Eagles Watch

 Ex-Warri Wolves star, Ogude, sees red in Russia 

 

…Simy scores brace, Ighalo, Igboun, Nwaekeme, Abraham on song

Super Eagles players were in impressive form at the weekend scoring goals aplenty in four continents; Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States of America. Crotone FC forward, Simy Nwankwo contributed two goals for his Serie B team likewise Odion Ighalo who also hit the target in China. Also on song were; Uche Ikpeazu in Scotland, Sylvester Igboun (Russia) and Anthony Nwaekeme (Turkey) among others. 
It was however a weekend to forget so soon for former Warri Wolves midfielder, Fegor Ogude as he received a red card a minute after his first booking.
The News Editor, ADEBAYO OLODAN rounds up the performances of Nigerian players aborad from the widely followed English Premier League to the MLS and Egyptian League. 

ENGLAND
Leon Balogun: (Brighton Hove Albion): He watched the game from the stands as his team lost 0-1to Southampton.
Philip Billing (Huddersfield): The Denmark U-21 star was not in the match day squad as his club was defeated 2-0 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City): Ndidi impressed as his club claimed a 2-0 win against Bournemouth, with his compatriot, Iheanacho coming off the substitutes’ bench in the 90th minute.
Ademola Lookman (Everton): He was an unused substitute when his team secured a 2-0 win at West Ham United.

CHAMPIONSHIP
Tammy Abraham (Aston Villa): The Chelsea loanee netted his 50th career league goal at the age of 21 as his team recorded a 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers at Villa Park.
All the league goals netted by the England U21 striker have come inside the box, 23 in the colours of Bristol City, 5 for Swansea City and 22 for Aston Villa so far this season.
Abraham tapped home in the ninth minute to give Aston Villa the lead. He was in action for 90 minutes.

DIV 1
Freddie Ladapo (Plymouth Argyle): He was on target as his team surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. On four minutes, the former Flying Eagles invitee opened the scoring when he converted a cross from a teammate, his 17th goal across all competitions.
Fejiri Okenabirhie (Shrewsbury Town): He has now contributed to 22 goals (15 goals, 7 assists) from 43 games in all competitions after finding the net in his team’s 2-0 victory at Southend United.
Four minutes after the interval, the ex-Arsenal youth-teamer broke the deadlock with a brilliant finish from outside the box.

SCOTLAND
Uche Ikpeazu (Heart): The former Dream Team VI invitee was the hero as his team fought back from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win against Aberdeen at Tynecastle Park.
The physical striker powered his way past his marker before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner in the 77th minute. It proved to be the winning goal.

SPAIN
Moses Simon (Levante): He was replaced in the 79th minute of his club’s 2-2 draw at home to Eibar.

FRANCE 
Samuel Kalu & Josh Maja (Bordeaux):  Kalu was not listed while his compatriot, Maja was a non-playing substitute when their earned a draw at Amiens.

RUSSIA
Ogude sees red!
Super Eagles outcast Fegor Ogude was issued a yellow and red cards in two minutes Saturday as his club,  Yenisey Krasnoyarsk drew 1-1 with FC Rubin Kazan.
The former Warri Wolves player was first cautioned in the 42nd minute before being issued a red card a minute later by referee Vitaly Meshkov. The red card was on his 20th appearance this season was Ogude’s third in his club career.
Despite snatching a point with 10 men, Yenisey remains at the base of the log with just 12 points from 21 matches.
After five seasons at Amkar Perm, Ogude joined Yenisey but it appeared the lanky midfielder is failing in his bid to keep his club in the top flight.
The 31-year-old was made the captain of the club in their debut season in the elite division.
Bryan Idowu (Lokomotiv Moscow): He was not listed when his team earned a 1-0 win at Dinamo Moscow.
Sylvester Igboun (FC Ufa): The Super Eagles fringe player rescued a point for his club as he scored the second goal in the 90th minute against CSKA Moscow. The home team led 2-0 in the match until the 87th minute when FC Ufa pulled one back.
Adesoye Oyewole (FC Orenburg): The youngster lasted the duration of his team’s 1-3 loss at Zenit St. Petersburg.

ITALY 
William Troost-Ekong (Udinese):
Ola Aina (Torino): The Chelsea loanee was not listed when his team drew 1-1 at Fiorentina.

