One of the most anticipated sporting events in the world took place last Sunday, February 13 – we are talking about Super Bowl in its 56th edition. The National Football League (NFL) championship was marked by Eminem’s performance and by one of the star players: Larry Ogunjobi.

The importance of this event is so vital that the most crucial advertising agencies reserve around 11 months in advance a spot of only a few minutes for up to 2 million dollars. This way, they can present their most creative commercials and reach the largest possible audience. Although the financial results for this year are still being calculated, in 2021, a year marked by the pandemic, the audience of the Super Bowl was recorded in decline, and it was still 96.4 million viewers.

Who is this Nigerian-descendant player?

The American defensive tackle has carried the Nigerian flag in the National Football League since 2017, the moment his career started with Cleveland Browns, and since March 19, 2021, with Cincinnati Bengals. Born and raised in Livingston, New Jersey, his parents are originally from Nigeria and take pride in his son’s double majoring in computer science and biology while playing college football at Charlotte University of North Carolina.

At 27 years old, Ogunjobi has 229 total tackles during his NFL career, making him one of the best currently at his position. These guys represent the dream of many others worldwide, as many athletes want to reach this level in their careers. During the most recent annual playoff of the NFL, Ogunjobi made his fans in New Jersey proud, along with the other 6 Nigerians who participated in the championship.

The Bengals vs Rams: a close story

Last Sunday, Ogunjobi and his Nigerian compatriot Hakeem Adeniji participated in one of the tensest and close games in the championship history, resulting in the final score of 20-23 in favour of the Los Angeles Rams. On this occasion, the first part belonged to the locals, who dominated 13-10. However, the powerful halftime show with Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem fueled the Bengals, scoring 16-20. And it is here where the performance of our favourites stood out remarkably.  

It seems football fans have quite followed the history of these two teams. The two have met 15 times (including 1 postseason game), with the Cincinnati Bengals winning 8 games and the Los Angeles Rams winning 7 games. The last time they shared the field was in October 2019.

Ogunjobi’s future in NFL

Larry Ogunjobi’s contract with the NFL expires next year. He notes that he started 16 games in 2021, recording seven sacks, 49 tackles, and a career-high 12 tackles for loss. This is a great career opportunity for this player, and just by being a part of one of the most televised championships in sports history, he already deserves a long life in the NFL.

The interim technical adviser of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has taken his first step towards convincing Crystal Palace duo of Michael Olise and Ebere Eze to pledge their allegiance to Nigeria.

Eguavoen is in England alongside his assistant Emmanuel Amuneke with the aim of seeing Super Eagles players base in the country and also have a meeting ahead of the crucial world cup qualifiers playoff game against Ghana in March.

The duo who are with the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick also the general secretary of the football house Dr Mohammed Sanusi will also meet with players of Nigerian descent, who have played for other countries.

Top of the list is the duo of Eze and Olise who have played for England and France respectively at youth levels. They are also eligible to play for England as well. Olise can also play for Algeria.

Yesterday, Eguavoen met with UK based Nigerian David Doherty who is the brain behind Team Nigeria UK and also played a role in the decision of Ola Aina to switch allegiance to Nigeria.

Doherty in 2017 brought Ebere Eze to the Super Eagles training camp in London and he is reportedly still very close to the midfielder, who is a close friend of Olise.

Details of their meeting hasn’t been made public but it is believed that having the duo switch allegiance to Nigeria is something they discussed and meeting the players is also on the menu.

Victor Osimhen is once again under the spotlight after failing to score in yet another big game in the Italian Serie A after Napoli were forced to a 1-1 draw by Inter Milan.

Prior to the game, the spotlight wa on Osimhen not doing enough in big games since his record breaking move to Napoli two years ago. That debate was once again ignited after the game against Inter Milan on Saturday.

Although Osimhen won the penalty which was converted by Lorenzo Insigne in the 7th minute for the opening goal of the game. After the game Napoli coach Luciano Spalleti was asked about the performance of the Nigerian.

