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Mandela Challenge: Bafana Bafana coach dreams victory over Eagles
South Africa coach Gordan Igesund has described the forthcoming clash between the Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles at the Nelson Mandela Challenge on August 14 as a tough match and he says he is ready for the challenge of facing the African champions.
The Eagles will return to South Africa where against all expectations they won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. According to the Bafana Bafana gaffer, a win against the Eagles will boost his team’s confidence ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Botswana on September 7. The same day the Eagles will be facing Malawi in the Group D qualifiers.
“In honouring the great Nelson Mandela, of course, Stephen Keshi will be bringing a formidable team here – four players from Chelsea, three from FC Dynamo Kiev and one from Newcastle. They have got a very formidable team and that’s going to be an absolutely fantastic challenge for us,” he said..
He added: “I think we are up for the challenge. By Keshi bringing that team that he brought here during the Africa Cup of Nations, it shows how much respect the rest of the world has for Nelson Mandela.’’
World Cup qualifier : Don’t panic, ref Francisco Scov tells Flames of Malawi
The General Secretary Southern Region Referees Committee Francisco Scova has urged the Flames of Malawi not to panic over the decision of FIFA to assign 29 year-old Hamada el Moussa Nampiandraza as centre referee for the crucial World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Flames of Malawi on September 7 in Calabar.
The Madagascan referee will officiate the game while his compatriots Velomanana Ferdinand Jinoro and Jean Thierry Djaonirina will be the assistant referees.
The General Secretary Southern Region Referees Committee Francisco Scova has urged the Flames of Malawi not to panic over the decision of FIFA to assign 29 year-old Hamada el Moussa Nampiandraza as centre referee for the crucial World Cup qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Flames of Malawi on September 7 in Calabar.
The Madagascan referee will officiate the game while his compatriots Velomanana Ferdinand Jinoro and Jean Thierry Djaonirina will be the assistant referees.
Seth Jaovanona, also from Madagascar will be the fourth official while Abdul Hamid Radwan from Egypt will be the referees assessor. Patrick Beckles from Barbados will be security officer for the game while former Ghana international defender Anthony Baffoe will be the match commissioner.
Malawi need to win to qualify for the next round while the hosts just need a draw. Scova said it was an achievement for a 29-year-old to be given such a high profile game.
“I know many will say he is too young to handle such a game, but what matters is the competence. If they have given him such a game it means Fifa trusts him. And for him this should be no mean achievement,” he said.
On fears that he can end up giving in to pressure from the Nigerian fans Scova said referees are professionals and do not budge in such circumstances.
“It also happens here at home in high profile games like between Bullets and Wanderers. Supporters would want you to officiate based on what they want, but we just do our job based on laws of the game,” he said.
Earlier, the Malawian FA had expressed some reservations over the choice of the young referee for such a high profile game.
Brazil 2014: Malawi will fall in Calabar
The Nigeria Football Federation has asked Nigerians not to panic following the widely publicised plot by Malawian coaches to help their national football team, the Flames bring down the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the last group match of the 2014 World Cup qualifier on September 6, in Calabar.
The First Vice President of the NFF, Chief Mike Umeh described the reported meeting of Malawi national team coach, Tom Saintfiet with other coaches in Blantyre last week as “a mere propaganda,” adding that, “we have nothing to fear because we will be playing on our soil.”
He said, “What they are doing is mind games and we are up for it. Remember, we will be playing in Calabar. We have never lost a match in Calabar, so I don’t see how we will start with Malawi who held us to a draw with a late equaliser in their own home.”
Umeh dismissed as “untrue” insinuations that Saintfiet whose employment as technical director by the NFF was scuttled in the last minute was out for a vengeful mission against Nigeria.
“No. He cannot do that because he has to keep faith. Who says he cannot be employed tomorrow? Look at Keshi who is in charge of the Super Eagles today; he had been turned down before. So, Saintfiet cannot think that way. Even if he does, he is only a coach who will pass instructions. He won’t do the playing.”
Umeh assured that the Eagles will soar over the Flames because the Stephen Keshi-tutored team was superior to their Malawi counterparts. “We are African champions and will ensure we get the right result.”
Delta State league will bring about real development – Fuludu
What started like a dream has come to manifestation. The Zenith Bank- Delta State Division I League, the brain child of ex-Super Eagles player, Edema Fuludu has perhaps, grown faster than anticipated as 16 teams are jostling for honours.