DIV 2
Simy scores twice 
Super Eagles outcast, Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo scored twice at the weekend to help his team to a 2-1 win over Carpi.
The player now has a hand in eight goals (6 goals, 2 assists) in his last five appearances in the Italian Serie B.
The 1.98 m striker fired home a penalty to put Crotone 1-0 up in the 19th minute and got his brace on 64 minutes when he rounded the goalkeeper after a through pass from Zanellato.
Simy came close to a hat-trick in the 85th minute when he got in a header on goal but the attempt was saved by the goalkeeper.

TURKEY
Victor Moses (Fenerbahce): He lasted 90 minutes as his club secured a 2-1 win ver Sicasspor.
Okechukwu Azubuike, Aminu Umar and Chidozie Awaziem (Rizespor): Awaziem and Azubuike lasted 90 minutes while Umar was brought on in the 76th minute when their club earned a 2-0 win at Konyaspor.
Elvis Manu (Akhisar Balediyespor): He drew his tea, level in the 32nd minute and was substituted in the 83rd minute of his club’s 2-3 loss at home to Kasimpasa.
Samuel Eduok (Erzurum BB) and Anthony Nwaekeme (Trabzonspor): Nwaekeme was the hero of the match as he scored in the 64th minute to hand his team a 1-0 win at Erzurum for whom Eduok also lasted the duration of the match.
Everton moves to obtain work permit for Onyekuru
Everton is set to apply for the legal documentation to allow Henry Onyekuru play in the Premier League next season, according to The Guardian.
The 21-year-old is thought to be highly-rated by both Marco Silva and Marcel Brands and they are keen to see him in a blue shirt in the future.
Everton fans would be forgiven if they had forgotten that Henry Onyekuru was one of their players. The club spent £7.2million on the player in the summer of 2017 by Ronald Koeman, but he has since been unable to play for the Toffees because of work permit issues.
However, spells at Anderlecht and Galatasaray appears to have helped Everton to make a decision regarding his future at Goodison Park.
The striker has been in fine form for Galatasaray this season and has found the back of the net 11 times in his 24 Super Lig appearances so far, showing signs that he could do a job at Goodison Park in the future.
Fenerbahce approaches Chelsea over permanent Moses deal
Turkish Super Lig side, Fenerbahce is looking to sign Victor Moses on a permanent deal, according to various reports in the Turkish press.
The Yellow Canaries have made an initial bid of four million euros for the right winger and Chelsea are mulling over the offer from Turkey.
Moses was not in the plans of manager Maurizio Sarri at the start of the season and the Italian has to decide if he wants him at Stamford Bridge.
The 28-year-old joined Fenerbache on loan in the January transfer window and has not done badly in his ten appearances across all competitions to date.
These performances have convinced the Istanbul club to explore the option of making the deal permanent, more than a year before the loan deal expires.
Moses’s contract with Chelsea will run out at the end of the 2020-2021 season.
It remains to be seen whether Chelsea will sanction the sale of the Nigerian, as they have been banned by FIFA for signing new players for the next two transfer windows.

PORTUGAL 
Nwankwo eager for first team action after injury setback
Boavista midfielder, Obiora Nwankwo, is keen to make up for lost time at his Portuguese Primeira Liga side after what he describes as a difficult and frustrating spell on the sidelines over injury.
The defensive midfielder, 27, first burst onto the scene with the Nigeria’s U-20s, and was quickly likened to former captain Sunday Oliseh by local media and fans.
After winning the 2013 African Cup of Nations with Nigeria, Nwankwo was out injured for 18 months and became a forgotten man during his trying time.
“Between January 2016 and July 2018, I was only healthy for six months. Which means I was out for one year and six months precisely,” Nwankwo told BBC Sport.
“I’ve had minor injuries before that big setback, but this one was a difficult and trying time for my career.
“The sad part is no one cared, even people you thought you knew or were with you; all of a sudden you feel like you’ve been forgotten or no one really cared.
“Except for your immediate family, it was really difficult, so injury has taken sixty to seventy per cent of my career and it’s really painful.”
Nwankwo played in Italy with Inter Milan, Parma, and Padova between 2010 and 2013 followed by spells in Romania, Spain and Portugal.
He then had an injury-ravaged stint in Greece before switching to Portuguese side Boavista last summer.

SLOVENIA
Bede Amarachi Osuji (Gorica): He was substituted in the 74th minute of his club’s 2-2 draw at  Rudar Velenje.

