The pride of Akwa Ibom’s sporting excellence echoed once again as the state’s world-class facilities received national recognition, but for Elder Paul Bassey, the moment was more than celebration, it was a call to action.

Reacting to the nomination of Akwa Ibom’s sports facilities for an award by Sportsville, the Akwa Ibom State Sports Commissioner did not hold back in telling a deeper story, one that reflects both progress and a lingering national challenge.

“First, let me thank Sportsville for this honour, we feel elated as a state that our stadium is the only one recognized and approved for CAF and FIFA tournaments.

“That a big footballing country like Nigeria can only boast of one approved stadium by CAF and FIFA where a couple of North African countries and South Africa have at least seven, calls for concern.”

His words carried both pride and concern, pride in what Akwa Ibom has achieved, and concern over the wider state of sports infrastructure across the country.

Elder Bassey traced the success of the state’s flagship facility, the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, to a legacy of leadership and continuity.

“However, credit must go to the quality of governors that Akwa Ibom has had from Governor Godwill Akpabio who built it, to Governor Udom Emmanuel who christened it and now Governor Umo Eno who is maintaining it.

“The key word is maintenance. Governor Akpabio, in awarding the contract to Julius Berger in 2012, went for the best. Governor Udom made sure Julius Berger signed a ten-year maintenance contract, while Governor Umo Eno has kept faith with the maintenance culture.”

Behind the beauty of the stadium, he explained, lies a deliberate and costly commitment to upkeep.

“Maintaining a stadium of that magnitude does not come cheap, therefore it takes sports loving government like we have had to keep the stadium in that shape 12 years on,” Elder Bassey, one of the most respected voices in Africa Sports explained.

For him, the bigger issue goes beyond Akwa Ibom. It is about a national mindset that must change.

“Here in Akwa Ibom State, we take maintenance of our facilities seriously and that is exactly what I am recommending to other sates. Let facilities managers come here to see what we are doing and replicate same in their states. We must imbibe maintenance culture in this country if we must make progress in that direction,” he added.

While the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium remains the crown jewel, the state’s ambition stretches further. From standard stadiums in Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ikpene, to the ongoing Ibom Sports Academy project with modern facilities, Akwa Ibom continues to position itself as a leading destination for sports development in Nigeria.

The vision also includes the fully equipped Ibom Arise Resort and the newly opened Ibom Sports Gym, both reflecting a deliberate push to expand sports infrastructure and athlete development.

This progress aligns with the broader objective of Sportsville, which introduced the Best Facilities Award category two years ago to encourage both government and private sector investment in sports infrastructure.

For this year, the spotlight shines on the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo in the government category, alongside Eagle Wings Sports Facilities in Utangba, Edo State.

The award ceremony is scheduled to hold on March 28 under the chairmanship of Dr Larry Izamoje, Chairman of Brila Media Group.

Baraqiel might not relish the William Reid Stakes relocating to Caulfield, but trainers Leon and Troy Corstens plus Will Larkin have locked in the Group 1 for their speedy charge.

The William Reid Stakes (1200m) has long been a Moonee Valley fixture, capping off Melbourne’s Group 1 schedule annually.

Reconstruction at Moonee Valley sidelines it until the 2027 Cox Plate, prompting Caulfield to take over hosting duties for this year’s top sprint contest.

Baraqiel’s Moonee Valley ledger shines bright with a Group 1 Moir Stakes triumph and second in the Manikato Stakes last spring, complemented by a Caulfield success at 1200m in June 2024.

He lines up for Saturday on the back of a fourth placing to Tentyris in Flemington’s Lightning Stakes (1000m) from February 14.

Intended for the Newmarket Handicap (1200m) March 7, he was scratched late after poor blood indicators surfaced.

“He literally had a 24-hour virus,” co-trainer Troy Corstens said.

“He left a little bit of feed, which is very unlike him, so we knew straight away something wasn’t right.

“So, you check all extremities.

“Was there a bird in his feed? – No. Was there anything else wrong? No. Did he have water? Yes, but then his temperature was just on the edge.

“So, we took a blood, and it showed it wasn’t right. His markers were up a little bit which told us he wasn’t spot on.

“He was a tiny bit dull in the eye, which one of the staff picked up on straight away, and in the end, we couldn’t run him.

“We don’t take chances, especially going into a Group 1 like that, you need to be spot on.

“If they’re not, you can run them and then flatten them and then it’s preparation over.”

