Mahanaim FC pacing winger and Flying Eagles forward, Rilwanu Haliru Sarki powered his team to the quarterfinals of Unity Preseason Tourney with a brilliant goal against Wikki Tourist on Wednesday.

The Nigerian U-20 Star striker confirmed the exit of the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL side, Wikki Tourists alongside Doma United in their last group games in Abuja.

The last matches in the Group D which took place simultaneously at both Old Parade Football complex, venue of the game between Mahanaim FC and Wikki Tourist, while EFCC against Doma took their make or nar encounter to Area 3, Football Pitch.

The two fixtures showed how difficult it was for two the teams, to have qualified before the last round of matches in the Unity preseason tournament groupings.

Wikki Tourist drew the first blood against Mahanaim FC in the first half and managed to consolidate on it till they went on recess.

The non-league side, Mahanaim FC who fielded some of their fringe players in a bid to build their confidence and equally exposed them through the highly intense encounter with Wikki Tourist, however, Coach Saheed Olalekan promptly unleashed all his foot soldiers into the field of play, as the second 45 minutes started.

Mahanaim were initially forced by Wikki Tourist to adopt a not too impressive tactics which is against the culture and style of play of the Abuja-based side.

As the match continued to take shape properly Wikki Tourist were struggling to contain the tactically high ‘pressing’ approach of the Mahanaim boys all through the progression of the match.

The Kebbi born intelligent winger, Rilwanu Sarki came on explosively and forced Wikki goalkeeper to smart save from his ferocious strike.

Aliu Baba Kareem, known as Mahanaim FC ‘Tiger’ outpaced two of his markers before feeding Sarki whose 17 yard effort beat the keeper to bring Mahanaim back on level terms.

This late effort confirmed the quarter finals ticket of Mahanaim FC, as Doma united exit the competition after they settled for a two all draw against EFCC at the area 3 football pitch; suffice to say, Rilwanu Haliru Sarki handed the Abuja-based team its quarter finals ticket against Setraco FC.

Meanwhile, as Mahanaim FC prepared for the quarterfinal match against Setraco today, one of the best center backs in this competition, Sodiq Yusuf has expressed confidence that his side will leave no stone unturned to secure victory.

“It was not an easy task booking the ticket going into today’s game against a league one side, Setraco.

‘’We have been very formidable as a non league football team thus far, Mahanaim FC sets target collectively and we usually tick the target boxes after every game.

“We are taking this game very seriously and no stone would be left unturned,” he assured.

Mahanaim FC finished as the Table toppers of Group D with five points, from three games – in the second edition of the ongoing Unity Preseason Tourney.

They will face Setraco 2pm, at Area 3 football pitch this afternoon.

The President of the Nigeria Football Federation Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau was among the guest that watched the on going Unity Preseason Tournament holding in Abuja.

The President who came in as the last match of the second day was going on,was received by the Organizers alongside the Chairman of Nasarawa United Barrister Danladi Isaac, Media Aide to the Sports Minister Kola Daniel among others. The President came in when the match between NPFL side Nasarawa United of Lafia and NLO 1 side Like-Minds FC of Gwagwalada Abuja, which ended two goals to one in favour of Nasarawa United, was going on. The President came in unannounced.

Speaking on the visit of the NFF President to the tournament, the General Coordinator of the Unity Preseason Tournament, Patrick Ngwaogu (Odogwu Ndi Abia) was full of appreciation to the President for finding time to watch the games, saying that the NFF Boss has truly demonstrated that he belongs to the grassroots, and wants to keep abreast with what is happening there. He thanked the President for his passion, and prayed for God’s divine wisdom for him.

Meanwhile, Nasarawa United on Sunday became the first team to qualify for the quarter finals of the tournament after winning two of their group matches. They defeated Mailantariki FC by two goals to nil, in their first match, before overcoming Like-Minds FC by two goals to one. The second qualifier from the group will be determined on Monday when Like-Minds FC takes on Mailantariki FC at the Area 3 playing ground.

Other results of matches played so far are as follows :

DAY ONE: Saturday , Oct. 22

1. Nasarawa (2) vs Mailantarki (0 )- OPG
2. Manahaim (1) vs Doma (0)OPG
3. Lobi (1) vs City (0)- OPG
4. FWC (4)vs Destiny FC (0) Area 3 *Day TWO ** Sunday 23 October 2022*
5. Wikki (1) Vs EFCC (1)- OPG
6. Destiny F3 (2) vs Nuredeen FC (0) OPG
7. Setraco (1) Vs FWC (1) Area 3
8. Like Minds (1) Vs Nasarawa (2 ) Area 3 DAY THREE Fixtures For Monday , Oct 24 2022 Destiny FC vs Setraco (10am) OPG EFCC Vs Mahanaim (12noon ) – OPG Nurudeen FC Vs FWC (2pm ) – OPG IB Sports Dreams Vs City (4pm) OPG

Doma vs Wikki (2 pm) Area 3

Mailantarki vs Like Minds ( 4pm) Area 3

….. Thanks organizers for the invitation

By Olaoluwa Aro

As the yearly Unity Preseason Tournament takes center stage in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja this coming weekend, Mahanaim FC Captain John Light Maduabuchi, has reacted confidently to the grouping, especially group D, where his team would be facing Wikki Tourist, Doma United- one of the newly promoted teams to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), and Abuja based Nigeria National League (NNL) sides, EFCC.

