HOME > NEWS > NIGERIA MIDFIELDER AYILA YUSSUF WAS INJURED AT DYNAMO KIEV ON MONDAY

Nigeria midfielder Ayila Yussuf was injured at Dynamo Kiev on Monday

Injury setback for Ayila

Posted: 2012-01-17 14:24

Nigeria midfielder, Ayila Yussuf was a major casualty for Ukraine Premier League leaders; Dynamo Kiev on Monday after a knee injury stopped the defender from the team's two-week trip to Spain to begin preparations for the second half of the season.  

According to Dynamo sources, the former Union Bank ace was advised by club's medics not to overload the knee after four days of workouts in frosty Kiev but to remain for treatment. 
 
The report further added that subject to a clean bill of health, the 27 year-old Ayila is expected to rejoin the squad at the second preparatory camp on  February 1. 
 
Meanwhile, Nigeria's duo of Brown Ideye and Lukman Haruna were included in the 30-man squad that jetted into the Spanish town of Marbella.
 
In Spain, Dynamo are expected to have three test matches during the Football Impact CUP 2012 tournament. 

Comment on this article:

TERMS OF USE: The comments posted below do not reflect the views of KickOff.com. Users are reminded that no misuse of this comment facility will be tolerated. Any abusive, racist or inflammatory comments will be deleted and the user banned. Please report abusive posts to editor@kickoff.com

uzochi: 2012-01-17 22:22

Jay Jay Okocha returns, to earn N97m


Nigeria 2002 World Cup skipper Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha has been signed up to star in a lucrative football tournament in India, organisers said.

The top stars could earn as much as $600,000 for eight weeks' work.

Executive director of Celebrity management Group (CMG), Baswar Goswani, has claimed his company has signed Okocha for the tournament, which is fashioned after the highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) for cricket.

The other stars include Italy's World Cup-winning skipper Fabio Cannavaro, France World Cup star Robert Pires as well as former England and Liverpool star Robbie Fowler.

The 38-year-old midfield star, who won Olympic gold as well as the 1994 World Cup with Nigeria, is one of several famous stars who are to feature in this eight-week competition, which kicks off February 25.

'Jay Jay' last featured for Hull City in England in 2008 after featuring for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Bolton and Fenerbache of Turkey.

He is currently running his business in Lagos and is on the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Last month, he dismissed an offer to feature in an international beach soccer tournament in Lagos.

Recently, he hinted on pursuing a coaching career.

Former Nigeria coach Samson Siasia has also been linked with being one of the coaches of the six teams who will all be based in the Indian state of West Bengal for the first instance.

Amata Plus: 2012-01-18 10:37

Nigerian players lack creativity - Maigari

Written by Saliu Gbadamosi Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Maigari
THE average Nigerian footballer lacks initiative as he always depend on coaches to tell him what to do on the pitch, as this display digitalised football, which in turn has led to the drop in quality of play, even as most of the players lack commitments and are not patriotic enough.

This is the view of the President, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Aminu Maigari, while speaking with sports journalists in Bauchi, saying that most of the footballers do not reflect on their performance after each match to see where they went wrong and what they could have done differently.

According to Maigari, instead of the players to reflect on their bad outings, they heavily rely on what they were told by their coaches.

"The quality of football has dropped you will agree with me. As you know we don’t have quality footballers nowadays. The great players of those days are not there now. We rely so much on digital football now as most of our players do rely on coaches," Maigari stated.

In my playing days, "I never waited for my coach to say this is what I want you to do for me. I used to sit down after every game to ****yse the game I played to see how I performed. If it was not what I expected, then I needed to improve.

"That thinking is not there now as players rely on their coaches, they are digitalised by relying on what they are told to correct the mistakes committed inside the field. That is the drop in quality which Nigerian football is not an exception."

He also blamed lack of commitment to the cause of the fatherland, indiscipline and unpatriotic attitude as part of the reasons Nigerian football suffered downfall last year. The Super Eagles' failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, which gets underway next week in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Maigari said that some national team players simply refused to show signs of commitment whenever the donned the Green-White-Green colours of the country, adding that they were not disciplined as well.

"Some of the players themselves don’t show signs of commitment when they are playing for the national teams; they are not patriotic enough, they are not disciplined. The commitment, discipline were not there. They don’t value wearing the Green-White-Green national colours."

The football federation boss stated that instead for the players to concentrate on the tasks ahead of them, most of them were fond of getting themselves distracted using gadgets, adding that, "I had to go mad with the players when I banned them from using some unnecessary gadgets in the camp like computers, music head phones etc., just to make them concentrate. As early as 6a.m., you will see the players busy looking for internet facilities which is uncalled for."

He submitted that the era of lakaidaisical attitude on the part of players had gone for good as the NFF had moved to correct the anomaly with a view to bringing back the smiles to the faces of the football-loving Nigerians again with the appointment of former Super Eagles captain, Stephen Keshi "who we believe the players respect, so much matured and he is in very good agreement as they relate very well with him. That will assist us to go many places during competitions."

He noted that the federation was also determined to change the fortune of the game for the country, adding that, "that is why we assembled home-based players that we believe they are hungry to play for the Super Eagles to give us what we are agitating for the country. So, I’m sure gradually we would eradicate this mess in our football.”

HE DOESN'T LIKE TO BE CRITICIZED BUT HAS TURNED INTO A HARSH CRITIC OF NIGERIAN PLAYERS. YET HIS INEPTITUDE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOW QUALITY OF THE PLAYERS!

gerry: 2012-01-18 12:22

If these gadgets were available during Mr Maigari's days, trust me they would have done exactly what this current players are doing. it probably would have been worse with the Eagle of 94 class.

Gadgets are now universally used by players while on club and country duties so i would not attribute our faliure to gadgets.

I rather the players have their gadgets than engarging in breaking camp curfew and partying late night.

The problem, is that our players are not good enough.

poor grass root programme iam not talking U-17 I am talking about from U-10's. From 10 Years you should be able to spot a potential footballer.

Building a homebase team is important, but remember that the homebase players are aspiring to be a foreign pro.

gerry: 2012-01-18 12:27

If these gadgets were available during Mr Maigari's day trust me they would have done exactly what these current players are doing. It probably would have been worse with the Eagle of 94 Class.

Gadgets are now universally used by players while on club and country duties so i would not attribute our failure to gadgets.

I rather the players have their gadgets than engaging in breaking camp curfew and partying late night.

The problem is that our players are not good enough.

Poor grass root programme I am not talking U-17 I am talking about from U-10's. From 10 Years you should be able to spot a potential footballer.

Building a homebased team is important. Remember that the Homebased players are aspiring to be a foreign pro.