ubamobile

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Wed, Jul

Sports

The almost chaotic scenes at the final match of the 35th edition of the African Cup of Nations in Morocco in January this year should have prepared the minds of football lovers for the man-made orchestrations in this year’s FIFA World Cup that nearly brought the beautiful game of football to disrepute. Never has there been so much deep-seated sour taste in the mouth in any edition of the global showpiece as the 2026 edition hosted by Mexico/United States/Canada.

Admittedly, one must salute the high level of football artistry on display by the 48 participating countries, including the quality of a few any football fans might have hitherto dismissed with a wave of the hands. The politics, manipulations, and glaring inactions by Gianni Infantino’s FIFA and a few ego-filled teams point to a dangerous dimension that portends serious danger to the health of the beautiful game.

In his 10th year in charge of FIFA, Infantino is clearly on a descent, and towards an unplanned exit that may save the Italian from drowning himself in shame.

Never has a FIFA president demonstrated his readiness to be manipulated by the powerful regardless of the risk of such a move. This man has strangely and obviously demonstrated his preference for certain teams over others. Only Infantino would be able to explain why he was able to threaten fire and brimstone after the drama at the AFCON final in Rabat between eventual champion, Senegal, and hosts Morocco, but curiously became blind after the embarrassment football was subjected to by ‘FIFA-anointed team’, Argentina, who deservedly lost the final match to European champions, Spain, penultimate Sunday.

Don’t miss the point: I love football, having played the round-leather game to my God-given capacity; I only show my partisanship when the Super Eagles played well and lost, not the lame and duck displays the national team put up when struggling to qualify for the just-concluded competition. Interestingly, Nigeria still managed to win some ‘trophies’ at the World Cup in which it did not participate. You know the ‘unnamed trophies’ more than I do. So, you don’t need my help to list them.

Up until this moment, I still do not understand what Argentina deserved at the end of the final whistle of the 2026 World Cup with the level of football they played against Spain in the final. I won’t take away the respect the Argentines deserved, going through the group stages; through the knockout matches (especially with the help of malleable referees), and landing at the final while fighting to retain the crown they won four years ago in Doha, Qatar.

With the benefit of hindsight, one is tempted to submit that the quality of the La Albiceleste at the 2026 World Cup was below the quality of the squad that won the cup in Qatar, where they lost their opening match 1-2 to Saudi Arabia.


In 2026, some remote arrangements, however, ensured that despite a few lapses, the Argentines progressed seamlessly into the knockout stages, where they suddenly realised they were the ‘FIFA hot favourites’ for the ultimate prize, signposted by unexplainable favourable and strange decisions. The marketing prospects of keeping the South Americans in the competition obviously overshadowed all considerations in FIFA’s calculations and deliberate inactions.

As in all facets of human life, there are certain gaps that wouldn’t be covered forever by man-made arrangements. Despite tolerating the customary excesses of the Argentines in the first half, Slovenian Slavko Vincic stamped his authority, which resulted in the sending off of the usually pompous Enzo Fernandez and the eventual capitulation of the La Albiceleste.

The deserved defeat of the Argentines in the one-sided match against Spain is not my interest in this piece, by the way. It is the disgraceful attitude of the losers and the criminal silence of the Infantino-led FIFA since the embarrassing episode of the aftermath of the World Cup final match penultimate Sunday.

Anti-apartheid icon and former South African President, Mr Nelson Mandela, once said, “Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.” By the way, this particular statement might have been erased even in South Africa itself by narrow-minded nincompoops masquerading as leaders in the nation’s current setup.

A former US diplomat and civil rights leader, Andrew Young, while supporting some of the good attributes of sports, said, “I’ve always seen the Olympics as a place where you could act out your differences on the athletic field with a sense of sportsmanship and fairness and mutual respect,” the latter part being the anchor of the statement. Also, a former US President, Theodore Roosevelt, examined the good and bad sides of sports prowess. “Character counts for a great deal more than either intellect or body in winning success in life. Athletic proficiency is a mighty good servant, and like so many other good servants, a mighty bad master,” he stated.