The coach reckoned although he did well, he need to improve in certain areas of his game which includes realising that he can’t do it all alone on his own.”He had a good race. He’s strong, he has an excitement, there is no need to go down a single road, you can use a lot of them to exploit him”, he stated.

”It’s clear that if he goes too far alone, we’re not in a position to support him. . However, it is part of his exuberance, of his strength. A player who will surely be a champion in the future”, he concluded.

New coach of Everton Frank Lampard has explained the reason why Nigeria international midfielder Alex Iwobi was at his best in his team’s 3-0 win over Leeds United at the weekend.

Iwobi took the game by the scruff of the neck dropping what can easily pass as one of his best performance so far this season. Such was his performance that he was hailed as the best player in the game.

His performance no doubt impressed his coach Lampard who was filled of praises for the former Arsenal man who hasn’t quite lived up to his hefty price tag since his move to Goodison Park.

He went forward to explain that a change in formation also aided the Nigerian who also showed good work ethics especially against a Leeds United team, who usually make teams sweat when in possession.

“What Alex has done is trained at a great level. He’s a quiet lad, keeps his head down, trains with talent, trains with work ethic”, he said after the game .

“The way we changed the formation of the team and played with wide men, Alex just sort of demanded a place in the team with his performance. He just needs to believe in himself. I said it to him before the game.

“I certainly believe in him with the things I’ve seen. The work ethic side of the game he shown in that role – it was a tough gig playing against a side against Leeds. You have to do a lot off the ball.

“I’ll just keep working on that. We’ve got other players on the bench who can come on. It’s important everyone gives their absolute maximum, to the limit. Alex did that today”, he concluded

Newly appointed head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Emmanuel Amuneke says there will be no conflict of interest in his role as assistant to the technical adviser of the team Austine Eguavoen.

Amuneke’s appointment was announced last week by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with Salisu Yusuf dropping to the role of second assistant while Joseph Yobo keeps his role but this time around as third assistant.

The decision to draft Amuneke led to talks about a possible conflict of interest as he is one who have handled the head coach role of a senior national team before when he guided Tanzania to the Africa Cup of Nations.

He also said in an interview in December that he doesn’t see himself working as an assistant to any coach in the Super Eagles setup when he was asked about taking up a role as assistant to then coach Gernot Rohr.

It led to talks on if his appointment won’t bring about a conflict of interest with Eguavoen who is the head of the crew but he was quick to point out that it won’t be an issue at all.

“Why will there be conflict of interest? We are focusing on the same goal and that’s to take Nigerian football to another level, we have same interest and that’s what will help us.

“We have to lay down an example to the younger generation and that’s what most of us who played the game in the past and are now into coaching are doing. We have a target, and we must achieve that working together as a team, so I don’t see any conflict of interest”, he told Charles Diya of New Telegraph.

Former Chelsea and Liverpool youth teamer Dominic Solanke scored his 20th goal of the season for Bournemouth in the English Championship helping them to a 3-1 win over Birmingham City.

Solanke struck in the 31st minute to extend his team’s lead as they continue their push to gain promotion to the English Premier League. They are currently second on the log six points behind leaders Fulham.

The 24 year old has finally delivered on the promise that made him a hit in his teenage years both at club and also national level where he played at several levels for England.

Solanke was a big hit with the England U20 scoring 10 goals from 15 games. He also scored nine goals in 18 games for the U21 but his poor form didn’t help him make the progress many envisage for him with the senior national team.

In 2018 , he turned down the chance to switch to Nigeria from England following an approach from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). According to his representative he is now more open to the idea.

” It’s a discussion we had few months ago. If the option is on the table he will consider it. Playing senior national team football is the dream of many footballers. If approached then a decision won’t be hard to reach”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

Optimism greeted the appointment of Emmanuel Amuneke as part of the Super Eagles technical crew ahead of the World Cup qualifiers playoff against Ghana in March.

Amuneke will serve as head coach to Austine Eguavoen who retains his role as interim technical adviser with Salisu Yusuf his first assistant dropping to the role of second assistant, while Paul Aigbogun was sacrificed in the new set up. Joseph Yobo will be the third assistant.

