Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Argentina in the 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat by Ecuador. Aguero, who scored five goals in City’s win against Newcastle on 3 October, was carried off after 22 minutes. The 27-year-old is set to have a scan and looks likely to miss Argentina’s game against Paraguay next week. Aguero had only just returned to fitness after a knee injury earlier in the season.
Article written by journalist and Sports development Enthusiast, Aderonke Bello:
I have said it over and again, Oliseh is not the right choice for the Super eagles job. So far the NFF said he is what they want, then, so be it! Some weeks ago in Abuja, the Nigeria Football Federation appointed Sunday Oliseh, who does not have enough technical clue about coaching, he has however never been able to coach a top team in the history of his coaching career, and has obviously waited on the shelf for good seven years to get the eagles job. Safe to say, his appointment was controversial because it lacks due process. It is no longer news that he obtained the UEFA license coaching certificate, rather he is renowned for his excellent TV analysis and punditry which necessarily does not amount to good coaching and man-management, on-field techniques amongst others.
Chelsea have completed the free transfer of former AC Milan and Italy goalkeeper Marco Amelia on a deal until the end of the season. Amelia, 33, has been signed after Thibaut Courtois damaged medial knee ligaments in September and is likely to be out until December. Capped nine times by his country, he is available for the Blues’ next game at home to Aston Villa on 17 October. He was part of the Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup. Amelia has spent his career playing in Italy and his former clubs also include Livorno, Palermo, Genoa and Perugia. Asmir Begovic, signed from Stoke City for a reported £8m in July, has played in Chelsea’s last seven league and cup games. The Premier League champions are 16th in the table after losing four of their opening eight matches.
Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi and his father should stand trial on tax fraud charges, a court in Spain has ruled. The judge in charge of the case rejected the request by prosecutors to drop the charges against the striker. Messi and his father Jorge are accused of defrauding Spain of more than €4m. They deny any wrongdoing. Lawyers acting on behalf of the tax authorities demanded 22-month jail sentences for both defendants. Prosecutors allege that Jorge avoided paying tax on his son’s earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay in 2007-09. Messi’s lawyers had argued that the player had “never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing” the contracts, El Pais newspaper reported earlier. “There are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties,” wrote the judge in a court filing, according to the AFP news agency. No date has been set for the trial of the 28-year-old footballer – the four-time World Player of the Year and one of the richest athletes in the world. In June, the high court in Barcelona ruled that Messi should not be granted immunity for not knowing what was happening with his finances, which were being managed in part by his father. The income related to Messi’s image rights, including contracts with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company. Messi and his father made a voluntary €5m “corrective payment” – equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest – in August 2013.
Jurgen Klopp has been appointed Liverpool’s new manager on a three-year deal worth £15m. The 48-year-old German replaces Brendan Rodgers, who was sacked on Sunday after three and a half years in charge with the club 10th in the Premier League. Klopp has been out of work since May, when he ended a seven-year spell at Borussia Dortmund to take a sabbatical. He will earn £5m a year, rising to £7m with bonuses for a Premier League title or Champions League qualification. Klopp is expected to bring Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz – his former assistants at the Bundesliga club – to Anfield. Sean O’Driscoll, who was Rodgers’ assistant, has left the club, while Gary McAllister has been moved from first-team coach to a new ambassadorial position . Klopp will be officially introduced by Liverpool at a news conference at 10am today.
Issa Hayatou has been appointed the acting president of FIFA. Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke were suspended for 90 days on Thursday as investigations into football’s governing body continue. Blatter, 79, is suspected of making a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs – around £1.3million – to UEFA president Michel Platini which was “at the expense of FIFA.” All three are banned from all football activity but deny any wrongdoing. Issa Hayatou, who heads Africa’s football confederation (CAF) will act as president during Blatter’s ban.
Hayatou has said he will not be a candidate for the FIFA presidential election come February 2016 but can his interim presidency help usher in an African substantive FIFA president? We’ll see.
Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has announced his retirement from international football. This is not unconnected with his recent row with Nigeria’s coach, Sunday Oliseh. Sad. We wish you well Enyeama. You had an international career you can look back and be proud of. #Respect!
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao says he is likely to retire from the sport after one more fight next year. Pacquiao, who lost to Floyd Mayweather in his last fight, could face Britain’s Amir Khan or American Terence Crawford. Pacquiao said he “cannot say” whether his last fight would be a rematch against Mayweather, with the American having pledged to retire after his defeat of Andre Berto. The six-weight world champion wants to run for a seat in the Philippines senate in 2016, and told ANC: “I think I’m ready [to retire]. I’ve been in boxing for more than 20 years. If you are a senator, your focus should only be your job and your family.”
FIFA has suspended president Sepp Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke. “The adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee chaired by Hans‑Joachim Eckert has provisionally banned FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, UEFA President and FIFA Vice-President Michel Platini, and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke (who has already been put on leave by his employer FIFA) for a duration of 90 days,” said a FIFA statement. “The duration of the bans may be extended for an additional period not exceeding 45 days. “The former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon has been banned for six years and fined 100,000 (Swiss Francs). “During this time, the above individuals are banned from all football activities on a national and international level. The bans come into force immediately.”
The Super Eagles are pictured having breakfast at their Belgium hotel this morning. They will be facing Congo today by 7pm. For those in Naija, I learnt AIT would be showing the match live. Super Sport might also be doing that. Enyeama looks crestfallen sha.
Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Arijan Ademi failed a drug test after their recent Champions League win over Arsenal, the club has announced. Ademi played the full 90 minutes during the Croatian side’s 2-1 victory in Zagreb last month. If the player’s B sample is also positive he could face a ban, but there are no rules to disqualify teams from the competition unless two or more players fail drug tests.
