By George Akpayen
After mixed outings in the opening matchweek of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), not much separates all of the 20 clubs so far in the standings and they will go again this Saturday, Sunday and Monday in mouthwatering fixtures that pits the old guards against the newbies.
Last
weekend, there was a lean spell of goals in the 10 matches that opened the
campaign. Only nine goals were scored which represented less than a goal per
game and turned to be a good day for the defenders and goalkeepers who shut out
the strikers.
The fixtures
for Matchday 2 looks finely balanced and a number of the matches have the
trappings to produce goals aplenty considering previous head-to-head meetings.
OLD FOES START MATCHWEEK AS
BOTTOM-TWO
When Alfa
Sadiq signals for the start of this matchweek’s first fixture in Benin City,
two traditional rivals, Bendel Insurance and Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC),
will be battling as 20th and 19th placed teams. Both sides began the season on
losing note - 3SC fell 0-1 at home to Bayelsa United while Bendel Insurance lost
0-2 at El-Kanemi Warriors.
Last season
in this corresponding fixture, Insurance edged past 3SC 1-0 through Michael
Enaruna’s late goal. Enaruna, like a number of Insurance players from last
season, has moved on to newcomers, Barau FC, but this does not take away the
advantage that Insurance have posted over their rivals especially when they
play hosts in this fixture.
Head coach
of 3SC, Nurudeen Aweroro, will have to work on the psyche of his players to
banish the club’s poor recent trips to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. In their
last five trips to Benin City, 3SC have avoided defeat just once (D1 L4) since
the turn of the millennium. The other times, 3SC avoided defeat in Benin City
was in February 1998 and July 1999 when they played out 2-2 and 1-1 draws
respectively.
Bendel
Insurance head coach, Greg Ikhenoba and Aweroro, will hope their teams can put
points on the board and score goals as well after watching their sides fire
blanks on the opening day.
The champions, Remo Stars, will also be looking to claim their first win of the season after the 1-1 draw at home to Rivers United in the first game of the season. The titleholders will have to face newcomers, Kun Khalifat FC at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba, which they have adopted as home ground owing to renovation at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri without Victor Mbaoma.
The striker
returned to Remo Stars in the off-season transfer window and immediately got
off the mark in the opening game before leaving the pitch early with a rib
injury which his head coach, Daniel Ogunmodede told npfl.ng has ruled him out of
the trip for Monday’s match.
Ogunmodede’s
explanation borders on taking precautionary measures on the striker since they
have subsequent league games and CAF Champions League coming up in September.
“Victor will
not be available for the match (against Kun Khalifat FC),” Ogunmodede also
known as Ijaball revealed to npfl.ng.
“The extent
of the (rib) injury has not be fully ascertained and we are still monitoring
his situation which rules him out of the game entirely.”
Mbaoma’s
absence could pave way for Remo Stars’ Malian striker, Adama Goita, to earn his
first start of the season.
It is the
first time both teams will meet in the topflight and the odds are in favour of
the champions though Obinna Uzoho and his men will hope they can hold off
another big team like they did in the opening matchday at Rangers where they
got a point off a 0-0 draw.
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IN LAGOS
Talk of
holding off for a point, Ikorodu City started their season with a 0-0 draw at
Kwara United despite featuring nine NPFL debutants and a new head coach in Ali
Kandil after the departure of Aweroro to Shooting Stars. Ikorodu City will now
shape up for their first home game against El-Kanemi Warriors in this season’s
first Sunday night fixture at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan in Lagos.
El-Kanemi, on the other hand, started with a 2-0 win over Insurance at home.
Last season,
which was City’s debut campaign in the NPFL, they scored 48 goals at home, 15
more than champions Remo Stars who netted the second highest number of goals at
home. So, NPFL followers will expect this game to flow with goals considering
Kandil was part of City’s coaching setup under Aweroro’s management and will
want to continue with the same team ethos.
