Kunle Adelabu & Mariam Akinloye
-Jaiyesimi, Unizee, TCCG, Edunz win opening matches
The opening matches of the much expected 13th Bolowotan Gold Cup tournament, popularly called ‘Ikorodu World Cup’, kicked off on Monday, June 14, 2021, with great football displays, fantastic goals, commendable officiating and sportsmanship reactions from spectators.
The tournament, which was initially scheduled to start on Saturday, June 12, 2021, and later Sunday, June 13, 2021, failed to kick-off due to the aborted June 12 protest and a social party held at the Police Barracks Playing Grounds, Igbogbo Road, Ikorodu, the venue for the 72 matches that would be played in the tournament in the next one and half month, respectively.
Meanwhile, the opening game between Jaiyesimi FC and Sharon FC, which started at 11.45am, about 2 hours behind the schedule, due to the failure of the organizers of the social party to clear the arena, saw the home team won by 1 – goal to nil.
As expected, the match witnessed a large turnout of supporters and football fans.
Jokogbola Olasile was the Centre Referee while Kabir Baoku was the Match Commissioner.
Ayeni Saheed, Ogunmuyiwa Tawab and Olabode Oluwasegun were Assistant Centre Referee (ACR) 1, ACR2 and the Sport officer respectively.
While the first half ended goalless, Sulaimon, Jaiyesimi FC striker (No 15 jersey), scored the first goal of the tournament 15 minutes into the second after Sharon goalkeeper had left his goalposts and was unable to stop the striker's strike.
The second match between Unizee FC and Kareem FC was adjudged the best of the four opening matches as both teams paraded young players who displayed good artistry football to entertain the cheering spectators.
THE IMPACT gathered that both teams trained on the same ground, a situation which explains the spectacular performance they put up.
The match produced 5 goals with the home team, (Unizee FC) winning 3 -2.
Adekoya Warit, the young Centre Referee, did a yeoman’s job in keeping the game at a high tempo without losing focus of the rules of the game with support from his Assistant Referees – Oladosu Sodiq and Oloma Taiwo.
Unizee FC opened the scoring through Odunayo Oyekanmi (No 5 jersey) in the 27th minutes while Taofeek Sulaimon (No 9 jersey) equalized for Kareem FC in the 31st minute of the match.
Tijani Hassan (No. 11 jersey) for Unizee FC increased his team’s tally to two goals through a free – kick in the 58th minutes of the match while Bolatito Ogunsanya also made it two goals for the away side in the 64th through nodding.
Ifeoluwa Agboola (No. 11 jersey) scored the winning goal for the home team in the 61st minute of the second match.
In the third match, Offin FC, which was the home team, became the first home team to lose in the tournament as they lost by a lone goal to TCCG F owned by a Church in Ikorodu.
The only goal of the goal came from Nbansi Justin (No. 10 jersey) in the 35th minute of the first half via a penalty.
Fourth and the last match of the opening day between Edunz FC and Shola FC ended 2 – 1 in favour of the home team.
Despite that Shola FC is playing in the State League, Edunz FC was able to compete with them and got all the three points at the end of the game.
Shola FC player, Ibrahim Yekinni (No. 21 jersey) opened the scoring in the 11th minutes but rather than being demoralised, the goal brought out the best in Edunz FC players.
Femi Moses (No. 9 jersey), Edunz striker, brought his team back into the match with a strike that resulted in goal in the 33th minute of the first half while his teammate, Omisore Daniel (No. 7 jersey), scored the second goal in the 82nd minute to give the team victory.
Meanwhile, the Director – General, Lagos State Sports Commission and sponsor of the tournament, Mr Oluwatoyin Gafaa Bolowtan, speaking with our reporter, said that he was impressed with the turnout and outcome of the opening matches.
He said that the tournament is being organised to give hope to youths and also to give them a better tomorrow.
“With what I have seen here today in terms of turn out, the attitudes of the players, FA, Referees and other officials, I am happy”, Bolowotan declared at the opening.
“We need to curb a lot of things and sports is an instrument to encourage our youths and give them hope. In actual fact, we need to renew their hope that something good can come out of them no matter the situation that we have in the country today.
“This is one of the avenues where we can show that our tomorrow could be better. By the time we give them (youths) the opportunity to display what they know how to do best, the society will be better for it.
“This is just the beginning and this competition has come to stay. There is more to it in terms of encouragement for our youths. Yes, I am hoping that there will be scouting of players at the tournament too. It has been wonderful”, he said.
Ahaji Luqman Shonibare, Chairman, Ikorodu Divisional Football Association (IDFA), also commended the outcomes the opening of the tournament.
“Today, we have played three matches so far and the tempo of the matches have been very high. We have been able to see good goals, great goalkeeping, tactical displays and we thank God that today , we have been able to see raw football as it is supposed to be”, he said.
“We are just starting, the tournament has been the biggest competition in Ikorodu. This is the only tournament that attracts more than 32 teams but the fact that the world cup, for now, takes only 32 teams, we cannot but keep the 32 team format for the tournament.
“All the 32 teams that registered for the competition are fully prepared and ready to showcase the talents that we have in Ikorodu. We have raw talents that are waiting to be tapped and nurtured.
“We are calling on scouts locally, statewide, nationally and internationally to come and see raw talents that can be developed to give them maximum benefits”, the retired referee said while calling on football scouts attend matches during the tournament.
Commenting on the standard of refereeing in the opening matches of the tournament, Alhaji Shonibare said that spectators should be expecting professional officiating throughout the tournament as necessary measures have been put in place to achieve that.
“Spectators should be expecting fantastic and top notch officiating in other remaining matches. I can gaurantee this anytime because I was a former General Secretary of the Lagos State Referee Council for six years and before then, I was the Assistant General Secretary for six years”, he said.
“I know the caliber of referees that we have in Ikorodu. We have good trainers here. The Lagos State Referee Council Training Officer is from Ikorodu in person of Jelili Ogunmuyiwa. One of the best referees in Nigeria, Ayeni Ridwan, is a referee in the NPFL and the training officer for the Ikorodu Referees’ Society.
“In Ikorodu today, you can mention six referees that have been given award as best referee in the state and I am one of them. Also in this category are Jelili Ogunmuyiwa, S.T Ayeni, Ridwan Ayeni and Jokogbola Olansile. This shows that we have a tradition of producing good Referee in lkorodu.
“Look at the fantastic officiating in the first four matches and nobody has complained about it. We have started very well and we are going to continue in that direction”, Shonibare added.
Alhaji Saheed Ayeni, Chairman, Referees’ Unit of the IDFA, also commended young referees that handled the first four matches and also promised more better officiating from referees.
Others in attendance at the opening of the tournament were former Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA and retired Referee, Prince Jimoh Ogunmiyiwa, a FIFA rated Referee officiating World Beach Cup and Premiership League, Mr Jelili Ogunmuyiwa, Secretary IDFA, Mr Babatunde Onasanya – Fajebe, Competition Coordinator, Comrade Odenike. Mr Hassan David, Chairman, Ikorodu Referee’s Society, a member of the IDFA Referee’s committee and retire Premiership Referee, Mr Kabir Baoku and Member of the IDFA Referee’s Committee, Mr Isa Afinni among others.
