The coach of Manchester City Pep Guardiola wasn’t in anyway carried away by his team’s 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg tie at the Etihad.

Guardiola’s team ran riot with Erling Haaland leading the charge with five goals as they power to a 8-1 aggregate win and sealed a spot in the quarter final of Europe’s premier club competition.

After the game he was asked about the fact that two Italian teams are already through to the quarter final in AC Milan and Inter Milan with Napoli prime to be the next when they take on Eintracht Frankfurt later today.

Napoli hold a 2-0 lead made possible with their Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen who has 19 goals in Serie A scoring one of the goals. They will be hoping he finds his range against the Germans.

Asked about Napoli, who are runaway leaders in the Italian Serie A Guardiola didn’t mince words praising them as the best team  in Europe at the moment rating them as playing like the English Premier League leaders Arsenal.

“In terms of playing style they’re very close to Arsenal. Inter and AC Milan are back. I am very pleased”, he said.

‘And then here we have [Roberto] De Zerbi who is changing many things in English football [at Brighton], playing wonderful football.’

Damian Waziri

The international future of 16 year old Vitesse wonderboy Michael Dokunmu appears to be firmly in the hands of South Africa after the 16 year old was listed in their preliminary squad for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

The son of a Nigerian father and a South African mother, the midfielder who recently penned a professional contract with the Dutch Eredivisie side is eligible for both nations but South Africa has stolen a march on Nigeria by handed him a spot in their list of players for the U17 tournament in Algeria.

Described as a beast in the middle, he was born in April 2006 in the South African city of Kimberley. At an early age, however, he moved to Johannesburg, where he let his talent grow and develop at four clubs (Little Kickers, Old Parks, Randburg FC and SuperSport United).

In December 2019, Dokunmu and his family made the crossing to the Netherlands. To the Schuytgraaf district of Arnhem to be precise. Together with his brother Ethan (Under 13), the midfielder was registered with Vitesse, where the youth players have now started their third season.

Upon signing his first professional deal at the club he was asked to describe his playing style which he replied thus. . “My main qualities? Those are my kicking technique, strength and running ability. I am also goal-oriented,” says Dokunmu, who scored eighteen goals for Vitesse Under 16 last season. “It would be nice to score often for the Under 18. My next goal is to progress to the Under 21 and my ultimate dream is of course to reach the first team.”

Nigeria will also campaign at the tournament as champions of WAFU B and they are in the same group with South Africa meaning if Dokunmu makes the final cut of players he will be up against Nigeria in group B.

The other teams in the group are Morocco, South Africa and Zambia. The last four teams at the tournament which starts on the 29th of April will qualify for the U17 World Cup which will be hosted by Peru in November.

Damian Waziri

The management team of the top scorer in the English Championship Chuba Akpom has played down suggestions that he has been handed a maiden call up to the senior national team of Nigeria, OGN can exclusively reveal.

Yesterday he made a compelling case for a look-in with his 23rd goal of the season in Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw against Stoke City.  The result moved them to 3rd on the Championship table, just three points behind second position Sheffield United, who occupy the second automatic spot for promotion.

Since switching allegiance to Nigeria, the 27 year old who represented England at several youth levels hasn’t been called up to the team and if the world of the agency who represents him is anything to go by, then he will have to wait a little while.

His possible inclusion in the Nigerian team is threatened by the form of others who have played as partners to top striker Victor Osimhen and they include Terem Moffi who has 15 goals for Ligue 1 side Nice, Ademola Lookman who has 12 goals in the Serie A.

” We haven’t heard from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Maybe it has been sent to the club. That’s the only thing I can say. He is committed to playing for Nigeria and whenever he is called up he will give his best to the team”, he told OGN.

Mohammed Mowiz

The list of players invited for the senior national team of Nigeria AFCON qualifiers games against Guinea Bissau will soon be made public by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

OGN exclusively gathered that the list has already been submitted to the NFF for release but it is been delayed over the fitness issues of several players included by coach of the team Jose Peseiro.

