The search for a Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles appears to be drawing to an end, following the arrival of German coach Genart Rohr, who as exclusively reported by Owngoalnigeria.com has been handed the Super Eagles job.

Rohr left Germany will leave Germany later in the evening for Nigeria, where his first assignment will be the Nigeria Professional Football League game between Ikorodu United and Sunshine Stars on Sunday.

He could be unveiled on Monday to the general public in Abuja. According to a source close to the deal he has already agreed a two year deal with the NFF which will officially start later in the month.

63 year Old Rohr, is an Ex German footballer who gained international prominence in 1996, when he managed Bordeaux to the UEFA Cup final, where they lost to Bayern Munich 1-5 on aggregate to the Germans, over two legs.

In Africa, he managed Etoile du Sahel but was fired after their failure to qualify from the group stages of the CAF Champions League in 2009. He however had a fairly good time as coach of Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Presently he is on the shortlist for the managerial job of the senior national team of Guinea, who are also in the hunt for a foreign Technical Adviser,although he still works with the German FA as a consultant for youth soccer development.

Ahead of Nigeria Under-17s first qualifiers against Niger Republic in the race to be at next year Africa Youth Championship, Owngoalnigeria.com Ahmed Ishaya list five prospects to watch out for in tomorrow’s game.

1. Adebayo Adeleke

Described by coach Manu Garba as the best goalkeeper he has seen at youth level, since he came into the set up in 2005. Adeleke has cat like reflex, firm handling and above can start attack from the back with his near perfect distribution from the back.

2 Igoh Ogbu

Vice captain of the newly assembled Under-17 team of Nigeria. The hard as nail defender is partly the reason why most of their games has ended in a clean sheet for the defence.

Mobile, agile, and strong in tackles, Manu Garba rates him so highly to the extent of comparing him to former U-17 & 20 captain Musa Mohammed.

3. Nazifi Yahaya

Crafty, smart and intelligent, the forward who was plucked from a Kano based academy has attributes in the box above his age. The striker scores at least a goal in two of four sessions since stealing the attention of the coaches in his first training session with the team, when he struck a hattrick.

4. Abdulrazak Isehq

The Unity Academy of Kaduna midfielder is blessed with the rare gift of being able to hit correctly a 40 yard pass with both feet to release other players, neat in possession, enterprising and skillful. He is the one of the livewire of the team.

5. Abduljabar Sani

Named captain of the team few days ago by coach Manu Garba. He is by far the most consistent player since the team was assembled, the G-Smart Academy prospect has the ability to create something out of nothing with his ability to wriggle out of tight situation with ease.

Watford of England on loan midfielder Uche Agbo has been given a new role by the coach of Granada Paco Jemez, ahead of the start of the Spanish La-Liga.

Since the start of pre season, he has played more minutes than any of the team regular centre backs, playing six games, four of them from the start and two as a substitute.

The coach confirmed that, the Nigerian has the necessary qualities to thrive as a central defender after watching him excel in the role in their recent pre season game against Sevilla.

” Uche has taken over the left side of our defence, he has speed, strength,power and ability to move with the ball, above all he has nice touches on the ball” Jemez said.

The former Nigeria youth international is one of the players, Granada will be relying on when the Spanish La-Liga gets underway after his recent promotion to the main team, where he was handed a new shirt number 26.

He is on loan to Granada from English Premiership side Watford following the sale of the La-Liga side by the Pozzo family, who are also the owners of the English team.

German Bundesliga side Darmstadt 98 has officially announced the signing of former Super Eagles forward Obinna Nsofor after two weeks of trials with the team.

Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively reported last week, that talks were at an advanced stage with the former Inter Milan forward and the club confirmed his capture on their official website few hours ago.

He reportedly signed a one year deal with the option of another year base on success and appearances when the Bundesliga season gets underway in Germany.

Last season, Nsofor played for second division side MSV Duisburg, but failed to help them beat the drop to the third division, despite scoring three goals in the 15 games he played after joining them in January.

Nsofor’s career has nosedived since moving to Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow after a loan spell with West Ham from Inter Milan of Italy. In the three years he spent with the Russians he only made 46 appearances in the league with only three goals to his name.

Nigeria Under-23s forward Sadiq Umar says it’s easy for people to draw comparisons between himself and Super Eagles legend Kanu Nwankwo, after his dazzling display against Japan in Nigeria’s first game at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The AS Roma teen prospect who took the Serie A by storm last season told Owngoalnigeria.com in an interview shortly after Nigeria’s 5-4 win over Japan, a game in which he scored the first goal, that he is honoured by the comparisons.

” First of all, it’s a nice feeling to be compared to King Kanu and I understand why, but I think am a little bit faster but you could look at the way we both finish and see lots of similarities, still am learning and for now am “Jololo”. Sadiq said.

” I am cool with the tag “New Kanu” and I fully understand why. Kanu had an unbelievable career record and to get anywhere near that would be a great achievement for myself.

” I used to look up to him when I was much younger, didn’t watch Atlanta 1996 to be honest I was barely a year old then but I watched clips of his game. He makes goal scoring looks very easy at times”.

Former Nigeria international goalkeeper Emmanuel Babayaro has leaped to the defence of Nigeria Under-23s shot stopper Emmanuel Daniel, describing him as a promising goalkeeper despite conceding four goals against Japan.

Nigeria defeated Japan 5-4 in their first game at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and Daniel who was handed a shock start by coach Samson Siasia ahead of Daniel Akpeyi has been criticised in some quarters for some of the goals Nigeria conceded in the game.

However, Emmanuel Babayaro, a former international goalkeeper has defended the 22 year old Enugu Rangers shotstopper, insisting he was left exposed by his defenders.