By Ademola Oni

In sports especially, which help to unite people of all races (at least, so it seems) more than most governmental structures in the world today, there will always be songs of victory and the lamentation of defeat. Essentially, what separates the two is the mood and the maturity the parties bring to it.

A line in ‘Beast of No Nation’, one of the iconic masterpieces of Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, kept popping up as I was battling to keep Long Range in check. This line simply says “This uprising will bring out the beast in us.” Fela was not the originator of this line, by the way.


PW Botha, one of the apartheid leaders in South Africa, had made this unguarded statement to belittle the uprising, protests and physical violence against apartheid rule in South Africa in the mid-80s. Pitiably, illiterate, ignorant and ungrateful black South Africans have turned on other blacks in the former apartheid enclave, killing some, looting their property, shutting down their businesses and telling them to go ‘beck’ to their countries.

It is basically impossible for the hands of the clock to go back many years. This current generation of South Africans, including their pretentious leaders, shouldn’t have been part of the package of freedom, if you ask me, but thank you for not asking.

Let’s go back to the World Cup. At the penultimate tournament in Qatar, after the Kylian Mbappe-inspired France lost the FIFA World Cup final to Argentina, French President Emanuel Macron personally embraced the players, encouraging them to be proud of their outstanding display. The players and officials didn’t bring down the stadium, nor did they turn the presentation ceremonies into a showpiece of crass moral ineptitude like our South American ‘superstars’ exhibited in New Jersey.

I’m not a mind reader, but I’m sure something else was going through the minds of the Argentine players and officials at the end of the match in New Jersey on July 19 that so many people didn’t see. Like Spain crippled the machinery of Mbappe-led France attack in the semi-finals, the European champions equally shut down the Lionel Messi troops in a more spectacular fashion in the final. The South Americans did not register a single shot on goal throughout the 120 minutes of football action. Even our dear Super Eagles, on their day, would have done better.

So then, can someone explain to me why the Argentines decided to bring out the beast in them on this occasion? Why would national team players throw decorum to the wind, preferring the mentality of beasts? Would punching the Spaniards assuage the pain of the defeat on the night? The Argentines were, however, lucky that a player like Sergio Ramos was not in the Spain squad on the day. Cape Verde, Egypt and England partly lost to the Argentines, not because of superior football mastery but to the obvious conspiratorial machinations of Infantino and FIFA, a very dangerous trend.

The Argentines didn’t start their shenanigans in the final. After their 2-1 victory over England in the semi-finals, the still embittered South Americans decided to mock England for losing the Falkland Islands to the Europeans after their defeat in the 74-day battle in 1982. The question is, why on the field of play? Were they reprimanded?

How does one categorise the role of Infantino’s FIFA in the excesses of the Argentines at the World Cup? At the end of the AFCON final in Rabat and the drama that attended the match in January, the FIFA president started spitting fire, culminating in the purported stripping of the Senegalese of their well-deserved AFCON title.


More than a week after the Argentines’ show of shame in New Jersey, Infantino has not found his voice in roundly condemning the South Americans for bringing the beautiful game to global disrepute. Who is this man trying to please?

It is clearly a crime against humanity for a team to believe that through sheer manipulation, the trophy of the FIFA World Cup could be handed over to it no matter how poorly it played. In this case, Argentina (and by extension, Infantino) lost the World Cup on the field of play, deservedly so, and outside the field, the respect of the global football family by bringing out the beast in them.

Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar Dias, widely known as Vozinha, is set to join Chilean football powerhouse Colo Colo after his remarkable performances at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The 40-year-old veteran emerged as one of the tournament’s surprise stars, delivering a series of impressive displays against eventual champions Spain and defending champions Argentina.

While the transfer has not yet been officially completed, Colo Colo hinted at the move on Friday by sharing an image believed to feature Vozinha’s trademark curly hair.

“Bienvenido. Welcome. Bem-vindo. We look forward to seeing you at the Monumental Stadium,” the club posted on its social media platforms, sparking excitement among supporters and Chilean football fans.

