E
Ernest Victor
Guest
Ikorodu City Football Club has proved that their rapid rise from the Nigeria National League to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) within two years of existence wasn’t a fluke as they beat 116-year-old Sudanese giants, Al–Merrikh SC on Friday, July 26, in the ongoing Value Jet Pre-season tournament in Ikenne, Ogun state.
When Ikorodu City started the tournament with a draw against Remo Stars B team, most football enthusiasts who are following the competition thought they would be a piece of cake against Al–Merrikh SC, who have won the Sudanese League 19 times. But that wasn’t the case, as Ikorodu gave the visiting team a match to remember.
From the first minute of the encounter, the players played like it was more than a pre-season tournament as both sides executed the match with intense pressure, and the constant protest against the referee’s decisions from the Sudanese bench added more fire to it.
The intensity of the game was a result of the competition in Group A because, ahead of the game, the team on the losing side was likely to be out of the tournament.
To make the game more intense, the newly promoted NPFL side got an advantage in the first five minutes of the game when Al-Merrikh’s Amir Kamal fouled Nigeria’s Oyedokun Tosin in the penalty box.
In the 7th minute, Farouk Salami converted the spot-kick against Super Eagles goalkeeper, Olorunleke Ojo, who left Enyimba for the Sudanese side in June.
Farouk Salami scores from the penalty spot for Ikorodu City FC.
The early lead didn’t stop the Nigerian side from pushing for more goals, and the Sudanese side wasn’t ready to go easy on them. Hence, tackles and knocks were flying ceaselessly in most minutes of the first half as Al–Merrikh’s bench continued to agitate against almost every decision until the referee had to send two of their coaches off the sideline in separate points of the first half.
Meanwhile, in the 31st minute, Al–Merrikh thought they had gotten the equalizer when Mohammed Gbane headed the ball into the net, but the goal was cancelled for offside.
In the 44th minute, Mohammed Hashim scored a volley to restore parity as the keenly contested half ended 1-1.
The second half started with more intensity, hard tackles, bruises, knocks, and agitations as the match failed to produce another goal until in the 80th minute when Ikorodu scored a well-worked goal.
The Nigerian side finally had the chance to exchange passes in the penalty area of the Sudanese, which left goalkeeper Garas Kafi who replaced Ojo at the start of the second half, completely exposed. Alade Solomon finished up the beautiful build-up play to gift Ikorodu City a deserving 2-1 win over Al–Merrikh SC, who will be competing in the CAF Champions League next season.
Following the blast of the final whistle, the coaching crew and players of Al–Merrikh SC stormed off the pitch into the dressing room to prove that they were not happy with the outcome of the match, which could mean their end in the tournament.
After the game, Naija News asked Ikorodu City coach, Bright Ozegbagbei how he feels about leading his team to victory against a highly decorated Sudanese side. He said: “For us, it is another game. Regardless of who the team is, we try to do our best to have a good performance, and today is just one of those days.”
On what worked for Ikorodu against Al–Merrikh SC, he noted: “We knew that they are an experienced side. it is a big club. We knew we needed to suffer a lot, we needed to work a lot, we needed to try not to allow them comfortable, and it worked out for us, especially how we got the second goal.”
On whether the win over Al–Merrikh and draw against Remo Stars means they are ready for the NPFL, coach Ozegbagbei responded: “No, no, no, it is just two games. You can’t judge the team readiness [with two games]. We still have about two more weeks to go before we close camping. We have not really done that with the new players coming in. So, we going to evaluate ourselves with one, two, or three test matches after the close camping about ten days. Then we can really have a positive answer to that question.”
With the 2-1 win over the Sudanese side, Ikorodu City is currently topping Group A with four points after a win and a draw, on the same points and goals difference as the Remo Stars B team. Al–Merrikh SC are currently 3rd with three points. Interestingly, the reigning champions of the tournament, Shorting Stars, are bottom of the group with no points.
Ikorodu City are expected to play their last group stage game against Shooting Stars, while Al–Merrikh are likely to play the Remo Stars B team with the hope of winning to remain in the competition.
Note that Ikorodu City will commence their NPFL campaign on the first weekend of August. Their first game is against former champions, Kano Pillars in Kano state.
Ahead of the big test, Coach Ozegbagbei told Naija News that the target of Ikorodu City, who will play their home league games at Onikan stadium in Lagos, is “to remain in the NPFL. Yes, that is our target”, he added.
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