… Edomwonyi sees red in first half
After finding himself in the cooler for the larger part of the season, former ASEC Mimosas and Flying Eagles forward, Kayode Olanrewaju was among the goal scorers at the weekend for his Ukrainian club; Shakhtar Donestk at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Bright Edomwonyi will hope for better luck in the Austrian League next time as he was issued a red card barely two minutes after his first caution in the 36th minute.
In yet another extensive package, the News Editor, ADEBAYO OLODAN reports the performances of Nigerian players across three continents; Europe, Asia and Africa.
ENGLAND
John Mikel Obi (Middlesbrough): The former Chelsea midfielder was handed the captain’s armband for the second consecutive game as he led his team to a 1-0 home win over Hull City.
Having completed yet another 90 mins, the Eagles captain had an impressive game rating of 7.1, completed 91 per cent of his passes, made two key passes and also won five of his duels.
Oghenekaro Etebo (Stoke City) & Semi Ajayi (Rotherham Utd): The duo went head to head as Stoke and Rotherham drew 2-2. Stoke had shot into a 2-0 lead before Rotherham fought back via the boot of Michael Smith on 58 mins before Ajayi set up the equalizer for Matt Crooks on 74 mins.
Ajayi, who was named Championship player for the month of March after five goals in five games for Rotherham, has been a saving grace for the club as they hope to avoid the drop.
Etebo and Ajayi were on for the entire duration as they have just four games left in the league before turning their attention to the summer AFCON in Egypt.
Ajayi has scored five goals in as many matches for Rotherham Utd.
ITALY
Ola Aina (Torino): He rose from the substitutes’ bench in the 40th min as his team was held to a 1-1 draw by Cagliari.
William Troost-Ekong (Udinese): He lasted the duration of his side’s 0-1 loss to AS Roma
and was issued a yellow card for a foul in the 77th min.
GERMANY
Karim Onisiwo and Anthony Ujah (Mainz 05): Onisiwo lasted 90, mins while Ujah played the last eight mins of their club’s 1-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund.
RUSSIA
Fegor Ogude (Yenisey Krasnoyarsk) & Sylvester Igboun (FC Ufa): Ogude lasted the entirety of his team’s goalless draw against Ufa for whom former Super Eagles forward, Igboun was not listed.
Brian Idowu (Lokomotiv Moscow): He played a cameo role after being introduced in the 90th min of his team’s 3-1 win at FC Akhmat Grozny.
TURKEY
Anthony Nwakaeme (Trabzonspor): He continued his impressive form for Trabzonspor as he set up the match winner in their 1-0 win away at Bursaspor. The striker provided the breakthrough by setting up Abdülkadir Ömür who unleashed a powerful strike from outside the 18-yard box to give the visitors a 1-0 lead on the 68th minute.
Trabzonspor was then provided with a golden opportunity to double their lead from the penalty spot but captain Jose Sosa saw his effort saved by the goalkeeper as the visitors held on to their 1-0 lead.
Nwakaeme has now scored 9 league goals with a further 6 assist in 19 starts whilst Trabzonspor remain in 4th on the log with 49 points from 28 games.
Lanre Kehinde (Denizlispor) & Chukwuma Akabueze (Boluspor) Kehinde fired blank as his team played a goalless draw with Akabueze’s Boluspor.
Kehinde played the entire duration leaving his side with a good chance of gaining automatic promotion to the top flight. The striker has notched five goals for Denizlispor in the league.
Akabueze who has netted eight goals in the colours of Boluspor was surprisingly left out of the game.
UKRAINE
Olanrewaju ends goal drought in massive win
Super Eagles forward, Kayode Olarenwaju returned to action in style to grab his first goal of the season for runaway leaders Shakhtar Donetsk as they beat Zorya Luhansk 3-0 at the Metalist Stadium in Kharkov.
Having last featured for the defending champions in February’s Europa League loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, the Nigerian was handed his second league start of the season and his 8th of the campaign.
It took host just 15 minutes to break the deadlock when Ukrainian midfielder Viktor Kovalenko converted from twelve yards to give his side the lead, a lead they held going into the half time break.
Shakhtar then doubled their lead five minutes after the restart with an electrifying counterattack which was finished off by Kayode to put his side 2-0 up.
Substitute Maycon then made it 3-0 deep into additional time as Paulo Fonseca boys moved closer to yet another league title.
BELGIUM
Emmanuel Dennis Bonaventure (Club Brugge): The former Kwara Football Academy forward was cautioned in the 20th min and was substituted in the 69th min of his team’s 1-2 loss at Genk.
AUSTRIA
Yusuf Otubanjo (LASK): He was an unused substitute when his team played a goalless draw at home to SKN St. Poelten.
Bright Edomwonyi (Austria Wien): He was issued a red card in the 38 min – two minutes after being issued a yellow card as his team drew 1-1 with Wolfsberger AC.
NORWAY
Akeem Latifu (Mjoendalen): The former schoolboy international came on as a 51st min substitute when his team earned a 3-2 win at Stroemsgodset.
Ohi Omoijuanfo (Molde): He lasted 90 mins when his team suffered a 0-3 loss to Bodoe.