Both teams
have met just twice in the NPFL and City are unbeaten on both occasions (W1
D1). The Oga Boys saw off El-Kanemi 2-0 in this same fixture with Ayomide Cole
and Shola Adelani scoring second half goals. Both players were missing in
City’s game at Kwara United but it is likely Adelani should be back in the team
for El-Kanemi’s visit. Kabiru Dogo should have a full El-Kanemi squad including
his opening matchweek goalscorers, Al’amin Umar and Daddy Abdulrahman, for the
trip to Lagos except for suspended midfielder Zayyad Musa who got a straight
red card against Bendel Insurance.
This first
night game could be turn out to be a test for Kandil’s side, now full of
newcomers in the top division.
BIG GUNS AIM TO FIND COMFORT AT HOME
On the
opening round of the season, the big boys found it difficult to eke out results
and this time will have to do so in front of their supporters or else the
pressure begins to pile up from here on. Enyimba, Kano Pillars, Plateau United
and Rivers United all play on Sunday against Niger Tornadoes, Wikki Tourists,
Katsina United and Cup holders, Kwara United, respectively.
All four
clubs will hope to make playing at home count in order to get their first wins
of the season. Enyimba under Stanley Eguma will be keen to kill off games at
home after dropping so many points including a 1-1 draw in the same fixture
with Tornadoes last season before Chinedu Ufere rescued them late on to cancel
Godstime Joseph’s goal.
Four-time
champions Kano Pillars have a star-loaded side with Ahmed Musa, Rabiu Ali,
Abdullahi Musa, Auwalu Ali Malam and ball-playing midfielder Umar Sani Yakassai
who impressed in the team’s 0-1 loss at Abia Warriors. Wikki under former Kano
Pillars head coach, Abdu Maikaba, will be prepared for the firepower of Sai
Masu Gida. Last time both sides met in this same fixture, it ended 1-1 in June
2002. Pillars head coach, Evans Ogenyi, will hope for a better outing this time
as he aims to guide his side to their first win of the season.
Shola Adegun
has moved to stamp his coaching philosophy on Plateau United since he joined in
the off-season window as head coach. His first game ended with a 0-1 loss at
Wikki but the former Sporting Lagos manager will be keen to see his side get
the full points on the board when Katsina United come calling. Azeez Mohammed’s
men suffered a shock 0-1 defeat to promoted side Warri Wolves last weekend and
the trip to Jos looks Herculean as they failed to avoid defeat or even score in
their last six visits. This gives Adegun’s men some kind of advantage.
A team with
quite an advantage over their opponents this weekend are Rivers United. The
Pride of Rivers have lost just twice in their last 13 NPFL head-to-head
meetings with Kwara United (W5 D6 L2). Last time out in this fixture, Finidi
George’s men had to turn things around through quickfire goals from Timothy
Zachariah and David Benjamin after conceding early to Akeem Akanni’s goal to
win 2-1. Tunde Sanni will hope his side’s Cup triumph last season can inspire
them to grind out a result in Port Harcourt.
THE OTHER FIXTURES
The
matchweek will also witness Wolves who won on the road last weekend play hosts
to eight-time champions Rangers while Bayelsa United will want to make it two
wins in two against newcomers Barau FC who will be heading to Yenagoa - a
familiar stomping ground for their head coach, Ladan Bosso,who was in charge of
the Bayelsa club last season. Nasarawa United will look to shake off their
midweek misadventure to Ilorin when they play at their Lafia City Stadium
against Abia Warriors on Sunday.
SUSPENSIONS
There are
early suspensions this season for three players. Rivers United captain, Temple
Emekayi will not be part of Finidi’s plan for Matchweek 2. El-Kanemi’s Zayyad
and Enyimba forward Mujeeb Odufeso will also miss out on this weekend's games.
The trio are suspended for the next three games starting from this matchday
owing to straight red cards issued to them last weekend.
MATCHDAY 2 FIXTURES
Saturday,
August 30, 2025
Bendel
Insurance v 3SC
Sunday,
August 31, 2025
Warri Wolves
v Rangers
Bayelsa United
v Barau FC
Enyimba v
Niger Tornadoes
Kano Pillars
v Wikki Tourists
Plateau
United v Katsina United
Rivers
United v Kwara United
Nasarawa
United v Abia Warriors
Ikorodu City
v El-Kanemi Warriors (5:30pm)
Monday,
September 1, 2025
Kun Khalifat
FC v Remo Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment