A late goal from substitute, Cynthia Aku ensured Rivers Angels came from a goal down to progress into the last four of the Federation Cup on Wednesday. In a tensed game played at the Area 3 pitch, the defending champions went in front in the 18th minute via a goal from former Angels player Ijeoma […]
via AKU LATE STRIKE SENDS RIVERS ANGELS INTO LAST FOUR OF FEDERATIONS CUP — newfanzoneblog
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Football Club of Lagos advanced to the round of 32 of the 2016 Federation Cup after a hard-earned victory over El-Kanemi Babes Football Club of Maiduguri on Wednesday at the Kaduna Township Stadium. The Lagos-based team came from a goal down to tie El-Kanemi Babes FC courtesy of a […]
via FEDERATIONS CUP ROUND OF 64: MFM FC EDGE OUT EL-KANEMI VIA PENALTIES — newfanzoneblog
NPFL side Akwa United were crowned Champions of the Federations Cup after defeating their counterparts 2-1 in the Final at the main bowl of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
The game started pretty slowly with both teams trying to size each other up, but it was Akwa United who drew the first blood when Namso Edo curled in a delightful free-kick to the left hand of Ekoi the Lobi stars Goalie who couldn’t make a save to put the Uyo team ahead in the game after 36 minutes. Akwa United would have doubled their lead in the first 45th if not for their lackluster nature in front of goal.
Lobi Stars expectedly, started the second half with so much intent as they looked to claw their way back into the game but it was not to be as MOTM award winner Abdulhafeez Awakan blasted home the second of the night off a corner kick, to further assure the fans of Akwa United that the federations cup will be going to Akwa Ibom.
Substitute Barnabas Imenga scored what proved to be a consolation goal as Lobi Stars lost out on a place to represent Nigeria in the CAF Confederations Cup.
Akwa United have now won their first major trophy since inception, and alongside Nassarawa United, they will now represent Nigeria in the CAF Confederations Cup.
It was also good news for people in Akure as Sunshine Queens on the back of their defeat last season to Rivers Angels, won this year Federations Cup women’s final with 3-1 via penalty kicks against Bayelsa Queens after they both played 1-1 after regulation time.
Crowd control has been a major issue in the recent Federations Cup Finals but this year was different entirely as all security agents alongside the LSFA worked assiduously to ensure Nigeria had a hitch free Federations Cup Final and also worthy winners.
Ademola Adejuwon
Women’s Federation Cup defending Champions, Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt progressed to the quarter finals of the competition defeating COD Ladies of Lagos, 4-1 in the round of 16 encounter.
Mercy Amanze opened scoring on the 13th minute and three minutes later, Ayila Loveth slotted in the second goal.
And on the 40th minute, Ijeoma Emenike headed in a cross from Mabel Effiom to extend the lead to 3-0 before half time.
However, Monday Gift gave the Ann Chiejine led team a goal on the 47th minute but the highly spirited Angels kept up the pressure on their opponents as Ijeoma completed her brace on the 65th minute to seal the deserved victory for the Edwin Okon tutored side.
The last time both teams met at this stage, it ended 6-1 in favour of Rivers Angels and Coach Edwin Okon believes his opponents have improved
“I thank God for the victory, FA cup is not a thing that you joke over and I have seen improvements in the team because we played them last year and there’s improvement this year, last year it was six, today is four so I want to say there’s improvement” Okon stated.
“We are the defending champions you can as well see the way the team plays, we’ll try as much as we can, some of our players are in the U-20 that are supposed to beef up the team but all the same we can’t stop the national assignment; we just make do with what we have to get to the finals, our target is just the cup because we’re the defending champions”
“We want to win it for the sixth time, we’ve won it five good times, I think if we win this, it will be the sixth time” He added.
Mercy Amanze who opened scoring for the team equally gave her thoughts after the game.
“Am so so happy for the victory, I have been putting in some extra training because of this competition, I always love playing in the Federations cup since I started my football career game” Said Amanze.
“ I am happy and I love the way my team played, we played in unity and God granted us victory today” she added.
COD Ladies coach and former captain of the Senior women’s National team, the Super Falcons, Ann Chiejine said her team faced a more experienced opponent.
