Nnewi-based football club Ifeanyi Ubah demonstrated its preparedness to win all the laurels in the nation’s football industry when it trashed Cardinal Arinze FC of Onithsha 4-0 yesterday in the final game of the Anambra State Football Association Neros FA Cup, played at the Nanka Neros Stadium.
The action-packed encounter saw the Nnewi side dominate play with two goals in each half to separate both sides.
Solomon Enudi got the curtain-raiser for Ubah 20 minutes into first-half, after a beautiful run through the defense of their opponent, while Oluchukwu Nwosu doubled the tally in the 40th minute.
Excited spectators who thronged the stadium to wathc the side win could not hold back their cheers and, after play resumed in the second half, the Cardinal Boys, as they are fondly called, struggled to stamp their authority on the game, but fell apart to hand Okereke Maduabuchi the opportunity to net a third for Ubah.
Stephen Chukwudi put the game beyond the reach of the Onitsha side with his 87th minute goal to put the final score at 4-0.
A football fan, Ejike Anukwu, who spoke with journalists after the match described Ifeanyi Ubah FC as “a team to beat” and commended the proprietor of the side, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, for “assembling a team that would make Anambra state proud in the national league and the challenge cup competition”.
Ubah Restates Commitment To Club
Following the victory, the club’s proprietor, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, restated his commitment to make the team one of the best in Africa.
Ubah, who spoke to newsmen after the friendly game between the Golden Eaglets (U-17) and the Anambra Warriors (the feeder team of IUU) played at the FIFA’s Goal Project, package ‘B’ of the National Stadium, Abuja, assured that he is committed to the investment in sports development, because he intends to use the affiliation of the club to seven European clubs to build structures that could help develop the club and the nation’s teams.
“[This win] is the result of the training and hard work. We are very sincere about this investment in sport. We just came into the NPFL and, before the start of the season, we went for a tour of Europe, where we won all seven of our games.
“We are building one of the best turves in Nnewi and three other pitches. It will have accommodation that can host close to 200 players, day in, day-out. We discover that using the same complex for the main team and the feeder team will distort their training pattern. We want them to concentrate on development and at the same we have so many foreign partners from over the world. So we need to develop the feeder team, academy and the club.
“The team is working hard and I don’t want them to lose concentration that is why we are relocating the feeder team to the academy pitch which the board just approved last week. Everybody target is to win the league and for us that is our target,” he stated.
