Patience is a virtue that Orji Okwonkwo can certainly call upon. Before Nigeria’s crucial semi-final showdown against Mexico, the No20 had played just 25 minutes in the tournament, coming off the bench in stoppage time in the Golden Eaglets’ opener before two 12-minute cameos against Australia and Brazil in games whose decisive moments had already passed. “I’m not the coach,” Okwonkwo said. “[Emmanuel Amuneke] knows what is best for the team. That’s why he put me on the bench. But he chose to put me on the pitch from the start against Mexico and that was an honour and a…
Author: CAF News
The story was written a thousand miles from home, but its echo was resonating throughout Africa, with highest frequency in Bamako, the Malian capital, where thousands took to the streets despite being in the wee hours of the night. This reflects no doubt the historic and unprecedented nature of what had happened with the qualification of the national U-17 team to the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup underway in Chile. A first for a Malian side, which made history on 1 March 2015 in Niamey, Niger, by being crowned African champions for the first time. It is in…
Here are the top 10 nominees for the two categories; African Player of the Year 2015 and African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) 2015. The winner will be decided by votes of the Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF. The awards gala will be held on Thursday, 7 January 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria. African Player of the Year 2015 André Ayew (Ghana & Swansea) Aymen Abdennour (Tunisia & Valencia) Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim ‘Karika’ (Sudan & El Hilal) Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borussia Dortmund) Sadio Mané (Senegal & Southampton) Serge…
THE DAY REPLAYED – Holders Nigeria dented Brazil’s profligacy and strolled into the last-four with a 3-0 victory, while Mali maintained their impressive defensive record to progress to their first FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-final courtesy of a tightly-contested 1-0 win over Croatia. Three goals in five first-half minutes undid a positive start for Brazil, sending a stunned A Seleção home. Victor Osimhen, with his eighth goal in five games, Kingsley Michael and Udochukwu Anumudu hit the quickfire treble for the African side, with the rest of the game a mere procession for the four-time champions as they secured their passage to the final four.…
It would be stretching the truth a little to say that Nigeria playmaker and captain Kelechi Nwakali already knows what it means to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup. “I was in the pre-World Cup training squad in 2013 but I didn’t make the squad that went on to win the trophy,” he explained in an interview with FIFA.com. “My brother Chidiebere was there, though, and of course I felt proud and happy for the other players.” Nor did Nwakali have the opportunity to travel to United Arab Emirates to cheer on his brother, a defender who contributed two goals to the…
With seven goals in four matches at the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup underway in Chile, Victor Osimhen, the bean-pole Nigerian striker sits atop of the scoring chart, justifying claims that he is indeed one for the future. Osimhen is living his dream and breathing his favourite song ‘sitting on the throne’ by popular Nigerian act ,Olamide who rapped inter alia ‘I’m a king and I don’t joke with my name…..Hun!…I’m sitting on the throne’ “I really hustled on the streets of Lagos and toyed with the idea of doing so many things initially,” Osimhen, the last child in a…
Reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions Nigeria advanced to a quarter-final meeting against Brazil on the back of a hat-trick from the impressive Victor Osimhen, ending Australia’s run with a one-sided 6-0 victory in Vina Del Mar. The tale of the first half was compacted into a three-minute period as Nigeria scored twice sandwiched either side of a gilt-edged opening for Australia. It was 2-0 at the interval, and the game was still a contest until the final 17 minutes before Nigeria ran riot against an Australian side looking flat after surviving the ‘group of death’. The Aussies started in pro-active…
Emmanuel Amuneke was an assistant coach the last time Nigeria won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was promoted to Head Coach early March 2014 and successfully secured the Golden Eaglets’ ticket for the 16th edition of the global cadet completion which Nigeria has won a record four times following the successes recorded in 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013. On the eve of the team’s departure from their training camp in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the World Cup finals, Amuneke in a special interview with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) website, www.thenff.com, discussed virtually…
Holders Nigeria has opened a training camp in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of the impending FIFA U-17 World Cup scheduled for 17 October to 8 November in Chile. The Golden Eaglets are based at a training facility called Buenos Aires Futbol, located on the outskirts of the capital and owned by former Argentine international, Matias Almeyda. Nigeria coach Emmanuel Amuneke told cafonline.com his team would spend two weeks before departing for Santiago for the World Cup. The West Africans are drawn alongside hosts Chile, USA and Croatia in Group A and will start their campaign on October 17 against USA.…
The “Les Elephantes” of Cote d’Ivoire achieved a historic feat beating power-house Nigeria’s Super Falcons 2-1 on Thursday in Brazzaville to claim bronze at the 11th African Games Brazzaville 2015. It was the first time ‘Les Elephantes’ were competing at the multisport event and they bowed out high with a place on the podium at the expense of reigning African champions, the Super Falcons. The victory was enough for the Ivorians to seal their authority over the high flying Nigerians, after beating them by a similar margin at the group phase. Again it was the Falcons who went up early in…