Being one of the emerging non league football teams in the North central, Mahanaim FC have continued to distinguished themselves at any major events amongst their pairs in the Abuja circuit, since the Club was established.

John Light Maduabuchi, who was obviously elated with the Draws express optimism but didn’t downplay the battle ahead, as Mahanaim prepares for the Unity Cup.

” Football is a game of equal number of players on the Field. Playing Wikki Tourist, Doma United and EFCC of Abuja is a challenge that would be surmounted before our first game, and when the event kicks start on 22nd of this month, which is this coming weekend.

Reacting to questions on if participating for the first time in Unity Preseason Tourney would affect his team’s progress during the Competition, John Light, who is equally dubbed as ‘Lightinho’ appreciate the Organizers for extending one of the invites to Mahanaim FC.

“We are new in the tournament but not a new team on the field of play.

“I have received several overwhelming calls from our fans, football lovers within FCT and beyond regarding the pairing with these top teams and I have consistently maintained strongly that, we are equal to the tasks.

“Of a Truth, Wikki Tourist is a major factor but not a Fear factor and as for DOMA United, their promotion to NPFL showed how formidable they are amongst other NNL sides.

“EFCC of Abuja is a Familiar foe and we wouldn’t disregard any of our opponents but we shall show the world what Mahanaim FC is capable of professionally, in the competition, he said.

The captain took time out to show appreciation to the organisers during the interview ahead of the commencement of the pre-season.

“As a team that loves showing gratitude, we are thanking the Brains behind the Unity Preseason Tourney, led by Veteran Journalist and certified Coach, Mr Patrick Ngwaogu, alongside the two other- Men with letters, otherwise known as Pen- pushers for the opportunity given to Mahanaim to be part of this year’s event, which is also the second edition as well.

“We promise to be professional, responsible in our usual courteous manner, as we are not taking this Golden chance for granted because we were not given gratuitously,” Light concluded with utmost assurance

The unity preseason competition is basically for the purpose of preparing Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) teams, before the new season, which is definitely going to help continental representatives as well.

Historically, Former NPFL champions, Plateau United defeated Nasarawa United by lone goal to hoist the maiden edition of the Unity Preseason Tourney on the 5th of November, 2021.

The Organizers of the 2022 Unity Preseason Tournament has announced Cone Sports as the Kit Partners of this year’s edition.

Revealing this in Abuja on Tuesday, a member of the Organizing committee Tolulope Oguntimeyin said Cone Sports will be coming with various innovations that will spice up the tournament which is the flagship in the North Central.

He said Cone has agreed to kit the two finalists and officials, and other things that will follow later.

Oguntimeyin who was a former Vice Chairman of FCT SWAN said ” As we all know, this is the second edition of the tournament. At the first edition which was won by Plateau United of Jos by defeating Nasarawa United by a lone goal, Cone Sports was on ground to kit the two teams, and provided us with match balls. They have decided to continue with the relationship which is aimed at preparing the teams adequately for the new football season”.

“We are very sure that the partnership will grow stronger as the tournament progresses in future. We are also optimistic that our clubs will fully patronize Cone Sports kits in the new football season.

Cone has the best quality of kits that any club can think off, and they are always ready to work with any of the clubs in the country ” the veteran broadcaster said.

He said 8 Nigeria Premier League teams have signified interest to be part of the competition among which are Nasarawa United, Lobi Stars, Enugu Rangers, Wikki Tourists, Doma FC, Akwa United, Niger Tornadoes, Abia Warriors FC, Gombe Utd, and 4 NNL clubs :, City FC, Mailantarki, EFCC FC and Family Worship Center FC have signified interest to participate including two NLO teams Like-Minds FC and one other.

The tournament runs from 16-23 October 2022 in Abuja.

According to the General Coordinator of the tournament Patrick Ngwaogu, the invited teams have started confirming their participation and readiness for the tournament.

Ngwaogu who was the immediate past Abia Warriors FC Sporting Director said teams like Nasarawa United who were runners up in last year’s edition have confirmed their participation, Lobi Stars have also confirmed, City FC, Wikki Tourists, EFCC, Like-Minds FC and Mailantarki have all confirmed their participation and readiness to be part of the tournament.