ISRAEL
Austin Ejide(Hapoel Hadera): The former Super Eagles goalkeeper conceded four goals as in his team’s 1-4 loss to Hapoeal Beer Sheva in the Israeli Ligat playoff.
Teenage striker, Nieketien scores again
Teenage striker, Godfrey Abonti Nieketien at the weekend scored his 12th goal in 18 games for Ihud Bnei Baqa in Israel but his effort was not good enough as his team lost 3-1 away at Nazareth Telit.
The former Giwa FC Feeders team sensation who is still playing in the U-19 League in Israel said his priority is to put in more efforts to attract attention of the coaches in the main squad.
“The Israeli League is not that easy, football is fast paced here but I thank God almighty I have been able to adapt” he stated”.
“My prayer now is to keep on doing well at the youth team and hope that the coaches in the main team will draft me into their plans.”
The 18-year-old who is of Delta origin was born in Langtang South in Plateau State and had stints with Giwa FC Feeders in Jos and Federal Road Safety Corps FC of Abuja last year before he was granted trials in Israel after his 18th birthday.

DENMARK
Daniel Anyembe (Esbjerg FB): He was in action for the entirety of his team’s 0-1 loss to FC Copenhagen.
Paul Onuachu, Rilwan Hassan and Ayo Simon Okosun (FC Midtjylland): Leggy striker, Onuachu failed to score for the fourth match on the trot for his club and was substituted in the 83rd minute for Hassan while Okosun also came on in the 72nd minute of the goalless draw against FC Nordsjaelland.

Coach expresses frustration over Onuachu’s failure to score 
FC Midtjylland’s head coach, Kenneth Andersen was left frustrated after the Danish champions were held to a goalless draw by FC Nordsjaelland in the Superliga on Saturday.
Paul Onuachu was involved in international duty with the Super Eagles five days ago and Andersen has blamed fatigue for the striker’s inability to convert his chances.
The tall striker fired on all cylinders in the 1-0 win vs Egypt and etched his name into the African football history books by scoring the fastest international goal in a game involving two African nations.
”The result annoys me when I think about the great chances we created,” Andersen was quoted as saying by bold.dk.
”Onuachu got tired, and George didn’t have much to shoot with either, because he played at three o’clock at night on the other side of the globe.
‘It’s not an excuse, but if all players are there all the time, you have a better rhythm than if they travel around the world and play in the middle of the night.”
He is yet to score for FC Midtjylland in his last four appearances in the Danish Superliga.
Anene joins Norwegian club from Midtjylland
Nigerian descent. Chuma Anene has officially joined Norwegian First Division club FK Jerv from Danish side Midtjylland on loan until the end of the season.
The 25-year-old striker cancels his current loan spell at Fredericia which was due to expire in June 2019 before loaning him out to FK Jerv.
FK Jerv announced the signing of Anene on their Twitter handle who played 11 matches for Fredericia in the NordicBet League, but he failed to find back of the net in competitions

SWEDEN
Chinedu Obasi (AIK) and Alhaji Gero (Oestersunds FK): Super Eagles fringe player, Obasi and Gero both lasted 90 minutes as AIK Solna and Oestersunds settled for a goalless draw.
John Chibuike (Falkenbergs FF) and Michael Omoh (Oerebro):  Former Rangers midfielder, Chibuike was an unused substitute while Omoh featured for the entire duration when his team, Oerebro lost 0-1 at Falkenbergs.
Chima Akas (Kalmar FF): The former Enyimba left-back was substituted in the 84th minute when his club suffered a 0-2 loss at home to Sirius.
Malmo favourite to sign Udoh ahead of Ostersunds
Ikouwem Udoh, who is the captain of the Nigeria U-20 team, will likely join a team in Sweden in the coming days.
Udoh who was a part of the B team of the senior national team of Nigeria at the last CHAN tournament made his international bow for the Super Eagles in the 1-0 friendly win over Egypt ?on Tuesday.
Malmo has so far tabled the best offer for the 19 year old despite offers from other teams in Europe for the Enyimba FC of Aba defender.
Malmo’s offer was a lot better than what fellow top division side Ostersunds offered Enyimba for his services and for now he is certain to join them before the start of the season in Sweden.
Enyimba are however holding on for him to participate at the U20 World Youth Championship before agreeing to the switch but Malmo want to push the deal now to avoid the risk of losing him to a top team if he lives up to expectations at the WYC in Poland.

