Football, Arsenal Vs Man Utd

The Transfer window is closing in 3 days and so far no big buys or major panic moves but yet its been one of the biggest January transfer windows ever. Chelsea are by far the biggest spenders with their purchase of Anelka (15m), Ivanovic (£9m) and Franco di Santo (£3m) - probably more than some of the bottom clubs managed all summer.

Despite Kolo Toure being injured in Ghana and Senderos not stepping up to the plate (is it any coincidence that while Kolo is away the spurs beat us by 5 goals?) Professor Wenger is allowing his degree in Economics get the better of him and we haven't bought any one yet.

And in the fifth round of the FA Cup its Arsenal vs Man Utd and I'm wondering whether we will have the explosive encounter of 1999 (best remembered for Giggs goal where he picked up possession on the half-way line and dribbled past the whole Arsenal back line, including Tony Adams and Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just beyond David Seaman. United went on to beat Newcastle in the final and win the Treble) or the damp squib of 2005 (settled on Penalties), either way roll on Sat 16th Feb.



Nigeria play Benin tonight looking to Ivory Coast to do us a favour in order to qualify for the second round. I won't get my hopes up as we would need to score at least two goals (dependent on the result between Mali and Ivory Coast) and in two games to date we haven't even sniffed a goal yet despite having the mercurial talents of Yakubu, Utaka and Martins. Come on Drogba, Kalou et al have a heart!

"Oh Super Eagles
Your wings have been so feeble
I cannot bear your fumbling
All week you have been stumbling

Martins' legs have been heavy
Kanu is an old Betty
Utaka is a slowie
The Eagles need a goalie

Your midfield is in shambles
The attack is a fumble
Today your flight is scheduled
In Ghana you were humbled

What can you do with Squirrels?
They will all hide in barrels
Where eagles are endangered
And elephants get angered
To stamp on all the Eagles
Till all that's left are squiggles

Berti Vogts should be fired
Another coach be hired
In any case a local
We're sick of foreign jackals
The NFA should be sacked
Since they have always slacked
And looked after their egos
At the expense of our eagles

South Africa is coming
World football's biggest showing
Two years and 5 months away
To put our demons at bay
And find a new number ten
See you in twenty ten!

Supereaglesfan on 606

PS I disagree with Supereaglesfan, I think Ejide in Goal has been one of the best Naija Goalies I can remember.

P-Square

P-Square are a Nigerian R&B duo composed of identical twin brothers Peter and Paul Okoye. In my opinion they are one of the best 'new' Naija bands, who have created a unique style of Naija Hip-Hop by blending mainly pidgin english lyrics with infectious beats (and can they dance too!). But some of their lyrics don't even make any sense "my side your side the both sides, even though we both philosophy..." (how does that make them any different from Michael Jackson I hear you ask). And from what I've heard of the new album it sounds quite good. I'm looking for a way to buy the album from the UK so if anyone has any suggestions please help hook a brother up.


Anyway enjoy "Am I still that special man" below

African Coaches

Chxta notes on his blog that everytime a Nigerian Coach has taken the National team to the Nations Cup they have won a Medal -

1984: Ade Onigbinde - Silver Medal
2002: Amodu Shuaibu - Bronze Medal
2004: Christian Chukwu - Bronze Medal
2006: Austin Eguavoen - Bronze Medal

The 2008 African Cup of Nations has revealed an over reliance by the African Countries on Foriegn Managers. Of the 16 countries that started the tournament, only Egypt, Zambia and Sudan have African Coaches (Egypt - Hassan Shehata, Zambia - Patrick Phiri and Sudan Mohammed Abdallah or 4 if you count Angola's Luis Oliveira Goncalves who played for Portugal during his playing days but thats stil just 25%!!!). It appears that once you are French or German and you are a football coach irrespective of how poor your motivational skills are, you are able to get an African Country to pay you millions to Coach their team. Berti Vogts sacked by Scotland manages Nigeria, and while I have no beef with experienced managers like Tunisia's Roger Lemerre, what has Benin's Reinhard Fabisch ever done? He has only ever managed African sides!

Surely it's time for the likes of George Weah, Abedi Pele and Jay-Jay Okocha to use the bundles of experience gained plying their trade in Europe at the highest level for the benefit of african teams.