Moses Ebiye and Raphael Ayagwa (Lillestrom): Ebiye was substituted in the 46th min while Ayagwa was a non-playing substitute.
DENMARK
Paul Onuachu, Rilwan Hassan, Ayo Simon Okosun and Frank Onyeka (FC Midtjylland): Hassan and Onuachu were not listed, Okosun was a non-playing substitute but Onyeka who scored the second goal in the 54th min for Midtjylland in their 2-0 defeat of OB lasted the duration of the match.
SWEDEN
Samuel Nnamani (AFC Eskilstuna): He rescued a point for the new comers AFC Eskilstuna as they drew 1-1 at home to Orebo SK. The goal was his second goal in three games. After joining the club as a free agent last month, the 23-year-old was given his third league start of the season as the newcomers chased their second victory of the league campaign.
After a goalless first 45 minutes, the visitors took the lead six minutes after the hour mark but Nnamani equalized for his side with a solo effort on the 79th minute to ensure both teams settled for a draw. Despite missing out on the man of the match award, the Nigerian still had an impressive rating of 7.2, completed 78% of his passes and also completed 7 duels in the clash.
Ekpolo scores first Hacken goal
Versatile defender, Godswill Ekpolo scored his first goal for Haecken and inspired them to a 3-0 win over Falkenbergs FF in the Swedish Allsvenskan on Saturday.
A brace from Paulinho made the points safe for the visiting team who ran riot at the Falcon Alkoholfri Arena (Falkenberg).
Following the impressive performance, Ekpolo commented via Twitter, “Today (Saturday) is a special day for me, first for getting the 3 points and second for scoring my first goal in Allsvenskan.”
“I thank God for His love and kindness and also I want to thanks all my teammates for the congratulations. Amazing support today from the fans also. Glory be to God.”
Ekpolo who was with Barcelona since the age of 10, was a regular for their La Masia side. Although he was tipped to make the first team, he was released by the club in 2016.
He trained with the first team on a number of occasions but his progress was stunted by an injury which made him miss a large part of the 2014/15 season.
He was born in Nigeria but moved to Spain at a very early age where he began playing football. The player started out with a local side before CDC Torreforta signed him.
He impressed Barcelona scouts which led to his signing to the club, playing for their Under-18 and Under-19 sides.
He won the Nike Premier Cup in 2010 and the UEFA Youth League in 2014.
FINLAND
Faith Friday Obilor (HJK): He was on for the entirety of his club’s goalless draw at KuPS.
Matias Ojala (Ilves): He lasted for 80 mins when his team drew 0-0 at home to VPS.
EGYPT
Amutu ends Zamalek’s unbeaten run
Austin Amutu was the hero for the second consecutive match for Egyptian side Al-Masry as he scored what turned out to be the winner in their 2-1 home win against second-placed Zamalek.
Both sides came into the clash with an impressive unbeaten streak and the 26-year-old was given the nod to lead the line for the hosts as they sought to stretch their unbeaten run to 12 games.
Islam Abou Selema then opened the scoring for the home side five minutes to half time before Amutu doubled the lead three minutes before the hour mark to make it 2-0 to record his fourth goal since joining in January.
Mahmoud Alaa Eldin then scored from the spot deep into extra time to grab a late consolation as Al-Masry ended Zamalek 10 games Unbeaten run. The win lifts Al-Masry to fourth
CHINA
Ighalo’s goal fails to lift Shanghai
Super Eagles’ forward, Odion Jude Ighalo was on target for the third consecutive league match as Shanghai Shenhua lost 2-1 away at the Yuexiushan Stadium to Guangzhou R&F.
In a game that pitched two of the league top scorers ( Ighalo and Eran Zahavi), both players were hoping to extend their goals tally with the visitors chasing their third win of the season.
However, the first half failed to produce any clear cut opening with the sour moment an injury to former Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele who was replaced by Chungui Ye.
The second half did fare better than the first as the hosts took the lead nine minutes after the hour mark when Eran Zahavi netted his fifth league goal after been set up by fellow country man Dia Saba.
Ighalo however equalised in the 90th min when he dusted himself up to score from the penalty spot to make it 1-1 and record his 5th league strike of the season.
But the home team had the last laugh when substitute Jiannog Zhu put through his own net to gift Guangzhou all three points and condemn Shanghai to their third loss of the season.
Vinicius opens season account
Dominic Vinicius scored the only goal of the game for Beijing BG as they pipped Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 1-0 in the Chinese League on Saturday.
Vinicius, 24, scored in the 67th minute as his side registered their first win of the Chinese second tier season.
The forward joined Beijing BK from Vejle in January 2018 and has impressed with his goal stats.
Prior to Dominic’s transfer to China, he had found the net nine times for Vejle in 16 appearances in the Danish First Division, with three assists in those games.
Dominic, who was once on the radar of Nigeria’s U15 coaching staff, has pledged his international future to Nigeria ahead of his birth country, Brazil.
The former Paranaense, Portuguesa and Cuiabá was brilliant last season after netting 15 times from 28 games.
