‘Nigeria Too Big To Beg Foreign Stars’
Loading… It’s embarrassing for the three-time African champions to chase after players not particularly keen on representing her, says ex-international, Abbey George. Nigeria’s defender George Abbey George, a member of Super Eagles’ 2004 AFCON bronze-winning team, believes it’s not a terrible idea for the Nigeria Football Federation to go after foreign stars of Nigerian descent should they possess the quality to star for the national team. The former Port Vale fullback, however, opines that it becomes embarrassing to publicly beg such footballers when Nigeria is not their first country of choice. The NFF had success convincing the likes of Alex Iwobi, Victor Moses, William Troost-Ekong, and Ola Aina to represent their fatherland but failed in the pursuit of Chelsea’s duo of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. But while Heracles Almelo’s Cyriel Dessers couldn’t hide his desire to wear the green and white kit, QPR’s Ebere Eze has been playing a hide-and-seek game with the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick. George, though, wants the football body to be more refined in their approach of players who know what it takes to represent the country and is willing to shed tears and blood for her. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea, because if you look, Victor Moses came and did a good job, now we have Troost-Ekong and Balogun who are also doing well. So I think we have players who are happy to come, but I don’t think we should beg anyone to and plays for us,” George told Brila.Advertisement Promoted ContentThe World’s 7 Most Spectacular Railway Stations6 Extreme Facts About Hurricanes6 Interesting Ways To Make Money With A DroneBirds Enjoy Living In A Gallery Space Created For Them7 Ways To Understand Your Girlfriend Better6 Incredibly Strange Facts About HurricanesWho Is The Most Powerful Woman On Earth?5 Of The World’s Most Unique Theme Parks8 Ways Drones Are Going To Change Our LivesA Soviet Shot Put Thrower’s Record Hasn’t Been Beaten To This DayA Hurricane Can Be As Powerful As 10 Atomic Bombs8 Superfoods For Growing Hair Back And Stimulating Its Growth
“Nigeria is a big nation, we are one of the best in the world, but I can understand why some of the players are hesitant. “Some of them are born abroad, they have never been to Nigeria, they know nothing about the culture, so when Nigeria approaches them to come, and they petrify.” “Basically, we are taking them out of their comfort zone, but the ones who wanted to come are welcome, and the one who did not, we have to respect their decision,” Abbey added. Nigerian stars in the English topflight are set to resume training with their respective clubs after Premier League shareholders ruled that players can start to train in groups. The Premier League has been suspended for almost three months due to the coronavirus outbreak that has affected activities worldwide. read also:I’m proudly Nigerian, British, Joshua tells Royal Family During this period, Premier League stars have been training at home personally as the Britain Government ordered a complete lockdown for about six weeks. However, the lockdown was eased last week, and it was even announced that professional sports could return at the start of June albeit behind closed doors. FacebookTwitterWhatsAppEmail分享 
MEXICO extended their record number of CONCACAF Gold Cup wins as Jonathan dos Santos’ strike gave them a narrow victory over the United States.LA Galaxy midfielder Dos Santos latched on to a smart Raul Jimenez back heel to fire in off the bar in front of 62,493 fans at Chicago’s Soldier Field.Christian Pulisic had a good early chance but US boss Gregg Berhalter said Mexico were the “better team”.“I think we lacked some calmness and composure,” said Berhalter.“When you talk about a step the team needs to take, we’re close but we weren’t there tonight.”The Gold Cup, referred to as the CONCACAF Championship before 1991, crowns the continental champions of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.Mexico now have 11 wins in the tournament’s history, five more than the US, who claimed the biennial tournament in 2017.“This was what we came here for,” said Mexico’s Andres Guardado.“We did it and in an unforgettable setting. We’re very happy. The whole team was spectacular.”Moments after new Chelsea signing Pulisic was denied in a frenetic opening, US striker Jozy Altidore fired wide when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.Guardado headed a Jordan Morris effort off the line after half-time before Dos Santos produced the game’s decisive moment with a clinical left-foot finish.The goal delivered Mexico their eighth success since the tournament was re-branded in 1991.Wolves striker Jimenez finished as the tournament’s joint-second leading scorer on five goals alongside Canada striker Lucas Cavallini – with the 28-year-old’s team-mate Jonathan David on six.(BBC Sport)
