Head coach of German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen Xabi Alonso has called leaped to the defence of Nigeria international striker Victor Boniface who scored the winner in yesterday’s UEFA Champions League 1-0 win over AC Milan, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Boniface opened his account in the tournament by reacting faster than to a spilled effort, and the goal ended up as the sole game of the game, handing his side their second consecutive win of the tournament in as many games.

He was however subjected to criticism owing to the way he hangs on to the ball even when not needed. Most times it either kills or slow down the pace with which the team is attacking as seen in some attacking phase of play in yesterday’s win over the Italian side.

Alonso was asked about his opinion on the Nigerian style of play after the game and he called for patience, insisting that Boniface should be judged on the fact that he did his role as a striker by scoring the goal that decided the game.

“But he’s also done very well. Some situations in the first half against Gabbia or Emerson were not easy on the left side, which is his space. Yes, in the first half he was too… he wanted a nutmeg when there was space outside for Grimaldo, for Jerry [Frimpong]. But we know him, we understand him, we support him. In the end we won 1-0, the striker scored a goal – he’s done his job very well’, he said at the post match presser.

Former Africa footballer of the year Emmanuel Adebayor insists that Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy will be a worthy winner of the Africa Player of the year award ahead of Ademola Lookman of Nigeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lookman is widely seen as as the overwhelming favourite to replace his international teammate Victor Osimhen as the best player in Africa, after an extraordinary season with Atalanta where he fired them to Europa League glory with a hattrick in the 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the final.

He was also the star of the Nigerian side that went all the way to the final of the AFCON, before losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire. He scored three goals to further cement his case.

Despite that Adebayor believes that Guirassy who had an outstanding last season with German side Stuttgart, and has also transferred his form to his new team Borussia Dortmund will be a fair choice as the next winner of the Africa footballer of the year, despite not at his best at the AFCON where he scored just once for Guinea.

” I mean it that Guirassy won’t be an unpopular choice if he wins the award. Like I said earlier he is a striker who scores lot of goals and that was what handed Victor Osimhen the award last year. Ademola Lookman is a solid choice but you can’t say Guirassy doesn’t deserve it if given”, the former Togolese forward was quoted as saying.

It is the second time that Adebayor who has Nigerian roots has is openly making a case for the Guinean. The first time was in July when he granted an interview to Afrik-Foot.

“Of course [he deserves to win]. He had an extraordinary season with Stuttgart, he is a striker who scored a lot. He will be one of the contenders, that’s for sure, especially since Salah has not scored as much, and Victor Osimhen did not have the same season as the year of the title. It’s open this year. If it’s Guirassy, it will be deserved”, he said on the 3rd of July.

The interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has listed conditions that will make him consider taking the job on a permanent basis, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Eguavoen’s tenure as interim coach of the team was extended to cover the October double header games against Libya in the AFCON 2025 qualifiers, after leading them to a 3-0 win over Benin Republic and a 0-0 draw against Rwanda respectively in their first two games of the series.

They will continue the hunt for a ticket later this month with back to back games against Libya on the 11th and 15th of October respectively, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in an announcement confirmed Eguavoen as the coach for both games.

Asked what it will take for him to consider quitting his role as technical director of the NFF in favor of taking the job as coach on a permanent deal, the former Nigeria international listed the conditions the NFF must meet.

“The Super Eagles job I’m doing right now, if I were to switch permanently, it’s something I’d need to sit down, reflect, and think deeply about because it’s not a small job”, he told former Super Eagles defender Ifeanyi Udeze in an interview on Brila FM.

”It will be a tough one. You have to give me long term contract with patience and clauses in that contract because winning is not guaranteed every week or day.

“You will give me time to tweak the team till I find what I want. If they’re going to give me a long-term contract with guaranteed patience, why not? Otherwise, I don’t know.”

Josh Maja isn’t thinking about a recall to the senior national team setup of Nigeria despite his near perfect start to the season for West Brom in the English Championship, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Maja has found the back of the net seven times in as many games this season, proving his return to full fitness after missing the most of last season due to an injury. His fine run of form has sparked talks of a possible return to the international fold with the Super Eagles.

Capped once in 2019 in the Super Eagles 2-2 draw against Ukraine, the 25 year old hasn’t been able to add to that number due to his inconsistent form at club level , but that appears to be in the past with the manner he has started the season with West Brom.

However sources close to the former Bordeaux forward say returning to the international scene with Nigeria is a distant dream for now as he is fully focused on powering West Brom back to the English Premier League.

He is keen on repaying the trust of the team in standing by him during his lengthy layoff due to injury, and helping them return to the English top division with his goals is his main priority for now above all.

It doesn’t mean he won’t honor the invitation if it comes, but he isn’t going to lose sleep if he doesn’t get one in the nearest future.

First choice striker of the senior national team of Nigeria Victor Osimhen is a huge doubt for the team’s upcoming AFCON 2025 qualifiers games against Libya on the 11th and 15th of October respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen opened his goal account for his loan side Galatasaray with a brace in their 3-3 draw against Kasimpasa, but had to go off injured with a hamstring injury that will see him miss their game in the Europa League against Latvian side FK Rīgas Futbola Skola on Thursday.

Galatasaray are optimistic that he will be back in action when they play against Alanyaspor on Sunday, If he doesn’t suffer any setback with the striker also stressing that it isn’t anything serious to keep him out for a while.

However if he fails to recover properly, there is a strong chance that he will be left out of the Super Eagles squad for the AFCON qualifiers, with plans already underway for a likely replacement.

