Kelechi Iheanacho scored his 12th league goal of the season as Leicester City slumped to a 1-3 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge putting their top four hopes in doubt.

Iheanacho who started in the 1-0 FA Cup final win over same opponent started from the bench but his Nigerian counterpart at the same club Wilfred Ndidi kept his place in the starting line up.

With Leicester City trailing 0-2, coach of the team Brendan Rodgers threw in the Nigerian who is their top scorer this season and he didn’t disappoint as he pulled a goal back with 14 minutes left to
play.

Ndidi snatched the ball as Chelsea tried to play it out from the back and fed Iheanacho who was free in the box, the 24 year old side footed a first time effort past Edouard Mendy to hand his team a lifeline heading into the final ten minutes of the game.

The goal saw him go into the record books as the first player in the history of the English Premier League to score on everyday of the week in same season.

Prior to the game he has scored on every other day bar Tuesday and finally did but still ended up on the losing side despite their late push to get a leveler.

Chelsea however hanged on to claim all three points and move up to 3rd on the table replacing Leicester City who now need to win their last game to fend off 5th place Liverpool who are just one point behind but have played two games less.

The senior national team of Mexico will on the 3rd of July take on the Super Eagles is Nigeria in an international friendly.

The announcement was made by the official handle of the Mexican National Team which brings to two the number of friendly games Nigeria will play within a month.

Cameroon will be the second opponent of the Nigerian team who are using the game to keep in shape and also try new players following the postponement of the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup earlier billed for June.

The date for the Cameroon game is the 4th of June in Austria , one month before the game against Mexico. It could see some players pull out of the game as it coincides with the middle of their off season break.

Sources close to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) told Owngoalnigeria.com that talks are still underway with some European and African countries for another game in June.

Coach of Liverpool Jurgen Klopp has told Nigerian forward Taiwo Awoniyi that he will be part of his squad for pre season after the 23 year old was granted a work permit to play for the team.

Klopp has twice played a role in the forward who was signed in 2015 heading to Germany on loan because he believe he will get the needed education to thrive in his team.

This season, the Nigerian has grown in leaps and bounds with five goals in 20 games for Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, a tally which could have been more if not for the injury the kept him out for two months.

However Klopp has seen enough to hand him a chance to fight for a spot in his team for next season starting from when the team will regroup for pre season with Divock Origi set to be allowed to leave the team in the summer.

Although a loan to a team in the English Championship could be on the cards, the foremost idea for now still remains watching him at close quarters for the first part of pre season.

Genk of Belgium have slapped a €35 million price tag on Nigeria international forward Paul Onuachu, Owngoalnigeria.com reports.

Onuachu who has scored 33 goals in the Belgium League this season has generated interest from top teams across Europe who have been impressed with his showing this season.

Serie A duo of Lazio and AC Milan firm up their approach with a bid believed to be around €25 million but were told by the Genk management that it will take in excess of €35 million to get the 26 year old. Doubts surrounds their return with an improved offer.

So far their bids are the only two which has been officially tabled for the lanky forward who has three goals for the senior national team of Nigeria in ten games. Two came in his last two games during the last round of international games.

He has been summoned once again by the coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr for their next friendly game against Cameroon next month.

A total of 15 scouts led by that of Portuguese giants FC Porto will this weekend arrive Abuja for a one week tournament meant to scout players, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

The tournament put together by DN 10 Football Academy in conjunction with TBC Football Club will begin in the capital of Nigeria on the 23rd of May and will run till the 28th of same month.

Now in its seven years of existence, the tournament has produced players like Suleiman Abdullahi, Mikel Agu, Chidozie Awaziem and Chidera Ejuke among others.

Renowned Nigerian agent Babawo Mohammed who is the brain behind the tournament told Owngoalnigeria.com that the idea is to see players who will be ready for trials or sign contracts if they impress the scouts during the tournament.

“ It’s been on for seven years now and this year is no exception. We have already finished all paper works with the scouts and teams who will be involved. The idea is to get players who will be ready for trails in the summer but extremely good ones will sign immediately”, Babawo said.

Scouts from Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, Rosenborg of Norway, FK Arda Karzhali of Bulgaria will be in Abuja alongside five from different Turkish teams namely Alanyaspor, Gaziantep, Sivasspor, Kasimpasa and Istanbul Basaksehir.