A President’s Happy MomentThe large number of international professional golfers in his country, and the prospect of using golf to boost tourism as alternative to oil as the mainstay of the economy, made President Obiang to promise that the next edition in Mongomo will be bigger. Obiang attended the opening ceremony with the First Lady, Constancia Mangue, where he was treated to booming ceremonial tee shots by the players. Olawale Opayinka of 3e Actuaries said that apart from the Euro Challenge prospect, 500 players will participate in next year’s tournament. Pre-qualifiers will be staged in seven countries, namely, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, USA, South Africa, UK, United Arab Emirates and Sweden and the price money will also be hiked to $400,000, split to $250,000 for men and $150,000 for ladies. The final tournament will feature 50 men and 30 ladies, with all the 14 ladies that attended this year granted wild card status. Opayinka also informed the president that as part of effort to give golf grassroots outlook, the three Equatoguineans currently on training as professional golfers will be sponsored to seven international tournaments, to fast track their grounding. The Sports Minister, Andres Jorge Mbomio, told THISDAY that from January 2017, a golf academy will be established in Mongomo to teach youths, while a professional golfer will impart golf knowledge to the locals every weekend in tune with government’s philosophy to grow the game. Mbomio said though golf is unlike football, its already gaining ground in the tiny country.Hinton, Echeverria Emerge ChampionsThe tournament produced two male and female winners in Craig Hinton of England and Paz Echeverria of Chile. Hinton held his nerves on the final day, ending Nigerian monopoly to win the cash prize of $26,000 for men by three shots after a closing round of 72. The Englishman’s path to victory was eased on the third day of the event when he went on a birdie blitz on the back nine, enroute to a course record of 65. Overall, Hinton sank 19 birdies and posted a combined score of 10 under par 278 to leave Swede Peter Gustafsson trailing in second position. Muthiya Madalitso, who from day one, kept in touch with the leaders, carded a final round 75 that left him five shots out of the lead for the third position. Spain’s Xavier Puig finished fourth at three under par 285, one shot ahead of Ferraira da Costa of Portugal, while Ghana’s Emos Korblah and Zimbabwe’s Ryan Cairns shared sixth place at one under par.Nigeria’s poster boy Andrew Oche Odoh finished in tied for 11th after a bitter-sweet campaign that saw him gross a +2 over par 290. Odoh, who won the 2015 edition, struggled following the non- arrival of his set of clubs and only played with borrowed equipment. After struggling on the first two days at nine over, he adapted in the closing 36 holes, which he executed at eight under par to secure a wild card spot for the 2017 edition. The charming Echeverria carded a total score of 4 under par 286 to beat fellow rivals on Ladies European Tour, Parmela Hurtado and Luna Sobron of Spain by four shots. Rachel Goodall of England was a further five shots adrift for 4th position, ahead of the Anglo- German Leigh Whittaker, who came fifth at 10 over par 298. Nigeria’s lady teaching pro, Uloma Mbuko shot 59 over the course par to finish in tied for 12th position, after falling ill following a jab of polio vaccination received at the airport.Whittaker Appointed Ladies CaptainLeigh Whittaker has been made the lady captain, joining the male captain, the Nigerian Gift Willy in the overall team coordination.The German-raised and half English member of LET expressed surprise and honour at her appointment to the new role.Whittaker, who first visited Africa 20 years ago as a kid and had played three times at the South Africa Women Open, where she was once leading going into the final round, said she loved visiting Africa because the people are friendly and kind.