Real Madrid refuse to say whether Carlo Ancelotti will stay on as coach

 
Real Madrid have refused to say whether Carlo Ancelloti will stay on next season although the coach has said he would like another tilt at the Champions League with the Spanish giants.

Asked whether the Italian will remain at the club after five days in which Real lost out on the Spanish title to Barcelona and were eliminated from the Champions League by Juventus, the club’s institutional director, Emilio Butragueño, said: “It’s not the time to say. And nor is it the place. There’s a game left to play and we need to prepare for what’s coming.”

Real beat Espanyol 4-1 on Sunday in their penultimate game of the season but that was not enough to deny Barcelona, Lionel Messi’s goal seeing off Atlético Madrid to win La Liga in Luis Enrique’s first season as coach. Real hold on to second place with just the dead rubber at home to Getafe on Saturday to come


Ancelotti, who took over as coach from José Mourinho in 2013, winning the Champions League in his first season but losing out on the title to Atlético, said after the Espanyol game that he wanted another term at the helm. “As always, I’d like to win the most important competition which is the Champions League – and the league too,” he told AS. “This season we were close at one point and we are going to try again next season.”
The Italian offered his congratulations to Luis Enrique and suggested Real had lost out to Barça after injuries disrupted the closing stages of the campaign. “The overall balance of our season isn’t positive,” he said. “At Madrid, we always play to win and we haven’t been able to this time. We had a great first half of the campaign but the second half of the season was complicated and it wasn’t enough to be champions.”
Butragueño’s comments echoed his response to Real’s aggregate defeat in the semi-finals of the Champions League after they could only draw at home to Juventus on Wednesday and he similarly refused to endorse another season for Ancelotti. Asked whether the coach would continue, he deflected the question by saying: “Today we have been knocked out, that’s what matters. We’re all sad. Everything else is secondary.”

Read More

Keshi allows NPFL players to play midweek games in order to avoid distractions

 
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has allowed players invited to the Super Eagles for next month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad to feature for their clubs in Wednesday’s Nigeria Professional Football League Week 10 matches.

Camp was scheduled to open on Tuesday with 26 players from the domestic scene. However, they can now go back to play for their clubs in tomorrow's matches.

“We want to allow the players to feature for their clubs in the midweek games, so that they will know that once they report to camp, they will not be going anywhere again," Keshi was quoted by the NFF website.
“It is important that they come to camp and concentrate. We don’t want distractions, especially with the team scheduled to play a number of friendly matches in the weeks to come before the qualifier against Chad."

All the 26 players were expected to report to camp on Tuesday, but the grace of 48 hours will now ensure they help their clubs’ fortunes in the Week 10 matches.

The 53-year-old former defender has invited three goalkeepers, nine defenders, six midfielders and eight strikers from the domestic league for the match, with the list of overseas-based professionals due to be released this weekend.

Nigeria have been drawn in an Afcon qualifying group that includes Egypt, Chad and Tanzania and will play their first game against Chad in Kaduna on June 13.

Read More

Flying Eagles wrap up tour of Germany with win against Freiburg U23

 

Coach Manu Garba’s team made it three wins from three games as they spanked the German Bundesliga youth outfit in a test game played on Tuesday afternoon

Nigeria U20 side spanked FC Freiburg U23 4-1 in a friendly game played at the SudwestPark training ground on Tuesday afternoon.

Goals from Ibrahim Al Hassan, Godwin Saviour, Ifeanyi Mathew and Usman Saleh were all the reigning African youth champions to get their third win in their foreign training tour to the European nation.

Al Hassan who did not make the final squad for the Fifa U20 World Cup gave the Nigeria U20 team the curtain raiser in the 36th minute – a goal which gave them the lead heading into the half time break.

On resumption of the second half, the trio of Saviour, Mathew and Usman completed the rout with the hosts finding the back of the net once.

With this win, Manu Garba’s side have now scored 14 goals in three games and are expected to leave for the Fifa U20 World Cup billed for New Zealand next week.