Chile, meanwhile, missed out on qualification for a third consecutive FIFA World Cup, making the arrival of an international star of Vozinha’s profile even more significant for local fans.

Reuters reported that Aníbal Mosa, president of Blanco y Negro — the company that manages Colo Colo — confirmed the goalkeeper would travel to Chile in the coming days to complete the move.

“Vozinha is going to be a Colo Colo player. In the next few days, he will travel to Chile, undergo the necessary medical examinations, and then be presented here at the Estadio Monumental,” Mosa said.

The club president praised Vozinha’s World Cup performances, noting that his displays earned him the opportunity to join Colo Colo while also providing the club with additional commercial value.

Vozinha joined the World Cup after leaving Portuguese second-tier club Chaves and quickly became a global name. He was selected by fans for FIFA’s World Cup Dream Team after helping tournament debutants Cape Verde secure a goalless draw against Spain and take Argentina into extra time in the Round of 32.

The experienced goalkeeper captained Cape Verde during their historic first World Cup appearance before the African side were eliminated by Argentina in a dramatic 3–2 extra-time defeat.

His performances also brought him worldwide attention off the pitch, with his social media following reportedly growing from fewer than 50,000 followers before the tournament to nearly 29 million

The wealth of a nation is determined by the collective wealth of all its citizens, but what if the citizens got no wealth and this writer says, the nation is bankrupt and must start afresh as it was after the World Wars decades past. Sports in Nigeria is bankrupt and virtually non-existent except perhaps football. Athletics is comatose where university graduates and aged men and women are paraded as youth while the seniors are recruited aged-foreign mediocre druggists that has no semblance of connection to Nigeria. The stadiums are in deplorable conditions (National Stadium Surulere, Lagos and Obafemi Awolowo Stadium Ibadan insults common sense considering yearly recurring expenditures budgeted for them - at least over N20Billion in the past 4years). This is absurd, moral bankruptcy and insult to the citizens of Nigeria and MUST STOP. General Muhammadu Buhari are you listening?

 Current Events

Football

Power tussle in the football federation and lame-duck de facto Sports Minister Danagogo has settled down. To remind those who didn’t follow such issue, Mr. Danagogo ordered the football federation to hire Stephen Keshi or any top UEFA Coach. Although, Mr. Keshi enjoys President Jonathan support, but this event is simply outrageous and that has nothing to do with Mr. Keshi or Mr. President personally, but professionally speaking, the football federation appears to be full of ‘yes sir’ individuals that lacks courage. Although, this submission is contrary to highly esteemed credentials earned by those federation scribes and one can only conclude that unknown reasons exist that prevented these individuals from courageous act like its secretary general did by walking-off the job recently.

Quite frankly, Mr. Keshi should bow out quietly now (contract or no-contract) and that is based on observation of the team when he handled it and even now because quality expected are those being showcased by Siasia U-23 team. This writer doubts if any team presented by Keshi can defeat Siasia’s current team. Furthermore, the open door policy enjoyed by Keshi with President Jonathan is now a thing of the past and the scrutiny he is going to face will be severe from Nigerians.

 Athletics

On the athletics front, that federation is still wallowing in misery and the National Sports Commission (NSC) never at any time show interest on any development concerning that sport. Mr. Danagogo did a good thing by supervising the football federation whereas he simply ignored Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) even when Nigeria’s passports were fraudulently issued to non-Nigerians who failed woefully at the Commonwealth Games. Some Nigerians claimed he discriminated against the North with his action in respect of football and aided AFN atrocities, wherever the truth lies Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi did the same thing even changing the National Sports Festival format because of Governor Uduaghan (Delta governor) request. The fact, is both Sports Ministers (current or former) were wrong not to have universal rule.

Nigeria is presenting a team for the African Youth competition in Mauritius soon before the All African Games and age falsification is on the agenda for the youth games and for the senior’s team, Solomon Ogba vowed to present aged-illegal-bought-druggists as Nigeria’s team and the question the incoming regime is ARE YOU GOING TO ALLOW THIS OR JAIL THESE PEOPLE?

