{"id":16411,"date":"2024-01-25T08:59:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T08:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=16411"},"modified":"2024-01-25T08:59:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T08:59:22","slug":"rangers-edge-rivers-united-in-rescheduled-npfl-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/01\/25\/rangers-edge-rivers-united-in-rescheduled-npfl-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Edge Rivers United in Rescheduled NPFL Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kazeem Ogunleye&#8217;s impressive free-kick, struck from around thirty meters early in the second half, secured a hard-fought victory for Rangers International F.C over Rivers United in a re-arranged match day 11 NPFL 2023\/2024 encounter. The &#8216;Flying Antelopes,&#8217; coached by Fidelis Ilechukwu, displayed resilience and determination in the face of a tough battle against the visiting Rivers United.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Ilechukwu made strategic changes to the squad, opting for a more adventurous 4-4-2 formation with Chidiebere Nwobodo and Godwin Obaje leading the attack. The quartet of Kazeem Ogunleye, Auwalu Naziru, Agu Kenechukwu, and Ugochukwu Ejike took control of the midfield to put pressure on the CAF Confederation Cup hopefuls.<\/p>\n<p>Despite early chances for Kenneth Igboke, Godwin Obaje, and Chidiebere Nwobodo, former Rangers shot-stopper Saidu Mutawakilu showcased outstanding goalkeeping to deny the home side. The first half ended goalless, but Rangers emerged stronger in the second half, with Kazeem Ogunleye scoring a spectacular free-kick, securing his fifth goal of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to increase the lead were thwarted by good goalkeeping and missed opportunities. The referee brought an end to the match, and Rangers celebrated the victory, marking their first win over the &#8216;Pride of Rivers&#8217; in five seasons. With this win, Rangers concluded the first round with 28 points, scoring twenty-six goals and conceding twenty, securing the 8th position on the twenty-team log.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kazeem Ogunleye&#8217;s impressive free-kick, struck from around thirty meters early in the second half, secured a hard-fought victory for Rangers International F.C over Rivers United in a re-arranged match day 11 NPFL 2023\/2024 encounter. The &#8216;Flying Antelopes,&#8217; coached by Fidelis Ilechukwu, displayed resilience and determination in the face of a tough battle against the visiting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":16418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16430,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411\/revisions\/16430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}