Saturday 17 October 2015:

England 1 – 1 Guinea

Nigeria 2 – 0 USA

Brazil 0 -1 Korea Republic

Chile 1 – 1 Croatia

Today’s Fixtures:

Australia vs Germany 8pm

Belgium vs Mali 8pm

Mexico vs Argentina 11pm

Honduras vs Ecuador 11pm

*Time = Nigerian.

Former professional basketball player Lamar Odom has regained consciousness three days after he was found unresponsive inside a Nevada brothel. Odom spoke and gave a thumbs-up greeting from his hospital bed on Friday morning, said JaNean Mercer, a spokeswoman for the Odom family. He had been on life support after being found on Tuesday with blood coming from his nose and mouth. The former Los Angeles Lakers star has long struggled with addiction. Police said that an employee of Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, told emergency services dispatchers that Odom, 35, had been taking cocaine and libido enhancers. Employees said Odom had spent several days at the brothel. Odom’s estranged wife, reality television star Khloe Kardashian, had been making medical decisions on his behalf. He and Kardashian were married in 2009 in a ceremony that was taped for US television network E!. US media report that although Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013, it had yet to be processed. Odom won the NBA championship with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010 and was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2011. He last played in the NBA in 2013 with the Clippers.

Nigeria’s U-17 male soccer team, The Golden Eaglets will today in Chile begin the defence of the U-17 World Cup they won two years ago in UAE.  The coach Emmanuel Amuneke lads will play their opening group game today against USA by 9pm Nigerian time. Other African representatives are Guinea, Mali and South Africa.

The 2013 edition saw a joyful Nigerian outfit win a record fourth junior world crown for the west African nation with Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho winning the Golden Ball (MVP) and Silver Shoe while Dele Alampasu won the Golden Glove. This team also featured the likes of Isaac Success and Taiwo Awoniyi.

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Former Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius will be released from jail in South Africa next week. He was sentenced to five years for culpable homicide in September last year after shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius will be released on Tuesday 20 October on correctional supervision. The 27-year-old killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year. He says he shot her by mistake, fearing there was an intruder in his house in Pretoria. Ms Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, reality TV star and law graduate, was hit three times by bullets fired by Pistorius through a toilet door.

Liverpool’s Danny Ings will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. The forward was injured in training on Tuesday – Klopp’s first session in charge. Ings had made a fine start to the season, scoring three goals and earning his first England call-up. The injury almost certainly rules him out of Euro 2016. It’s Liverpool’s second season-ending cruciate knee injury in a matter of days after Joe Gomez was sidelined with a similar injury on Wednesday. Ings moved to Anfield in the summer after impressing in Burnley’s relegation fight last season. The news is a big blow for new Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, who must now rejig his plans for Liverpool’s attack. The injury to Danny Ings leaves Divock Origi as Liverpool’s only fully fit striker, with Christian Benteke still recovering from a hamstring injury and Daniel Sturridge working his way back to full fitness. Ings previously suffered a serious knee at the start of the 2012-13 season.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been given a suspended one-match stadium ban and fined £50,000 by the Football Association for comments made about match officials. Mourinho had claimed officials were “afraid” to award his team penalties after Robert Madley denied Chelsea a spot-kick in a 3-1 loss to Southampton. The FA charged that his comments “imply bias on the part of a match official”. Mourinho’s ban will only be enforced if he repeats the offence within a year. The home defeat by Southampton was Chelsea’s fourth loss in the defending champions’ opening eight Premier League games of the season and left them 10 points behind leaders Manchester City and four points above the relegation zone. Speaking after the game, Mourinho had said the Blues were “always punished” by officials because “there is always a question mark” from the media. “If the Football Association wants to punish me they can. They don’t punish other managers,” he added. A Chelsea spokesperson told BBC Sport the club would wait to read the FA’s full reasoning before making any comment on the verdict. Mourinho was charged hours after the Blues said the Portuguese retained their “full support” following back-to-back defeats. His side return to Premier League action at home to Aston Villa – four points and two places below them – on Saturday.

A study by research outfit, CIES Football Observatory, has revealed that Nigeria is the fifth highest exporter of football talents in the world and the biggest in Africa. The report, the eight in the CIES Football Observatory’s monthly report, which focuses on international migration in football, reveals that Nigeria’s figure of 596 players scattered in leagues across the world, is only lower to biggest exporter, Brazil (1,784), Argentina (929), France (758) and Serbia (607). The analysis includes a record number of 6,135 clubs and 458 leagues of 183 countries worldwide.
While Brazil is the most represented origin among foreigners both in Europe (1,137 players) and in Asia (437 players), Argentina is the main exporting country at Latin American level (511 players compared to only 124 Brazilians). The CIES Football Observatory report entitled “Exporting countries in world football” provide an overview of migration of footballer’s around the world.

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Cristiano Ronaldo received his record fourth Golden Boot award on Tuesday for being the leading goalscorer in all of Europe’s domestic leagues last season. The Portuguese superstar scored 48 goals in 35 Spanish league games to claim his third Golden Boot playing for Real Madrid. His other award came with Manchester United in 2007-08 – while no other player has ever won four. The 30-year-old also became Madrid’s all-time leading scorer on Sept. 30 with 324 goals, surpassing Raul Gonzalez’s previous mark. ‘This is another great moment in my career. Receiving the fourth Golden Shoe is a great honour and a privilege,’ Ronaldo said after receiving the award. ‘But without my team-mates, I would not be able to win individual awards. ‘I always want to win more. I want five, six or seven Golden Shoes if possible. ‘Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world and we always have to win titles. ‘I want the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey.’ Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hailed his star player for making history, while thanking him ‘on behalf of all Madridistas’ ‘This award goes back to show that we have a unique and exceptional player in Cristiano Ronaldo,’ the Madrid president said. ‘Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in history to win the Golden Boot four times.

