By Harry Awurumibe
Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung caused a major delay to the kickoff of the much advertised Charity Cup match between Enugu Rangers and FC lfeanyiubah, Wednesday at the Abuja National Stadium.
The match, which was scheduled to start by 4pm could not go ahead until 35 minutes later as Dalung who was supposed to perform the ceremonial kick off did not show up.
The players and match officials who were already on the pitch got tired of waiting before the minister dressed in his usual Thomas Sankara red beret cap and khaki wears surfaced to perform the ritual to the disappointment of the fans.
Mr. Dalung did not apologize for delaying the kickoff of the match.
Meanwhile, after a barren first half, both teams started the second half like house on fire with lfeanyi Ubah taking the battle to the door steps of Rangers.
Yet, neither side could break the deadlock until the end of the regulation time to force the match into a penalty kicks which lfeanyiubah won by 4-3 as Rangers lost two kicks.