Looking at the career of Amuneke as coach is hard to mention any sustained success since leading Nigeria to the U17 World Cup glory in 2015. A tournament which Nigeria isn’t new to winning as they were champions even before his feat.

It means transiting the team to become U20 champions at world level. A feat that Nigeria has never achieved will be seen as his first step towards writing his name in the history books of Nigerian football as a coach.

A team loaded with talents like Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Nwakali, Samuel Chukwueze, Orji Okonkwo, Kingsley Michael among others surprisingly failed to make it to the Africa U20 World Cup. This result came despite their win away to Sudan.

They were simply no match for the Sudanese in Lagos who got the result they need to qualify for the tournament with a sqaud less in talent than that of Nigeria. Worthy to note is that the Nigerian team went on strike on the eve of the game in Lagos. A sign of how the technical crew didn’t stamp their authority on the young boys who needed guidance.

He made his first real foray into senior management when he was appointed as coach of Tanzania and despite qualifying them for their first Africa Cup of Nations in 39 years, he was dismissed a year to the end of his two years deal.

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) took the decision after they fail to win any of their games at the AFCON but beyond the results at the tournament, the also cited the breakdown in relationship between the coach and senior members of the team.

The heat of it was when he dropped six senior players before the crucial AFCON qualifiers game against Uganda. In that game Uganda fielded a weakened team as they are already through as group winners. Till date many Tanzanians credit their next door neighbor Uganda for helping them break the duck of their absence at AFCON not Amuneke.

After the Tanzanian experience he went to Sudan and was celebrated as a high level appointment by Al Khartoum SC. A fine pre season raised the expectations of fans but in the league proper  they gained just 11 points from eight matches in the Sudanese Premier League and he was subsequently fired.

He claimed he wasn’t sacked but the club in their statement said he was dismissed three months into his one year deal as results and relationship with some players wasn’t the best and it was affecting performance on the pitch.

Off he went to Egypt, where he is seen as a legend owing to his performance as a player for league giants Zamalek. He joined top division side El-Makkasa El-Makkasa after they ended the contract of Ahmed Hossam ‘Mido’.

Amuneke led El-Makkasa in three games in what was his shortest managerial tenure – against Smouha and Al Entag Al Harbi which both ended in 1-1 draws and then a 0-1 defeat to Tala’ea El Gaish in the Egyptian Cup. He was relieved off his role as first team coach. A little over three weeks to the date he was appointed.

Ehab Galal was announced as the new coach with Amuneke moved to the role of director of the club’s academies across Africa. However at that point they didn’t even have an academy in Egypt how much more in Africa.

Several Egyptian news outlet later reported that fallout with some senior players and backroom staff led to his early exit as first team coach as although he has an edge technically. His man management isn’t fit for senior players hence his deployment to their youth team. The youth team project never took off.

His appointment with Nigeria is his fourth sojourn into senior football and it is believed that he has learnt a thing or two about man management at a senior level as it was used against him in three different instance, when he attempted to make the step up from U17 glory to a level higher.

Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman has been cleared by world football governing body FIFA to play for Nigeria after completing a switch of allegiance process from England.

He represented England at several youth levels and has always been viewed as a future international for them at senior level and present England coach Gareth Southgate is a huge fan.

On loan from RB Leipzig of Germany to Leicester City, Lookman who has five goals this season worked with Southgate at U20 level with the coach the first to officially announce the intention of Nigeria to convince him to switch allegiance.

Southgate speaking back then said Lookman is among the players he hope to see in the senior colours of England after turning down three approaches from Nigeria.

“I know every country is quite aggressive in their recruiting and I know they have always had an interest in him, but he is playing and has been in our squads, the 20s, 21s,” Southgate said in 2018.

“So in terms of encouragement through game time, we are doing as much as we possibly can. Lookman knows he has a future with us”.

Lookman’s latest decision will no doubt infuriate the England boss particularly as he is close to returning to the form that made him a hit as a teenager back then at Everton.