Coach of Napoli Gennaro Gattuso has played down the back to back hattrick of Nigeria international forward Victor Osimhen in the two pre season games the team has played so far.

Osimhen followed up his hattrick against L’aquila with another in their 4-0 thrashing of Teramo earlier today. The goal took his pre season goal count to six in two games.

While the striker has been earning praises for the way he has been prolific in front of goal , Gattuso played it down by saying the goals didn’t carry much weight as other things he has seen in the 21 year old .

He said Osimhen need to continue to work hard and not rest on his pre season achievement , he however stressed that the way he has integrated into the squad is the most important thing he has seen so far.

“ Osimhen needs to keep working hard and never to be satisfied, these goals count for nothing. What’s important is that he’s already integrated into the group, joking and laughing”, he said after the game.

Ade Emmanuel 

Victor Osimhen is showing fans of Napoli what to expect when the Serie A season begins as he followed up his hattrick in his first test game for the club with another in the win over Serie C side Teramo.

Signed for a club record fee of €80 million, the 21 year old showed his class when he finished off a fine pass from Hirving Lozano to put his team 2-0 up going into the half time break.

He followed it up with a brace ten minutes after the half time break and almost scored a third but someone missed when it looks way easy to score. He made atonement later with a smart finish to hand his team a 4-0 win.

With around 15 minutes left to play , Osimhen was given a well deserved rest by coach Gennaro Gattuso who was as happy as anyone else following the hattrick by their big money man.

He now has six goals in two test games for Napoli, a form that many fans of the team will be hoping he carries into the season proper when they start off their campaign on the 11th of September against Pescara.

They will follow that up with another game in the Europa League against Sporting Lisbon with Osimhen expected to lead the line in both games .

Newly signed Arsenal U23 defensive midfielder Tim Akinola has his sight set on representing Nigeria at the 2022 World Cup but in the interim his goal is to break into the first team of Arsenal.

Akinola joined Arsenal on a free transfer from Huddersfield where he spent a year after impressing for Lincoln In the EFL Cup at the age of 17. He has since resumed training with the Arsenal U23 team.

Eligible to represent both Nigeria and England, he hasn’t been capped by any nation but according to one of his representatives his dream is to represent Nigeria as soon as he establishes himself in the first team of Arsenal.

“ Tim has his priorities first of which is to break into the first team of Arsenal. He has already gotten a feel of what it feels like to be a part of a big team. Now he wants more”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.

“ As for international football. Feel free to check his social media accounts. The one flag you’ll see there is that of Nigeria and the aim is to be a part of the team for the 2022 World Cup. Looks like a tall dream but it is achievable “.

SKF Sered of Slovakia shot stopper Matthew Yakubu added another clean sheets to his numbers with his team running out as 8-0 winners over SK Gbelany in the Slovakian Cup.

The former Nigeria U20 goalkeeper is yet to concede a goal in all of the four games he has kept goal this season further cementing his position as first choice of the modest outfit six months after his move.

In the league, the 21 year old who was a part of coach Paul Aigbogun U20 team hasn’t conceded in games against Spartak Trnava, Ruzomberok and Senica. So far he has been in goal for three of their four league games.

His form has already caught the attention of coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr, who has pencilled him down for a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria when they converge in October for two friendly games.

Football is undoubtedly the most loved sport in the world and millions of young athletes play football everywhere and on every kind of pitch. Between matches with friends, improvised goals and breathtaking races imagining that they are in the most important stadiums in the world, kids are used to chasing a ball from an early age.

But what is the right age to start playing football, such as to respect the child’s psychophysical awareness and, at the same time, guarantee their fun and eventual growth among professionals? Some scholars, including many psychologists, have divided the psychic and physical peculiarities of children by age group, identifying the best years to start practicing this sport in an optimal way.

You can test your football knowledge using a Ladbrokes sign-up offer.

The psychomotor development of the child

Since football is the most followed and loved sport, there is almost always a tendency to start a football academy from a very young age, even going so far as to find four or five-year-old children ready with the ball at their feet. While it is a fun activity that can be done outdoors, the importance of certain timing in psychomotor development at an early age, in sports in general, must nevertheless be taken into account.

In this case, starting to play football when the child is not yet able to focus on some key points, such as the distance or size of the goal, as well as the weight of the ball or the strength and effort necessary to make a tackle, could lead not only to technical defects to be corrected later, but above all it could be detrimental to the health of the young athletes.

For example, choosing a football approach through five-a-side football is more suitable for children, as the size of the field, the goals and the ball are more appropriate. Visit this page for more information about five-a-side football rules. 

The psychological breakdown by age group

Scholars took into consideration the behavior of children in different age groups to find the most suitable to start playing football; around 7 years old children get tired quickly of something and therefore are led to live multiple experiences in a very short time. Likewise, they are not used to rules dictated by a coach, who requires them to take a specific action, so the risk of them getting bored and leaving football early is very high.

At the age of 8, you already have a greater awareness of learning, so playing football is also taken as a fun way to learn. However, at that age one is not yet able to manage oneself, so without adequate supervision, there are frequent drops in attention that often lead to violent behavior.