For now the odd is firmly in favor of Gent forward Tolu Arokodare who has been mentioned to the coach by his sources in Belgium. It is still not clear if he will eventually get the nod per what we exclusively gathered.

The list of players who will prosecute the Super Eagles upcoming AFCON 2025 qualifiers games against Libya is expected to be made public next week, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Interim coach Austine Eguavoen has already sent out provisional invitation to around 35 players for the double header scheduled for the 11th and 15th of October, with Nigeria keen on solidifying their position as group leaders after starting their campaign with a 3-0 win over Benin Republic and a 0-0 draw away to Rwanda.

Eguavoen will reduced the number of players called up to a manageable number of 24, but some players having a very good start to the season are not expected to be in the list as they are not in the plans of the coach.

Josh Maja – Capped once by Nigeria in 2019 when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Ukraine in a friendly game. Maja has started the season like a house on fire with seven goals in his first seven games of the season for West Brom in the English Championship, but he is not expected to be in the squad for both games.

Cyriel Dessers – Found the back of the net the last time he started which was against Ghana in a friendly game in March. He is yet to be capped by Nigeria at competitive level and despite boasting of five goals in 11 games for Rangers in all competitions this season, he isn’t expected to add to his six caps for Nigeria.

Kevin Akpoguma – The former German youth international hasn’t had the best of times in the colours of Nigeria, as previous coaches of the team including Gernot Rohr who convinced him to switch nationality not quite sold out on playing him as a regular. However his club form has been stellar and this season at Hoffenheim he has played in all of their five games, but he is still not in contention to add to his eight caps for Nigeria.

Jordan Torunarigha – He was capped once and subsequently binned. He has put behind the disappointment of missing out on a summer move away from Gent he has buckled down and now has a permanent spot in the team. However the former Germany youth International is not anywhere near to a recall.

Gabriel Osho – Now at French Ligue 1 side Auxerre. Osho was handed his first invitation in March for the friendly games against Ghana and Mali respectively, but couldn’t honor it due to a knock picked up while on duty with his ex side Luton Town. At Auxerre he has been ever present but a second chance with the Super Eagles isn’t on the cards.

The coach of Italian Serie A side Udinese Kosta Runjaic has offered his honest assessment of the performance of Nigeria international goalkeeper Maduka Okoye in the 2-3 loss they suffered against champions Inter Milan.

Okoye was largely guilty for one of the goals conceded by the team as he failed to gather a weak effort from Lautaro Martinez allowing the effort to creep through his fingers into the net.

Udinese who have started the season on a high note were no where near the champions, but coach Runjaic believe the nature of the way they conceded two of the three goals handed the champions a huge chance to win the game.

He voiced his disappointment while speaking to the official website of the club after the game. ” Overall we played well. It was enjoyable to watch because both teams were attacking. Once again we made simple mistakes and conceded goals. There are always two sides to the coin: there were some good things but we also lost the game. We need to do better”, he was quoted as saying.

“We needed to run a lot today and that’s why I picked the team I did. On the first goal we gave the ball away too cheaply and the second is a goal we should never concede. It was the worst time to let one in. At the end of the day, Inter deserved to win.

“I think there are lots of positives to take from today. We’re still in the learning phase and we know there are lots of aspects of our game that we need to improve.”

A member of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Victor Ikpeba has given a proper view on the managerial situation of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the AFCON qualifiers games against Libya, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Eguavoen was handed an extension to his stay as coach of the team in interim capacity for the games against Libya on the 11th and 15th of October respectively.

The statement by the NFF didn’t state if he will be occupying the role in interim capacity or otherwise and Ikpeba was asked to define the role of the coach following the extension.

“Yes, I can confirm that the role is still as interim”, Ikpeba said during the broadcast of Monday Live Football on SuperSports.

Pressed further on if the NFF is still searching for a foreign coach , Ikpeba said the time hasn’t come saying it could be revisited pending on how the team evolve under the interim management of Eguavoen.

He went further to explain why they have experienced difficulties in hiring a foreign coach for the team since the departure of Finidi George, and the announcement of an expatriate coach expected to be his replacement.

” You know, I think the process have problems initially, we wanted a foreign manager, but there was a lot of speculation. Some people from the government, from the ministry, wanted a home base coach, which eventually we had. Unfortunately Finidi’s situation ended the way it did and hard decisions has to be made. We had the manager we wanted that was Bruno Labbadia whom I believe chickened out of the job.

” There will be a time when decisions will have to be made on Eguavoen continuing as the head coach or revert to his role as technical director of the NFF. He knows it and everyone around is also aware but I will rather prefer we get there first because a lot can change in football”, he concluded in response to Eguavoen picking up the role of the coach or permanent basis or not.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has explained why Nigeria international midfielder Wilfred Ndidi wasn’t sent off for delaying a quick restart in Leicester City 2-4 defeat against Arsenal on Saturday, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Ndidi who set up Leicester City’s second goal kicked the ball away after Bukayo Saka leading to a huge call by the fans of the home side for the Nigerian to be shown a second yellow card, which will see him receive his marching orders.

However unlike when Arsenal had Declan Rice sent off for allegedly delaying a quick restart and also Leandro Trossard against Manchester City, Ndidi was allowed to stay on and Gallagher says it was the right call not to send him off.

“He doesn’t delay the restart, there’s nobody there that can take a free-kick. If you really want players yellow carded for that, we’re going to have a lot of players sat in the stands”, he said while speaking on the decision taken by the referee.