“The graph is rising, I paraded young lads, young girls, school girls, two of them are in school, you cannot compare them with this people, but we’ll get there, give them two, three more years this people would have been old, we’ll take over” Ann said.
“It’s a gradual process, we have a structure, COD is a structured team, we have a structure, we have focus and we have our philosophy, so with time we’ll get to all this ones, we’re not keen about the goals, we want to see how our players can play together so give us one or two more years, but right now, we have come, we have seen and we’ll go back to our drawing boards” she added.
And in other centers:
Ibom Angels 0-0 Confluence Queens (AP 3-5)
Moje Queens 1-4 Edo Queens
Bayelsa Queens 5-1 Beautiful Tour
Osun Babes 3-1 Fortress Ladies
Rising Queens 0-3 FC Robo
Delta Queens 0-3 Nasarawa Amazons (W/0)
Alberto Queens 0-4 Sunshine Queens
Dolphins FC on Sunday at the Port Harcourt Liberation stadium beat Sharks 1-0 to lift the Rivers State FA Cup.
A 17th minute freekick converted by Ifeanyi Egwim ensured Dolphins took the trophy at stake.
Dolphins had played three matches in three days, the quarter final on Friday and semi final on Saturday before Sunday’s final and it was feared they would be affected by fatigue but it did not show as the battled against their city rivals.
Dolphins Assistant coach, John Apollo said it was a good game but admitted the fatigue affected his players
“It was a keenly contested game and we just showed that we can do it.
“You can see that we were just managing but we ended up being victorious,” Apollo said.
Sharks coach, Ere Dokubo conceded victory to Dolphins.
“They deserve it. Our players were on break but we respected the Federation and we just had to play,” Dokubo said.
Both Sharks and Dolphins have already qualified for the Federation Cup.
Abia Warriors Football Club of Umuahia have qualified for the final of this year’s Abia State FA Cup competition following a 3-1 victory over Enyimba Feeders of Abia.
The encounter, which took place at the Umuahia Township Stadium, saw homeboy, Chisom Chikatara score two goals in the first half including a penalty while Ndifreke Effiong netted the consolidator after Louis Okoro had pulled one back for the Enyimba boys.
With the victory, Abia Warriors also qualified for the National Federation cup contest as the two finalists in the state FA Cup will represent each state at the National Federation Cup competition.
The Warriors will await their final opponents who will emerge after the semi-final encounter between the defending champions, Enyimba International of Aba and Abia Warriors Youth team. The semi final match was postponed by the Abia State Football Association because of Enyimba’s continental engagements.
To make it to the last four, Abia Warriors Youth Team narrowly edged their city rivals, Diamond International Football Academy 7-6 on penalties after scores stood 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Lagos FA Cup 2015: Ascenders Fc, Eko Akete, Freestan Sports And Goodland Rangers Through To Next Round…
Victorious Clubs get 15, 000:00 Thousand Naira Each From FA Chairman.
At the end of the preliminaries round of the 2015 Winners Golden Bet sponsored Lagos FA Cup, four clubs have moved to the round of 32, with Freestan Sports International football club defeating Odic Wire and Cable football club by two unreplied goals, this victory saw Freestan win the sum of 15,000:00 thousand Naira as promised by the chairman of the Lagos State FA, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi.
Ascenders Football Club also secured a place in the next round coming from behind with one man down to beat Dominion Hotsports FC by 2 goals to one.
Moses Olusegun FC were also suffered the same fate as Dominion Hotspots FC as Goodland Rangers came from a goal down to beat them to get a berth in the the next round alongside the 15,000:00 thousand Naira cash award from the FA Chairman.
The last game of the day saw Gbagada football club also loose by a lone goal to the Taiwo Oloyede tutored Eko Akete football club.
Speaking after the match, Taiwo Oloyede expressed satisfaction with the victory, adding that they will go back home to correct all the mistakes noticed during their game. He said the game wass not that as perfect as he would want it to be but this according to him is largely due to the fact that this is his side’s first competitive match.