” I wonder how we watch football in this country, how can anyone blame Daniel for God sake?. He can be excused for all of the goals Nigeria conceded because his defenders were all over the place” Babayaro said.

” Daniel was left exposed by the shambolic defenders in front of him, I can’t remember them winning any tackle in the box, the Japanese were just strolling their way past our defenders.

” He was at the mercy of the Japanese forwards. Look a goalkepper is as good as his defenders and am sorry to say last night, Daniel played with pretenders acting as defenders in front of him”.

Chinedu Obasi has moved to Swedish side AIK on a short term deal for the 2016 season, after a short trial and a game for the Under-21s of the team.

Obasi scored twice in the game he played for the Under-21s which convinced the decision makers at the club of his fitness, after a long absence from football following his release by Schalke 04.

“It’s a great opportunity and also a great honour for me to be part of this fantastic club. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the AIK family and get to play in front of the fans” He said shortly after signing the deal.

The 30 year old will wear jersey number 7 for the Swedish side and could make his debut this weekend, if his International Transfer Certificate is received on time by the Swedish Football Association.

The Nigeria U-23s started their campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympics by edging a 9 goal thriller 5-4, to move to the top of their group despite arriving Rio, few minutes to the game.

Owngoalnigeria.com, brings to you ratings based on how the players fared, done by our expert in match analysis.

Emmanuel Daniel: Made some decent saves but conceded four times, although can be excused for at least two of the goals including the penalty, Still not a good thing for a goalkepper to pick the ball out of his net four times….5/10

Seth Muenfuh: A full back playing as a central defender and as expected looked lost in the role, came up strong in the second half but still lacked the discipline of a centre back….5.5/10

Shehu Abdullahi: Won more tackles than any defender in green for Nigeria but still wasn’t adventurous enough, was also caught out of position couple of times in the game with one of such occasion leading to a goal for the Japanese….5/10

Stanley Amuzie: Struggled to cope with the pace of the Japanese on the right, gave away the penalty from which Japan leveled scores to 1-1, a very poor showing from the highly rated left back….4/10

William Troost Ekong: Failed to control the backline despite been the only central defender in the defender, twice lost his man which lead to goals for the Japanese, shoulld have done better….5/10

John Obi Mikel: Captain of the team, came close to scoring with a left foot effort, kept it simple with neat touches, tired out before the end of the game, obviously struggled from jet lag, no thanks to their late arrival….5.5/10

Azubuike Okechukwu: Full of Energy and quick to turn defence into attack, put in a tireless shift all night long, unlucky not to be on the score sheet….6.5/10

Usman Mohammed: By his standard had an average showing, the former FC Taraba man didn’t do enough defensive job and was guilty of venturing far into the opponent box, which gave Japan enough space to exploit….5.5/10

Imoh Ezekiel: What a performance, strong, good on the ball and can also hit it very well when presented with a chance, his spilled effort was tapped in by Sadiq Umar for Nigeria’s first…..6.5/10

Ogenekaro Etebo: Four goals, which include a penalty says it all, truly a delight on the night, by far the best player on the pitch for both sides,should get a 10/10 but for greed sake, we keeping one for ourselves….9/10

Sadiq Umar: “New Kanu” , although he loves it when he is called “Jololo” , scored and created two goals, hold up play about the best Nigeria has seen in a player in a while, the AS Roma start is surely a star in the making….8/10

Substitutes:

Kingsley Madu: First substitute introduced for Usman Mohammed to help shore up the Nigeria backline with scores at 5-3, but was no where close when Japan got their fourth goal of the game….4/10

Ndifreke Udoh: Replaced Ezekiel but didn’t do enough to justify his inclusion, although he did some defending for the team….4/10

Sadiq Popoola: Came in for Mikel Obi and the petit midfielder who provokes comparism with French midfielder Mathieu Valuebuena, helped in keeping possession for Nigeria with some neat and deft touches….5/10

Barring any last minute change, Owngoalnigeria.com has obtained the list of players who will start for Nigeria Under-23s in a few hours time when they take on Japan, in their first game of the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The team will play a 4-3-3 formation, with Daniel Akpeyi preferred in goal ahead of Emmanuel Daniel, while the full backs will be Shehu Abdullahi and Stanley Amuzie.

In central defende the duo of Saturday Erimuya and William Troost Ekong will pair while the three man midfield will be anchored by captain Mikel Obi, Azubuike Okechukwu and Usman Mohammed .

In attack the trio of Imoh Ezekiel, Ogenekaro Etebo and Junior Ajayi, will lead Nigeria quest to win her opening game after the flight hitches that delayed their arrival in Manaus, venue of the game.

1.Daniel Akpeyi
4.Shehu Abdullahi
5.Saturday Erimuya
6.William Troost Ekong
8. Ogenekaro Etebo
9. Imoh Ezekiel
10.Mikel Obi,
11. Junior Ajayi
14. Okechukwu Azubuike
16. Stanley Amuzie
17. Stanley Dimgba

Rivers United forward Bernard Ovoke is back in Nigeria after failing to secure a deal with Norwegian side Lillestrom, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively report.

Ovoke spent close to two weeks in Norway with Lillestrom, but wasn’t offered a deal due to reasons that we couldn’t confirm as at the time of going to press.

The forward is back to Nigeria according to a source who has full knowledge of the deal and he has promised to furnish more details about what lead to the deal not to happen.

“Ovoke is back in Nigeria, it’s unfortunate but the deal didn’t work, am driving now but I will give you the full details of what lead to the collapse of the deal” He told Owngoalnigeria.com.

Lillestom were hoping the forward will replace fellow Nigerian Friday fred, who recently joined Dutch side AZ Alkmaar after four seasons in Norway.