By Daily Sports on January 9, 2020

“Hosting to win”! That phrase has become a by word for motivation amongst fans of the Edo State football team that is currently preparing intensely for the National Sports Festival which the state will be hosting early this year.

The team, which is having its training sessions at the Emotan Secondary School field in Benin City, is brimming with enthusiasm as more quality players have joined in since training started this year. 

Midfield enforcer Solomon Osaghae of BJ Foundation FC as well as Ine Stars central defence master Stephen Dafe are amongst those who have joined in to boost the confidence of the coaching crew of the team.

Dafe was particularly impressive in the Wednesday morning session, mixing strong, well-timed tackles with assured ball distribution from the back.

There was clearly a spirit of competition in the air as players desperately put in their shifts on Wednesday morning in a grueling three-hour training session that involved mostly two-sided games.

Nigeria Professional League side Rivers United’s Captain Festus Austin was a surprise presence in the pitch as he took time off on a visit to his Benin City hometown to train with the Edo State football team. 

His aggressive game and team leadership caught the eyes of the coaches who could be heard discussing how to get their defenders to follow his example and be more vocal in their communication in the pitch.

One of the coaches of the team Anthony Emoedofu (a former Nigerian junior international) reiterated that the coaching crew is solely focused on the current form of the players in their selection process as the preparation reach its crescendo.

“We want to deliver a team that would be energetic and mobile. Players will not be selected based on what they have done before but how they train here and what they do before our eyes. I remember when I was still playing; we went to a particular trial in Lagos for a foreign club with big-name players and to our surprise the foreign scouts picked young and unknown players who were performing well in the programme. That experience reinforced my knowledge that it should be about present form and nothing else when it comes to the job of picking players for a programme. That’s the philosophy of the Edo State team coaches here because we want to present a squad that our conscience would defend as being the best,” Emoedofu said.

Meanwhile plans are on for the team to have a high profile friendly match with Nigeria Nationwide League (NNL) side Bendel Insurance of Benin city in the coming days. A match of that nature would afford the coaches, players and fans to have a better glimpse of how far the Edo festival team they have come in their readiness for the festival.

•PHOTO: Delightful defender Stephen Dafe, one of the players drafted in to beef up the Edo State festival team

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 9, 2020

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