The former First Vice Chairman of FCT Football Association said within the week, teams like Rangers, Abia Warriors, Akwa United, Niger Tornadoes, Doma and Gombe Utd will all confirm their participations to enable the organizers finalize all logistics arrangements.

Ngwaogu promised that the kits and media partners of the tournament will be announced within the week.

The Unity Preseason Tournament is aimed at providing teams the opportunity to adequately prepare for the new football season. Plateau United are the defending champions.

The second edition of the 2022 Unity Preseason Tournament will hold in Abuja from 17-23 October 2022.

Announcing this in Abuja, the General Coordinator of the Tournament, Patrick Ngwaogu, said this year’s edition will involve 10 Premiership clubs in the country.
According to Ngwaogu who was the former First Vice Chairman of FCT Football Association, the invited clubs for this year’s edition will include Nasarawa United, Lobi Stars, Katsina United, Wikki Tourists, Doma FC, Abia Warriors FC, Gombe Utd, Sokoto United, City FC and EFCC FC. “We have informed the various clubs, and they are enthusiastic about the tournament, this year’s edition will hold from 17 to 23 October, 2022” Ngwaogu said that the tournament is aimed at adequately preparing the teams for the new football season and providing them the opportunities of sharing some technical ideas among themselves, towards having a successful season.

Ngwaogu who was the immediate past Abia Warriors FC Sporting Director said participating teams will have the opportunity of playing more friendly matches with the numerous teams in Abuja to enable them assess all their new recruits properly.

Plateau United are the defending champions of the Unity Preseason Tournament. They defeated Nasarawa United by a lone goal to emerge winner’s last year.

At a time that Nigeria is facing an assumed crisis in the areas of goalkeeping especially in the senior national, Coach Suleiman Shaibu is emerging to support in bringing solutions to that critical area in the senior national team.

Shaibu who was recently appointed as the second assistant goalkeeper coach with the U.23 National team and the home based Super Eagles team, is not new in the National teams nor Nigeria football. He still hold the record of the oldest goalkeeper that had ever played in the Nigeria League. He kept for various clubs from 1981 to 2007.

Young Suleiman Shaibu started his journey as a goalkeeper with a non League club in Kano Fagge Pele Football Club of Kano in 1981. He spent only one season in the club before he was scouted by the handlers of Raccah Rovers of Kano, where he played until 1986, before the then city rivals Wreca FC signed him. In 1987 he went to the then Nasco jets before returning to Bank of North FC of Kano until 1991 when he teamed up with ITF of Jos. He played only one season with the Training Fund team before Dantata United came for his signatures in 1994

Katsina United was his next stop in 1995. Wikki Tourists came calling in 1996, a club he played with till 2003 when he moved over to Jigawa Golden stars and retired as a Coach player in 2007. Same year he was honoured by the Nigeria Professional League as the oldest goalkeeper that played in the league.

Goalkeeper Suleiman Shaibu who was born on 1 July 1967, won various honors with teams he played for. He was a member of the Kano state Academical team that won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the Manuwa Adebanjo cup in 1985, 1984, and 1983 respectively. He was a member of the all the conquering National U.20 team (Flying Eagles)that won the African Youth Championship in 1985. He helped in promoting Katsina United in 1995, Wikki Tourists in 1997, and Jigawa Golden stars in 2007. He also have several medals from the Federation cup for the clubs he kept for.

After 27 years between the sticks in the league, Suleiman Shaibu who hails from Kwara state, but born and bred in Kano state, attended the National Institute For Sports in 2005, where he obtained the Basic Certificate in Football Coaching, he is CAF C and B licensed coach. He has also attended the FIFA MA goalkeeping course among others.

He was a goalkeeper trainer of the National U-17 team (2008-2009), National U-20 team(2010-2012; 2018-2022). He has just been appointed into the U.23 National team and CHAN Eagles.

Shaibu worked with various Premiership clubs like Jigawa Golden star of Dutse (2006-2010); Enyimba International of Aba (2010-2014); Rangers International of Enugu(2015-2017); El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri (2017-2018) and presently Abia Warriors of Umuahia (2020- Date).

No doubt, with the coming of Suleiman Shaibu to the senior cadre of the national team, the dreams of having great goalkeepers for the senior national National team may now be a reality.

