Posts Tagged ‘ever’
The Best Young Players Ever to Play Soccer
Posted by Parkzone Corsair in Memory on December 12th, 2010
Some football players do need time or experience to make an impact. Some have such a natural talent and gift for the game that they can change tournaments and teams long before their twentieth birthday. Many teenagers burst onto the scene and make a huge impact and go on to have hugely successful careers. This article looks at some of the more memorable teenagers to make an impact playing football.
One of the most notable young players and certainly one that’s made the biggest impact on football is Pele. Pele became internationally known due to his performances at the 1958 World Cup. He became the youngest scorer in the tournament’s history with his goal against Wales and then the scored an incredible hat-trick against France in the semi final. He went on to score two goals in the final against Sweden and claimed his first World Cup winners medal, he would go on to win the tournament twice more with Brazil. Pele was a sensation right from the start and has become known as the greatest footballer that ever lived. His talent was evident from the start and he is a shining example of a young player living out his potential.
Michael Owen burst onto the international scene at the 1998 World Cup with a blistering solo goal against Argentina at just 18 years of age. Owen combined pace with an unerring eye for goal and a natural finishers instinct. Playing for Liverpool during his early years he was their top scorer in every season he was at Anfield, winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. Owen’s two goals to overturn Arsenal in the 2001 FA Cup final have gone down in club folklore and are still talked about on the terraces today. Unfortunately Owen has had much of his early promise cut short due to a succession of serious injuries. He has lost his electric pace of his teenage years but now carries more experience and he still has the knack of scoring important goals.
Another young Englishman to make a big impact as a teenager in recent memory is Wayne Rooney. Rooney made his debut for his boyhood club, Everton, at 16 years of age, scoring the winning goal in a victory over Arsenal. He would eventually transfer to Manchester United as the most expensive teenager in history. He has gone on to win many honours with the club, including the Champions League. Rooney has also been one of England’s most important players over the past six years, scoring many crucial goals. Despite suffering a number of injuries, including a broken foot, Rooney has managed to maintain the qualities that made him such a talent in the first place. An explosive footballer, it is interesting to think what he will be capable of in the future.
There are many young players bursting onto the scene every year, Lionel Messi was alright and Theo Walcott is pretty good, but it takes something special for them to carry on their initial momentum. Not every player will turn out as well as Francis Jeffers. One of the most exciting things about watching football is seeing new talents emerge, and we never know what players are just around the corner.
Mass Genocides of 1967: Shall Murtala Ever Be Forgiven?
Posted by Parkzone Corsair in Memory on December 9th, 2010
Mass Genocides of 1967: Shall Murtala Ever Be Forgiven?
Murtala Ramat Mohammed (1938-1976) represents the greatest tragedies that befell Ndi Ngbo during the civil war. The ill-trained and undisciplined failed Nigerian soldier sought to annihilate the Ibo-speaking parts of the then Mid-west and completely remove the communities from the world map. He left no stone unturned as he swept every one of the communities one after the other dishing them with genocidal gifts, the first that the African continent ever witnessed. Incredibly, the Federal Government of Nigeria would unquestionably immortalize his soul with infamous appearance in the nation’s 20 naira currency, something unexpected of any government sensitive to the cause of the citizenry.
The impossibility to recount his contributions to the development of the nation because none exists must be admitted. It is also incredible that the true Nigerian society that forbids military sortie in politics would celebrate such a military leader whose reign was so short that nothing could be written of his contributions. There is nothing that exposes sentiments as much as history and this is what times gone by have done to Murtala teaching us that only unexplained sentiments have promoted because but for death in the hand of Dimka, Murtala would have remained unknown character in the history of Nigerian leadership.
By January 1966, the British truly interested in monetary gains arising from the exploitation of Nigeria had prepared Yakabu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Theophilus Danjuma, Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo and indeed the northern region. The utmost aim of the British was that its better gains were derivable from one Nigeria, marginalization or no marginalization of other ethnic groups. The British thus goaded the northerners against other ethnic groups with unsolicited political supports which hastened the civil war of 1967. It was the announcement issued by the British in the BBC medium that first gave the northerners a weedy idea that the Nzeogwu coup was Igbo motivated. And the north understood this, the battle line was drawn between the North and Eastern region in which millions of people lost their lives. It was this battle that gave birth to Murtala, a “Local champion” called Ibrahim Haruna and Ibrahim Taiwo of the Nigerian Army.
Africans first had the practical experience of the word “genocide” in Igbodo where hundreds of lives were lost in the Nigerian civil war. In Isheagu, the case was not different. It was here that the ulterior motive of the Nigerian troop clearly unfolded. The people were now scampering for the safety of their lives having experienced what happened in Igbodo and some other places. In the Midwestern region, able bodied men went into hiding leaving women and children at the mercy of advancing soldiers. The people of Benin went identifying their Ibo-speaking neighbours from house to house for executions.
The Federal troop led by Murtala Muhammed arrived at the Asaba Division, power drunk with an aim to annihilate the people and return to Lagos with the blood of the people in his hands. Murtala hoped that the voices of the people would not be heard again.
Chief Philip Asiodu in his speech “How Mid-western Ibos Suffered During Civil war”, October 20, 2009 recounts that “Earlier on the 5th and 6th following the conquest of Asaba by the Federal Army from the rebel or Biafran forces after the last stand by the latter around. St. Patrick’s college area, dozens of civilians were apprehended and shot”.
In another article written by Obi Nwakanma titled “Revisiting the Asaba Massacre” a mention is made on how victims were ordered to dance at the town square before men were separated from women and killed. The horrendous crime carried out human beings provokes the mind and prepares the people of Nigeria on what lies ahead of any region of the country but nothing provokes the mind more than to learn that the killings conducted by Murtala and Ibrahim Taiwo group were supervised.
Ifeanyi Uraih was specific when he added that Col Taiwo Ibrahim ordered everyone to come to the town square, that it was time to dance around town and join their brotherens. The innocent people did as they were told thinking it was a victory party. At that point Col Taiwo Ibrahim honestly told them that they were to be
