We’ll make NPL champions respect us, says Naze millionaires’ coach
Kunle Adewale
Nigeria Premier League (NPL) defending champions, Enyimba FC of Aba will today battle rivals, Heartland of Owerri in the first edition of the Naija Super 8 Play offs at the Eket Township Stadium, Akwa Ibom in an Oriental war.
The two eastern clubs are known for their fierce rivalry in the top tie of Nigerian football until Heartland were relegated to Nigeria National League, NNL, and this rivalry would be reenacted today in the Naija Super 8 Play offs.
In a telephone chat with THISDAY, Head coach of Heartland Football Club, Christian Obi, said the Naze Millionaires are not in Eket to make up the numbers but with the aim of picking the ticket for the main Naija Super 8 tournament set to hold at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, from July 7-16.
“We just finished training this morning (Thursday morning) and we are well prepared and rearing to go. All efforts are in place to ensure that we not only qualify from the play offs but to win the main tournament in Lagos next month,” Obi said.
“Anything is possible in football. We may currently be playing in the Nigeria National League as against the Nigeria Premier League where we actually belong, but we are not perturbed by Enyimba’s pedigree. When you consider the fact that Heartland too are yet to lose a match in the league this season it is no gain saying that our opponent today is in for tough game.
“If you will look at the quality of players in our fold, our opponent would be disrespecting us at their own peril. As a matter of fact, at the end of the match we would make Enyimba to respect us,” the 1985 World Youth Championship in Russia bronze medalist expressed.
The Heartland Sweat Merchant however stated that the Naze Millionaires are also using the Naija Super 8 Play offs as part of the club’s preparations for the NNL Super Eight play offs slated for the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba.
Obi in an earlier interview has said the Naija Super 8 play-offs provide a big opportunity for the club’s players to showcase their talent and make some money.
The former Nigerian league and cup winners stunned many by landing a spot in the glamorous Naija Super 8 play-offs, at the expense of other top-flight teams in the South-East, most notably Rangers International.
“I feel very good to be going to the Naija Super 8. Number one, it’s a platform to showcase the talents I have in my team and again it’s another opportunity for the players to also have encounters with more experienced players and officials and it’s a plus to us as a team in the sense that it also will prepare us for next season.
“If by his grace we scale through the play-offs, it is another opportunity to make some money and it’s an exposure to us both the players and the officials,” said Obi.
The Naze Millionaires have had a good season, having topped their Nigeria National League group without losing a match. Heartland will today face the NPL champions, Enyimba International. The winner of the tie will represent the South-East zone in the main Naija Super 8 tournament set to hold at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, from 7-16 July.
Obi explained that the club has had to overcome an internal crisis, and his players’ hunger for success has led them thus far. “Many people do not know how the team started. The team started with nothing. 98 per cent of the regular players that played last season when the team was in the Premier League left, the coach also left to Abia Warriors,” Obi who served as assistant to the former coach said.
“I had to start from scratch, I organised matches among the teams in Imo State, they played against themselves so I had the opportunity of watching them and picking from the lot.
“It was those people I picked that I started grooming without the help of anybody. I groomed them till the government was able to come in and the seed I sowed in them is what we are seeing today.
“Thank God the players I picked were players that are hungry to play football. They saw an opportunity to showcase their skills and they capitalized on it and that’s what we’re seeing today, that is the secret of the unbeaten run. The players within a short time were able to master themselves and we’re playing,” the coach said.
Earlier today, it would be a war of the North east as Yobe Stars clash with NNL campaigner, Gombe United.
Heartland vs Enyimba and other Naija Super 8 play-off matches will be live on SuperSport Football, SuperSport Variety 4 and SuperSport Select 2.
Naija Super 8 is organised by Flykite Productions in partnership with MultiChoice Nigeria and sponsors, MTN, Hero Lager, DStv, GOtv, SuperSport, Moniepoint, Pepsi and Custodian Assurance.