“I am honoured to be appointed the captain. It was also great to play the tournament alongside many players from all over the world. It was great to play with African ladies here. The course is a true championship layout. I will definitely like to come back,” Whittaker said.Share this:FacebookRedditTwitterPrintPinterestEmailWhatsAppSkypeLinkedInTumblrPocketTelegram Now in its fourth year, the 3e Actuaries Equatorial Guinea Open is growing in leaps and bounds, exploring the prospect of using marquee professional golf events as a tool in destination branding, OLAWALE AJIMOTOKAN who was in Mongomo, E/Guinea reportsThe Road to MongomoThe tournament fittingly lived to its name ‘’Road to Mongomo’’ as many top professional golfers, from 28 countries, braved long travelling hours, international datelines and complex flight connections to arrive the hometown of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, on the border with Gabon for the Equatorial Guinea Open. Men and lady players, numbering 70, and affiliated to professional tours and Ladies European Tour (LET) competed at the impressive 18- hole Presidential Golf Course. Mongomo is in the region of Wele-Nzas to the southeast of Malabo. It is one of the three emerging urban centres, including Mongomeyen and Oyala-Djibloho currently experiencing massive infrastructural investment as part of the construction of a new future capital in Oyala.Pathway to European Challenge TourIn what is a wake-up call to Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea is now on the radar of the European Tour, which has stated its intention to list its national open on the European Challenge Tour schedule from 2017. If this becomes a reality, the tiny central African country will host a European Challenge event, joining South Africa and Morocco as the only African official venues on the tournament schedule. The Tournament Director for the European Tour, Jose Maria Zamora, was in Mongomo to assess allied facilities that will make that possible. After meeting President Obiang, Zamora confirmed to THISDAY of negotiations to list Equatorial Guinea on the European Challenge Tour next year. He described the Mongomo layout as a fantastic golf course with a fine clubhouse. Some of the facilities that required improvement are the driving range and the greens. Zamora said European Tour course experts will decide if the present greens are of the right type and if they need modification.
Under the current timetable, this will happen on a provisional basis in May and on a full basis in November.This means Russians would only be able to compete as neutral athletes at August’s IAAF World Championships in London.Thirty-five Russians have so far applied to participate under a neutral flag.To facilitate this process, more than 60 Russians are now part of the IAAF’s International Registered Testing Pool.Blanket approval has, however, been given to all under-15 Russian athletes to compete in international competitions, such as the European Youth Olympic Festival, which will be held in Györ, Hungary from July 22 to 30.Head of IAAF Task Force, Rune Andersen, insisted that Russia must either “convincingly rebut” or “acknowledge and properly address” evidence in the McLaren Report claiming that the Russian Sports Ministry and security services were complicit in a doping regime.Vitaly Mutko, the former Sports Minister who is now Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, was particularly singled out for his “negative and unhelpful” public denials and attempts to pin the blame on a Western political conspiracy.Insidethegames reports yesterday that he has admitted privately that they are struggling to deal with problems inherited from the Soviet Union before speaking differently in public.His successor as Sports Minister, Pavel Kolobkov, is also thought to be developing the same tendency.This was one of several “negative developments” pointed out in Russia since the IAAF suspension was first imposed in 2015.RusAF also continues to face “practical and legal difficulties in enforcing provisional doping bans”.There also continues to be “very limited testing of Russian track and field athletes at the national level” as well as “troubling incidents” where testing is taking place.To be reinstated, RusAF must “explain why in the past it has been unable to and how in the future it will be able to enforce all suspensions imposed on athletes and athlete support personnel under its jurisdiction in an effective and timely fashion”.They must also take “demonstrable objective and practical steps to cultivate the clean sport movement”.“Our priority is to return clean athletes to competition but we must all have confidence in the process,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe.“Clean Russian athletes have been badly let down by their national system.