By Taofeek
Babalola
Austin Jay
Jay Okocha is expected to lead nine other ex Super Eagles stars to represent
Nigeria in the inaugural Star Sixes tournament this week in London.
The 12-team event takes place over four days at the O2 Arena, with Nigeria kicking things off against China on Thursday evening (9.45pm).
Nigeria will
play in group B alongside China, Brazil and Italy.
Apart from
Okocha other players that will represent Nigeria include Celestine Babayaro,
Daniel Amokachi, Julius Aghahowa, Garba Lawal, Joseph Yobo, Taribo West, Victor
Ikpeba, Peter Rufai and Uche Okechukwu.
The
tournament will see 12 international teams do battle across four days, with the
winners crowned as Star Sixes champions on Sunday night.
Squads of 10
will compete, although, as the name suggests, the event will be a six-a-side format
with rolling substitutes.
Each team
will have a captain who also acts as the manager, deciding who starts each game
and who goes off and comes on.
Group stage
matches will be played over 20 minutes, with each of the knockout games
consisting of two 15-minute halves with a short break.
The
tournament kicks off on Thursday night (July 13) with six group stage games. There will be three group stage sessions
spread across Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Each one
consists of six matches.
On Saturday
evening, all four quarter-finals will be played with the first kicking off at
7.30pm and the last at 9.50pm.
Sunday's
session will include both semi-finals, a third-place play-off and the final.
The first semi gets underway at 7pm, with the battle for the Star Sixes trophy
scheduled for a 9.20pm start.
GROUP B FIXTURES
Thursday: Nigeria
v China (9.45pm), Brazil v Italy (10.15pm)
Friday: China
v Brazil (8.30pm), Italy v Nigeria (9.15pm)
Saturday: Brazil
v Nigeria (1pm), Italy v China (1.30pm)
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