A cow is said to regurgitate its meal (contaminated or not) and human beings will show signs of discomfort whenever a contaminated meal is ingested and can either vomit or purging such meal. By analogy to Nigeria sports, the country had gone through over 16years of regurgitating or rather recycling of people of no-good intention towards the country and it is time to vomit or purge every individual that were part of the system of sports mediocrity or nuisance. Recovery of all funds meant for stadium upgrade must commence and athletes’ development cannot no longer be exclusively contracted out to sport federations. The culture of epileptic sports policy must be purged, now. Change, the country demand.

 I rest for now.                                                                                      

Dr. Rashid A. Balogun, CPA, LLB(Hons.), LLM(London)

After the exit of all the English Premiere League representatives -- Chelsea FC,  Manchester City and Arsenal FC -- from the UEFA Champions League at the round of 16 on Wednesday, the stage is now set for the remaining teams to move on to the quarter finals.

The draws for the quarter final fixtures took place  in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday, ahead of actions in the game which will commence on 14th April.

Spanish league, La Liga is dominating with representatives at the moment, with three of its strongest teams -- Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid -- still in the run.

Others remaining in the run are, Saint-Germain, Juventus, Monaco and Bayern Munich.

Below is the draw for actions to commence on 14th April:

 Paris Saint-Germain vs. Barcelona

  • Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid
  • FC Porto vs. Bayern Munich
  • Juventus vs. AS Monaco

 

LeBron James has made what he says will be the final decision of his NBA career, signing a two-year, $8 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers after giving serious thought to retirement.

The 41-year-old announced Friday that he still has the passion to compete and believes he has one more championship run left. The deal, which includes a player option, marks a significant pay cut from the nearly $53 million he earned with the Los Angeles Lakers last season.

In a series of posts on X, James reflected on the uncertainty surrounding his future following the 2025-26 season.

"I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide if I still love this game," he wrote.

After taking time to evaluate his future, James said he realized he wasn't ready to walk away.

"I still truly love this game, and I have more to give."

James said his decision to join Philadelphia was driven by one goal: competing for another NBA championship. The 76ers become the fourth franchise of his career as he pursues a fifth title while hoping to help end the team's 43-year championship drought.

Calling it the last free-agency decision of his career, James made it clear that his motivation extends far beyond money.

"This is my last decision. I'm not going for money. I'm not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point?" James wrote. "I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship."

James added that he believes he can help make the 76ers a championship contender and is excited to begin one final chapter with a new team and fan base as he enters a record-breaking 24th NBA season.

A cat’s sense of intelligence cannot be compared with that a dog (trained or untrained) but once a soldier always a soldier. It will take a high sense of intellect to connect the dots on the above sentence, but it is not insulting, but a statement of fact as this writer sees it. This writing is simply a discussion on the positive effect of March 28, 2015 Presidential election in respect of sports.

Preliminary Commentaries

Few former athletes drew their lines in the sand supporting the country’s beloved President Goodluck Jonathan while current athletes are scared silly to utter a word publicly, but they made statements on social media in support of the opposition party federal candidates, but those statements cannot be positively linked to them and then came Blessing Okagbare shouting at the incumbent President’s media campaign people for using her image despite unprecedented accolades beyond counts (money or otherwise) that President Jonathan bestowed on her. Of course, she is entitled to speak freely, but wrongly advised by her handlers even after her attempted damage control and this writer appeals to the citizens of Nigeria to simply understand that she is young and growing.  And to J.J. Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Henry Amike and a few others, this writer truly wish you well between now and 2019 but the hope is that you would have learnt a strong lesson about politics. It must be noted that, an appearance of certain individuals on behalf of the political gladiators might be the game changer in a certain socialistic economic environment and to zero-in on such phenomenon is worth more than a pat on the back. Of course, this is the view of this writer on the emergence of Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari as the President-Elect of Nigeria. It is highly doubtful to think the game changer sought at the helm of power in Nigeria is that of expired athletes that were remembered only in athletic historian circles.