Super Eagles Coach Sunday Oliseh has made a sensational declaration that fleet-footed forward Ahmed Musa is his preferred choice for the national team captain’s armband. Musa played the captain’s role in the Super Eagles last two matches against Tanzania and Niger and while many thought it was only in a stand-in capacity, Oliseh revealed otherwise Tuesday, saying he was already looking into the future. There was a major fall-out between Oliseh and hitherto skipper Vincent Enyeama on Tuesday night in Belgium, a development that may have further contributed to the Eagles coach making a firm declaration on the captaincy of the Eagles.
Feelers from the Super Eagles camp suggests that Coach Sunday Oliseh clashed with Captain Vincent Enyeama yesterday. Enyeama joined his national teammates in Belgium ahead of the two friendly games against Congo and Cameroon on Thursday and Sunday respectively but Oliseh was angry over the keeper’s late arrival to camp. The Lille keeper arrived camp after Monday’s deadline, having been reportedly permitted to report late following Saturday’s burial of his mother in Akwa Ibom. But an angry Oliseh ordered Enyeama, out despite pleas from the keeper, who rose to apologise for coming late and wanted to give his reasons. Oliseh reportedly told Enyeama to shut up but the Eagles captain didn’t comply, which made the coach call on security operatives to get the keeper out of Hotel Verviers, the camp site of the Eagles. Oliseh then named CSKA Moscow forward, Ahmed Musa, the Eagles captain for the friendly matches. But officials of the NFF waded into the matter and persuaded Enyeama to remain in camp. “It’s true that there was a little misunderstanding in the camp of @NGSuperEagles, but the matter has been resolved. Enyeama remains in camp,” the NFF said on Twitter.
We don’t know who is right or wrong but we do know that Oliseh should control his temperament that once saw him confront a former sports minister when he was Super Eagles captain.
South Sudan will play in their first World Cup qualifier when they face Mauritania on Wednesday, the first leg of their preliminary round tie. Having joined international football only in 2012, a year after the country became independent from Sudan, the team is facing its biggest challenge. They go into the tie boosted by achieving their first competitive win on 5 September – beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. “We are ready, totally ready. We know what we have to do and we can spring a surprise,” South Sudan captain Richard Justin Lado told Fifa’s website. “Our coach Sung-Jea Lee has created a style of play that’s based on defensive discipline and counter-attacking football, and I think we can cause some damage. We need to win, for many reasons, and we will win.” However, Mauritania are ranked 55 places higher than their opponents and will be hoping to stamp their authority on the game and finish the job when they host the return leg on Tuesday 13 October.
Prosecutors in Spain have dropped tax charges against Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi but will pursue a case against the star’s father. If convicted, Jorge Messi faces 18 months in prison and a £1.6m fine. Both Messi and his father were accused of defrauding Spanish authorities of more than £3.1m. Prosecutors allege that Jorge avoided paying tax on his son’s earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009.
Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao said Monday he plans to run for a post in the influential Philippine Senate despite a lacklustre stint as a congressman. The star announced he will run as a candidate for the 24-seat upper chamber in May 2016, to mixed reactions from fans. “Yes, I’m going to run for (a) Senate post this coming 2016 election. But as to which party, that’s still to be determined,” said the fighter. The boxer popularly known as “Pac-Man”, said President Benigno Aquino’s ruling Liberal Party had been courting him but added that he is also close to the leaders of rival parties. Pacquiao, 36, used his athletic renown to be elected as congressman of an impoverished district in the southern Philippines in 2010, despite his punishing training schedule and a foray as playing coach in the country’s competitive basketball league. He has won eight world championships in different weight divisions but lost the richest fight in boxing history in a unanimous decision to his American rival Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in May. While still retaining his popularity among sports fans, Pacquiao has been harshly criticised for his performance in the House of Representatives where he has been listed among the legislators with the most absences. As a congressman, Pacquiao was elected by the voters of his district but in the Philippines, senators are elected nationally, posing a larger challenge.
Fifteen Super Eagles stars on Monday commenced training for two friendlies in Belgium at the R. Battice FC training ground on Monday evening. Nigeria face DR Congo on Thursday, before they tackle Cameroon three days later as part of preparation for next month’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against either Swaziland or Djibouti. The players who are in camp and trained today are: Ahmed Musa, Ogenyi Onazi, John Mikel Obi, Carl Ikeme, Elderson Echiejile, Efe Ambrose, William Troost-Ekong, Leon Balogun, Sylvester Igbonu, Rabiu Ibrahim, Obiora Nwankwo, Odion Ighalo, Ahmed Musa, Moses Simon, Emmanuel Emenike and Alex Iwobi. Eagles top official Enebi Achor disclosed the team will train twice on Tuesday (10am and 4pm) at the same venue. Victor Moses and Kenneth Omeruo pulled out of the friendlies due to injury.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been charged with misconduct by the FA for comments made after the Southampton match. A statement reads: “It is alleged his remarks constitute improper conduct in that they allege and/or imply bias on the part of a match official or match officials and/or bring the game into disrepute.” Mourinho has until 6pm on Thursday to respond.
Colorado Rockies baseball player Brendan Rodgers had to post a message on Twitter on Sunday and tell everyone he is not the former Liverpool manager. The 19-year-old was bombarded with messages following the departure of his namesake from Anfield.
Chelsea have released a statement giving their backing to manager Jose Mourinho. “The club wants to make it clear that Jose continues to have our full support,” it says. “As Jose has said himself, results have not been good enough and the team’s performances must improve. However, we believe that we have the right manager to turn this season around and that he has the squad with which to do it.”
Naija Sports Crib 