My Dream is to Coach Super Eagles to Win World Cup in Brazil

Kaduna United, at the beginning of the week, made history as the first team from Kaduna State to win the Federation Cup when they defeated Enyimba of Aba 3-2 on penalties after a the final match ended 3-3 in both regulation and overtime. The feat was so great for the people of the ancient town for the fact that not team from the the town or the state have had success in the series; the closest being the effort of Ranch Bees in 1987 against the now defunct Abiola Babes.

The run to success could be said to have been made possible by the old man of Africa in football clubs’ managerial affairs; Belgian Maurice Cooreman. The man puts everything down to the hard work and determination of the players and the technical team. He even singled out one of his assistants on the bench, the goalkeeper’s trainer, John Obida, for praise.
Cooreman said Obida went a whole length to train Agwu specifically in the art of catching penalties and that the latter became like the saviour of the team in the series up to the final day. On the final day particularly, after he was brought in because shootout became imminent.

Cooreman said: “I think my young United players showed a lot of class right from the preliminary stage up to the final, to eventually win the cup for Kaduna people and the governor of the state; Ibrahim Yakowa. I groomed these young boys from nowhere and today they have made Kaduna people and the country proud for their outstanding performance in the Federation Cup series.
“We had loads of encouragement and support from the state governor, but in the final analysis, it was up to them to put up a brave spirit. They showed a lot of that. Now, personally, I think my next frontier is Nigeria’s national team, the Super Eagles.

I have handled many teams in Nigeria and my record here shows I have achieved many milestones, from NPA to Gabros International, to Lobi Stars, Ocean Boys, Bendel Insurance and Enyimba, I have shown I have what it takes. And as I had always have a vision for the place the international game of Nigeria should be at the global arena, I believe it is time I got that chance to help with tinkering the Super Eagles.

Cooreman, in revealing his dream for Nigeria, expresses his surprise that the Super Eagles continually fail to live up to their global billing. He said with the kind of abundance in quality materials that he has seen and worked with in the country since the past decade that he has been around, he finds it queer that the team are not pulling their weight in silverwares.
He said so many talents are still untapped among the home-based players and that he would like very much to be in position to change this.

“I think the only reason we are in this sorry state as far as the Super Eagles are concerned is that we have no proper planning to groom the boys into a formidable team that can conquer the world. I have been in this country for 11 years, and I married an Igbo lady. So, when I talk about the failure of the country, I think I am talking as a Nigerian and as a man who has been in the system for over a decade and know exactly what is wrong. Besides, I have a passion for this country that is so high I am ready to die for her.

“If I get to tinker the Super Eagles, my promise is that the team will be in the final stages of the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. By final stages, I am talking of the semi finals at the very least. And this is not a boast or empty talk.

“I coached Jasper United and so many other teams to success in this country and I understand Nigerian football and know that Nigerian players are very talented. In most countries of the world that have made global impact in the game, handling to success such young teams as Kaduna United from the developmental stage and successes with other teams across the country, like I have had, are some of the criteria used in selecting who to handle the national teams. It should be part of the consideration here too. Besides, I understand the Nigerian game and the Nigerian players’ mentality so well now that there can hardly be a better candidate than I make for the post,” says Cooreman.

Nigeria, 15 others Confirm Participation

About 16 countries have confirmed their participation in the forthcoming Commonwealth Intercontinental Under-17 Handball Championship scheduled to take place in Cameroon from August 25th to September 5th. According to a statement released from the headquarters of the continental game in Abuja, the countries that have confirmed participation include the host Cameroon, Nigeria, India, Ghana, Pakistan, Cyprus, Australia, England, Bangladesh and Kenya. This will also involve six other countries that will participate with their female teams.

While speaking on the preparation of the secretariat for the championship, the Executive Director of Commonwealth Handball Association Mallam Attahiru Garba who just returned from Cameroon on an inspection tour said he was satisfied with the facilities he saw on ground. He added that the 16 nations that will come to the championship would have a good story to tell at the end of the day.

“Cameroon is set, going by what I saw on ground there. The championship, which will be the first in recent time, is the spark we need to reunite the handball families that are under the Commonwealth umbrella.”
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Nigeria will provide two pairs of referees to the championship. They are Bosede Momoh and Ngozi Ezeh for female while Sikiru Ahmed and James Ahmadu would referee in the male categories of the tournament.

This is making history for the country in the sport, because, since after the era of Gen. Ishola William (Rtd) as the President of Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Nigeria has not provided two pairs of referees in a major International handball competition.
Arrangements for the tournament include the President of World Handball Federation, (International Handball Federation) Dr. Hassan Moustapha and President of Confederation of African Handball (CAHB) being special guests at the opening ceremony while His Excellency, the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, would be declaring the championships open. The President of Commonwealth Games Federation (CFG) Mr. Mike Finnel has been slated for the closing ceremony.

Also, it has been confirmed that 1st, 2nd and 3rd position teams would be taking home prize money of $10,000, $7,000, and $3,000 in both the boys and girls category. The screening of teams to ascertain players’ age would be through the MRI. The Medical Committee/Screening Committee is to be chaired by Dr. Lanre Glover who is the 1st Vice President of Confederation of African Handball (CAHB).

Pillars’ bad boys get the rod for attempting to put the beautiful game into disrepute

The Nigeria Premier League has made a precedence of an insolence act by going down hard on Kano Pillars Football Club over the team’s behaviour in the last match of the Super Four tournament on the last day. The incidence took place in the match against Enyimba at the Ijebu-Ode venue of the competition on Sunday. As punishment, some members of the team has been given various, heavy-handed punishment that the League believes would serve as warning to others and a deterrent to the offenders in future.

According to the League last night, a Kano Pillars official, Ali Adamu, is banned from all NPL activities for three years for jumping out of the substitute bench to attack the referee and assistant referee in the match against Enyimba during the match.
The Acting Executive Secretary of NPL, Tunji Babalola, disclosed last night that the punishment also revealed that Sani Haliru, who was in goal for the Kano side also stand banned from football for six months for acts that are not in line with the ethics, rules of the game.

He added: “Kano Pillars will also have to pay a fine of N500, 000 before they are registered for the in-coming season. The team will also be warned to make sure their officials conform to the rules of the game or face further sanctions.

“The vision of the new board of NPL is to stop every act that has the potential to hurt the game. Towards this, no stone will be left unturned to make sure that sanity prevails in the system.”
The ugly scenario occurred, after the winning goal was scored by the Aba side towards the end of the match. Feeling that something was wrong with the way the goal had been scored, Pillars’ players protested to the referee asking that the goal be ruled as coming from offside play, but their plea was turned down.

Rather than continued with the match after their protest had been turned down; as it is expected of a disciplined team in the game, some members of the team went wild. Taking laws into their own hands, they encroached on the field of play and in the process; the Pillars official assaulted the referee.