Positive Effect on Sports

Current athletes by consensus view wants change to everything concerning sports and of course the President-Elect ran his political campaign on change in respect of governance in the country. He noted that high priority will be placed on Procurement Act of the federation. And course the readers of this writer can recall the acrimony by his brother named Bolaji Abdullahi, the former Sports Minister, that he (this writer) should produce the law (he referred to) in one of his writings concerning the misstep in the hiring of an American firm after disgraceful outings during the London Olympics Games. In fact, Mr. Abdullahi later hired two Saudi Arabia’s dumped American Coaches without any semblance of compliance with due process or Procurement Act. In addition, the former Sports Minister jettisoned the country’s heavily invested drug laboratory for the so-called high performance center ran by the two individuals hired without due process. Those individuals never produce a single athlete till date and for these events Mr. Abdullahi must not be considered to head sports again.

Recently, Mr. Abdullahi, said that the President-Elect has no business in meddling with sports and this writer can say clearly that his beloved brother (Mr. Abdullahi) was never appointed by All Progressive Congress (APC) or Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari to speak on his behalf nor his comments should be acted upon. It is hypocritical to Nigerians that Mr. Abdullahi that ignored the Federal Procurement Act while a Minister under President Jonathan should be seen with the President-Elect that announced that his number one priority is compliance with the Procurement Act and zero-tolerance on corruption.

One thing is clear and that is the incoming administration will conduct super-background checks on any political appointee because to do otherwise is tantamount to the return to status quo and will likely result in voter backlash come 2019. Furthermore, the benefit of a doubt goes to the incoming federal government executive branch, in the sense that current sport’s administrators are fearful of bad and corrupt behaviors knowing fully well that crime does not have an expiration date. Essentially, whether or not the accused committed the act during Rtd. General Obasanjo regime or the current President regime, it matters not and for that reason, the athletes and non-athletes must rejoice that past intimidation and corrupt practices will be dealt with and the fear of such penalty means, those few offending individuals (among NSC staff or federations) will shape up quickly. Hopefully, the goodness in the majority of them will become the norm and that is the positive impact of Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari even before taking the helm of power.

Status of Sports

Nothing really, to cry or rejoice about at the present time in respect of sports in Nigeria, but it is worthy of note that the era of violating the constitution of Nigeria by certain sports federations like athletics will meet serious challenges with the incoming Attorney General and Minister of Interior as well as the National security adviser. As regards to the Olympics, other than Mr. Siasia Eagles team and Blessing Okagbare, the country’s chances are very slim and that has everything to do with the reliance on useless agenda of poaching expired aged druggists from USA to represent Nigeria. Athletics Federation of Nigeria must be probed for illicit acts of facilitating issuance of Nigeria’s passports to non-Nigerians and for all monies received from the National Sports Commission (NSC) for the purposes of procuring such foreign athletes.

All in all, the incoming administration must embark on sanitizing the NSC, including its directors and all those hired without due process.

I rest for now.                                                                                      

Dr. Rashid A. Balogun, CPA, LLB(Hons.), LLM(London)

The Cranes of Uganda have opted to play against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the friendly match ealier scheduled to be against the El Verde of Bolivia.

Bolivia withdrew from the friendly set for 26th March in Uyo, because of the fear of armed conflict and the tense political situation in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Nigerian officials said they they were shocked with the withdrawal because they had put everything in place to ensure a hitch-free game.

The friendly against the Cranes is scheduled for 25th March at the same Uyo, Akwa Ibom stadium.

With the latest development, Super Eagles captain and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama will now be able to win his 100th cap.

The 32-year-old had been named in the 28-man squad selected by Super Eagles assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi.

The withdrawal of the El Verde means that Enyeama would have to wait until Nigeria's friendly against South Africa on 29th March before earning his landmark 100th cap.

Other players named in the squad against Bolivia include, Brown Ideye, Anthony Ujah, Aalesund defender, Akeem Latifu; Watford striker, Odion Ighalo and Belgian club Gent Moses Simon.  

 

More Articles ...

  1. View On The Political Front: What Must Be Said
  2. Bolivia Withdraw from Nigeria Friendly over Fear of Boko Haram
  3. Green Eagles Resume Camp for January Tour
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