The Delta State Sports Commission appointed Fuludu Chairman of the League Board. The ex-Super Eagles star spoke with our Correspondent on how he charted the rough tracks of beginning a new project to the height the fledgling league has attained through the intervention of the chairman, Delta State Sports Commission, Amaju Pinnick. Excerpts
Sir, how did it all start?
Well, the truth is that as an ex-footballer, I thought we could introduce some innovations into football starting from the micro level before we can go to the national level. I wouldn’t just jump to the national level to say I want to be the Secretary General of NFF and all that stuff.
So we must start from our base and I have an Executive Chairman, the Chairman of the Delta State Sorts Commission in the person of Amaju Pinnick who also understands where we are headed. We spoke and he said that he is going to give me the responsibility to organize the State League, as it is.
So I took time to think, sat with him and had fruitful discussion and we came out with this model to first organize a play-off that will produce teams that we can classify in the first division, second division and third division so that seeding could be done in the state properly.
If we have Warri Wolves in the Premier League and we also have J. Atete F.C. In the National Amateur League, we must have a state division 1, a division II and division III so that when we are doing seeding, people will know where they belong not by balloting.
The second step was how to go about it? We now asked clubs to register, we had 59 clubs in the state who registered and we said we must do play-off. We grouped them into different zones, Sapele was the first point. Seven teams came from there and two teams qualified. Everything was done on the basis of percentage so that no person will feel cheated. Eventually, Warri with 15 teams came out with 4 teams, a,b,c and d. The people that topped became the four teams representing Warri Zone. For now we have 16 teams and because of time factor, we will not play home and away basis because that will amount to each team playing 30 matches in the season. That would have stretched to next year. So we thought that the best option was to do an abridged league and the Chairman agreed.
First of all, he spoke with Zenith Bank to give us some assistance as a landing point for us to take off from. That granted, we felt we can now start to source for additional sponsorship so that we can push the game forward.
What have been the challenges before you got to this point?
Initially there was a lot of skepticism. Usually, when programmes like this are launched, sustaining the tempo becomes a big problem. So people generally welcomed this programme with skepticism. We also had the problem of financing. But when the Chairman of the Sports Commission gave me his word and said he was going to assist us to start before we can start running, we now decided to go ahead. So we went ahead, spoke to the clubs, told them to be firm, let them persevere with us.
We also had the issue of referees. Referees are stakeholders. When we offered them the money that was available, they thought that government must be pumping money into the system which was not true. So we said, please look at the accounts you are stakeholders.
If you help us, the coaches will improve, you referees will improve and we can have corporate sponsors to come and put money in the system so that we can have enough money to run it properly. So finance was a big challenge until the Chairman came in. the other issue was the issue of skeptics I talked about.
People were feeling that it was not possible but when we finished the play-offs and it was transparent and people qualified based on performance, they now accepted the league as genuine. I have a club called New Vision Academy, they did not qualify. So it gave a lot of credence to the fact that this people are transparent.
Zenith Bank is your title sponsors, what effort are you making to attract more sponsors?
We need you people – the press- because you are our eye as it is now. If you don’t report this thing, people will not even know what is happening. You will assist us. We have tried to speak to some corporate organizations; the thing is that they always want to see the league going on well before they can say it is is real.
They are also skeptical that this people may not be real but since we are doing this now and the fixtures are out, clubs are enthusiastic and we have started playing, I believe that when you report it, sponsors will start coming.
What will the winner of the League take home?
The winner of the league will have a cash prize of N500,00:00 because this is the beginning and as we progress we will look for more funds and improve.
Nigeria: Blessing Okagbare wins in London, sets new African record
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare Saturday wiped out her London 2012 Olympic tears when she returned to the same venue at Olympics Stadium in Strafford and sensationally beat the world to win the 100m, setting a new African record in the process.
It was at the venue where she raised hopes of Nigerians but crashed them at the Olympics, getting to the final but placing last.
Before more than 80,000 spectators, the new Africa’s Queen of the tracks first broke Gloria Alozie’s 14 -year old record of 10.90 record when she returned in 10.86 seconds in the heats. She further lowered that in the final to produce what is now the talk in town, a sensational feat of 10.79 seconds.
“I see a world champion in her and I pray she makes it in Moscow during the World Championships. Setting a record is always a great thing. I congratulate her,”quickly reacted Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who has been supporting Nigeria’s elite athletes especially Okagbare.