We made checks on the joint top scorer in the Europa League Victor Boniface over his possible inclusion in the list of players for the back to back games against Guinea Bissau scheduled for 24th and 27th of March respectively.

Boniface has five goals in the Europa League for Union SG. The same with Marcus Rashford of Manchester United ahead of the second leg of the round of 16 games in Europe’s second club competition.

” He told me no idea of a call up to the Super Eagles when I asked him about it. Even his club haven’t told him anything in that regard. It’s a case of wait and see but I doubt if he is in because I would have known by now”, a close source to the player told OGN.

The recently concluded U20 Africa Cup of Nations saw the Flying Eagles of Nigeria came third after beating Tunisia 4-0 in the losers final played on Saturday in Egypt.

After the tournament, two players of the Nigerian team namely Augustine Njoku and Solomon Agbalaka were picked in the team’s best XI players aside the team winning the fair play award trophy.

Worthy to note that respected stats agency InStat Index has rated the best ten players at the tournament with Senegal emerging as champions after a 2-0 win over Gambia in the final game played on Sunday.

The Senegalese team didn’t conced a single all through the tournament and as expected six of their players made it to the best ten players at the tournament alongside one from Gambia, Uganda and two from Nigeria.

Among the two Nigerian players picked Benjamin Fredrick, the team’s commander in defence was rated as the 7th best player at the tournament. His teammate Mohammed Beji was rated in 10th position.

Benjamin, who is a graduate of Simoiben Football Academy played every single minute of Nigeria’s campaign at the tournament commiting just one foul and didn’t pick a single booking.

Already he has been snapped up by one of the leading football agency in the world in CAA Base. There are reports that as many as six teams have already registered their interest in the soon to be 18 year old.

Mohammed Mowiz 

The list of the players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria by head coach Jose Peseiro for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers back to back games against Guinea Bissau is yet to be made public.

However OGN exclusively gathered that it has been submitted already to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) before its official release which was moved to later this week with the coaches checking on the fitness of some players listed for the games.

One player who will feel he has done his chances a lot of good is Middlesbrough forward Chuba Akpom, who is yet to be handed his first call up since switching his international allegiance to Nigeria from England, where he was a youth international at different levels.

Yesterday he made a compelling case for a look-in with his 23rd goal of the season in Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw against Stoke City.  The result moved them to 3rd on the Championship table, just three points behind second position Sheffield United, who occupy the second automatic spot for promotion.

His possible inclusion in the Nigerian team is threatened by the form of others who have played as partners to top striker Victor Osimhen and they include Terem Moffi who has 15 goals for Ligue 1 side Nice, Ademola Lookman who has 12 goals in the Serie A.

Osas Mahawi

The international future of high flying Bournemouth midfielder Philip Billing is far from over with his agent leaving the door open to a potential switch of to the senior national team of Nigeria.

Billing has been capped thrice by Denmark at senior level but he is still eligible to represent Nigeria. His last cap for Denmark came last year when he played 45 minutes in their 2-0 win over Austria.

Since then he has been mad to endure the role of an unused substitute twice in games against Croatia and France respectively. He wasn’t named in their 26 man list for the World Cup in Qatar last year.

This season he appears to have found his level six goals already from his deep lying role in the middle. He scored against Arsenal after nine seconds going into the record books as the second fastest goal in the history of the English Premier League. Last weekend he also scored the winner in the 1-0 win over Liverpool.

His run of form made former captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel to ask him to consider a switch to Nigeria and be a part of the building process by new coach Jose Peseiro.

Reacting to the request from Mikel, his agent via mail told OGN that playing for Nigeria still remains an option to him even though he has twice said he is committed to a future with Denmark, where he feels more at home.

” The last coach did something in his head and the idea isn’t leaving anytime soon. Yes he still wants to continue playing for Denmark but you can never tell what could happen in the future or maybe next month. Give it some time”, his reply to our mail reads.

Daniel Martins

The recent axing of 16 players from the 30 players called up to the Nigeria U23 team on the grounds of age falsification has exposed the weak defence put up by the assistant coach of the team Kennedy Boboye after a report on OGN.