“We must ensure they are protected and that those safeguards give confidence to the rest of the world that there is a level playing field of competition when Russians return.”Share this:FacebookRedditTwitterPrintPinterestEmailWhatsAppSkypeLinkedInTumblrPocketTelegram Russia appears to have no chance of its International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspension being lifted until November, it revealed tuesday.This is because the Russian Athletics Federation’s (RusAF) suspension will not be lifted until the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) is declared compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will honour the Ghana Football Association President for bringing honour to Ghana through his election as Executive Committee Member of Continental football governing body, Caf.Kwesi Nyantakyi beat off opposition from Anjorin Moucharaf, president of the Beninois FA to secure the seat.Despite the public endorsement of Moucharaf by Caf President Issa Hayatou, the GFA President won overwhelmingly.A statement issued in Accra by the Ghana Sports Advocates Coalition (GSAC) said Mr. Nyantakyi will be honoured at the Manhyia Palace at 12pm Wednesday 16 March 2011.After the ceremony, the new Caf Executive Committee member will interact with students and lecturers of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Independence Hall at 4pm.The interaction will centre on football administration in Ghana, the challenges and the way forward. According to the statement, the entire GFA Executive Committee Members will address journalists at 7pm.Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
Ebenezer Assifuah’s ill-luck with injuries has yet again robbed him of a chance with the Black Stars.The FC Sion striker has been ruled out of Ghana’s double-header friendlies with Senegal and Mali next week in France.Supersport has confirmed that Assifuah’s void has been filled by a late invitation on Monday to his 2013 Fifa U-20 World Cup partner and Atalanta forward, Richmond Boakye-Yiadom.“Yes, we have received an invitation for Richmond to join the Black Stars in France for next week,” his agent, Oliver Arthur confirmed to supersport.com on Tuesday.“He is currently on his way to the airport to join the national team camp,” he said.Boakye-Yiadom’s last stint with the Black Stars was at the 2013 Afcon in South Africa. Ghana plays Senegal on March 28 before the encounter with Mali on March 31.Meanwhile, Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire have released forward David Accam to join the Ghana national team camp after gettiing a late invitation.Updated Ghana squadGoalkeepers: Razak Braimah (Mirandes, Spain), Fatau Dauda (AshGold)Defenders: Harrison Afful (Esperance, Tunisia), John Boye (Erciyesspor, Turkey), Jonathan Mensah (Evian, France), Jeffery Schlupp (Leicester City, England), Baba Rahman (Augsburg, Germany), Gyimah Edwin (Mpumalanga Black Aces, South Africa), Daniel Amartey, (FC Copenhagen, Denmark) Midfielders: Rabiu Mohammed (Krasnodar, Russia), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese, Italy), Afriyie Acquah (Sampdoria, Italy), Solomon Asante (T.P. Mazembe, DR Congo), Christian Atsu (Everton, England), Mubarak Wakaso (Celtic, Scotland), Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseille, France), Frank Acheampong (Anderlecht, Belgium), Seidu Salifu (Club Africaine, Tunisia)Forwards: Jordan Ayew (Lorient, France), Kwesi Appiah (Crystal Palace, England), Richmond Boakye-Yiadom (Atalanta, Italy), David Accam (Chicago Fire, U.S.A)–
It was Monday morning at Clippers shootaround ahead of their game that night at Staples Center, where they would lay a 40-point smackdown on the Golden State Warriors to even their Western Conference playoff series at 1-1.Guard J.J. Redick was asked how big a role Doc Rivers coming to coach the Clippers played in him coming to the team in a three-team sign-and-trade deal.“He was the selling point and I let him know that, too,” Redick said. “I told him I wanted to play for him. I had wanted to play for him for five or six years.”Funny man that he can be, Rivers’ response later Monday — about two hours before tip-off at Staples Center — was not surprising. Rivers coached Allen and the 2007-08 Celtics to the NBA title.Redick, who is 6-foot-4, came to the Clippers from Milwaukee, his third team of the 2012-13 campaign. He spent the first six years of his career in Orlando and has a career scoring average of 9.9, but he’s averaged a career-best 15.2 this season. He’s also a career 88.5 percent free-throw shooter.Redick’s overall career field-goal percentage of 43.2 percent is not fantastic. But he takes half of his shots from beyond the 3-point arc, and his 39 percent from there is solid.The way he goes about his business in that regard is electric. He’ll be out there running around more than anybody, with deft moves while trying to get open. He’ll catch, quickly pop and often make.Redick has the attention of Warriors coach Mark Jackson.