Crown, Pillars In Elecrifying Fed Cup Tie

Wasoomo Desire of El-Kanemi (r) fights for the ball with Ogar Vincent of Kwara United during their Fed Cup opening match at the Agege stadium, Lagos on Monday. Photo: Emma Osodi.

Wasoomo Desire of El-Kanemi (r) fights for the ball with Ogar Vincent of Kwara United during their Fed Cup opening match at the Agege stadium, Lagos on Monday. Photo: Emma Osodi.

The opening matches of this year’s Federation Cup, are not just living up to expectation, but maintaining the tradition, where the less fancied teams are shocking bigger teams.

It was the same story at the Agege Stadium centre in Lagos, where Kwara United, Kano Pillars, ElKanemi Warriors and Crown FC played their first group matches on Monday.

The lower division club from Maiduguri, El-Kanemi were the first to outplay the highly rated Nigeria Premier League side, Kwara United 1-0 in the first match.

Wasoomo Desire of El-Kanemi (r) fights for the ball with Ogar Vincent of Kwara United during their Fed Cup opening match at the Agege stadium, Lagos on Monday. Photo: Emma Osodi.

Then came the relegated Nigeria National League, NNL team, Crown Football Club of Ogbomoso, who showed that they are no pushovers in the ongoing Federation Cup.

Playing with a combination of youthful players, who were led by a promising coach in Oladuni Oyekale, Crown FC, went into their match against Nigeria Premier League contenders, Kano Pillars, with the determination to make a statement.

Nobody gave Crown any chance of surviving in the group, considering the clout of Pillars, who are currently third on the NPL table. But, at the end of the crunchy second match of the day, the boys from  Ogbomosho perfectly cut Pillars to size, forcing their opponents from Kano to 1-1 draw.

From the blast of the whistle, Pillars who were nicknamed ‘Ahly Killers,’ following their gallant feat when they ousted Al-Ahly of Egypt in the 2009 CAF Champions League, dominated the tie at Agege stadium. Pillars are known for their tip-tap football and they did that against Crown, making short and accurate passes as they forced Crown players to chase the ball around.

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With their regular star, Super Eagles,’ Gabriel Reuben, who marshaled their midfield, Pillars played their hearts out, floating long-range passes in an attempt to catch the Crown defence unaware.

But, Crown, fondly called the Ajilete Valiant, battled their ‘superiors’ and took the game to them right from the first half. Crown did not overrate their opponents, but their players contested for every ball with the highly rated players in Pillars.

Adigun Adewale and Adeyemi Adeyeye were the thorn in the flesh of the Pillars’ defence, as they made daring runs into their vital area on several occasions. Rabiu Ali scored a crucial goal for Pillars via a set-piece in the 45th minute, but the biggest winner of the day was Bode Daniel, who got the equaliser for Crown in the 61st minute.

The duo of Wale Bello and Femi Ajayi, distributed enough passes to snsure that their attackers have the ball upfront. Daniel’s goal could be described as a stunner, going by the way it came.

His goal came from a fine build up from the midfield, he and two of his teammates made some brief  passes. And, as the buildup approached the edge of the box, a short pass was put through to Daniel, who wasted no time to latch onto the ball score against Pillars’ goalkeeper, Afelokai Theophilus, who had no answer to the brilliant move.  ‘GOAL’….thus the jubilant Crown players and their supporters shouted on top of their voices as the action packed match continued. Players of both teams struggled to score but the tie ended 1-1 at regulation time. Shortly after the hostilities, Daniel was promised the sum of 100,000 by the club, as the player left the stadium a happy man.

“I’m happy to have scored the goal which saved us from defeat, it was a good moment for me but the entire team played well. This result will motivate us to do more in our next game,” Daniel said.

—Adebobola Alawode

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