Nobody fancies the chances of height challenged players in aerial contests for balls, especially in seeking to score against taller defenders.
But dimunitive Wikki Tourists’ forward, Fuad Ekelojuoti believes heading balls is one of his major strengths despite his short height. He insists that he is not surprised beating opponents to high balls because they obviously under estimate his prowess in the air.
The second half substitute had headed home Wikki Tourists’ second goal against Dakkada FC in their Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Matchday 27 clash at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, beating a taller defender to Emmanuel Charles cross. He quipped that while defenders see his shortness as a weakness, he sees it as an advantage which he has used to the fullest. 
Ridwan Adeshina opened scoring for the Wikki Tourists early in the game lashing home from top of the box few minutes after Abubakar Aliyu had hit the right hand post with goalkeeper Thomas Omokhudu stranded.
Aliyu later scoffed a chance to double the lead cuing wrongly inside the six yard box in front of an open net. Fuad, who replaced Manu Garba, doubled the scores in the 70th minute. 
According to the forward, “I’m not surprised scoring, as we have been practising goal scoring in training and this is one of the type of goals we have been practising. Scoring a header is also not a new thing to me, this happened to be what people see as a deficiency in me because of my height but I see it as an advantage. 
“I’m happy to have scored my second goal of the season for my team and I hope to score many more before the end of the season, perhaps hitting double digit. My staying power in the league has been the grace of God and a bit of hard work because I don’t play with extra training,” the veteran league player said. 
For Dakkada FC coach, Danlami Umar, the loss was not good for his team’s aspiration of beating the drop, but he is hopeful that they will escape relegation and maintain their premier league status next season. 
“We didn’t play up to our expectation, though we didn’t perform so badly. We still have hope that the team will pick up and we would get out of this mess. I don’t think it’s irredeemable, we will work harder to improve. Good result is what we are hoping for in the next match.”  

Katsina United FC and Shooting Stars FC U-15 sides have both made it through so the semi-final stage of the ongoing NPFL Laliga U-15 Promises Youth League, sponsored by ValueJet, with MTN standing strong as elite Partners.

shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan beat Sunshine Stars of Akure 2-1, while defending Champions, Katsina United peeped Wikki Tourists by a lone goal in the second match of the day to complete the semi final pairings.

Ajayi Samuel gave Shooting Stars the lead with volley from 20 yards out in the 9th minute while Juwon Adeyemi cancelled the lead for Sunshine 12 minutes later. The lads from Ibadan kept piling up the pressure and asking all the questions until Wahab Azan made it two in the 56th minute to ensure their semi final ticket is in the bag.

Coach of Shooting Stars FC, Adeyemo Ayodeji, in his post match briefing stated this: “The match was really tough for us, and I think it largely because our boys didn’t play to instructions. We hope to correct whatever mistakes made here today in our next game.

in the second match of the day, Abubakar Yasir’s 26th strike was all it took the defending Champions to book a semi final slot, as all efforts by the Bauchi based side to initiate a come back proved abortive.

Handler of Katsina United, Tukur Hassan in his post match reaction, said: “We have been facing this competition one game at a time and so far, it has worked for us. The boys actually played their hearts out in all departments and I’m proud of them.

Recall that this Katsina United side has qualified for the last four since the inception of the NPFL Laliga U-15 Promises Youth League in 2017, and lifting the coveted trophy in 2019 and 2021.

The semi final pairings of the U-15 Youth League will see Kano Pillars FC clashing with Remo Stars FC, and the second match of the day is a duel between Shooting Stars FC and Katsina United FC, on Thursday 5th May, 2022.

Following a nil all draw away to Wikki Tourists, Erasmus Onuh, the Coach of Heartland was emphatic in asserting that the club has recorded tremendous improvement over the course of the season and are on course to avoid relegation.
Heartland followed up an impressive 1-0 win against title contenders, Plateau United with the draw in Kaduna on Matchday 25 against Wikki Tourists and were clearly the better side.
Still mired in the relegation zone, the Owerri side had two great chances to score but couldn’t make it happen, while the Kaura Boys could not muster a shot on goal even when Olawale Tolulope had an empty goal at his mercy inside the box.  He skied his shot missing Wikki’s best chance to win the game. 

Speaking after the match, Onuh , who bagged yellow card just before the match for dissent, said the attitude of the Owerri side has changed and their tactics is based on possessive football and being ready to die for the team. 
“My team has improved tremendously, there is a big improvement from the way we used to play, that is why I didn’t make many changes. The few changes I made was not because someone was not doing well, but for tactical reasons. 
“We will escape relegation. We are on course. It is work in progress and we would see what we can do as the season progresses. It is a difficult job to do, but we would do it. The people who gave me the job trusted me and I want to do my best not to betray that trust. 
“There is a new mindset in our team, the game plan from me is that the team should possess the ball and get ready to die, we should play like soldiers, defend the team with our body, mind, everything. We want to leave that place (relegation zone) and we would do that by going for victory in our next match against Abia Warriors,” the gaffer said.