The fine form of Nigeria youth international Orji Okonkwo at Serie A side Bologna continued as he fired a hattrick for the Primavera side to fire them past Cagliari 4-1.

Okonkwo restored parity for his side in the 53rd minute via the spot before adding another one minute later to put his side 2-1 up going into the half time break.

He grabbed his hattrick Three minutes after the hour mark via the spot once again before he was substituted six minutes later to a rounding applause.

The hattrick takes his goal tally for the Primavera side to 13 this season, with 9 of the goals coming in 12 youth league games while 4 came in the prestigious Viareggio Championship.

*Osas Mahawi

Former Super Eagles captain and goalkepper Vincent Enyeama picked the ball twice from his own net as Lille slumped to a 1-2 loss to high flying Ligue 1 side Nice.

Ibrahim Amadou opened scoring for Lille in the 14 minute but Mario Balotelli struck twice in the 17th and 45th minute respectively to hand his side a 2-1 lead going into the half time break.

Balotteli’s first goal came off a volley with Enyeama having little or no chance of stopping the ball from nestling into the net, but the former Super Eagles shot stopper should have done better in his effort in the build up to the second goal scored by the former Liverpool, Inter-Milan, Manchester City and AC Milan striker.

Enyeama parried a well hit drive from Ricardo Pereira, instead of trying to divert it away from goal, he parried it onto the path of

Balotelli who made no mistake to put his side two goals up.
Lille failed to recover from the deficit, while the three points earned by Nice further enhanced their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.

* Osas Mahawi

Sunday Oliseh lead Dutch second division side Fortuna Sittard to a comprehensive 4-1 win over Helmond Sport which guarantees them safety from relegation to the third division.

Goals from Djibril Dianessy, Finn Stokkers, Christopher Braun and Emrah Bassan earned Oliseh’s side a 4-1 win with Giovanni Hiwat scoring what ended as a consolation for Helmond Sport.

Fortuna Sittard moved up to 15th on the log courtesy of the win, and their point haul of 38 is good enough to preserve their league status for another season.

Oliseh was tasked with rescuing the team from relegation when he took over the team in January, and the former Super Eagles coach has completed the job with games to spare.

Following the success his contract will be automatically extend for a further two years as agreed in the deal he signed when he took over the reins at the club.

* Osas Mahawi

On loan Arsenal Nigerian midfielder Kelechi Nwakali scored his second goal of the season despite MVV Maastricht slipping to a 2-1 loss away to Den Bosch.

Nigerian midfielder Nwakali is on a season long loan from Arsenal, and he celebrated his 25th appearance of the season with a goal, which ends a four months goal drought.

His last goal for his loan side came on the 10th of December 2016, when his goal helped his side beat De Graafschap 2-0 to end the year on a high.

Nwakali opened scoring for Maastricht in the 63rd minute to put his side one goal up, but eight minutes later Den Bosch drew level thanks to Jeremy Fernandes strike.

Four minutes from full time Luuk Brouwers dent Maastricht promotion with what ended as the winning goal, and handed all three points to his side.

The promotion hopes of Maastricht now hangs in the balance as the defeat saw them drop to 6th on the table with 56 points, which guarantees them at least a play off spot.

* Osas Mahawi

The decision of Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee to team up with the senior national team of Nigeria as against the advice of the doctors of Hannover 96 has infuriated coach Andre Breitenreiter.

Sarenren Bazee teamed up with the Nigerian squad for the first time after pledging his allegiance to the Nigerian team ahead of Germany, but the forward failed to take part in any of the team’s training session.

He arrived the camp of the Super Eagles in London with a knee complaint which has been troubling him since the start of the year, and his trip was against the advice of doctors of Hannover 96 as reported by Owngoalnigeria.com.

” He shouldn’t have made the trip to London. That was the period he was due to receive treatment from the doctors, but he left for the national team camp and missed some vital treatment days.

” We have to see how he recover in the next few days because he is very vital to our plans of gaining promotion to the Bundesliga”, Breitenreiter said ahead of their game against Wurzburger Kickers.

Promotion chasing Hannover 96 are currently top of the Bundesliga 2 , and Bazee has played in 13 games for the team, no thanks to injuries and fitness issues.

* Osas Mahawi

Relatively unknown Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri is now the toast of so many teams in and outside Seychelles following his impressive showings in the last two seasons.

22 year old Adeyeri has plundered 52 goals in two seasons at St. Louis FC, with 28 goals coming in his first season while so far he has 24 goals to his name this season.

Last year Adeyeri saw a late move to Cyprus side Aris FC collapse despite reportedly doing well during a short trial at the club.

However reports has it that is presently courting interest from teams in Israel, thanks to Israeli agent Monder Majdob, who has proposed the free scoring forwards to couple of teams in Israel ahead of the opening of the transfer window in the summer.

* Daniel Martins

After another superlative performance against Esperance last Sunday, it is no surprise that former junior international star, Kingsley Sokari, was chosen to the Team-of-the-Week for the last round of matches in the Tunisian Ligue 1 by the LNFP, the arm of the Tunisian Football Federation, FTF, that organises the league.

CS Sfaxien were held to a goalless draw at home in the big derby game but Sokari put up a brilliant show to further confirm his rising pedigree in the north African country, so much so that he is seen by analysts and fans as the best foreign player in the league.

And as further evidence of his output in the encounter with former Tunisian champions Esperance, the former Enyimba of Aba and Eco FC of Lagos linchpin was nominated into the first eleven selection after all the games of last weekend.

The 21 year-old has been enjoying rave reviews this season at cash strapped Sfaxien and is currently in Burkina Faso for this Sunday’s CAF Confederations Cup fixture against Rail du Kadiogo.

Sokari, who won his first full cap for the Super Eagles against Cote d’Ivoire in January 2015 and also featured for Nigeria at the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup and All Africa Games for under 23s, is being touted to move to a bigger league in the forthcoming transfer window.

In only his first full season with the Sfax club following his mid term transfer in December 2015, Sokari has had a number of top selections like this, including the one after he inspired Sfaxien to a 2-0 win over Tataouine on December 23rd, 2016.

Nigeria have been dealt a serious blow in their quest to lure Everton rising star Ademola Lookman to switch allegiance to the senior national team of Nigeria.

Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has succeeded in luring players of Nigerian descent born abroad to pledge their future to the Nigerian team but Lookman has turned down his approach.

While Ola Aina and Chuba Akpom have given their words to Rohr about representing Nigeria, Lookman who is also a youth international for England has confirmed his commitment to the Three Lions of England.

Lookman told Dan Ashworth, the FA’s director of elite development, that he wants to play for England despite interest from Nigeria.

He hopes to represent England at the U-21 European Championship, and also has high hopes that he will gate crash coach Gareth Southgate senior side before the World Cup 2018 in Russia.

* Daniel Martins

Former Giwa FC of Jos striker Ibrahim Shuaibu scored twice to hand FK Haugesund a 4-3 win over Vaalerenga in a top division league game in Norway.

Shuaibu grabbed his brace in the 36th and 47th minute in the seven goal thriller which was decided at the Haugesund Stadion, and in the process help them to their first win of the two game old season in Norway.

The game was closely watched by Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong who spent 18 months at loan with the club, before returning back to his parent owners Gent in January.

Ekong posted pictures of himself getting ready to watch the games with full excitement for the team he captained for a season during his loan spell in Norway.

*Osas Mahawi