Boboye without reaching out went ahead to grant an interview to a Nigerian website conducted by Shina Oludare terming what was supposed to alert the technical crew on what has now affected their preparation as a distraction. He went as far as terming it as malicious.

“We [the technical crew] were stunned reading the news, and I must state here that the report is malicious,” Boboye told Soccernet.ng.

“That story should not be taken seriously because it is a ploy to distract the team ahead of the all-important match against the Guineans.

“I have spoken to coach Salisu about this, and we have agreed that it will not derail our target of getting the U23 Afcon ticket.

“We [members of the coaching crew] are solidly behind him; if he succeeds, we are a part of it, and if the reverse happens, we will all take responsibility.

“I am bold to inform you that the players called up are within the required bracket, and those we believe will get the job done”, he rounded up saying but alas he lied.

The camp is now having just 14 players left with 16 of the invited players for the game in less than ten days time having issues with their documents. Again it questions Boboye’s suitability for the role of assistant to Salisu Yusuf if he can tell a lie without even thinking twice.

As picked up by our editorial team, it isn’t the first time that the former Plateau United, Akwa United and Shooting Stars coach has been involved in trying to bring players above the age limit to the U23 team.

His attempt to get Sikiru Alimi to play for the U23 was openly rebuffed by the player when he sent him a Twitter post asking for the age on his passport. It was in the build up to the qualifiers for the U23 Africa Cup of Nations. That report went viral on social media platform Nairaland and made it way to Opera News Platform.

Going by his antecedent, his decision to speak against what the present NFF preached against with the U20 team and made the coach to drop seven regulars.

Going forward it’s only normal that Boboye shuts up and say no more.

Mohammed Mowiz

The head coach of the Nigeria U23 team Salisu Yusuf is hardly far aways from controversies and his recent list of players invited to the Nigeria U23 camp for the AFCON qualifiers against Guinea is another case study.

As first reported by OGN when the list of the 30 invited players was made public by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) , some of the players on the list are actually above the age limit for participation for the qualifiers on the 22nd of March.

Early this morning we exclusively gathered that 16 of the invited players have been asked to leave the camp of the team as their ages isn’t the same as the approved documents needed for participation in the game.

As at this morning, the team is now left with just 14 players and officials are scampering to get players to make up the numbers to be able to have a full training session. There are plans to draft in some players from the U20 team that recently finished as 3rd at the Africa U20 Cup of Nations over the weekend.

” The team is in disarray. When documentation was done, it was discovered that as many as 16 players have passports with different ages or have ages different from the one on the Domestic Transfer Matching System (DTMS). It’s a mess to be honest”, a source at the NFF told OGN.

Aside that the foreign based players are also expected to join the team five days before the first leg game against Guinea. However this sudden revelation has indeed left the team in a state of confusion and also replied the assistant coach of the team Kennedy Boboye who termed OGN warning as a distraction.

” When that article came we asked the coaching crew if they are sure of the ages of the players called up and they said yes without a doubt. Now we have seen otherwise and this is unacceptable because it’s happening for the third time under these same coaching crew”, he rounded up saying.

Osas Mahawi

The pace at which 20 year old Nigerian forward Gift Orban has settled down to life in Belgium following his January transfer move hasn’t gone unnoticed by top teams around Europe.

Orban has found the back of the net nine times in eight games this season with seven coming in the league including four over the weekend against Zulte Waregem. In the Europa Conference League he has scored twice in just three games.

Signed for a little over €3m from second division Norwegian side Stabæk, his feat has raised his market value to an appreciable height which Gent have now said will be a record sale as they hope to maximize their profit from his sale.

Asked how much he thinks the club will demand in the event of a possible sale of the forward, coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck speaking after the game against Zulte Waregem yesterday said a fee in the region of €40-50m should be okay for his sale. “Forty million! Although it may also be fifty million ”, he said after the match against Essevee.

Although the fee might end up being a lot less but it’s clear that the team have a gem who can fetch them a huge transfer fee especially if he maintains his current run in front of goal. Already he has been voted the player of the month in Belgium and also won the goal of the month.

Daniel Martins