Gerard Pique has said he is willing to speak with the Barcelona hierarchy about his role in a documentary in which Antoine Griezmann turned down an offer from the club. Griezmann revealed he would stay at Atletico Madrid last week in “The Decision,” which was produced by Kosmos Studios, a company owned by Pique. Barca vice-president Jordi Mestre said earlier this week that the club planned to speak to Pique and Samuel Umtiti, who publicised his France teammate’s programme via social media, about their involvement after the World Cup. “They have my number, they can call me to talk,” Pique…
Author: David Folami
Luka Modric said Croatia “cut off” Lionel Messi from the ball but insisted his side’s 3-0 win over Argentina was not as straightforward as it appeared. Croatia limited Messi to only one shot after the Argentina talisman took 11 in their first game, a 1-1 draw with Iceland, and Modric said it all went according to plan. “This result and Argentina’s poor display was due to our good game, our compact block all over the pitch, particularly when we didn’t have the ball,” Modric said in his postgame news conference. “We cut off Messi, stopped him receiving the ball. He’s…
Nigeria captain John Mikel Obi says he will play anywhere on the pitch if that is what it takes to help the Super Eagles win. Chatter in the media and among fans after the Croatia loss has been that Gernot Rohr wrongly deployed Mikel as an attacking rather than a defensive midfielder in the 2-0 defeat. José Mourinho, who coached Mikel through his formative years and all the way to maturity while at Chelsea, added more fuel to the fire by saying that Nigeria “lost a great 6 to get a bad 10”. In response to a question by KweséESPN…
Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli took full blame for Argentina’s embarrassing 3-0 loss to Croatia in their second Group D game on Thursday. The South Americans crumbled after an awful error from goalkeeper Willy Caballero led to Ante Redic’s second-half opener in Nizhny Novgorod. Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic then added two more goals late to put the game out of reach, with Argentina defenders appearing to give up on Rakitic’s stoppage-time strike. Speaking to reporters after the match, Sampaoli said the responsibility for his side’s below-par performance falls squarely on him. “I am the only one responsible for making the…
Audu Ogbeh has accused a neighbouring African country of trying to damage Nigeria’s economy by smuggling rice into the country. While speaking in Abuja on Monday, June 18, 2018, the minister alleged that an unnamed neighbouring country, which Nigeria shares borders with, is importing more rice than China so it can smuggle it into Nigeria and destroy the federal government’s initiative to grow rice locally. According to him, the government will soon close the border it shares with said neighbour to foil its plot and encourage local rice production that will sustain Nigeria’s economy. He said, “Our other problem is…
Beyonce aOn Saturday afternoon, wherever you were, you likely received a text message (or, more likely, a flurry of texts) alerting you to the arrival of a SURPRISE NEW BEYONCÉ ALBUM!!!!! (usually followed by an incomprehensible string of emojis). O.K., O.K., a few of the texts might have mentioned Jay-Z’s involvement, as well. Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s joint album—Everything Is Love (an exclamation that feels more like something you’d see on Kanye West’s Twitter feed in 2018 than a Beyoncé album cover)—was released on Tidal on Saturday in the late afternoon, announced by a few Beyoncé Instagram posts and a Twitter…
Eden Hazard said he only wants to stay at Chelsea beyond this summer if the club is in a position to improve on last season. Chelsea disappointed despite winning the FA Cup last season, finishing fifth in the Premier League, and are yet to sign any new players or settle their managerial situation despite both Hazard and Thibaut Courtois publicly challenging the club to show ambition this summer before deciding their futures. “If I stay, it’s for the team to be better than it was than in the season we have just gone through,” Hazard told L’Equipe. “I don’t want…
Harry Kane has said Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino texted to congratulate him on the two goals that beat Tunisia on Monday. Spurs star Kane struck early and again in the first minute of stoppage time as England began their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory. “Poch sent me a text message with lots of love hearts emojis and he wrote: ‘Come on, England!'” Kane said after the match. “He is rooting for us. He has a lot of lads in the squad. I get on very well with him. He is my boss, the manager, but he is a…
Philipp Lahm expects World Cup holders Germany to pull together after their 1-0 opening defeat at the hands of Mexico and to find “a common path towards the right solution” for their tactical problems. Speaking on his role as ambassador of Germany’s Euro 2024 bid, the 34-year-old captain of the 2014 winners said the team faced similar difficulties in 2010 and four years ago, when poor results in their second games (against Serbia and Ghana, respectively) had put their progress from the group stage temporarily in doubt. “We have seen it before: sometimes a negative result can have a positive…
Poland coach Adam Nawalka said it was “kind of curious” how M’Baye Niang reentered the pitch to score the decisive goal in Senegal’s 2-1 victory on Tuesday. An own goal by Thiago Cionek late in the first half preceded the appalling defensive mix-up that let Niang score into an empty net on the hour. Nawalka had sympathy for his team over the second goal as Grzegorz Krychowiak looped a high-risk 50-yard back pass straight into the path of Niang, who was then presented with an open goal after keeper Wojciech Szczesny rushed outside his box but failed to reach the…
