Nigerians Abroad: Azeez scores first Liga goal as Emenike, Akpala & Promise hit target in Turkey

There were goals for Nigerian players in Spain and Turkey over the weekend as many of the leagues played their final matches for the year ahead of the winter/Christmas break.

England

Victor Moses was an unused substitute when Liverpool hosted Cardiff City on Saturday and got a 3-1 victory to get to the summit of the league. Peter Odemwingie started for the Welsh team and was replaced by Bo-Kyung Kim in the 55th minute. Odemwingie was poor by his standards, as he did not hit target before he was replaced though he committed three fouls.

Victor Anichebe did not recover well from illness so was not named in the West Brom side that battled to a point with a 1-1 draw at home to Hull City. Sone Aluko was also missing for the Tigers.

Shola Ameobi came on to replace Loic Remy in the 75th minute for Newcastle on Saturday away to Crystal Palace as they won 3-0. Ameobi, yet to score this season, was fouled in the penalty box in the 85th minute and Hatem Ben Arfa converted the penalty as Newcastle moved up to sixth on the league table.

Spain

Ramon Azeez (pictured left) scored his first La Liga goal for Almeria on Saturday away to bottom-placed Real Betis and it was enough to earn the newly promoted side all three points. Azeez, a former junior international picked up the ball in deep midfield and drove towards the Betis defence before taking a shot with his left foot. It took a huge deflection off Betis centre back, Paulao to send Guillermo Sara the wrong way in the fourth minute.

Azeez had another shot at goal in the ninth minute from outside the box but missed. Another attempt in the 36th, also from outside the box was saved.

Almeria moved up to 16th place on the table with 16 points while Betis are condemned to end the year at the foot of the table with 10 points.

It was Azeez’s 12th league appearance and he now has a goal and a yellow card. He had 82% accuracy from 56 touches of the ball and made three successful tackles to earn joint-top rating with his goalkeeper, Esteban.

Ikechukwu Uche started for Villarreal at home to Sevilla, after coming off the bench last weekend away to Barcelona. The Yellow Submarines lost 2-1 at home to end the year in sixth place. He attempted a shot in the 63rd minute that narrowly went wide. The Nigerian was pulled off in the 67th minute for Jeremy Perbet, who went on to miss the chance for an equalizing goal in the 88th as his penalty kick was saved.

Granada were beaten 3-1 at home by Real Sociedad on Saturday with Odion Ighalo starting on the bench. He came on for Youssef El-Arabi in the 77th minute to make his eighth league appearance in which he has scored once.

France

Lille went to the Parc de Princes on Sunday and came back with a point against league leaders, PSG as they drew 2-2. Though Vincent Enyeama was beaten twice, he made a couple of other saves that helped preserve a point for Lille. Enyeama, who has been named as the November Player of the Month made five saves but the most important was in the 95th minute when he saved a Jérémy Menez right footed shot from the left side of the box.

Uncharacteristically, the Nigerian goalkeeper was wayward in his distribution – getting just 17% pass accuracy from 35 touches on the ball but successfully claimed two crosses.

Lille ended 2013 third on the Ligue 1 table with 40 points from 19 matches – four behind leaders, PSG.

Turkey

It was the battle of Nigerian strikers when Karabukspor with Joseph Akpala entertained league leaders, Fenerbahce with Emmanuel Emenike at the Dr. Necmettin Şeyhoğlu Stadıum on Sunday.

Akpala opened the scoring in the 13th minute and Emenike equalized in the 40th minute but Ilhan Parlak scored the winner for the homers in the 69th minute to send the home fans into raptures.

Akpala scored through a beautiful run from midfield and though his first shot was saved, the rebound fell kindly into his path to slide into an empty net. Emenike thought he had equalized in the 30th minute but was adjudged to be offside though video replays showed he was level with the last defender. He then got the equaliser in the 40th minute, as his powerful shot could not be kept out. It was Emenike’s seventh league goal while Akpala has scored four times for his new side.

Rizespor stopped the rut with a battling 0-0 draw at home to high-flying Kasimpasa on Friday. Godfrey Oboabona started his eighth consecutive league match and played all 90 minutes. His compatriot, Uche Kalu came on in the 85th minute to replace Florin Cernat to make his eighth league appearance in which he is yet to score. Rizespor are in 15th place with 16 points.

Isaac Promise came back from a suspension and came off the bench to score for Antalyaspor against his former team, Gençlerbirliği, but it was not enough to overturn a 3-2 home defeat. Promise came off the bench in the 50th minute and scored his side’s second goal in the 83rd minute. The former Nigeria U-23 captain has scored two goals in 12 league appearances.