Lately, the Corstens and Larkin operation has fired with a duo of Caulfield winners last Saturday, extending their run from three at the track on February 21.

Baraqiel’s season remains very much alive for the stable.

He bounced back emphatically, capturing a Flemington jump-out victory last Friday.

“He trialled last week and we were really pleased with it. He seems great,” Corstens said.

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Leeds missed the chance to climb six points clear of the Premier League’s bottom three after being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by Brentford at Elland Road.

With relegation rivals Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and West Ham all in action on Sunday, the Whites failed to score for the fourth successive league game as their winless top-flight run extended to six matches.

Daniel Farke’s side lacked the quality to seriously trouble a well-drilled and resolute Brentford side, who were superbly marshalled by skipper Nathan Collins.

Keith Andrews’ Bees, who could have climbed level on points with sixth-placed Chelsea with victory, came under sustained pressure only in the closing stages and were worthy of their point.

There was a minute’s applause for former Leeds fans Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight before kick-off to mark the 26th anniversary of their deaths in Istanbul in April 2000 when they were stabbed and killed before their side’s UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasaray.

Respective captains Ethan Ampadu and Nathan Collins had earlier laid wreaths pitchside in front of members of both the Loftus and Speight families, while there was more applause for a tribute on the big screen in the 26th minute.

Neither side had created any meaningful chances before then. The home side had plenty of possession, but struggled to breakdown Brentford’s disciplined 3-5-2 line-up.

Apart from Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s looping back header, visiting goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was first pressed into action when diving low to gather Lukas Nmecha’s shot in the 35th minute.

After a forgettable first half, former Leeds great Mick Jones, who won two league titles and the FA Cup under Don Revie in the 1970s, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the interval, becoming the club’s first ex-player to receive a Heritage Cap.

Brentford midfielder Mathias Jensen could only find the side-netting when he sprang clear in the penalty area at the start of the second period and Ampadu fired straight at Kelleher.

Home fans were furious when referee Jarred Gillett waved away appeals for a penalty after the ball hit Brentford skipper Collins on the arm and further incensed when Kelleher went down for lengthy treatment.

Leeds substitute Ao Tanaka’s shot was deflected and after successive corners proved unfruitful, it was difficult to see where a home goal would come from as Whites fans became increasingly frustrated.

Late pressure amounted to nothing as Leeds huffed and puffed with little effect and they will be looking over their shoulders on Sunday when Tottenham play Forest at home and West Ham play at Aston Villa.

Manchester City take on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final and are in a much better position than they were a year ago

When Newcastle beat Liverpool to win last year’s Carabao Cup final, Manchester City were in a mess. They had drawn at home to Brighton the previous day, having lost limply away to Nottingham Forest the previous week.

With just two wins from six Premier League games that included a surrender at Anfield and a mauling at the Emirates, the Blues were outside of the Champions League places and Pep Guardiola was publicly questioning whether his players realised the improvement that was needed if they were going to secure a top-four target that was their minimum requirement.

With Arne Slot showing Liverpool there could be trophies after Jurgen Klopp, the City ship looked to be sinking fast despite a new contract signed by Guardiola when their troubles began. So it is to the credit of many that the Blues arrive at Wembley for their first Carabao Cup final in five years looking back on course.

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Even if the shaky results of the last few weeks do not make it feel that way, City are in a much better place now. They are 13 points better off in the Premier League and fighting for a title, and despite more disappointment against Real Madrid they had been one of the top eight teams in the first Champions League phase.

Much will be made of the £440m that the club have spent since January 2025 to rescue their position, but some of the most importance changes have come from the players that were already at the Etihad. Bernardo Silva as captain with Ruben Dias as his second in command have reset standards in a dressing room that slipped after so much success, from celebrating moments together in matches to making sure everyone turns up on time for training and meetings.

“We talked about it and it was something we did and I feel like it’s taken a very much better route now and it was needed,” Dias said. “Lots of things changed after that period, we need to set the standard for a new season. It was needed and I felt like we did it at the right time.

“I feel like sometimes, while winning, you get into certain patterns that are working in the moment but then there’s always – and this goes in behaviours day to day, it goes in tactics, it goes everywhere in football, as it goes in life – an update, sometimes doing something different again.

“By doing so you commit everyone to it, you put everyone on the same boat, same mentality, same standards and same responsibilities and I feel like it was more than anything about that. On the pitch, body language, it’s so important.

