Uba Sani Unity Cup: Nigeria U-15 Coach, Bassey Talents’ Quality High  

Coach Bassey Patrick of the national U-15 team has expressed delight with the quality of talents that have so far been discovered at the ongoing Governor Uba Sani football tournament in Kaduna state. Speaking with our correspondent in one of the match venues on Sunday, coach Bassey who is one of the technical committee member, put together by Tijani Babangida to select talent form the football tournament maintained that this is the best way to go in discovering talents for Nigeria football development. “I am very very satisfied because I think that is the only way to go for the improvement of football in this country. Go to the grassroots, go to the local government you will see raw talents that need to be harnessed by coaches for greater height, and we have seen talents in all the matches that have been played in this zone “I mean we have seen talents here and with proper coaching and coordination they would do better and they will represent the state well. “And we believe other members of the technical crew have seen talents in their various zones, and all I can say is that it is really great for the people of Kaduna state. While hinting on the quality they are looking for in the process of selecting the players, Coach Bassey said. “Age is part of it because you cannot go and pick players that have only few years to offer no matter how good he is. We are looking at players that would be relevant for the state and for the Nation in the next ten to fifteen years. Meanwhile, results from some of the matches played on Sunday saw Chikum local government defeating Birni Gwari  by two unreplied goals, while Kaduna South and Giwa local government played out a goaless draw.  Lere defeated Sabon Gari by two unreplied goals, Kachia and Jaba played out a goaless draw.  In the other results, Zaria lost zero one to Kudan, Ikara also lost by the same goal margin to Soba local government, while Kubau was thrashed three by goals to one by Makarfi. Hostilities continue today in all the center in the last day of the group matches as the teams seek qualifications to the next round.

Uba Sani Cup: Babangida appoints Lawal, Sadi, Others Into Technical Committee

Chairman of the Governor Uba Sani Unity Cup, Tijani Babangida has appointed former Nigerian International, Dahiru Sadi, current head coach of the Nations U-17 team, Ahmed Lawal as members of the technical committee for the event which is billed to commence November 17, 2023. Other members of the think-tank committee, include current assistant coach to coach Nduka Ugbade, a man popularly known as Mourinho, and Ahmadu Lawal Ofoje. He is also with the football collage, Abuja. The other person in the group is current U-15 chief coach, Patrick Bassey. The rest are Gidi Mohammed, a former Ranchers Bees captain who is also a state coach with sport council in Kaduna state, Al Amin, a talented youth coach, also with Kaduna state sports council, and Hassan Abdallah, former coach with heartland fc of Owerri, who also worked with coach Samson Siasia as a national scout for the Nations U-23 team. According to Babangida who himself was a former Nigerian international noted that the technical team is expected to move round the venues with a view to identifying very talented players that would be selected to form the new football club for the state. Meanwhile, the draws for the tournament were held on Tuesday in the city of Kaduna, and the twenty-three local governments were divided into four centres. GROUPINGS ZONE 1 – KUDAN CENTRE  GROUP A 1. ZARIA 2. SOBA 3. KUDAN 4. IKARA ZONE 1 – KUDAN CENTRE  GROUP B 1. S/GARI 2. LERE 3. MAKARFI 4. KUBAU ZONE 2 – KADUNA CENTRE  GROUP A 1. K/NORTH 2. CHIKUN 3. B/GWARI 4. IGABI ZONE 2 – KADUNA CENTRE  GROUP B 1. KAJURU 2. GIWA 3. K/SOUTH ZONE 3 – KAFANCHAN CENTRE  GROUP A A. KACHIA B. KAGARKO C. JABA D. Z/KATAF ZONE 3 – KAFANCHAN CENTRE  GROUP B 1. JAMA’A 2. KAURU 3. KAURA 4. SANGA