“We talk about, obviously, their two best players in (Chris) Paul and Griffin, two of the top 10 players in the world,” Jackson said ahead of Game 2. “At the same time, we break down how other guys can hurt us. J.J. Redick has a body of work, we know exactly how he can hurt us and we’re just trying to be committed to make him work and not giving him open looks.“I thought a couple of times we made some mistakes (in Game 1), but overall I thought we did a good job of defending him.”Redick scored 22 points in the Game 1 loss, making 8 of 11 from the field, 4 of 5 from 3-point range. It’s that kind of effort he is capable of giving every night. When he doesn’t, he’s mad.“J.J. could go 8 of 9 and he’d be pissed,” Rivers said of the fire in Redick’s belly.Griffin loves it.“He means a lot, man,” Griffin said. “He’s played in big games, his basketball IQ is high level, very high level. He knows exactly what his role is, he knows how to get shots and he knows what he has to do to be successful.“And he plays hard. Above all else, he’s always going to play hard, whether he’s making shots or not. He’s going to be the guy that you have to chase off screens and he’s a bit of a pest defensively. He’s never going to give up, and that’s the type of teammate you want.”Yeah, he is tenacious.“I grew up in a family of five kids; I was the middle one,” he said. “We weren’t well off. So I grew up in a very competitive environment, whether it was getting our parents to come to your basketball game or getting second servings of pizza. Everything was a competition. There was only so much to go around, only so much time. And so I think it gives you a certain mental toughness when you grow up in that environment.”If Redick weren’t so tough, he’d have never been able to get through what has been a painful season, no thanks to a bulging disc in his back that kept him out of the lineup for two months before he returned to play five of the last six regular-season games. Of the 82 games, he played in 35. He was almost shut down.“It was days, yeah,” said Rivers, noting how close he came to doing that. “It says a lot (about Redick) because I mean, honestly, I think the guys know that there was a time when, I mean, he wasn’t coming back. I was getting myself comfortable with that idea.“And then all of a sudden he decided, ‘I’m just going to go play, and if we gotta do something this summer, we’ll do something this summer. But I’m going to play.’ It’s been good for us.”The sometimes-smile on a face that might rather depict pain — but won’t — says a lot.“I feel like I’m still making progress, but I’m very close to feeling my normal self,” Redick said. “As an athlete who is very in tune with his body, it’s a very, very small margin that I’m talking about. But I know it’s still there a little bit.“But to look back two weeks ago when I first started playing, I’ve come a long way, so I’m very happy. There was a point a few weeks ago where there wasn’t really any improvement made. The nerve wasn’t responding. There was talk of operating, but we didn’t want to have to go that route. Hopefully, my nerve and my body will heal.” It is healing, and that’s why any reluctance to do what he does is vanishing.“I feel like that kind of hesitancy is gone,” Redick said.Rivers showed no hesitancy in helping bring Redick to the Clippers. Nor in getting him his dough. “You sure it wasn’t that $6, $7 million? I think that had a little to do with it,” Rivers said, alluding to Redick’s $6.5 million salary this season. ”But what do I know?”The packed room of local and visiting Bay Area reporters laughed and laughed.Rivers got serious. He had a specific player in mind when Redick’s name came across his table, like one like he had coached while with the Boston Celtics.“I’ve always loved his ability to move without the ball,” Rivers said of Redick, 29, out of Duke. “And when you looked at our team and with having DJ (DeAndre Jordan) and Blake (Griffin) on the floor, I thought it was really important to have a guy that moves off of them. … I like guys who move without the ball.“Ray Allen, we had him in Boston and it worked out for us there. And I just think when you have a guy like that, it’s really important.”