“Discipline in the everyday – every day be on time, that kind of stuff. It’s part of being in this club, the way we deal with all the things that are happening while performing obviously on the pitch but mostly off the pitch, on the day to day, when the news is on and these kind of things where we try and isolate ourselves and focus on what we have to do because that’s the only thing we should be focused on.”

Ever since the Club World Cup, Guardiola has spoken positively about the atmosphere in the squad. Whatever happens this season, it is a team that he loves again and respects for the effort they have shown both individually and collectively.

But as well as fighting Arsenal this season – a tough enough battle on its own – they are also battling against the weight of City’s extraordinary record in the last 10 years. This season has rightly been seen as a reset, yet there is little time allowed for transition with a club and a growing fanbase that expects trophies and glory.

The Carabao Cup was Guardiola’s first trophy in English football and helped set the standard for a team that would go hard at every competition and challenge others to do the same. It is important in its own right, but also for what else it can lead to.

Given Sunday’s opponents are also leading the way in the Premier League and have to visit the Etihad next month, it feels like there is a lot riding on this final in terms of what it could do for the rest of City’s season but also as a marker of how successful their rebirth has been.

As the players look around in the Wembley dressing room, Dias will be there to tell them to forget about all of that and just focus on the 90 minutes that are in front of them.

“Obviously arriving to that game there’s still a lot to play but then but arriving to that game we’ll know that it’s another trophy,” he said. “Obviously it’s a special final because it’s against one of our main rivals. The message is clear. We go there, we want to win it and we know what we have to do.

“When that game arrives, and that game will obviously be a massive final for us, that will be the only thing that matters then. In terms of everything else, if we do it right then we’re not even thinking about it. The goal is to isolate it, know that there’s a trophy there to grab and do everything we can to do it.”

Manchester fighter Lerone Murphy saw his hopes of a title shot go up in smoke as he was edged out by Movsar Evloev in a controversial decision at UFC London.

Murphy succumbed to a majority decision defeat despite his Russian opponent having a point deducted in the fourth round for a second low blow, with the judges scoring the bout 48-46, 48-46, 47-47 in Evloev’s favour.

Coming up short in what was seen as an eliminator to decide featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski’s next challenger, “The Miracle” also lost his undefeated record in the process and leaves the O2 Arena now 17-1-1 as a professional.

Murphy, 34, took a moment to get going in a close first round but began to really find his rhythm in the next two, with his movement and sharp striking starving 32-year-old Evloev from obvious takedown opportunities.

It meant Evloev, who was firing striking offence of his own, barely shot for a takedown in the first 10 minutes and even when the Russian eventually took Murphy to the mat in the third, the Briton showed off impressive defence to quickly get back to his feet.

As the fight entered the championship rounds with Murphy in control, Evloev was deducted a point after falling foul of his second low blow of the night, which left Murphy crawling in agony.

This appeared to vastly diminish Evloev’s chances of victory without a finish but he nevertheless ended the bout in style, dominantly taking the final two rounds to force the fight to a decision.

All three judges contentiously scored the third round in Evloev’s favour while two gave the Russian the first round, delivering him a crucial victory and taking his own unbeaten record to 20-0.

Murphy was gracious in defeat and called on matchmakers to ensure Evloev gets what is due to him, saying: “Make sure Movsar gets the title shot, he deserves it.”

In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett’s teammate Luke Riley went 2-0 in the UFC as he swept the scorecards against Michael Aswell Jr, finally getting a victory on the board for the Liverpudlians after Kurtis Campbell was knocked out by Danny Silva in the main card’s opener.

Riley had spoken honestly about whether he deserved the headliner spot ahead of Michael “Venom” Page but the 38-year-old veteran’s bout with Sam Patterson failed to deliver, with fans raining down boos as Page was declared the winner after both fighters failed to show much activity.

Christian Leroy Duncan, meanwhile, will hope to enter the middleweight rankings after overcoming Roman Dolidze after an impressive performance, while Polish light heavyweight Iwo Baraniewski pulled off a stunning 28-second knockout over Austen Lane to maintain momentum.

Similarly to the main card, the prelims were also a mixed bag for the Brits but were rounded off by an absolute barnburner between Welshman Mason Jones and Axel Sola, who engaged in a firefight of eccentric striking.

