria Professional Football League. Take a pick How about this And this Who says there is no quality in the NPFL?

The 2017 Aiteo Cup kicks-off on Wednesday with the preliminary round across different centres in Nigeria. FC IfeanyiUbah are the current holders of the trophy.

World football –ruling body, FIFA, has released appointments of officials for the Matchdays 3 and 4 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying race (Africa series), with Egyptian top official Ghead Grisha and respected Gambian Papa Gassama to take charge of the two potentially –explosive encounters between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. Grisha, full name Ghead Zaghloul Ibrahim Selim Grisha, has been designated to be at the centre for the big clash between the reigning African champions and the three –time African champions in Uyo on Friday, 1 st  September 2017, to be assisted by Redouane Achik (Moroccan, Assistant Referee 1), Waleed Ahmed Ali (Sudanese, Assistant Referee 2) and Mahmoud Zakaria Mohamed (Egyptian, Fourth Official). Former FIFA referee Felix Onias Tangawarima from Zimbabwe has been assigned as Referee Assessor, with Congolese Jean Médard Kossa as Match Commissioner. The match will start at 5pm Nigeria time at the Godswill Akpabio S