Luka Modric believes his team’s 2-0 victory over Nigeria on Saturday turned up the heat on Group D favourites Argentina. Modric scored a second-half penalty to secure the win after Croatia went ahead through a first-half own goal by Nigeria midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo. The result left the European side top of the group ahead of Iceland and Argentina, who drew 1-1 draw earlier in the day. Crotia face Argentina next on Thursday in Nizhny Novgorod, and Modric said their respective table positions gives his side an edge. “They [Argentina] have quality but this win will boost our confidence and I…
Dries Mertens said it was a “big relief” to score his fine volley that put Belgium on their way to a 3-0 win over Panama to open the World Cup. Belgium were frustrated for the first 45 minutes but Mertens broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart with a superb shot into the opposite corner beyond a helpless Jaime Penedo in the Panama goal. “The first goal was a big relief for everyone. It was really difficult,” Mertens said after the game. “You know when you begin at a World Cup after a long preparation and then it’s finally…
Jack Wilshere has decided to leave Arsenal, ending a 17-year stint at his boyhood club after being told he wouldn’t be a prominent part of Unai Emery’s rebuilding process. Wilshere confirmed in an Instagram post on Tuesday that he will not sign a new contract and that he was left with “no option but to pursue other opportunities.” Wilshere’s current deal expires in two weeks, and the 26-year-old has agreed to move on after learning he would see his playing time reduced under Emery, the new Arsenal coach who took over from Arsene Wenger in May. The move comes as…
Rivaldo doesn’t want to talk about tactics. “The team is in good shape,” he said of Brazil ahead of their Group E opener against Switzerland on Sunday, speaking in his capacity as a Betfair World Cup ambassador, but that’s about the limit of the analysis as far as Tite’s system is concerned. What Rivaldo really wants to get into is the mental side of being at a World Cup: the business of coping with pressure, overcoming difficulties, writing a new story for oneself. These are subjects the current crop of Brazil players would do well to confront head on as…
Egypt were beaten 3-1 by Russia in their second World Cup outing as Hector Cuper’s side stand on the brink of an early elimination. The Pharaohs started tentatively, but grew into the game, although they collapsed in the second half and appeared unable to cope with the hosts after falling behind. Offensively, there were spells in which Egypt looked more adventurous – and more menacing – going forward than they ever did in their opener against Uruguay. Mohamed Salah also appeared not to aggravate his shoulder injury, although he did appear to lack match fitness. In truth, however, this was…
Gernot Rohr says his young side can “do better” than what they produced in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Croatia in their Group D opener in Kaliningrad. The youthful Super Eagles’ deficiencies on set pieces were exploited by an experienced Croatia squad while the attack created very little offensively. “When you lose a match it is something we don’t like but we recognise that Croatia had the better team tonight and my young players made some mistakes,” said Rohr. “The first goal is coming on a corner, the second one also on a corner and a penalty. “I think these young…
Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has called on the people of the state to obtain their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to enable them elect candidates of their choice during the 2019 general elections. Ahmed made the call on Sunday, June 17, when the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, paid the annual Sallah homage to the Government House. “It is the civic responsibility of every eligible citizen to ensure collection of his or her PVC. “ Collection of PVC is a right and the only tool to elect people who can deliver on campaign promises. “Ours is peaceful and grassroots politics…
The Methodist Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. Oche Job, says he admires President Muhammadu Buhari because he is a man that fears no one. The archbishop’s remark was sequel to the recent signing of four bills into laws by Buhari. The President had on June 8, assented to the Constitution Fourth Alteration Bill, which grants financial autonomy to the State Houses of Assembly and the states’ Judiciary nationwide. The clergyman, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, said if Buhari “is a man who fears what people will say, by now, he would…
Aspirant for the 2019 presidential election, Fela Durotoye, has warned Nigerians that they have no right to complain about inadequate governance if they don’t get their permanent voter’s card (PVC) to effect the changes they desire. The management consultant said the PVC empowers eligible citizens to have a say about who leads them in government and that they should not complain about the government if they don’t take advantage of the power they wield to make a change. He said this during an interview with Nigeria Info 99.3 FM in Port Harcourt, stressing that every Nigerian of voting age should…
According to the minister, the innovative measures that the current administration has put in place are paying off. The minister also said that the government does conditional cash transfers to the most vulnerable members of the society, Tribune reports. ”Much of our programme has honed-in on business reform. Nigeria has moved up 24 places on the World Bank Ranking of Ease of Doing Business index – putting it amongst the top 10 global reformers, along with Zambia, Malawi and Djibouti. The two areas we have prioritised are starting a business and access to credit. ”In Nigeria, registering a business used…