“The Dragon”, who spent two years out of the UFC before making his return to the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion in 2025, saw a deserved unanimous decision victory go in his favour before making an impassioned post-fight speech to the London crowd.

The card also kicked off in style as London-bred debutant Shanelle Dyer sent the early-arriving fans into raptures, knocking out Ravena Oliveira with a stunning headkick in the second round.

Her triumph was followed up by Great Britain Top Team teammate Nathaniel Wood, who eked out a split-decision victory over debuting Belgian featherweight Losene Keita, extending his win streak to four against very tricky opposition.

Rising heavyweight Mario Pinto, of Portuguese descent but raised in the English capital, also maintained his undefeated record with a scorecards win against Felipe Franco.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the home fighters, however, with both Louie Sutherland and Shem Rock failing to bounce back from debut losses to go 0-2 in the UFC.

Sutherland was finished early on against Brando Pericic while Rock – another member of Pimblett’s gym Next Generation MMA – was convincingly beaten by Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27 for the Palestinian.

With his UFC future uncertain, Rock may have found himself in even more hot water after instigating a post-fight scuffle after the buzzer, hitting Al-Selwady in the face after he had refused to shake the Liverpudlian’s hand.

“I don’t really think there’s too much to say about it; I only talk in the cage with my performance,” Al-Sewady said after the fight, who was pushed by a trash-talking Rock at the ceremonial weigh-ins.

“It was a desperate attempt to try to get under my skin. My opponent has been in my DMs for the last month – him and his crew of guys.”

The Vikings’ dead money situation was always going to grow worse. The only thing that was uncertain was how bad things would get.

As things stand, Minnesota is sitting on worse than $35 million in cap space that has been immobilized for the 2026 season (Over the Cap). No levers can get pulled or some sort of shenanigans to move money around. That’s an amount that must be burned up before moving onto the 2027 budget in March of 2027.

The Vikings’ Dead Money Lands at $35M

Lately, the news has focused on additions.

QB Carson Wentz is helping to fortify the depth under center. OT Ryan Van Demark is being viewed as a strong upgrade as the swing tackle, better equipping Minnesota to navigate the snaps/games where one of Christian Darrisaw or Brian O’Neill miss time. Mr. Wentz is chewing up roughly $3 million in cap space while Mr. Van Demark is likely chewing up $4.2 million in cap space.

With all of the shuffling from recent days, the Vikings’ cap space (and dead money) has been difficult to track. OTC puts Minnesota at somewhere around $4 million whereas Spotrac is a touch more optimistic, dropping down a $9 million number.

A major factor within the consideration of the budget is the dead money.

The $35 million that’s being immobilized is comprised of a lot of different players who have been shown the door. In particular, there’s the well-paid DT twosome who inspired a pile of optimism last offseason: Jonathan Allen ($12.6M) and Javon Hargrave ($10.5M). Missing on the trench defenders was costly, a reality that’s true metaphorically and literally.

Consider, as well, that Minnesota is digesting a touch beyond $3.5 million in dead money for the Harrison Phillips trade, a move that was at least partially in response to employing Allen and Hargrave.

Other medium-level dead money hits — Ryan Kelly at $3.3M, Harrison Smith at $3M (who still has a chance to play), and Garrett Bradbury at $1.6M — are joined by several more who left behind numbers in the six figures.

Next year, the Vikings’ dead money situation is already showing some wear and tear.

Part of the reason why cutting Allen and Smith in a post-June 1 manner creates more cap space for 2026 is due to pushing some of that dead money into 2027. Add up the future cap pain and Minnesota sees $12.266M taken out of next year’s budget already.

Worse yet, there are several Vikings players who are seeing their deals come to an end in a way that leaves dead money on the books.

Due to void year tomfoolery, Andrew Van Ginkel ($8.8M), T.J. Hockenson ($7.11M), Blake Cashman ($3.1M), and Jordan Mason ($2.4M) are going to take a bite out of the available spending power even though they’re not getting cut or traded, the usual outcomes that involve dead money. That’s more than $20 million tossed onto the pile if all walk away.

Avoiding the dead money charges will mean needing to extend these players. In that scenario, the Vikings will continue stretching things out, deferring the bill to another day.

In June, the Vikings are going to see roughly $12 million in cap space added to the mix. Look for more money to get tossed onto the pile with an extension for Brian O’Neill and possibly another player or two.

Stunningly, the Miami Dolphins are working through an NFL-worst $179 million in dead money.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

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