Taiye Taiwo

More Stories on This Section

Last weekend, soccer fans in Nigeria watched two Super Eagles youth prodigies, John Mikel Obi and Obafemi Martins in a thrilling English Premiership League encounter involving Chelsea and Newcastle United.

Another interesting fixture that would feature two other Nigerian internationals trading tackles comes up tomorrow, this time around, in the French Ligue 1.

Bronze boot winner in the 2005 World Youth Championship (WYC) in Holland, Taiye Taiwo, confronts Super Eagles’ returnee and captain of the Nigeria ’99 WYC Flying Eagles’ team, Rabiu Afolabi, as Olympique Marseille and Sochaux clash.

Both players were on duty for Nigeria when the Super Eagles took on the Cranes of Uganda at the M.K.O. Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta in the first leg encounter of the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifier. They are also expected to be in action in the Super Eagles’ squad that would battle the Cranes in the crucial return leg fixture billed for Kampala, Uganda in June.

But tomorrow, the two rear guards would set aside their brotherhood and partnership in the Eagles’ defence to help their respective clubs in their quests to secure respectable positions on the French Ligue 1 table to guarantee them tickets to UEFA Championships next soccer season.

Taiwo is Marseille’s left-wing back, while Afolabi plays in the central defence for Sochaux. The two Nigerians would be saddled with the responsibility of stopping rampaging attackers from opponents sides from wrecking any havoc in their respective goalposts tomorrow.

Taiwo, obviously the younger of the two Super Eagles’ players, is reputed for his bullet shots. He could be deadly with free-kicks from as long as 25 metres from the goal-mouth of the opponents, just as he could unleash his rocket-like shots while the ball is in play and hit the target. The silver-winning former Flying Eagles’ defender has the knack for joining the attack and he ranks among the highest scoring-defenders in the round leather game at the moment.

Afolabi on his part, boasts of a wealth of experience in the heart of the defence. Ever calm and calculative, the former Flying Eagles captain’s biggest asset is his ability to read the opponents’ attackers near perfectly, with a view to dispossessing his opponents of the ball without attracting referee’s cards.

Only one point separates Marseille and Sochaux on the league table. Taiwo’s Marseille are placed fifth with 49 points from 33 league games, while Afolabi’s Sochaux are seventh with 48 points from the same number of games.

A win for either side would definitely boost their chances of playing in Europe next season, as French Ligue 1 approaches its conclusion for the season.

Beyond the points at stake, there’s also pride for the two Nigerians, whose targets would be to win each other to prove which of the two clubs are superior to the other.
Taiwo may enjoy the compliments of his elder compatriot, Wilson Oruma, who is just returning to action after an injury spell that kept him off duty for months.

Oruma, who missed the Super Eagles’ match against the Cranes of Uganda in Abeokuta, is expected to be on duty when the Eagles battle their Ugandan counterparts in the return leg of the Nations Cup qualifier in Kampala in June.

Should the former Golden Eaglets’ captain feature in tomorrow’s match, Afolabi and his teammates may find Marseilles’ midfield too tight to break due to Oruma’s enormous stamina and skills.