Tunde Sanni
23 July 2008
Ibadan — As the nation awaits the commencement of the 2008 soccer season, Crown FC of Ogbomoso's new sweat merchant, Coach Niyi Akande has dismissed the chances of Shooting Stars FC of Ibadan as being a threat to his dreams of taking Crown to elite cadre come end of this season.
Both 3SC and Crown, the two state-owned teams will be playing in the less fancied premier league.
Speaking to sportswriters shortly after the state final of the Odua Cup, played at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex Ibadan, Akande claimed the 3SC players as presently recruited cannot stand the crop of players recruited by the Ogbomoso side this season, when the new campaign kicks off proper.
"We are focused on going to the Premier League at the end of 2008 season, and there is no going back on that, when we meet 3SC any day, anywhere, anytime, we will fight it out, you can see what happened today, they are not a threat to my team and I'm sure anytime I meet them, I will beat them hands down," he boasted.
The former 3SC player later coach maintained: "I have adequate players, adequate in the sense that, the crop of players we recruited into Crown for the new season are young and dedicated, they are unknown and willing to play football, we don't have stars in our team and I'm satisfied with their performance."
Meanwhile, the centre referee in the Enyimba/Ocean Boys match, James Odeniran has absolved himself from the alleged biased officiating levelled against him by the officials of the Aba team.
Odeniran, while speaking after the Oyo referees' fitness test, held over the weekend at Liberty Stadium Ibadan, urged the Aba side to accept defeat with dignity and not shift blames to anybody.
According to the FIFA badged referee, his actions were purely professional which any experienced referee could do.
"I do not want to talk about this matter again but I think I have to put the record straight, what I did was a professional job that is required of an experience referee like me. Where I was standing when the goal was scored during the match was close enough for me to see clearly and make the right decision," he said.
He explained that he had wanted to keep silent and refrain from being drawn into any conversation on the matter but was surprised at the attacks of the Aba team.
He had stated: "I didn't expect them to talk again after watching the camera review of the goal. Enyinmba should learn to accept defeat with dignity, which is in the article 4 of FIFA fair play statute."
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