COVID-19 disrupts our activities – Oshodi football coaches

As football activities continue to be grounded in the country following the lockdown order given by the federal government in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, Oshodi football coaches at the grassroots are not happy as the lockdown has affected their plans for the year.

This, according to them, may make many of them to start from the scratch when the virus is eventually cured as some coaches noted that some of their players would be overweight by then and they would need serious training to get back to their best.

Although the situation has affected some of their activities including their upcoming activities, the coaches came to a conclusion that it is for the benefit of their players and the country.

The coach of Unstoppable FC, Yemi Fortune said: “The global spread of COVID-19 pandemic has really affected us at Unstoppable Sports Foundation in many areas: 1. our football team programmes and training have been brought to standstill for couple of weeks now. 2. Our local football tour has been cancelled. 3. Our planned international football tour has been on hold also.

“Most importantly, football transfer business between our team and foreign professional teams looks uncertain. It has really affected our team corporate sponsors from meeting some of the needs of the team. God please heal the world. We need our football back.”

The coach of Ysdron FC, Ayodeji Adebayo also noted that “the lockdown has have affected our programmes for the year. We are supposed to continue with our league as we lost 2 games out of our 12 matches played.

“The team was supposed to participate in scouting program but we couldn’t because of the lockdown. However, we can’t dispute the fact that the lockdown is for the safety of every player and Nigerians as a whole.

“Also, we were supposed to participate in other competition among which is the 2nd edition of Kings Cup. My advice to everyone is to stay at home and be safe in order to curb the spread of the virus and I pray that this pandemic period will be over soon thank you.

“When it seems that football at the professional level will be affected mostly by the lockdown but we realise that the grassroots is also affected as the coaches have their calendars which they follow strictly.”

Christopher Ogar, who is the head coach of Great Success while Speaking with ECHONEWS said: “The lockdown has indeed affected my team, Great Success Football Club in many ways. The most important one is one of our guests we have been waiting for like a year now, if not for the lockdown by the government, by now, two or more of our players would have been playing for bigger teams outside Nigeria.

“Again, in the area of their training, you know when you train together as a team it helps than everybody training on their own. As a coach, I will have to start all over again to make sure we get things right once we resume. But above all, I think the lockdown is good for the players as well, I can’t wait to resume back with my team for a better tomorrow. Thank you God bless you, God bless Nigerians, and God bless Great Success football club.”