Ethiopia to play Nigeria on October 13
The Ethiopian Football Federation have confirmed they will play the first leg of the 2014 Fifa World Cup play-offs against Stephen Keshi’s men on Sunday
Ethiopia’s 2014 World Cup first leg play-offs clash against Nigeria has been slated for Sunday, October 13 at the National Stadium in Addis Ababa.
Speaking to news men in Addis, General Secretary of the Ethiopia Football Federation (EFF) Yigsaw Bezuayehu disclosed that the match will be staged on a Sunday.
“We have traditionally hosted all our home matches on Sunday and our game against Nigeria will not be an exception as we will play the first leg at the National Stadium on Sunday on Sunday October 13,” Bezuayehu said.
The Nigeria Football Federation had earlier raised alarm that Ethiopia are yet to confirm the match day. With this development, it means that Nigeria will fly out on a chartered flight on Saturday, October 12, so as to beat the effects of the high altitude in Addis Ababa.
Nigeria have opted out for Saturday, November 16 as the date for the return leg match to be played at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
Ninety-six million Naira Abuja Stadium re-grassing causes controversy
The National Sports Commission has revealed to the House of Representatives Committee on Sports that the amount of money coughed-out in re-grassing the Abuja National Stadium was 96 million Naira ($600,000).
Addressing the committee members, the Director of Finance and Administration in the Sports ministry, Alhaji Mustapha Mohammed declared that the sum was paid to Julius Berger, the contractor that replaced the grass on the football pitch.
“We spent N96 million to re-grass this pitch,” Mohammed told puzzled committee members while insisting that did not include the amount spent to commission the stadium that was once used to prosecute Super Eagles home matches.
In the same vein, chairman of the committee, Godfrey Ali Gaiya has refused to accept the amount spent because to him the job done is substandard.
“My God, how can you use N96million to re-grass a pitch, and this job was tested by nature right in our presence when it drizzled for few minutes and the whole place became water-logged, we have asked them to invite the contractors to come and do a good job.”
“My verdict is that I am not comfortable with the level of water logged on the pitch. I was in Calabar and it rained for three days non-stop before the match and you cannot compare Calabar that is in tropical environment to Abuja that is in the Savannah where rain is lighter.”
“So, if it rained in Calabar for three days when Nigeria played Malawi and I never saw anything like waterlogged spot, why should ordinary drizzling cause water ponds on the renovated Abuja pitch,” Gaiya asked.
“We don’t want to aggravate our mood further so we decided to be silent on that, but this is not good for our sport,” Gaiya fired back.
EPL WEEK SIX (28/9/13)
Tottenham — Chelsea @ 12:45pm
Aston Villa — Man City @ 3pm
Fulham — Cardiff City “
Hull City — West Ham “
Man Utd — West Brom “
Southampton — Crystal Palace “
Swansea — Arsenal @ 5:30pm
29/9/13
Stoke City — Norwich city 1:30pm
Sunderland — Liverpool @4pm
NPFL RESULTS (25/9/13)
Heartland 0 0 Sunshine
Enyimba 1 0 Akwa Utd
Nasarawa 3 0 3SC
Nembe City 1 0 Bayelsa Utd
Wolves 3 1 Wikki T
Kaduna Utd 1 0 Pillars
Kwara Utd 0 0 Lobi Stars
Gombe Utd 1 0 Dolphins
Sharks fc 3 0 EL Kanemi
Rangers 2 0 ABS fc
ENGLISH CAPITAL ONE CUP RESULTS
Birmingham 3 1 Swansea
Man Utd 1 0 Liverpool
West Brom (1) 3pen4 (1) Arsenal
SEREA A RESULTS 25/9/13
Bologna 3 3 AC Milan
Chievo 1 2 Juventus
Lazio 3 1 Catania
Parma 4 3 Atlanta
Napoli 1 1 Sassuolo
Sampdooria 0 2 Roma
LA LIGA MIDWEEK RESULTS
Granada 0 1 Valencia
Sevilla 4 1 R/Vallocano
Elche 1 2 R/Madrid
RESHEDULED NPFL GAMES
29/9/13
Kano Pillars — Enyimba
Kwara Utd — wolves
EMMA OKEWULUONU’S CUP (29/9/13)
Atonerim — Awuchinumo
Umuezeala — Umunumo
Ehime — Umunachi
