FC Porto forward Chidera Ezeh has been ruled out of the Flying Eagles second match against the Black Satellites of Ghana on Wednesday after he suffered a mild concussion in the first match.
Ezeh scored in a 2-2 draw with the Black Satellites on Monday at the Accra Sports Stadium, but he had to be replaced soon after when he was involved in a head clash and suffered a mild concussion.
He was replaced for the second half by Wikki Tourists striker Usman Hassan.
“Chidera Ezeh is okay now but he will not be involved in the second game against Ghana after he suffered a mild concussion as a precautionary measure,” said Flying Eagles team doctor Ozi Salami.
Defender Zaharadeen Bello will also be rested to ensure he does not further hurt his leg injury.
The Flying Eagles second warm-up against their Ghanaian counterparts will be played in Tema, on the outskirts of Accra, by 3pm local time, which is 4pm Nigerian time.
Flying Eagles
The match will be played on astro turf.
Both the Flying Eagles and Black Satellites are preparing for next month’s African Youth Championship in Senegal.
The Flying Eagles are in Group A, while Ghana, world champions in 2009 and third at the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup in Turkey, are in Group B.
It would be battle-royale as the two leading teams in Group A at Niger 2015, Nigeria and Guinea tango at the 30,00 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) on Wednesday .
There is so much to play for since a win for either side would guarantee a berth into the semi finals and a ticket for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. Of course, there is the undercurrent since the Guineans would seek to avenge their twin loss to their Nigerian counterparts on the road to the last championship in Morocco following a 3-0 and 4-0 win in Calabar and Conakry respectively.
Golden Eaglets bench – Emmanuel Amuneke, Kabiru Baleria, Emeka Amadi
“I don’t want you to have the erroneous belief that we are the world champions as most commentators always say,” Coach Emmanuel Amuneke warned his wards against complacence ahead of the crucial encounter.
“Yes, Nigeria is the world champion at this level but we have to create our own history by winning something; the past is gone.” Amuneke who was an assistant coach the last time in Morocco, has every reason to be wary after the Golden Eaglets stumbled and lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their second game despite a 6-1 massacre of Ghana earlier.
“We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia,” noted Amuneke.
He has also reminded the players about the task ahead, urging them to
be watchful of the crafty West Africans: “We came here with one objective: To qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things. You can see that if you allow them, they can play but if you follow our instructions, we would all have reason to celebrate on Wednesday after the game.”
Already, the Nigerian camp has indentified gifted number 11-shirted Abddoulaye Jules Keita as the lynchpin in the Guinean line-up as well as Captain Mohammed Mary Kurume who holds forth in defence, not forgetting agile goalkeeper, Mousa Camara, who foiled Zambia repeatedly on Sunday.
11th CAF African U-17 Championship
CAF Picks Congolese Referee
The Golden Eaglets would for the second time at the 11th African U-17
Championship in Niger have the benefit of wearing the country’s home gear against Guinea on Wednesday.
The Eaglets began their campaign at Niger 2015 on Sunday against Niger in the traditional green jerseys and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has again approved same for the match against Guinea while the goalkeepers would wear complete blue colours. On the other hand, Guinean players would spot red shirt, yellow short and white socks.
Golden Eaglets
The match which will kick off at 4:00pm Nigerian time at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) would be handled by Ndala Jean-Jacques Ngambo from the Congo Democratic Republic. Ngambo, who was born in 1987, has been an international referee since 2013 and he has horned his skill in major African competitions including the CAF Champions League.
To serve as referee assistants are the duo of Arsénio Chadreque Marengula from Mozambique and Senegalese Serigne Cheikh Toure who was equally on duty on Sunday when Nigeria beat Niger. Lazard Tsiba Kamba from Congo is the fourth and reserved referee while Ngenzi Raul Gisanura would be the match commissioner.
FIVB Senior Beach Volleyball World Championships, credit FIVB
Eleven Men and eight women teams will seek a historic qualification for the 2015 Beach Volleyball World Championship to be held in Netherlands June 26 to July 5, 2015 when they compete together in the first ever World Championship qualifier which gets underway in Tunis, Tunisia on Tuesday.
The historic competition features Hosts Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Niger in the Men’s side.
The 11 teams are divided into two preliminary pools as follows
Pool A: Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya Pool B: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Niger
19 African Teams Seek Beach Volleyball World Championship Berths
In the women competition the 8 participating teams will be divided also into two pools as follows
Pool A: Tunisia- Nigeria- Morocco- Egypt Pool B: South Africa- Algeria- Niger- Namibia
The top two teams in each of the pools in both genders will clinch their tickets to the World Championship finals in Netherlands.
The World Volleyball governing body “FIVB” granted 4 vacancies for Africa at the 2015 senior Beach Volleyball World Championships in Netherlands in the new format of the competition recently declared by FIVB. Each of the 5 confederations will have the same no of slots.
This is considered the best presentation for Africa in the history of any FIVB Senior Beach VB competition giving a big chance for the senior teams to gain more experience.
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