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IT’S A bright day here in Fez. The sun is high in the horizon and the cold weather is a bit tempered. It’s going to be a great day.
It’s also Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen’s birthday! Yes, he clocks 27 years today, having been born on 29 December, 1998. I had prepared a special postcard on behalf of Super Eagles Official Sponsors Mr.ChefNigeria, to celebrate Osimhen’s birthday even before I left Nigeria for the tournament. All I had to do this morning was to activate the postcard with the following message: “Super Eagles talisman, VICTOR JAMES OSIMHEN, clocks 27 years today. Mr.ChefNigeria sends special greetings.”
Even before I left the hotel, the post had gone viral because Osimhen was already trending on social media. Birthday greetings were flooding in for him on every conceivable platform. The boy truly has a large following.
Osimhen is not the only player in the Eagles camp who was born in December. Just before kickoff of the AFCON, captain Wilfred Ndidi clocked 29 years on 16 December while new invitee Ryan Alebiosu was 24 years on 17 December. And just two days ago on 27 December, Goalkeeper Amas Obasogie clocked 26 years.
There will be further birthday celebrations in the Eagles camp during the AFCON. On 31st December, Calvin Bassey will be 26 while Bright Osayi-Samuel will be 28 on the same day. Frank Onyeka will clock 28 years on New Year’s Day, 1st January, 2026 while Chidozie Awaziem will be 29 on the same day. Chidera Ejuke clocks 27 years on 2nd January, and new boy Salim Fago Lawal will be 22 years old on 15th January.
Let’s hope that this rash of birthday celebrations will lead to the ultimate celebration with the Super Eagles lifting the AFCON trophy on 18 January, 2026. We want the team to go all the way. In the meantime, it’s Happy Birthday to Victor Osimhen.
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NDIDI CAUTIOUS AS UGANDA’S OBIT TALKS TOUGH
*Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi is not looking too far ahead to January to the AFCON trophy, however. When he was asked at the pre-match conference for the Uganda game on Tuesday the kind of opposition he was expecting in the Round of 16 since Nigeria had qualified for that stage already by virtue of the six points from their first two games, the Besiktas of Turkey player said his focus was “on the next game, not the next round.”
As usual, I sat in the front row at the presser to have uninterrupted view for my video recordings. ‘Away team’ Uganda addressed the media first this time around, followed 30 minutes later by ‘home team’ Nigeria. Uganda’s Belgian coach Paul Put didn’t give his boys much of a chance of causing an upset against Nigeria because, according to him, they don’t have many experienced players coming from Europe.
“The level of the Nigerian players from Europe is much higher than our local boys, but we will try our best,” he said.
Put has worked intermittently in Africa for nearly 20 years and coached several national teams including Gambia, Kenya, Guinea and Congo. He knows the Nigerian team inside out. He was in charge of Burkina Faso when Nigeria beat them 1-0 in the 2013 AFCON final in South Africa. Tuesday’s game is an opportunity for him to exert some revenge, but he is not so confident.
“It is going to be difficult for us against Nigeria,” he insisted. “They reached the final at the last Cup of Nations and they’ve won both of their games here in Morocco. I was impressed by their performance against Tunisia and I think they’re one of the favourites for the trophy now. Unfortunately, we did not win our last group game against Tanzania, so we are in a difficult position to qualify from the group. We are the underdogs against Nigeria, but we will try our best,” he repeated.
Uganda’s defender Jordan Obita who accompanied Coach Put to the presser sounded more optimistic, however. When Complete Sports reporter James Agberebi asked him whether Uganda’s better head-to-head record (4wins, 2 draws, 2 losses) against Nigeria gave him any confidence, the Scottish Premiership club Hibernian player answered in the affirmative.
“We are not afraid of Nigeria,” England-born Obita declared. “I believe we can approach the game with full confidence. We have no choice but to be confident. We know that Uganda have a good record against Nigeria. Right now, we have one point from two games, and if we win this game, we will have a chance of going through to the next round. So, we will fight for the win.”
History backs Obita’s optimism. The first time ever that Nigeria played Uganda was in the semi-final of the 1978 AFCON in Ghana. The then ‘Green Eagles’ parading Christian Chukwu, Segun Odegbami and Muda Lawal were the favourites, but the Uganda Cranes won the match 2-1. Most recent results in the last two years (two wins and one draw in three games) have also gone Uganda’s way, the last confrontation at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba in 2018 ending in a goalless draw.
Uganda might have lost 3-1 to Tunisia at this AFCON and drawn 1-1 with Tanzania. But when it comes to playing against Nigeria, they seem to produce their best. The Eagles must be wary of them. They have nothing to lose but everything to gain. Therefore, Wilfred Ndidi’s insistence to focus on the next game (against Uganda) rather than looking ahead to the next round made a lot of sense when he and Coach Eric Chelle took the stage for their own press conference.
Chelle actually opened the presser by wishing Victor Osimhen happy birthday and described him as “the best striker in the world.” When asked whether he would rotate his squad for the game against Uganda by fielding some irregular players since second round qualification had been secured, the coach deflected the question. “You will have to wait till tomorrow (Tuesday) to find out,” he said.