It was a strange afternoon in what was the deepest sprint field of the second day of the London Anniversary Games.
Reigning world champion Carmelita Jeter withdrew from the final with a quad injury, according to Flotrack, after running a season’s best 10.93 in her heat.
Jeter missed the U.S. championships in June due to a quad injury. With worlds just two weeks away, this is a situation to monitor.
Two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce put up a very smooth world-leading 10.77 in her heat. But Fraser-Pryce was never a factor in the final, running a 10.94 for fourth place. The winner was Blessing Okagbare in 10.79 seconds.
Okagbare is also ranked fourth in the world this year in both the 200 and the long jump.
The fastest American on Saturday was a woman who didn’t make the world championships team – Barbara Pierre. Pierre matched her personal-best 10.85 in the final, the same time English Gardner clocked to win nationals in June.
‘’Blessing is Nigeria’s greatest sensation now and needs the support of the whole country,”celebrated Solomon Ogba, the President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria who was at the stadium yesterday.
“I congratulate Blessing and I thank Governor Uduaghan for all his tremendous support,”Amaju Pinnick, Delta’s Sports boss said last night.
“Blessing is the pride of Africa at the moment and Nigeria is lucky to have such an athlete,” Godwin Abigor, chairman of Warri Wolves and an ardent sports enthusiast said.
“She is absolutely sensational. She is unbelievable. Breaking African record two times in one event is sensational,” Dare Esan, Editor of Complete Sports said.
Usain Bolt wrapped up the London Anniversary Games with a no-doubt-about-it anchor leg on the 4×100-meter relay at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Bolt and his Racers Track Club won the event in 37.75 seconds, easily beating France (38.45). The 4×100 world record set by Bolt and Jamaica at the 2012 Olympics is 36.84. This was Bolt’s first appearance at the Olympic Stadium since his triple gold performance at the 2012 Games.
Fabregas not for sale, Martino tells United
Gerardo Martino, officially unveiled as Barcelona’s new manager on Friday, wasted no time in telling Manchester United that Cesc Fabregas was not for sale.
On Thursday, United boss David Moyes revealed that the English champions’ attempts to sign the former Arsenal captain were “ongoing” after two reported bids, one of £30 million ($38 million) had been rejected.
Martino, asked about Fabregas at a Nou Camp press conference, insisted: “If the club has signalled its refusal twice, then I signal it a third time – and so he (Fabregas) will be staying here.”
Barca vice-president Josep Maria Bartolomeu confirmed: “We are not thinking of selling Cesc.
“That United are showing interest in Cesc is normal, because he’s a great player.
“That doesn’t upset us, that makes us proud that they want one of our players.
“But whatever the offer, we won’t be selling him. We are relying on him.”
At the press conference Martino laid out his ambitions for his new team, declaring that he wanted Barca to concentrate on the dazzling style of play that has made the Catalan side great in the past.
The 50-year-old has joined Barca on a two year contract, replacing Tito Vilanova who stood down last Friday to pursue treatment for cancer.
Speaking about his aims Martino told the media: “Every side, even Barcelona which has already achieved certain moments of excellence, can always improve, and Barcelona still has things to win.
“To continue to retain a high standard of play in order to keep winning, that’s one of the questions.
“There is something with Barcelona that we’ve become used to and which has I could say dazzled us, at any rate which has struck us, that is the ability to know how to press forward and then quickly recuperate the ball.
“That’s perhaps one of the characteristics that we’re most interested in rediscovering so that Barca is a team that feels at ease attacking and which defends far from its box.”
Martino continued: “Every team, even Barcelona which has already attained certain moments of excellence, can always improve, and Barca still has things to win.
“We are going to try to recover certain things that we’ve seen when Barca have been at their best, and add a few ideas of our own.”
Turning to Barca’s star player Lionel Messi the Argentine said: “He will continue to play in exactly the same position. He has to feel comfortable, after that he’ll do the rest.”
He stressed he had no intention of changing Barca’s 4-3-3 format.
Martino joins Barca from Argentine outfit Newell’s Old Boys, a former club of Messi.
He has no previous managerial experience in Europe, although he did enjoy a brief spell in Spain with Tenerife as a player in 1991.
As a coach Martino won four league titles in Paraguay, and guided the national team to the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals. AFP