http://mathematical7.com To instigate, contribute to and promote the development of youths in Nigeria using the power of Sports Fri, 18 May 2012 15:36:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://mathematical7.com/why-rashidis-death-may-never-be-investigated/ http://mathematical7.com/why-rashidis-death-may-never-be-investigated/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 07:41:07 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1535 Writing last week's article was difficult . Having to write a follow-up on the same subject this week has been even more challenging. But for some reason, as the world continues to mourn his death, I just can't seem to be able to get away from the subject. Even the final match of UEFA Club championship this weekend takes a back stage. It is to Rashidi Yekini that my mind keeps wandering. Unfortunately, the above headline reflects what is likely to happen, or never going to happen with the matter of his death.]]> http://mathematical7.com/why-rashidis-death-may-never-be-investigated/feed/ 1 http://mathematical7.com/you-dont-have-to-win-to-be-the-best/ http://mathematical7.com/you-dont-have-to-win-to-be-the-best/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:51:21 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1523 It has been a mixed week for me. I am sad because my team Barcelona FC lost under very bizarre circumstances that defy rational analysis. Every single statistic of that match last Tuesday night indicated that they had no reason to lose.]]> http://mathematical7.com/you-dont-have-to-win-to-be-the-best/feed/ 7 http://mathematical7.com/mission-to-addis-ababa/ http://mathematical7.com/mission-to-addis-ababa/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:50:02 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1514 'Strange' but wonderful things are happening to me, but this one is hard to beat! It is Thursday night. I am in Addis Ababa. Earlier today I was one of six presenters at one of the conferences going on at the 13th World Congress on Public Health. I know that the question that will immediately spring to mind is: what is a retired football player doing at a medical conference? After all, I come from a totally different 'planet' (sports) and, until you start to think beyond the ordinary, I should not have anything to do with professionals discussing disease or health or medicine or what-have-you?]]> http://mathematical7.com/mission-to-addis-ababa/feed/ 0 http://mathematical7.com/camp-nou-a-bridge-too-far-for-chelsea/ http://mathematical7.com/camp-nou-a-bridge-too-far-for-chelsea/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:39:08 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1506 Last Wednesday night I found myself surrounded by an armada of Chelsea FC fans baying for blood. Last weekend, in this column, I had opened my mouth rather too loud and had described Barcelona as the 'greatest team in the history of football'. I definitely was not thinking of the match that was to come up a few days later against a team with one of the largest fan bases in Nigeria. Chelsea fans were irked apparently. I love Chelsea FC too but I can't describe them as the greatest team in the world, can I?]]> http://mathematical7.com/camp-nou-a-bridge-too-far-for-chelsea/feed/ 2 http://mathematical7.com/barca-the-greatest-team-in-history-messi-the-greatest-player/ http://mathematical7.com/barca-the-greatest-team-in-history-messi-the-greatest-player/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:09:44 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1498 Many people have asked me what team I support. They often expect me to name any one of several teams in the English Premiership. I dissappoint them with my choice. I am an unrepentant fan of the Barcelona FC football style and tradition. Two seasons ago I wrote about the club, what makes them the greatest football team in the world at the time. I also paid my respect to the greatest player I have seen in world football. Two seasons later, my position has been even more reinforced.]]> http://mathematical7.com/barca-the-greatest-team-in-history-messi-the-greatest-player/feed/ 2 http://mathematical7.com/the-return-of-rashidi-yekini-the-goal-scoring-machine/ http://mathematical7.com/the-return-of-rashidi-yekini-the-goal-scoring-machine/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:14:53 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1488 You better believe it - Rashidi Yekini is back! I doubt if there is any African with any interest in African football that will not be familiar with that name. He is that footballer that scored Nigeria's first ever World Cup goal and tore at the net behind the Bulgarian goalkeeper in a scream that reverberated around the world. Only Lauren Pokou before him (with 14 goals) and Samuel Eto (with 15 goals) after him, have scored more goals than him (with 12 goals) at the African Cup of Nations. So good was Rashidi Yekini that he became the first Nigerian to be awarded CAF's African Player of the Year in 1994.]]> http://mathematical7.com/the-return-of-rashidi-yekini-the-goal-scoring-machine/feed/ 9 http://mathematical7.com/nigerian-sports-frustration-and-hope/ http://mathematical7.com/nigerian-sports-frustration-and-hope/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:00:11 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1481 It is Friday morning. I have been trying without much success since last night to put something down. Although there are a thousand things racing through my mind none is crystalizing into articulate and joyful thought. I came out of a conference yesterday in Abuja that was organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in conjunction with the British Council and UNICEF. It had participants drawn from the education and sports sectors discussing the way forward - how to deal with the twin issues of education and sports. The conference left me in a state of confusion about what to take away from it.]]> http://mathematical7.com/nigerian-sports-frustration-and-hope/feed/ 0 http://mathematical7.com/kata-kata-when-government-the-law-and-football-mix/ http://mathematical7.com/kata-kata-when-government-the-law-and-football-mix/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:35:17 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1461 This is politics of the football kind. The Nigerian Minister of Sports led a delegation to FIFA in Zurich two weeks ago to inform the FIFA President that peace had finally returned to Nigerian football. Mr. Sepp Blatter was reported to have congratulated him and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, for finding a way to settle the crisis that has been lingering since August 2010 following the controversial elections into the Executive Committee of the NFF. Before 2010 the body that had been administering football in Nigeria was known as the Nigeria Football Association, NFA. In 2010 the congress of the association changed its name to Nigeria Football Federation,]]> http://mathematical7.com/kata-kata-when-government-the-law-and-football-mix/feed/ 0 http://mathematical7.com/the-locust-years-of-african-football-development/ http://mathematical7.com/the-locust-years-of-african-football-development/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:03:35 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1428 I watched some truly terrific football matches this past week in the various European club championships. That I have chosen to write on another subject matter entirely surprises me also. But the finals of Nigeria's biggest grassroots football championship, the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup takes place this weekend in Lagos, Nigeria, so all eyes shall be riveted there in search of the next generation of players for Nigeria's junior national teams.]]> http://mathematical7.com/the-locust-years-of-african-football-development/feed/ 0 http://mathematical7.com/the-business-of-football-in-africa/ http://mathematical7.com/the-business-of-football-in-africa/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:54:43 +0000 Segun Odegbami http://mathematical7.com/?p=1426 It was a match all Nigerians had looked forward to. Last Wednesday night the highly anticipated news around the country was not how well the 'Green' Eagles were going to fare (it was a forgone conclusion that the re-born Eagles, made up of home-based and the current best amongst those in the foreign leagues, would perform well) but by how many goals Stephen Keshi's newly assembled national team would trounce Rwanda. When the news came after 90 minutes that neither side could score a goal in the highly publicised match, it came more as a shock than a surprise - so, once again, the Eagles could not fly above Rwanda!]]> http://mathematical7.com/the-business-of-football-in-africa/feed/ 0