Inevitably, the conversation dovetailed again to Nigeria’s previous match against Tunisia and Chelle found himself having to defend his substitutions in the last 15 minutes again. Again, I raised my hand with the intention of making the points that I made in my open letter to the coach. But, once again, Malik, the CAF media officer, did not recognize me although I was seated in the front row. Perhaps he doesn’t like my face!
After the press conference, I walked up to Chelle as he and Ndidi left the table and, in a brief private chat, told him what I had in mind. He appreciated my comments and said he understood why people were agitated about his substitutions that seemed to go wrong against Tunisia. He assured me that he was getting to know his players better everyday, and this is what informed his team selections and substitutions, although some of the decisions might not have worked according to plan.
Afterwards, Malik came over to explain why he didn’t allow me to speak for the second straight press conference. He said he actually told the lady volunteer passing the microphone around to give it to me, but she mistakenly passed me by and gave it to someone else. Time had run out for the press session and he (Malik) didn’t want to violate standard CAF procedure. I had to accept his explanation.
Incidentally, Malik (full name Abdelmalik Koudize) is of Nigerien nationality. He is from Mirriah, the same town as our late President Muhammadu Buhari’s mother’s home town in southern Niger Republic. Mirriah is just a couple of hours drive from Katsina, Buhari’s home town in Northern Nigeria. Mirriah speaks the same language and have the same culture as Katsina which explains Buhari’s close affinity with his mother’s heritage during his lifetime.
“We are very close to the Nigerian border and my people associate with people from Northern Nigeria even more than they do with some other tribes in Niger Republic itself,” Malik told me. “We also had some Yoruba neighbours from Western Nigeria when I was young, so you can say that I have a good connection with Nigeria,” he concluded.
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*THE Nigerian press corps paid a short visit to Uganda’s training at the practice pitch of the Fez Stadium before we headed out to the Eagles training site at Sardienne Complex. The Ugandans had picked Uche Ikpeazu, their London-born player with a Ugandan mother and Nigerian father, as one of the players to speak in the mixed zone which made the session more attractive to the Nigerian journalists. Uche plays for Scottish Championship club, St. Johnstone, and he scored Uganda’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Tanzania at this AFCON. How he would love to score against Nigeria, too.
Over at the Eagles training ground in Sardienne Complex, it was fringe players Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge, Belgium), Tochukwu Nnadi (Zulte Waregem, Belgium) and Ebenezer Akinsanmiro (Pisa, Italy) that spoke to journalists in the mixed zone. I was fascinated by the duo from Belgium because they reminded me of my frequent journeys to that country during the era of Stephen Keshi, Peter Rufai and Etim Esin. How time flies.
At both the Ugandan and Nigerian training sessions, I just stood around and watched while Ganiyu Yusuf took photographs. But, as we made to leave Sardienne Complex, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Director of Communications, Dr. Ademola Olajire, arrived in company of Bayour Issa, (publisher of Sportspro News and Complete Sports veteran correspondent) alongside the Chairman of Kwara State FA.
After an exchange of pleasantries, we took some photographs. Usually, Olajire would address me with a “Sir” as his senior colleague in journalism. But this time, he decided cheekily to call me “Mr.Chef.” I did not complain!
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*THE shocking news reaching us from home today was about the unfortunate vehicular accident involving former world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua on the Lagos-Ibadan express way. I was so relieved to hear that Joshua survived the accident but, sadly, two members of his entourage were not as lucky. My condolences go to the families of the deceased, while wishing Joshua a quick recovery from what must have been a traumatic experience. We thank God that Joshua is alive.
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NIGERIA VERSUS UGANDA ALL-TIME HISTORY
*Nigeria 1-2 Uganda (1978 AFCON Semi-final in Kumasi, Ghana).
Nigeria’s scorer: Eyo Martins. Nigeria finished in Third Place in Ghana.
*Nigeria 0-1 Uganda (1981 Friendly in Kampala).
*Nigeria 2-0 Uganda (1994 AFCON Qualifier in Lagos).
Nigeria’s scorers: Daniel Amokachi, Samson Siasia.
*Nigeria 0-0 Uganda (1994 AFCON Qualifier in Kampala).
Uganda missed a penalty kick that would have eliminated Nigeria.
*Nigeria 1-0 Uganda (2008 AFCON Qualifier in Abeokuta).
Nigeria’s scorer: Nwankwo Kanu.
*Nigeria 1-2 Uganda (2008 AFCON Qualifier in Kampala).
Nigeria’s scorer: John Utaka.
*Nigeria 0-1 Uganda (2015 Inaugural friendly match for Super Eagles at Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo).
Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama’s 100th appearance for Nigeria.
*Nigeria 0-0 Uganda (2018 Friendly match in Asaba).
SUMMARY: 8 matches; Nigeria 2 wins, Uganda 4 wins, 2 draws.
#Mr.ChefNigeria. #Super Eagles. #AFCON2025. #Completesports. #NFF. #Nigerianfootball.
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