Once again we take you around the news making headline in Nigeria.
- Nigeria retain Beach Soccer title
Portugal stormed to a 4-2 lead at the end of the first period, and by the start of the third period, were up 7-4.
But the defending champions rallied, led by inspirational skipper Isiaka Olawale and long-time goalkeeper Abdul Isa, who replaced the off-colour Olalekan Oladepo.
The Nigerian tied the game at 7-7 at the end of the third period, forcing an extra period, where they triumphed 8-7.
- NSC chairman Bolaji Abdullahi says the government does not expect much from the Super Eagles going into next month's African Nations Cup.
“It will not be easy for the team to be building and contesting at the same time. We do not expect much from the team because it is still a new team. They are not under any target from us.
"It is a new team and we have to be very careful."
Abdullahi did say the government would do everything to support the squad to have a successful outing in South Africa.
"The coach and players need support from every Nigerian, and as government, we will give them the necessary support they need.
"So let’s hope that everybody will put their hands together for the Eagles to do well,” the minister stated.
- Enugu Rangers midfielder Chinedu Sunday describes his first Super Eagles call-up to the provisional squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations as a dream come true.
The midfielder is hoping to make his selection count by being included in Nigeria's final Nations Cup squad.
"I thank God for this invitation. It is to Him solely that I shall give all praise to. I also use this medium to appreciate the head coach of the Super Eagles for his unrelenting effort to build a strong home-based team,” Sunday told Goal.com.
"I have been waiting for this invitation for quite some time but I didn't allow it to weigh me down in any way because I know that when God says it is my time, no one can stop me. I focused more on my game and allowed God to do the rest on my behalf.
"Now that I have the cherished call-up, I will not want to trade it for anything. It is a dream come true to be selected by one's country's national team and I will always cherish it. I will now like to storm the Eagles' camp with all focus and alertness so that I could pick a spot in the Afcon bound Eagles. It is not how far but how well. I am determined to prove my worth to the technical crew," the player told Goal.com.
- Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi says players must earn their places as preparation begins for next month's African Nations Cup.
“I have said it time and again that I don’t have preference for any set of players and I will be giving any good players the chance to play in my team," Keshi said.
"My selection will be fair, and it’s up to the players to prove to me they want to play,” he said.
With the Nigerian league having been on break since October, there are worries that fitness issues may cost the local players their places in the final squad to South Africa, but Keshi says that might not be an issue.
"Because of their conditioning, we will focus on mostly fitness training to start with.
"I still have a lot of belief in the home-based players. I have been working with them for almost a year now and they have shown that they can compete with the foreign-based players.
"Any player that wants to play for Nigeria in the Nations Cup will have to be of high quality and must be ready to give a lot of sacrifice by giving his best to the team. That goes for both local and foreign pros,” he said.
- A goal in each half from Happy Akuoka and John Owoeri gave Heartland a 2-0 win over Kano Pillars in the Super Cup game played in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
In a related development, the Nigeria Premier League is set to resume on an earlier date than the February 16 which was proposed at the NPL congress in Abuja on Tuesday.
The decision to bring forward the date of resumption for the NPL was made at the NFF congress on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
Although the no particular date has been fixed yet, it is believed the League will kick-off before the commencement of the Africa Cup of Nations.
- Osaze thrilled to end losing run
Osaze Odemwingie has said he is delighted West Brom halted a three-game losing run with a 0-0 draw at home with West Ham.
West Brom have lost to Swansea, Stoke City and Arsenal in a row before they were held at home by ‘The Hammers’ on Sunday.
James Morrison twice hit the woodwork as the sixth-placed Baggies made it 27 points from 17 games but were unable to find the back of the net for the third successive Barclays Premier League fixture.
“After losing three games I think it was very important to keep a clean sheet and we hope to build on this in our next game,” said Odemwingie.
“I think our performance should give us some hope that we are able to get results in the next games.
“It’s also very important that we had chances to score and that should give us hope that we can return to winning games and stay in the top six.
“I think we were a bit unlucky and sometimes you need a bit of luck to get a goal.
“I think we were unfortunate as they defended very well and when we did manage to get the ball in the box it didn’t fall to one of our players.”
He added: “It was a very difficult game against a team who are very difficult to play against.
“We started the second half very strongly and the fans got behind us, which really helped.
“Before the game we knew that three points, if we’d have won, would take us back up the league a little.
"The head coach said before the game that we needed to end the losing run and we did that, which is important for us.
“If we can score in our next game hopefully we might be able to get a win.
“We didn’t win but I think we should still be very happy with where we are in the league.“We lost three games and we’re still there which means that we did a good job before that.
“I hope that drawing today (Sunday) allows us to put the defeats behind us and we can now build our confidence and get back to winning.”
- Elderson: Faro training can crown Eagles champions again
Elderson Echiejile has said Nigeria could be African champions again next year if they make the most of a training camp in Faro, Portugal.
The Eagles will open a training camp in Portugal on December 27 and the Sporting Braga star defender has told told reporters that their hard work and sacrifices will be rewarded with a third Nations Cup conquest by Nigeria in South Africa.
“I believe if we give everything in the training camp, we will have a very great Nations Cup,” Elderson said.
“This means that most of us have to cut short deserved holidays after a hectic season in Europe and also hope our clubs release us in good time so that we have enough time to work as a team.”
The Braga left back said the Eagles have struggled to play as a team because they have often not had enough time to train together for longer than four days.
“We will now have at least two full weeks before our first game in South Africa and that is a lot because we hardly get that before many of our matches,” he said.
"This will be enough time to really work as a team and the result of this we will see by our first game against Burkina Faso in January 21.”
Defending champions Zambia and Ethiopia are the Eagles other first round foes in Group C to be based in Nelspruit. The former U17 and U20 international is set for his second Nations Cup after he featured at the 2010 tournament in Angola, where Nigeria finished third.
- Imoh Ezekiel posted a man-of-the-match display to grab his tenth goal of the season as Standard Liege won 2-0 at KV Mechelen.
The Nigerian youngster, who has been outstanding since moving to Belgium in the summer, got his name on the scoreboard in the 39th minute.
He then provided the assist for Michy Batshuayi to score the second goal in the 76th minute.
Standard Liege are now fourth on the table with 35 points from 20 games.
In Malta, Nigerian forward Obinna Obiefule returned to the top of the goals race in Malta courtesy of a brace as Mosta beat Hamrun Spartan 3-0.Obiefule, who was top scorer last season with 34 goals, has now scored 11 goals after his second-half brace to lead Mosta to glory.
He is now joint top scorer with Mifsud of Valleta.
Obiefule told the press that his confidence has returned after he failed to move after his record-breaking goals tally last season.
"It was a deserved victory for us. My confidence is back again as I always want to score in every game so I could remain the goal king,” he said.
“After our shameful home loss to Silema Wanderers last weekend, we just shook it off and came out strongly to earn the victory."
Mosta now occupy fourth spot on the table with 25 points from 15 matches.
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