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After one-week break, because of BiH national team match, on Saturday, the 19th round of BiH Football Premier League will continue and will offer a very good sports Saturday.Eight matches are going to played. Željezničar will play against Gošk, Zvijezda Gradačac against Slavija, Borac against Zrinjski; Travnik against Radnik, Široki Brijeg against Čelik, Leotar against Rudar Prijedor, Velež against Gradina and Sarajevo against Olimpic.The table score of BiH Premier League:1. ŽELJEZNIČAR 412. SARAJEVO 373. OLIMPIC 334. ŠIROKI B. 315. BORAC 316. SLAVIJA 297. ZRINJSKI 298. ČELIK 249. RADNIK 2410. LEOTAR 2311. RUDAR 2112. VELEŽ 2013. ZVIJEZDA 1814. TRAVNIK 1715. GOŠK 1616. GRADINA 14
Last night, besides bringing PSG in the lead against Chelsea in the match within the Champions League, Zlatan Ibrahimovic entered the history of this elite European football competition.Ibrahimovic became the only player who scored in 10 consecutive seasons of Champions League.Ibrahimovic series have started in 2007 in the jersey of Inter, and then he played for Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG.He scored a total of 47 goals in the Champions League, but he never managed to win the trophy intended for the winner.(Source: E. B./Klix.ba)
MORE: Jalen Hurts distances himself in Heisman race with stat-stuffed Big 12 debutWith that, a look inside Tagovailoa and Smith’s ludicrous outing against the Rebels:274 receiving yardsSmith logged what might be the best receiving game in Alabama football history, catching 11 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns (more on those scores in a minute). His 11 catches were only two away from tying the Alabama single-game record of 13, held by D.J. Hall (2007 vs. Tennessee) and Amari Cooper (2014, vs. Florida Atlantic and Auburn).Five touchdown receptionsNow, about those touchdowns: Smith caught five on the day, tying an SEC single-game record and obliterating Alabama’s old single-game mark of three. Several Alabama receivers have caught that many in a game, including Jerry Jeudy against New Mexico State on Sept. 7. Smith’s touchdowns Saturday went for 74, 25, 23, 33 and 27 yards, respectively.Six passing touchdownsMeanwhile, Tagovailoa broke his own record of passing touchdowns in a game, throwing six against Ole Miss. Smith was the primary recipient of those touchdowns, but Tagovailoa’s last touchdown went to tight end Miller Forristall from 19 yards out.Four five-passing-touchdown gamesPrior to the 2018 Iron Bowl, only one Alabama quarterback had ever thrown for five touchdowns in a game (coincidentally, it was when Gary Hollingsworth threw five against Ole Miss in 1989). Tagovailoa completed his fourth five-passing-touchdown game Saturday against the Rebels, and his third of the year. He’s the only quarterback in Alabama history to have completed the feat more than once.Seven touchdowns accounted forTagovailoa isn’t a one-dimensional player. On top of the six touchdown passes he threw, he also ran for one from 7 yards out. That gave him seven total touchdowns for the day, breaking the mark he set last year against Auburn, when he accounted for six.85 career touchdowns accounted forFor his career, Tagovailoa has accounted for 85 total touchdowns: 77 through the air, and eight on the ground. That puts him solely in first place and five ahead of AJ McCarron, who accounted for 80 touchdowns from 2010-13. The most impressive aspect of this stat is Tagovailoa still has several games left to play this season; by the time he’s finished in Tuscaloosa, his record might not be touched for a long, long time. Alabama put on quite the offensive display in its 59-31 win over Ole Miss on Saturday; more accurately, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and receiver DeVonta Smith put on the offensive display.Those two combined to tie or break six Alabama records in Bryant-Denny Stadium as the Tide advanced to 5-0 on the season. Tagovailoa was his usual accurate self, while Smith seemed unguardable. Postseason hardware may not be on these players’ minds, but they’ll definitely be up for a few if they continue playing at the same level they did on Saturday. 77 career passing touchdownsOne record Tagovailoa wasn’t able to break — but did tie — was career passing touchdowns. After tossing six through the air on Saturday, he tied McCarron for 77 in a career. That record will remain unbroken for at least another two weeks, when Alabama comes off a bye to play Texas A&M in College Station.72.2 completion percentageAs gaudy as the above stats are, what makes them more impressive is the fact Tagovailoa did it so efficiently: He completed 26 of 36 passes (72.2 percent) on the day. High volume combined with exceptional efficiency makes for a deadly combination.Zero turnoversTagovailoa turned in another zero-turnover day against the Rebs, giving him a 25-0 touchdown-turnover ratio this season. With seven games remaining in the regular season, that mark surely won’t last — but as long as it does, it will continue to remain an impressive feat.