Read More

Sharapova prevails

Russian third seed Maria Sharapova came from a set down to beat Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6 7-5 6-1 and win third italian open title.
Suarez Navarro, the world number 10, battled hard in the first two sets but ran out of energy in the decider.

Her best chance came at 5-5 in the second set but Sharapova finished the set with eight straight points.
The Russian capitalised on her opponent's weakness in the third set as she swept to a 35th career crown.

Read More

Messi seals title for Barcelona

 

Lionel Messi struck a second-half winner against Atletico Madrid as Barcelona beat Real Madrid to the Primera Division title.

The Catalan side dominated for the majority of the first half but took until the 65th minute to open the scoring and clinch the three points needed to seal their 23rd Spanish crown with a game to go.

Barca had goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to thank for holding the hosts at bay as they held on in the second half, when efforts from Messi and Neymar could have instead doubled their margin of victory.

Read More

Okagbare wins 100m in Shanghai Diamond League

            

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare easily outpaced a star-studded field, including highly-decorated Jamaican sprinters Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown in the Shanghai Diamond League 100 metres race today, producing a season’s best 10.98 seconds.

Campbell-Brown came in fourth and Olympic champion Fraser-Pryce fifth.

The result is a blow for Fraser-Pryce in her first 100m of the season, only weeks before she defends her 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in the Chinese capital.

“The feeling is OK,” the 28-year-old said after the race. “I am looking forward to my next race. What comes, comes.”

Read More

Spain name Torres, Costa and Villa in World Cup squad

 

Experienced strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa were both included in Vicente del Bosque’s final 23-man World Cup squad on Saturday as he sought to cover Diego Costa’s injured hamstring.

Brazil-born Atletico Madrid striker Costa has battled an ongoing hamstring problem that limited him to just nine minutes in the Champions League final defeat to city rivals Real, a week after he was forced off 15 minutes into his side’s La Liga title decider with Barcelona.
 
Del Bosque also left strikers Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Llorente, midfielder Ander Iturraspe, and defenders Alberto Moreno and Dani Carvajal out of his squad, the six having been named in his initial 30-man list.

Defending champions Spain face Chile, the Netherlands and Australia in World Cup Group B. Their first match pits them on June 13 against the Netherlands — their opponents in their 2010 World Cup final triumph.

Squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Napoli/ITA), David De Gea (Manchester United/ENG)
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Barcelona), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich/GER), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/ENG), Raul Albiol (Napoli/ITA), Juanfran Torres (Atletico Madrid)
Midfielders: Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), David Silva (Manchester City/ENG), Koke Resurreccion (Atletico Madrid), Santiago Cazorla (Arsenal/ENG), Juan Mata (Manchester United/ENG)
Forwards: Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea/ENG)

Read More

Read More

Super Eagles Land In Ethopia

The Nigerian national team arrived in Addis Ababa on Saturday morning for Sunday’s 2014 World Cup qualifying first leg play-off match against Ethiopia.

Their chartered Ethiopian Airlines plane touched down at the Bole International Airport at 8:50am with a delegation which included government officials, members of the Nigeria Football Federation, Nigeria Supporters Club and press.

Players of the national team were warmly received by locals at the airport as they made their way to the team bus and onwards to their hotel.

There were chants of ‘Moses’ and ‘Mikel’ from among the pack of locals that welcomed them at the airport as they sought for photographs with the Nigerian stars.

The Nigerian supporters’ delegation also filled the air with jolly good Nigerian music as they announced their arrival for the crucial World Cup qualifier.

The 100 supporters from Nigeria will do battle against a partisan home crowd expected to be 40,000 in the National Stadium.

Read More

Happy Independence Day Nigeria!

While wishing you a happy 53rd Independence Day celebration, we would like you to tell us what your hopes and aspirations are for Nigerian football.

What would you like to change in Nigerian football?

You can use the comments section below 

Read More