Scouts from Swedish sides Malmo FF, Hammarby IF, Djurgarden IF and Vasteras SK will be in attendance as well. Two teams from Mexico in Koles De Tijuana and Dorados will be present for the week long tournament.

Former coach of Manchester United teen sensation Shola Shoretire has revealed that the player’s father want him to play for Nigeria during his formative years.

David Ballantyne a former coach at Newcastle United Academy revealed this in an interview with Newcastle Chronicles in February while speaking on the rise of the first team at Manchester United.

Ballantyne saw Shoretire’s development over two years at his Feet4Football venture before he move to Manchester City and then Old Trafford at the age of 10. It all started with a move to Newcastle United Academy who are wondering how they let him get away.

Still only 17 and yet to be capped by England at senior level where he was born to parents of Nigerian descent, Ballantyne said his father who was always there for his son has always wanted him to play for Nigeria.

‘His dad was determined that he was going to be a player. The talk was to see him play for Nigeria in the future and become the next Okocha. He would stand behind the goal we were attacking, with his flat cap on, shouting out instructions to Shola.

“But Shola was always destined to make it. We say up here you need feet, heart and a head to be a footballer. Two of those aren’t enough. Shola had all three. His determination made him stand out, not just his skill and pace.

“He joined Newcastle and they wanted to keep him under wraps before signing him. That was always going to be very hard.’

Victor Osimhen continue his fine form for Napoli the past 13 games with another scintillating performance to help them to a 2-0 win over Fiorentina.

Although he wasn’t among the goal scorers he was by far one of the best player on the pitch with his cross field pass to Lorenzo Insigne the catalyst for the second goal scored by Piotr Zielinski.

With ten goals and three assists in his last 13 games, the 21 year old is slowly delivering on the promise that made Napoli shell out €70 million to sign him from Lille in the summer.

His slow start to life at the club which wasn’t helped by a shoulder injury and a failed Covid 19 test raised doubts about the fee paid for him but it appears like a thing of the past now.

Respected Italian journalist David Amoyal has lend his voice to those who now believe in the Nigerian by tagging him as a potential candidate for most valuable player in the league next season “ Next season Osimhen going to be in the conversation for most valuable Serie A player on transfer market- he’s superb and there is a lack of great number 9s“, he posted on Twitter.

The substantive captain of Kano Pillars Rabiu Ali has explained why he handed the captain band to Ahmed Musa on his return to the team.

Musa made his debut for the Kano side for the second time in his career as they run out 1-0 winners over Adamawa United with the Super Eagles captain setting up Ali for the winner.

Prior to the game, Musa was handed the armband by Ali few minutes to kick off and the move got a lot of people talking considering the legendary status of Ali in the team.

After the game , Ali explained that the move is out of respect for what Musa has achieved in his career and also the fact that he is the captain of the senior national team of Nigeria.

“ Nobody told me to hand the band to him, Musa on his part was prepared to play under me as his captain but to me I feel he deserved better hence I handed the band to him”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

“ Musa is the captain of the Super Eagles. He has achieved a whole lot and that alone is enough for me to hand him the band in honor”, he concluded.

A wonder strike from Youri Tielemans was all Leicester City needed to claim their first English FA Cup trophy in over 50 years.

Chelsea were undone in the 63rd minute when Tielemans rifled home a well struck volley leaving Kepa Arrizabalaga with no chance. The goal ended as the decider of the game.

The Nigerian duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho we’re both on from the start with Iheanacho giving way to James Maddison few minutes after the goal.

However, Ndidi was on for the entire duration of the game negating all that Chelsea threw forward and one can effectively say he kept N’golo Kante in check, something that isn’t easy with the current form of the French man.

They and the rest of their Leicester City teammates will now switch their attention towards finishing in the top four in the league as they push to qualify for the UEFA Champions League with two games left to play.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has released a provisional list of 31 players who will be in camp for Nigeria for the friendly game against Cameroon.

One name that was missing from the list is Rangers of Scotland defender Leon Balogun who only recently won the league title with the Scottish side to end the dominance of Celtic.

They were first time call up for the duo of Marcus Ayomide Abraham and Terem Moffi who was named on standby during the last round of international games.

Four home based players in Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Johnson Noble, Anayo Iwuala and captain Ahmed Musa made the list while there was also a return to the team for Simy Nwankwo who have scored 20 goals this season for Crotone in the Serie A.