Nigeria’s failure to qualify for back-to-back FIFA World Cups has sparked fresh calls for reform, with former Super Eagles midfielder Etim Esin urging a major overhaul of the country’s football system.

The Super Eagles, who first appeared at the World Cup in 1994, have now missed two straight tournaments. After falling short in the race to Qatar 2022, Nigeria again suffered heartbreak in the qualifiers for the 2026 finals, losing on penalties in the African play-off.

Esin did not hide his disappointment, blaming poor planning and a lack of accountability within the football leadership. He stressed that the country needs a clear long-term strategy if it hopes to return to the global stage.

While criticising the current structure, Esin pointed to a solution he believes could change the direction of Nigerian football. He strongly backed Michael Emenalo as the right man to help rebuild the system.

Emenalo is widely respected in football circles for his work behind the scenes at top European clubs. During his time at Chelsea FC, he rose through the ranks to become technical director, playing a key role in recruitment, youth development, and overall club structure.

He was instrumental in bringing in players who later became global stars, while also strengthening the club’s academy and loan system. His influence helped maintain Chelsea’s competitiveness both domestically and in Europe.

After leaving Chelsea, Emenalo continued his administrative career at AS Monaco, further building his reputation as one of the most experienced football executives in the game.

Esin believes that bringing someone of Emenalo’s calibre into Nigeria’s football leadership could provide the structure and vision that has been missing in recent years.

Alongside Emenalo, he also highlighted the importance of experience on the players’ side, backing former captain John Obi Mikel to play a role in shaping the future.

Mikel has been vocal about the current state of Nigerian football, describing the failure to reach the World Cup as a major setback for a country with such talent. He warned that Nigeria risks falling behind other African nations that are making steady progress.

With the next World Cup cycle already approaching, pressure is growing on football authorities to act quickly. For Esin, the message is clear — only strong leadership and proper planning can return the Super Eagles to where they belong on the world stage.

Just when you thought NBA tanking couldn’t get any more egregious, the Sacramento Kings appeared to take it to a whole new level on Tuesday night. 

With 3:15 to play in the fourth quarter and the Kings leading the Warriors 101-100, Sacramento coach Doug Christie directed his team to intentionally foul. This is not up for debate. You can see Christie motioning from the sideline for Doug McDermott to foul Seth Curry, a 90% free-throw shooter, 50-plus feet from the ball. 

At first glance, this looked like just about the most brazen act of tanking imaginable — to foul a historically good free-throw shooter intentionally when you are currently winning — and that’s really saying something in a league where a third of the teams have been actively trying to lose for the past two months. 

As expected, the NBA is looking into this. Commissioner Adam Silver has a major tanking problem on his hands, one that is genuinely threatening to undo the integrity of the league itself. If the investigation finds that Sacramento was taking active steps towards losing on purpose in this blatant a fashion, expect swift and severe punishment. Draymond Green believes the league needs to “fine the hell out of people” in the business of tanking.

It’s hard to disagree with Green. The Kings, however, are maintaining that Christie simply made a mistake by not realizing his team was in the bonus, that he didn’t instruct his team to foul because he wanted to put Curry on the line, but rather because he wanted to stop play to use a timeout he was set to lose once the clock got below three minutes, according to ESPN. 

It’s a plausible explanation. It is true in the NBA that you can only have two timeouts available to you for the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, meaning if you have three left, you are going to lose one anyway. So coaches often use this timeout if possible before it goes poof. But if you don’t have possession of the ball, the only way you can call the timeout is at a play stoppage. So you foul to stop play. That wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t in the bonus; the Warriors would just take the ball out of bounds after the timeout. But again, the Kings were in the bonus. Incompetence is bad, but it isn’t as bad as tanking in today’s NBA. Either way, Curry got free throws after the timeout. 

As it turned out, he only made one of them, and McDermott wound up hitting a 3-pointer on the other end for the Kings on a play that looked to be specifically designed during the timeout. 

The Kings, for what it’s worth, have gone 7-9 over their past 16 games. Which is to say, if they really are in the pursuit of purposeful losses, they’re not doing a very good job at the moment. They have gone from what was a pretty clear path to a bottom-three record to being tied in the loss column with the Jazz and Nets behind the Wizards and Pacers. Only three of those teams are going to end up with the maximum 14% chance at the No. 1 pick. 

On March 15, after Sacramento beat Utah, Christie said “tanking is the last thing I’d do” as “I respect the game too much” and believes it hurts the development of young players. 

Perhaps this will all be enough for the league to conclude that this really was just a mistake by Christie and not an act of overt tanking. But there is surely another way this can go, if only on optics alone. Again, Silver knows how bad this tanking epidemic is right now. He’s already said there will be significant changes to the system next year to disincentivize the act. For now, anything that carries even the faint scent of intentional incompetence is likely going to be made an example of. 

“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” Silver said in a statement after the Jazz and Pacers were fined a combined $600,000 sitting healthy players back in early February. 

This is not a problem with anything that even resembles a simple solution. A bunch of ideas have been thrown around in terms of lottery reform, and our Sam Quinn has already detailed how each of them could backfire. In the absence of removing the incentive to lose entirely, more than just flattening the odds (which, it could be argued, has actually made the problem worse), teams presented with new rules will simply find new ways of evading them. 

You can’t blame them. The chance to acquire franchise-changing talent is worth just about any punishment a commissioner can levy. So again, Silver may have to simply drop the burden-of-proof standard and start fining teams major money for anything that even resembles tanking, even if it was an honest mistake. 

