Last night was the start of the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup. Ten matches were played in total. The biggest news was Manchester United being thrown out of the further competition by Derby County, losing on penalties 8:7. United States player of Nigerian heritage, Matthew Olosunde didn’t get to take part in the game as he is still nursing an injury.
Fikayo Tomori, a Canadian born player of Nigerian descent, who had lived in England most of his life, played the full game for the Championship side. He is currently in Derby on a season-long loan from Chelsea. The Rams actually had a 2:1 lead late in the game before Fellaini managed to score in stoppage time and take the game to penalties which then Derby managed to come out on top of.
Bournemouth beat Blackburn 3:2 to go through to the next round. For Bournemouth, Jordon Ibe, who is eligible to play for the Super Eagles through his father but decided his international future is tied to England, scored the second goal for Bournemouth and had an all-around good game. The Nigerian U-20 international Nnamdi Ofoborh sat out the game on the Cherries bench.
Jordon Ibe (www.afcb.co.uk)
League One side Blackpool provided us with another upset of the evening beating Championship team Queens Park Rangers 2:0 and progressing through to the 4th round. Nigerian born Bright Osayi-Samuel started for QPR but was subbed in the 77th minute by Aramide Oteh, also of Nigerian descent. Nathan Delfouneso came in late for Blackpool, while Ebeze Eze wasn’t in the team.
West Bromwich Albion crashed out of the League Cup losing to Crystal Palace at home. Defender Oluwatosin Adarabioyoplayed the whole game for the Baggies.
Manchester City travelled to Oxford to play League One Oxford United with a slightly changed starting eleven. They cruised to a 3:0 win. Jonathan Obika played up front for the duration of the match.
After beating Huddersfield Town in the Premiership, Leicester City travelled to Wolverhampton to take on the home team and managed to go through to the 4th round of the Cup through a penalty shootout after a 0:0 score in regulation. Leicester made a few changes to the starting line-up, including a goalkeeper swap with Danny Ward coming in for Kasper Schmeichel. This proved to be the right decision as Ward saved three penalties helping the Foxes to go beat the Wanderers.
The Super Eagles defender Wilfred Ndidi was rested and Kelechi Iheanacho came in for Jamie Vardy in the 60th minute to continue his good form by scoring a decisive penalty which confirmed the win for Leicester.