Tag: Football - Page 43 - African News Today

Nigeria: Joel Obi Returns As Rohr Snubs Martins, Ajiboye

8Mar

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Nigeria, Sports

Nigeria: Joel Obi Returns As Rohr Snubs Martins, Ajiboye

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has rewarded Torino midfielder Joel Obi with a recall to the Super Eagles after four years in the international wilderness. The 26-year-old, whose electric start to his career at Inter Milan was ruined by injuries, has continued his blistering form for Torino this season since returning to the field after missing the first half of the 2015–16 season. Rohr proved he has been monitoring Obi’s performance in the Italian Serie A this season as he on Wednesday named him in his 28-man squad for Nigeria’s friendly matches against Poland and Serbia ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup. The Eagles face Poland in Wroclaw on March 23 before travelling to London to clash against Serbia four days later. Obi, who has scored four Serie A goals in 15 appearances for the...

Football: Harry Kane to Move to Real Madrid

15Feb

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Sports

Football: Harry Kane to Move to Real Madrid

Harry Kane has reached an agreement to make a stunning move from Tottenham to Real Madrid in the summer, according to shock reports in Spain. The England international striker has been linked with a switch to Los Blancos for months now, according to Daily Star. Kane starred for Spurs on Tuesday in helping them secure a 2-2 draw away at Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie. Now Spanish outlet Don Balon claim the forward has a ‘total agreement’ with Real Madrid and will sign a five-year deal with them. The agreement is between the player and the club with Real and Tottenham yet to negotiate the transfer. Source Punchng

Football: PSG Can Still Qualify – Neymar

15Feb

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Sports

Football: PSG Can Still Qualify – Neymar

Neymar insisted that Paris Saint-Germain can still qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals despite losing 3-1 to Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday. “My analysis is that we committed errors at certain moments. We were not mature enough at the end of the match,” the world’s most expensive player told Brazilian media after PSG squandered the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu. Adrien Rabiot had put the French side ahead, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s double strike and a Marcelo goal turned the game on its head in the Spanish capital. “We didn’t play badly, but I think we need to be better if we want to eliminate Real Madrid,” added Neymar. He was in the Barcelona side that lost 4-0 away to PSG in the first leg of the last 16 last season, before a stunning...

Football: Mane Fires in 3 as Liverpool Thrash Porto 5:0

15Feb

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Senegal, Sports

Football: Mane Fires in 3 as Liverpool Thrash Porto 5:0

Sadio Mane scored a brilliant treble as Liverpool romped to a 5-0 thrashing of Porto at the Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday to march towards the Champions League quarter-finals. Mane fired the away side ahead in the first leg of the last-16 clash, before Mohamed Salah’s audacious finish for his 30th goal of the season quickly made it two. The Senegalese forward slotted in his second as Liverpool completely outclassed their opponents, with Roberto Firmino adding his name to the scoresheet with 20 minutes to play, before Mane’s searing strike completed his first European hat-trick. “It was important to play as a team and we did, we played great football from the beginning,” Mane told BT Sport. “We created so many chances and we scored five. It was well deserved.” Playing in the...

Sports: Eagles’ World Cup Plan Excites Siasia

12Feb

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Sports

Sports: Eagles’ World Cup Plan Excites Siasia

Former Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia is happy with the friendly matches lined up for the Super Eagles ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. The Super Eagles will take on Poland, Serbia, DR Congo and England before the World Cup which is scheduled to be hosted by Russia. “It is a joyful thing for every Nigerian that we have qualified and going to fly our flag in Russia but as we all know, World Cup is all about preparations,” Siasia said. “The coach (Gernot Rohr) and the FA need to do everything possible to carry out the World Cup plans. Fine, we have seen partnerships here and there but we need to do so much more. “Personally, I will commend Nigerian Breweries for coming up to partner with the NFF, because they need something like that to make things easy for them ahead ...

Sports: Eagles Will Win Russia 2018 World Cup – Amokachi

12Feb

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Nigeria, Sports

Sports: Eagles Will Win Russia 2018 World Cup – Amokachi

Former Super Eagles forward Daniel Amokachi has made the strongest prediction ever, on the chances of Africa’s participation in this year’s FIFA World Cup, claiming that Nigeria will emerge world champions for the first time. Amokachi who was at the partnership signing ceremony between NFF and Nigerian Breweries said the Eagles have a very bright chance of lifting the trophy. “I am their number one fan. We have a bunch of new generation players who are from the diaspora, who started from academies at early age and played through the ranks to the national team. They understood the game at an early age and that impacted on the team’s performance throughout the qualifiers.” The 1994 and 1998 World Cup hero said Eagles’ World Cup group appears tough but he believes in the ability of the ...

Champions League: PSG Tie Set to Define Real Madrid Season – Ronaldo

12Feb

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Sports

Champions League: PSG Tie Set to Define Real Madrid Season – Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that Real Madrid’s season is now effectively all about their looming Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain as the Spanish giants trail off the pace in La Liga. “The tie…is one that could define the whole season,” the Portuguese forward told Real’s website after picking up a prize for best player in the world last season from the website Goal.com. “We’re going to come up against a great team with excellent players, whom we respect a lot. “But we’ve already shown that we have a very strong, united and experienced group in this competition.” Real host PSG at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday in the first leg of their last-16 tie, with the return set for March 6 in the French capital. Zinedine Zidane’s side have won the Champions League...

Football: Newly-released Nigerian Super Eagles World Cup kit tops UK paper ranking

8Feb

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Nigeria, Sports

Football: Newly-released Nigerian Super Eagles World Cup kit tops UK paper ranking

Hours after the Nigeria Football Federation and its partner, Nike, on Wednesday unveiled the kit Super Eagles will wear at the 2018 World Cup, British newspaper, Daily Mirror, ranked it top among the 19 kits so far unveiled across the world for the Mundial in Russia this June. That has set Nigerian fans excited! Why? The best Super Eagles kit at a World Cup was worn by the side that impressed the most since Nigeria qualified for its first World Cup in 1994, while the worst performance in Nigeria’s past five appearances was by the side that many fans believed wore the worst jersey. A coincidence? Or is there correlation between kit quality and team performance? After a Nigerian journalist, Andrew Randa, posted some designs he thought would be great for the Eagles last year, Nike ca...

Football: Senegal banned from Nations Cup after riot

17Oct

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Senegal, Sports

Football: Senegal banned from Nations Cup after riot

Senegal have been disqualified from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after a riot forced the abandonment of Saturday's home tie with Ivory Coast. It is not yet clear whether the Confederation of African Football will take further action against Senegal. The match in Dakar was called off after 74 minutes, with Ivory Coast 2-0 up on the night and 6-2 ahead on aggregate. Caf has officially confirmed the result as a 2-0 win for Ivory Coast, sending them through to next year's tournament. Senegal manager Ferdinand Coly said on Sunday that "Senegal will accept the sanctions". He also apologised to Ivory Coast. Trouble flared after striker Didier Drogba scored his side's second goal from the penalty spot. Visiting supporters were forced to leap down on to the pitch to escape as viol...