Because in the end, there will always be some kind of explanation. Injury management. Minutes restrictions. Honest mistakes. Silver might just have to stop accepting any of them if he doesn’t want his league to sink into a state of crisis.

Some might call that an exaggeration. Maybe it is. But what else do you call it when you’re headed toward half the league having more incentive to lose than win? There is zero chance common fans have any idea who a lot of these players getting real minutes for these teams are. It’s almost at the point where, by February, half of the league is going to be composed of big-league teams and the other half Triple-A. 

And they play each other. Every night. And call it honest competition. Silver can say whatever he wants about the NBA being a highlight league, but in the end, people come for real competition. Hell, he’s rightfully worried about the All-Star game not being competitive enough. He obviously gets it. 

And so do the teams. They know what they’re doing. Even if Christie really did make an honest mistake in this instance, to act as though any of these tanking teams, Sacramento included, has been doing everything in its power to win over these past few months is insulting. Nobody is dumb enough to believe that, if only because we know teams are too smart to do it.

It needs to be fixed. How to do that, well, that’s why Silver makes more money than just about anyone reading this article. It might start with making the Kings write a very big check that, in this case, maybe they shouldn’t have to write.

James McDonald’s positive input has boosted the Chris Waller Racing squad as the filly Ohope Wins aims to overcome her most recent setback and annex the Australian Oaks to her New Zealand classic conquest.

At short odds in her local debut during the Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m), Ohope Wins was tipped to excel over rivals notwithstanding a five-week break and 400m drop in distance.

She was prominent entering the straight but couldn’t bridge the gap to the pacesetters, settling for fourth amid widespread disappointment.

Assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth from Waller expects a stronger showing in Saturday’s Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick.

“James (McDonald) galloped her (on Tuesday) morning and said she feels more switched on, like a better horse today than when he rode her in the race,” Duckworth said.

“I don’t know whether it’s a case of the way we train, or things change, but up to the distance I think she will justify the hype she had prior to her run in the Vinery, because they all thought she was just about unbeatable.”

Punters continue to back the filly strongly, installing Ohope Wins as the $2.40 top pick over Saturday’s Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) winner Profoundly at $3.50.

Ohope Wins’ barnmate Soverato was second in the Adrian Knox Stakes and joins the fray in the classic.

Soverato began her campaign with success at Canterbury and has been reliable since, as McDonald remains on Ohope Wins while pushing her connections toward The Championships’ second day.

“James rode her on Saturday, and he said, ‘you’ve got to back her up. She is ready to peak’,” Duckworth said.

“The distance is obviously a question mark, because she hasn’t been over it yet, but there is nothing to say she won’t handle it.”

Kerrin McEvoy was aboard for Soverato’s sound fourth placing in the Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) two starts prior and reconnects from draw four at Randwick.

The trainer Waller has triumphed in the Australian Oaks four times, most recently courtesy of Hungry Heart in 2021.

Discover premier betting sites with the keenest markets for the Australian Oaks race.

Masters Chairman Fred Ridley has once again displayed his support for the golf ball rollback in his latest press conference. On Wednesday, April 8, during his press conference ahead of the 90th Masters, Ridley made it clear that the golf rollback wasn’t an attempt to push the game into the past but was important to preserve the essence of it.

The superstars of the game are at Augusta National this week for the Masters 2026, which begins on Thursday, April 9. Ahead of the main event, Fred Ridley gave a traditional speech and held a press conference. He touched upon the hot topic of golf rollback, which is currently proposed to be implemented from 2028 onwards for pro golfers.

While starting the presser, Fred Ridley spoke about the rollback and ball-hitting distance.

“We have been consistent in our support of the governing bodies in their effort to regulate the distance elite players are hitting the golf ball,” he said. “Recognizing that the implementation of the Overall Distance Standard test for golf balls may be delayed to 2030, I want to reemphasize that support and affirm our position as the USGA and R&A represent their collective obligation as custodians of the game.”

“I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course. We will continue to make modifications as are necessary to react to driving distances that in some cases exceed 350 yards. Unfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option,” he added.

The Masters chairman said that the game had become one-dimensional as players were hitting mammoth distances and then using short irons into par 4s as well as par 5s. He added that increasing course length wasn’t a great option considering the cost and environmental impact.

“The data that has been shared with all stakeholders makes one thing clear: The impact to the recreational game will be immaterial,” he continued. “All of us in this room and millions of weekend golfers around the world will be hard-pressed to notice the effects of this change, and I do not believe our enjoyment of the game will be affected.”

Fred Ridley added that greats were not defined by hitting distance but by their all-around skills in the game, such as shaping shots, risk-taking ability and performance under pressure.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress. It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is,” he said.

“Failure’s not an option,” Masters Chairman Fred Ridley says more organisation on same page for golf rollback

During the press conference, Fred Ridley shared that the majority of organizations agreed to the USGA and R&A’s golf rollback proposal.

“My feeling on this subject is failure’s not an option,” he said. “I think we need to continue to work together to come to some agreement. Tough issues like this require compromise, and I think there has been some compromise to date.

Fred Ridely accepted that there were few commercial interests at play, but the motive was to protect the integrity of the game.

Under the new rule, a golf ball struck at a robot-controlled speed of 125 mph must not travel beyond 317 yards to remain conforming. There have been changes in testing standards too, such as the spin rate reduced from 2520 rpm to 2200 rpm and the launch angle increased from 10 to 11 degrees.