FIFA on Wednesday banned former top South African official Lindile Kika for six years for his role in a major match-fixing scandal with Asian betting syndicates before South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. Kika, the former South Africa Football Association director of national teams, was one of five officials named in a FIFA report on match-fixing. FIFA’s ethics committee adjudicatory said it had banned Kika “from all football-related activities at national and international level for six years.” It said the action followed an inquiry into “several international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010.” An earlier FIFA report told how Singapore-based convicted match fixer Wilson Perumal and his Football 4U organisation had linked up with officials in South Africa to fix matches before the country held the 2010 World Cup in 2010. FIFA found the results of warm-up matches against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala were fixed.

Above is the first post… out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh…

Above is the after thought post….

Yesterday, The Super Eagles defeated Cameroon by three un-replied goals in a friendly match played in Brussels, Belgium. The goals were scored by Efe Ambrose, Moses Simon and Odion Ighalo. Cameroon had a man sent off before Nigeria’s second goal. What baffled many was coach Sunday Oliseh’s rush to twitter to take “his pound of flesh”. For some reasons, he tried to correct himself later. NFF made us believe that whatever crisis in the Super Eagles camp is under control. With Oliseh’s posture, we doubt this. Did the lies cause the 2 -0 defeat to Congo? How many more matches will those lies make us lose? Or the truth make us win? Is this our coach actually matured to lead the lads? So many questions really but time will tell.

Michel Platini’s appeal against his 90-day suspension from football activity has been rejected by FIFA’s Ethics Committee, which said he was questioned by investigators for five hours in the days beforehand. He was given the ban on 8 October while an investigation into corruption allegations is conducted, however his lawyers claimed he had not had chance to defend himself. The Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee said Platini had been interviewed for five hours on 1 October. A spokesperson said: “The argument put forward by Michel Platini’s lawyers that their client had not had the possibility to defend himself before the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee before his suspension is not valid. “After the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee had heard him for more than five hours on October 1, 2015 (with the hearing documented on more than 50 pages), the chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber, Hans-Joachim Eckert, did not see a need for a second hearing with Mr Platini.”

Coach Sunday Oliseh has confirmed Ahmed Musa as the Eagles’ new captain, taking over from Vincent Enyeama  who retired from international football on Thursday. The 22-year-old who made his international debut against Madagascar on August 5, 2010 will be assisted by Ogenyi Onazi who played his first game for the senior national in 2012 against Liberia. Defender Kenneth Omeruo will serve as 2nd assistant captain and will wear the captain’s armband in the absence of Musa and Onazi. Celtic’s Efe Ambrose is the team’s spokesman. I have a feeling Mikel excused himself from all these captaincy brouhaha as he declined from taking the arm band as Musa was substituted and was leaving the pitch against Congo. Mikel, a Champions League and Europa Cup winner with Chelsea joined the Super Eagles in 2006 (four years before Musa who is said to have made his debut in 2010) and has the pedigree to lead the Super Eagles now but well the coach knows better. All Nigerians want is unity of purpose in that Super Eagles camp.

Golden Eaglets coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has named his 21-man squad for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. The squad consists of three goalkeepers, four defenders, eight midfielders and six forwards. Amuneke, a former Super Eagles of Nigeria and Barcelona star, was the African Footballer of the year in 1994. Nigeria would be hoping to defend the world title it won two years ago at the United Arab Emirates and will meet Chile, USA and Croatia in Group A.

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Sunderland have appointed Sam Allardyce as manager on a two-year contract. Dick Advocaat quit Sunderland on Sunday with the Black Cats second-bottom of the Premier League and winless in their opening eight games. Allardyce, 60, has been out of management since he left West Ham at the end of last season. “Of course it’s a challenging job. But I hope to be able to help to bring the stability and success that everyone wants,” Allardyce said. “I’m looking forward to working with the players and of course I will be relying on the help of the Sunderland supporters.” Allardyce had a spell at Sunderland as a player between 1980 and 1981 and becomes the first person to manage both the Black Cats and rivals Newcastle. His first home game at the Stadium of Light will be against Newcastle on 25 October, with an away trip to West Brom before that on 17 October. Sunderland owner Ellis Short believes Allardyce, who managed Newcastle from May 2007 until January 2008, was the standout candidate for the job. “Sunderland is a club he knows well and he was the obvious best choice for the job,” Short said. “He has vast experience of managing in the Premier League and an understanding first-hand of the north-east and the passion of our fans, which will stand him in great stead.”

Embattled FIFA president, Sepp Blatter has lodged an appeal against his provisional 90-day ban imposed by FIFA’s ethics committee. Blatter was suspended along with vice-president Michel Platini and secretary general Jerome Valcke while corruption allegations against the trio are investigated. Blatter’s adviser Klaus Stoehlker said: “He is defending his position and he is sure that he will be found not guilty.”

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.

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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.