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Thursday, March 15, 2018
XXI Commonwealth Games: Diogu Leads D’Tigers
The roster announced yesterday by the NBBF secretary, Asiegbu Chimezie, was compiled by Coach Alex Nwora and his technical team. The team made up of 6 home based players and 6 foreign based players will be captained by Ike Diogu. Diogu captained the team to a 2017 Afrobasket silver medal finish and was also influential in D’Tigers’s run of 3 straight wins in the 2nd window of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers with an average of 17.7 points made per game. Azuoma Dike will also return to the team after the 2017 AfroBasket camapign. With pre-games camping expected to end on the 22nd, the team will depart for Brisbane on March 23rd, 2018 ahead of their first game against New Zealand on Friday, 6th, April. Full Roster Ike Diogu (Henan, CHINA) Uchenna Ireogbu (Stony Brooks, NCAA, USA) Dung Eli Abraham- (Kano Pillars (NIGERIA) Azuoma Dike – (Kano Pillars, NIGERIA) Olantunji Olalekan Graham(Unattached, USA) Ofoegbu Uchechi Chima – (Unattached, USA) Musa Usman (Mark Mentors, NIGERIA) Abdulwahab Yakubu (Gombe Bulls, Nigeria) Istifanus Sylvanus (Gombe Bulls, Nigeria) Abdul Yahaya (Kano Pillars) Achiuwa God’sgift Onyekachi (Unattached, USA) Orizu Prince Ifeanyi (Far Eastern University, PHILIPHINES) Nigeria is in Group B alongside host- Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Coach Nwora will be assisted by Adewunmi Aderemi and Mohammed Abdulrahman.
Russia 2018: Iceland To Shock The World Icelandic Football Association President Guðni Bergsson is confident that the team can get to the knockout rounds of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia like they did in the 2016 European Championship in France. Iceland got to the knockout phase of the 2016 European Championship
in France without losing any of their Group F matches before losing to France in the last eight. The underdogs, who are going into their first World Cup, are drawn in the same Russia 2018 group as Nigeria, Croatia and Argentina.
“Getting into the World Cup is one of the most important events in the history of the whole of Iceland,” Bergsson told Russian News Agency TASS “We have a rather complicated group, but two years ago we already surprised the whole football community with a performance at the European Championships in France, and now we are ready to repeat. “I cannot imagine how far our team will go in the World Cup,
Friendly Win Over Argentina Will Not Count – Rohr
BY WALE AYENI, Abuja
Super Eagles technical adviser Gernot Rohr has revealed that Nigeria 4-2 win over Argentina last November will be less important when both countries clash in the FIFA World Cup during the last Group D game in St Petersburg, Russia on June 26. Speaking to South Africa-based Soccer Laduma, the German-born tactician said that the victory in the friendly game against the South American side does not placed the Eagles ahead o f the La Albiceleste going into the World Cup “Remember, [Lionel] Messi didn’t play that game. So we are very cautious and have to analyse this great result in context. Argentina had played another friendly against Russia in Russia before facing us. Perhaps they were a bit tired – they also left Russia soon after our game. I think no one should overrate the result. I definitely won’t overrate it. It was definitely not to our advantage because Argentina will take us more seriously now.” Nigeria had matched Argentina in a friendly international on November 14, 2017 at Krasnodar, Russia that saw Nigeria trailing
two-nil from Ever Banega and Sergio Aguero strikes before Kelechi Iheanacho reduced the deficit to a goal going into halftime, a goal from Brian Idowu and brace from Alex Iwobi sealed Nigeria remarkable victory over Argentina Both countries were later drawn in the same preliminary World Cup group at the FIFA World Cup draws last Decem-
ber for a fifth time in Nigeria’s six appearances at the competition. Rorh believes that the Super Eagles will put up a decent performance in the group that include two European sides Croatia and Iceland and two times World Cup champions Argentina even though Nigeria is the least-ranked team in the group. “Of course, I would have wanted an easier group. But it is what it is. Now we have this strong group. If you look at our FIFA ranking, we are only in 52nd position – the others are far ahead of us. I think they sit in position 14, eight and four. That means we are
A good deed is never lost.
the underdogs. We were only in pot four in the draw, we mustn’t forget that. But we are an underdog with ambition and we want to get into the knockout stages, even though it will be very difficult. That’s our target,” he added Nigeria will lock horn against Poland in Warsaw on March23 and face Serbia four days later in London as they prepare for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
but I can say with certainty that those players who will go to Russia will play with the heart and with all their heart.” The federation has chosen Gelendzhik as the team’s base during the forthcoming tournament and the former Bolton Wanderers player feels the resort town will enhance the team’s performance in the tournament. “Before the final choice, we allocated two bases for ourselves, the first one in Rostovon-Don and the second one in Gelendzhik. We originally planned that we would be based in the southern cluster, so that the team could thoroughly prepare for the matches. After visiting the base in Gelendzhik, all other options have disappeared: it is perfectly equipped with all the most necessary for preparation and the location in the mountains and proximity to the sea will add to our national team of energy,” he said. “Another factor in the choice of the base is the close proximity to the cities of matches in the group stage, so long-term flights will not be a problem for our team, especially since we used to fly long distances when playing matches of the qualifying round. In my opinion, for all teams this should not be a problem, because you need to come and play football, and not think about flights. “At the moment, 80% of the (ticket) quota is bought; I can say that the fans of the Icelandic team will be no less than at the European Championships and about 20% of the total population of the country. Many plan their holidays even for the sake of one match in Russia and, in my opinion, it’s great, I’m absolutely sure that everyone who comes to Russia will get maximum pleasure and enjoy the beauties of Russian nature and learn the true Russian hospitality.”