Also speaking with the media after today at the Agege stadium the chairman of the technical committee of the FA, Dotun Coker stated that he was impressed with the outcome of the matches with the level of discipline and fair play displayed by all clubs that played in the rookie matches, urging all the other clubs to maintain the status quo going forward.
Results Of Rookie Matches Played Today
Freestan Sports FC 1-0 Odic Wire & Cable FC
Dominion Hotsports 1-2 Ascenders FC
Moses Olusegun FC 1-2 Goodland Rangers FC
Gbagada FC 0-1 Eko Akete FC
RIVERS ANGELS TO FACE PELICAN STARS IN LEAGUE DECIDER AS NEW NWPL SEASON GETS DATE
Rivers Angels might have won the 2013/2014 Nigeria Women Premier League and the Federations Cup but the winner for the League season is yet to be decided, according to the Nigeria Women League board.
The Port Harcourt side won the league with 39 points ahead of runners up, Pelican Stars who finished with 36 points.
In the Federation Cup, Rivers Angels also won 2-0 against Sunshine Queens at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
Ideally, they should be regarded as double champions of the season for their outstanding performance throughout last year and rewarded with medals and two trophies for the two competitions but they have just one trophy in their kitty.
On Friday, January 23 2015, the Nigeria Women Premier League Board, held a meeting to review the 2013/2014 season.
It was resolved that there shall be the champion of champions tournament to declare the winner for the season which will be between the League winners and Fa Cup winners.
Since the Rivers state owned Angels won both competitions, it was resolved that they would battle with Pelican Stars who were the runners up in the 2013/2014 league season.
In a related development, it was also agreed at the meeting that the new NWPL season will commence on the 31st of March, 2015 as a against the former date scheduled for 28 February, 2015
The NWPL Board also resolved that there will be no relegation this season considering the small size of the premier league and most importantly, the situation with the insurgency in the North East sub-region that impacted on the league. Although, there will be a promotion of two clubs from the pro-league division to the premier league to bring the total number of premier league clubs to 14 for the 2014/2015 league season.
Back to back Federations Cup champions Rivers Angels secured a second title in four days as they clinched the Nigeria Women Premier League title on Wednesday.
Angels secured only their second away win of the season by beating Edo Queens 3-1 at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin.
And just like the Cup final in Lagos on Sunday, Golden girl of Nigerian Women Football, Asisat Oshoala was at the centre of the team’s success.
Oshoala continued her superb form as she opened scores in the first minute of the game. Thirty minutes later, the newly crowned Nigerian Women’s Footballer of the year added another when she pounced on a cross from the Angels right full back, Ugo Njoku to extend the visitors lead.
Hosts Edo Queens pulled a goal back nine minutes before the break after Angels goalkeeper, Ibubeleye Whyte misjudged a cross from a corner.
The second half started brightly from both sides but the Fed Cup winners were guilty of missing chances with the worst culprit being Oshoala who ultimately failed to complete her hattrick on the day.
Rivers Angels’ momentum faded as the game wore on as they lost dominance to the home side who took charge of the second period.
However, With 3 minutes to the end of regulation time, Edo Queens conceded a corner and set piece specialist, Ngozi Ebere sealed the victory with the third goal and her seventh goal of the season after she took a short corner to Aminat Yakubu who returned the pass to Ebere, allowing her curl the ball beyond the despairing hands of U-17 Fifa Women’s World Cup goal keeper, Onyinyechi Okeke.
The Rivers state government sponsored Angels by the virtue of the victory thus secured the league title after amassing a total of 39 points, three more than Pelican Stars of Calabar who stole into second place after a 1-0 win over last season’s league champions, Nasarawa Amazons.
Full Results
Ibom Angels 2-0 Sunshine Queens
Pelican Stars 1-0 Nasarawa Amazons
Delta Queens 0-0 bayelsa Queens
Edo Queens 1-3 Rivers Angels
Taraba Queens 3-0 Osun Babes
Rivers Angels coach, Edwin Okon was excited with the win.
“For the past four, or five seasons we are always in the Fa Cup finals, league finals, and we always lose in the finals of the league but we always win the Fa Cup that s why we have won it for 5 times but in the league in the last match like this, we sleep off that’s why you saw me throughout the game on the touch line like a mad man because I don’t want what happened in the previous years to happen today. The winning mentality is there so I think they tried it’s okay, I think am the happiest person today, said okon.”