SLOVAKIA 
Zubairu shines in Trencin away draw
Energetic player, Abdul Zubairu was in imperious form for AS Trencin on Saturday as his team fought back after going 2-1 down against FC Nitra to earn a point.
The Relegation group game which ended 2-2 took place at the Stadion pod Zoborom.
Nitra drew the first blood in the 9th minute through Nemanja Sokovic. The visitors leveled up thanks to Hamza Catakovic’s 38th minute spot kick. Frederik Bilovsky restored the lead on the hour mark. Trencin however crawled their way back into the game courtesy of Jakub Paur.
Zubairu featured for the entire duration of the encounter while big striker Emeka Umeh was a second half entrant.
AS Trencin is presently bottom of the table with one point from two games.

MALTA
Haruna Garba scores brace in heavy win
Haruna Garba continued his impressive form in the Malta Premier League as he scored a brace to help Gzira United to a big 5-2 win over Pieta Hotspurs to jeep their title hopes alive.
The 25-year-old was given the mandate to lead the line but it was the visitors who took a surprise lead when Gabriel Mensah scored with the game’s first attack to silence the home fans.
The lead was quickly quashed as the impressive Garba grabbed his 11th league goal of the season six minutes later to bring scores to 1-1.

USA 
Jalil Anibaba (New England Revolution): The former United States U-20 international has taken 33 games to open his goal scoring account for his club after finding the back of the net in their 2-1 victory against Minnesota United. The central defender gave Revs the lead with a diving header in minute ten.

CHINA 
Ighalo on song  
Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo was on target for Shanghai Greenland Shenhua as they claimed a 2-1 win over Henan Jianye in the Chinese Super League, Sunday afternoon.
Fresh from helping Nigeria clinch top spot in the AFCON qualifiers with his seven goals, the 29-year-old was thrust into the limelight yet again as manager, Quique Sanchez Flores handed him a starting berth against their opponents.
Seven minutes after a deadlocked first half, the Nigerian buried a left-footed shot to the bottom right corner after teammate Wang Wei had set him up, putting his team in the lead in the process.
He came close to adding another in the 76th minute when his speculative shot narrowly went wide of the left side of goal.
That goal was his second for the club since joining last month, having played three games for the Hongkou Stadium outfit in the topflight.
…says, I rejected Barca offer in Jan
Odion Ighalo, has claimed that he turned down the chance to join Barcelona on loan in January, as he “deserved better” than a short-term deal.
The former Watford striker scored 21 goals for relegated Changchun Yatai in the 2018 Chinese Super League season, which he says attracted interest from the Spanish champions.
But Ighalo felt the nature of the move, was not sufficient to entice him back to Spain, where he had two loan spells with Granada.
“My agent spoke to me about a loan interest from Barcelona. The club wanted a striker with La Liga experience and someone who understands Spanish football.
“It was meant to be a six-month loan and strictly as a back-up striker. It was nice to hear that Barcelona was interested and any footballer would be more than happy to take it.
“But, with due respect, I had just finished as the second top scorer in China with 21 goals, I deserve better and didn’t want to be a short-term player somewhere.
“We rejected it, it was an easy decision to make and I chose to stay in China by joining Shanghai Shenhua on a longer contract.
“You need to weigh things up properly in life and ask yourself if it is your call to make, or one to satisfy others.
“I have no regrets or whatsoever because I am happy at Shanghai Shenhua. To reunite and play under my former Watford coach [Quique Sanchez Flores] is exciting and I love it,” Ighalo told BBC Sport.

EGYPT 
Amutu rescues point for Al-Masry
Austin Amutu was the hero for Al-Masry as he came off the substitutes’ bench to help rescue a point for his side in their 2-2 draw away at the Arab Contractors Stadium against Al-Mokawloon.
Unbeaten in their last eight previous matches, the visitors kept the January acquisition on the bench but fell behind after just eighteen minutes when Farouq Kabeer made it 1-0.
Not to be deterred by the goal, the visitors levelled four minutes into first-half stoppage time after Islam Isaac who was fouled in the box dusted himself up to send the keeper the wrong way to make it 1-1.
With both sides chasing all three points in the second half, the visitors made three quick substitutions 20 minutes from time with Amutu coming on for Ahmed Yasser but it was the hosts who found the breakthrough yet again as Ahmed Ali Kamel struck thirteen minutes from time to give Al-Mokawloon a 2-1 lead.
But just like in the first half, the Nigerian popped up with the equaliser five minutes into stoppage time to record his third goal since joining in January and also stretching Al-Masry’s unbeaten run to an incredible ten games.

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