At 9 years of age, the child is more able to focus better on something that attracts him, trying to continuously improve, with curiosity, putting himself into discussions day by day. Finally, at the age of 10, children are psychologically aware of the importance of belonging to a team, becoming aware of their teammates and the environment around them.

For this reason, in view of a future competitive activity, safeguarding the child physically and psychologically, the age group between 9 and 10 years is, according to scholars, the most suitable.

Nigeria will take on Côte d’Ivoire on the 9th of October and later Tunisia on the 13th of same month in two high profile international games in Austria and ahead of the game coach of the team Gernot Rohr has handed recall to some players.

Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered that Vitoria Guimaraes of Portugal midfielder Mikel Agu is among the players handed a recall by the coach for camping ahead of both games. Agu earned his spot on account of his form last season and it has even led to talks about a move to Ligue 1 side Nantes.

Back in favor is also Leon Balogun who was frozen out of the team owing to his lack of game time at English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion, but his move to Rangers where he now commands regular run of games has earned him a recall.

Bordeaux forward Josh Maja is another who is back in the team after a fine start to the season in France where he has become a regular and even scored his first Ligue 1 goal in the win over Amiens last weekend.

Former Hannove 96 wing forward Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee is also back in the team as exclusively reported by this portal few days ago owing to how well he has played for Augsburg particularly towards the end of last season. Bazee was first invited to the Super Eagles in 2016.

Ade Emmanuel

When the list of players who will prosecute the upcoming friendly games of Nigeria against Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia respectively some players will be getting their first invitation to the team.

Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered that aside the prospect of calling up two new goalkeepers, coach of the team Gernot Rohr is also set to call up four new outfield players.

Presently SKF Sered shot stopper Matthew Yakubu is the sure bet to be in the team with another new goalkeeper also set to be called up if Francis Uzoho isn’t fit enough to make it.

FC Porto new Signing Zaidu Sanusi will get his first shot at international football where he will begin the fight to dislodge Jamilu Collins from the left back slot of the Nigerian team.

Chidera Ejuke who recently joined CSKA Moscow is also included in the plan of coach to add more depth to the option available on the flanks.

We also gathered that if Ovie Ejaria is able to get his Nigerian passport he will be in the team as well with the document the last piece holding his switch of allegiance from England to Nigeria .

Erwin van de Looi who manages the U21 team of the Dutch national team has been accused of not treating Bayern Munich winger Jonathan Zirkzee in a way that will make the 19 year old feel wanted .

Zirkzee has a breakthrough season at Bayern Munich last season with his goals helping them to the Bundesliga title and was also a part of the team that won the UEFA Champions League .

His form has led to talks of a possible switch of allegiance to Nigeria where head coach Gernot Rohr is a big fan of the qualities of the forward but he is for now committed to the Dutch national team.

However he hasn’t progressed through the ranks as expected and once again he was left out of the U21 squad for their upcoming engagements . His last game for the Netherlands came at U19 level.

Owngoalnigeria.com head of foreign news Roland Mark said Zirkzee wasn’t particularly happy with his non inclusion in the U21 when he granted an interview recently. He said such act could make him look in the way of Nigeria where he has the option of becoming a full international.

“ I think the coach hasn’t been fair to him and that is to the advantage of Nigeria. I saw his recent interview and he was clearly unhappy with his omission. Such act if not checked could push him into considering a switch to Nigeria. You never can tell”, he concluded .

Senegalese international Kalidou Koulibaly has seen a lot of newly signed forward Victor Osimhen in training and he is sure that the 21 year old will excel next season .

Koulibaly who is one of the senior figures at Napoli has taken the Nigerian in his wing despite rumors of his potential exit to Manchester City. The pair have struck up a very good relationship in Osimhen’s first week at the club .

In training the pair who are most times on same side during practice game and sessions have however been up against each other during drills and Koulibaly hasn’t been disappointed by what Osimhen offers.

He has already tipped the forward to be a bargain buy capable of helping the team achieve their goals of next season even though it’s not certain if he will be at the club. The forward will be hoping to surpass his last season tally for Lille where he scored eighteen goals and earned a move to Napoli.

Newly signed FC Porto left back Zaidu Sanusi says he is at the club to stake a claim for the left back slot following his €4 million move from Santa Clara .

Zaidu was signed by the Portuguese giants after impressing for modest side Santa Clara, where he rose from second choice left back to becoming the main option after three man of the match award in his first eight games last season.

At Porto he will be trying to succeed at a club which Nigerians like Mikel Agu , Chidozie Awaziem , Musa Yahaya and Kelechi Nwakali fail to stamp their authority in the first team particularly Yahaya who has spent four years with the B team.

Alex Telles is the man, the 22 year old will be up against for the left back slot but he isn’t fazed by the challenge of fighting for a spot with the player widely regarded as one of the best emerging left back in Europe.

“ I came here to play. It’s true that Porto is bigger than any other team I have played in my career and I know the quality of Telles. However my self belief is work hard and take your chance when it comes. Beside that I will learn a lot from a player like Telles and other experienced players”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.