Coach of Edo Queens Keneth Aigbeyi laments lack of pay for team as reason for defeat but credits Angels.
“It is a fair victory it is a good game both teams played well, But in football you know it is either it ends in a draw or one side wins and they have good motivation that is carrying them. We had to push our players out to play today if not that, they won’t have come out because it is been like 11 months with no salaries, we just have to force them to come out a lot of them have not been training, said Aigbeyi.”
Dolphins’ head coach. Stanley Eguma insists his side is more determined than Prime to qualify for the Federation Cup final.
Dolphins play Prime on Thursday in Abuja in one of the semifinal games and Eguma says their determination knows no bounds.
“It’s different from the League. We have respect for our opponents, Prime, but we are not going to relent.
“We know victory can go either way but I do not think Prime will be an obstacle because we are very determined.
“I know it will be a very tough match though,” Eguma said.
To get to the semifinal, Dolphins beat Ingas 3-1, Kogi United 1-0, Elkanemi 1-0 and Lobi Stars 4-2.
The last four times Dolphins got to the semifinals they won- 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007 and also went on to win the Cup.
Dolphins have been in Abuja since Tuesday ahead of the game.
Will Dolphins prepare for penalties against Prime?
Prime FC have proved to be the giant killers of the Federation Cup and have won every game they have played so far via penalties.
But Dolphins, who made a giant killing run in 2001 to win the Cup as a 2nd division side will not underrate the underdogs or focus on penalty shootouts ahead of the game.
Prime have won every single game they have played in the competition via penalties, but coach, Stanley Eguma says that will not be his focus
“I will prepare for the game. I will prepare for all aspects and hope to win in regulation time, but if the game goes into penalties I will also be prepared for that too,” Eguma said.
The last time Dolphins won the Federation Cup in 2007, four games were won via penalty Shootouts.
Against FC Katsina, Dolphins won via penalties in the Round of 32; against Enyimba in the quarter final in Ilorin, Dolphins won via shootouts; against Sharks in the semifinal in Owerri, Dolphins progressed after full time ended 2-2 and in the final in Lagos against Rangers, Dolphins won via penalties after full time ended 1-1.
However, the last time a Dolphins game went to shootout in the Federation Cup was in in 2013 against Akwa Starlets in the Round of 64 and Dolphins lost that one.
Women Premier League table toppers, Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt advanced to the next round of the Federations Cup after a 6-1 demolition of City of David Babes of Lagos.
Defending champions of the Women Federations Cup, Rivers Angels started the first half on a bright note as they out-classed their opponent with two quick-fire goals in the opening 10 minutes.
Mercy Amanze opened scoring in the 7th minute, followed by Ebere Orji in the 10th minute.
In the 28th minute, Blessing Okpe scored for C.O.D Babes to keep their hopes alive but a third goal from the Angels midfielder, Cecilia Nku in 35th minute, spoilt their expectations.
The Angels were relentless in their effort as Ebere Orji added a second goal to her account 5 minutes into the second half and got a hat trick in the 75th minute from the penalty spot as Elizabeth Addo was brought down in the penalty area.
Cynthia Aku who came from the bench in the 76th minute, converted Elizabeth Addo’s cross, 7 minutes to regulation time.
This result booked Rivers Angels into the next round of the FA Cup as they build their quest to defend their title.
Assistant coach of Rivers Angels, White Ogbonda, was happy with the victory
“We had a plan of replicating the Brazil 2014 semi final game between Brazil and Germany but did not work as planned, said Ogbonda”.
“I believe this victory will put fear in our next opponent because we want to retain the cup, he said”.
Despite the loss, C.O.D Babes coach, Anne Chiejine, a former Rivers Angels and Falcons goal keeper, was happy with her team’s performance.
“Am not disappointed but happy with my team because it is an experience for them. This is the first time they are in this competition against an experienced side but this will help us to work more, she said”.
Ebere Orji who got hat trick in the game was short of words.
“It was God’s grace and the help of my team mates, said Orji”.
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