Confederation African Football (Caf) has decided to punish Moroccan side Raja Casablanca and told them they will pat a fine of $5,000 after following the use of fireworks in their Caf Champions League match against Kaizer Chiefs. . Raja claimed a 1-0 victory against Kaizer Chiefs on March 14 in Soccer City Stadium. . Caf communicated the fine to the Moroccan club on Saturday to the Moroccan club. . “Caf told us on Sunday that they have fined us $5,000 after our fans used fireworks in the first leg of the round of 32 in the Caf Champions League in…
Author: David F.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that the contract offered to former Super Eagles captain Stephen Keshi has been approved. . Lt revealed that the coach has yet to sign the dotted lines. “Keshi has not yet signed a new contract (as Nigeria coach). We had an executive committee meeting of the NFF (on Wednesday) and the technical committee submitted a report on Keshi’s contract situation. . “The contract has been approved (by the executive committee of the NFF) and we are good to go,” Pinnick told SuperSport TV on Wednesday night. . It is now expected that Keshi…
Germany midfielder Sami Khedira on Wednesday said he will leave Real Madrid when his contract .expires at the end of the season. . “There is nothing more to say than what I told the sports magazine (Kicker), when there’s anything more, I’ll say it,” the 27-year-old said after captaining Germany to a 2-2 friendly draw with Australia in Kaiserslautern. . Having joined Real in 2010 from Stuttgart, Khedira won last season’s Champions League with the Spanish giants and has been linked to Bundesliga side Schalke 04. . “This is not a decision against Real, I just want to spice up…
Liverpool will be without defender Martin Skrtel for three games after he was suspended on Wednesday for a stamp on Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea during Sunday’s Premier League defeat at Anfield. Skrtel escaped punishment at the time because the stoppage-time incident was missed by the match officials but video footage resulted in him being charged with violent conduct by the Football Association. . The Slovakian had denied the charge but was found guilty by an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing. $ Skrtel will miss the clash at Arsenal on April 4, as well as the FA Cup semi-final against…
Five Chelsea fans will contest the implementation of football banning orders for their suspected involvement in an incident where a black man was blocked from boarding a subway train in Paris. . The fans attended a magistrates’ court in London on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing after being served with summons by police, who are applying for banning orders to be imposed. . Prosecutor Ian Rees Phillips told the court that the five men opposed the banning orders, which would prevent them from traveling to matches at home and abroad. A full hearing will take place on July 15-16. .…
Southampton’s England international goalkeeper Fraser Forster will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. . The 27-year-old injured his left knee after colliding with Sam Vokes in the early stages of Southampton’s 2-0 defeat of Burnley on Saturday and a subsequent scan revealed that he had damaged his patellar tendon. . In a statement on their website, the club said: “A scan on Monday showed that the goalkeeper had suffered damage to his left patellar tendon, with the injury and resultant surgery ruling him out for the…
Uganda stunned three-time African champions Nigeria 1-0 in an international friendly decided at the Akwa Ibom international stadium in Uyo on Wednesday. . Miya Farouk was the unlikely hero for the Cranes as his deflected strike, ten minutes from time, gave the East Africans a famous win. . The big news before kickoff was Vincent Enyeama starting against the Cranes and earning his 100th cap — the second Nigerian after Joseph Yobo to ever reach that milestone. . On six minutes, Nigeria had their first shot on target through Anthony Ujah but Ugandan goalkeeper Dennis Onyango saved well with the…
Nigeria captain and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama earned his 100th cap on Wednesday but the Ugandans spoiled the party for the Lille LOSC custodian as the Super Eagles suffered a 1-0 loss at the Akwa Ibom Stadium in Uyo. . Enyeama became the 23rd African and only the second Nigerian men’s footballer to reach the magic 100-mark of appearances. . The Lille goalkeeper now joins an exclusive list that boasts Ahmed Hassan, Hossam Hassan, Essam El-Hadary, Rigobert Song, Ibrahim Hassan, Hany Ramzy, Didier Zokora, Geremi, Samuel Eto’o and Kolo Toure, who have 100 or more caps for their countries. . Others…
Cranes of Uganda goalkeeper Dennis Onyango is excited to be back in Nigeria and hopes his team can win Wednesday’s international friendly with Nigeria. . Onyango was part of the Uganda team that lost 1-0 to Nigeria at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta in March 2007 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier. . The Mamelodi Sundowns shot stopper says they are in Nigeria to gain experience and also avenge the loss in 2007. . “I was part of the team that lost in Nigeria in 2007. We played quite well in that match and I think we should…
Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic already knows who will start against Nigeria and what formation he will use but he is telling nobody. So we can only speculate. . Dennis Onyango comes into this tie high on confidence after seemingly cementing his number one status at Mamelodi Sundowns following long spells of irregular club football. But the goalkeeper’s importance to the Cranes has never been doubted by the East Africans as he has remained first choice. His imposing self, reflexes and leadership skills will come in handy with an inexperienced back four in front of him . With news indicating that…
Super Eagles assistant coach Daniel Amokachi is optimistic that the new blood in the Super Eagles can bring in good tidings for the team after Nigeria’s Afcon 2015 no-show. . The squad is currently in Uyo preparing for an international friendly with the Cranes of Uganda, and Amokachi feels the new players can breathe some life into the team. . “We are trying to inject new blood into the team. You know we have young players that are new to Nigerians,”Amokachi said . “Hopefully with what we say them show in Europe they will be able to show same here.…
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal heralded his team’s 2-1 victory over Champions League qualification rivals Liverpool at Anfield as “one of the most important in my career”. . Juan Mata scored twice in Sunday’s Premier League game, either side of a red card for home captain Steven Gerrard, and despite Daniel Sturridge hitting back, Liverpool fell to a first loss in 14 league matches. . Victory strengthened United’s grip on the fourth and final Champions League qualifying berth, with Liverpool now five points behind and Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur a point further back, leaving Van Gaal to reflect on…
Jose Mourinho believes Chelsea are firmly on course to win the Premier League after extending their lead at the top to six points with a battling 3-2 victory at Hull. . The Blues, chasing their first English league crown since 2010, re-established their stranglehold on the title race thanks to Loic Remy’s late winner at the KC Stadium on Sunday. . And with Chelsea holding a game in hand on second placed Manchester City, Mourinho says they are now firm favourites to lift the trophy. . “The title race should be over,” Mourinho said. “The title race in normal conditions,…
World champions Germany will wear black armbands and there will be a minute’s silence before Wednesday’s friendly against Australia to honour the victims of the French Alps air crash. . Wolfgang Niersbach, president of the German Football Association (DFB), has confirmed they will honour the victims of Tuesday’s disaster before the friendly international in Kaiserslautern. . More than half of the victims of the air crash are believed to have been German. . “It is the one clear thought which overshadows everything else,” said Niersbach. . “We owe it to the victims and their families that the football family share…
Former Flying Eagles head coach, Tunde Disu has said he was not surprise the side emerged winners of the 2015 Orange African Under-20 Championship in Senegal. . The Nigerians claimed their seventh title at the expense of hosts, Senegal with 1-0 win in the final decided on Sunday at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar. . Bernard Bulbwa’s individual brilliant goal in the 20th minute proved adequate to hand the Nigerians the coveted African title. . Disu said the Flying Eagles made known their preparedness to claim the title after they subdued tournament favourites, Black Satellites of Ghana in the…
Nigeria defeated hosts Senegal in the final of the 2015 African U-20 Championship in Dakar on Sunday to claim a record seventh title in the competition. . Both teams met in the group stage, with the Flying Eagles triumphing 3-1 but their rematch in the final wasn’t an easy affair for the Nigerians, who nonetheless, snatched a lone-goal victory through midfielder Bulbwa Bernard after 17 minutes, and toiled to safeguard the slim lead amid hostile local fans. . The Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba attributed his team’s success over the host nation to discipline, solidarity and experience. . “We met…
Senegal coach Joseph Koto did not express any disappointment following his team’s loss to Nigeria in the final of the 2015 African U-20 Championship in Dakar on Sunday. The junior Teranga Lions were defeated 1-0 by the Flying Eagles, thus failing to break the jinx of not having won a continental title despite the huge talents the country churns out every year. . Rather, the coach said he was very happy because his team showed impressive improvement from their last game against Nigeria which they “timidly” lost 3-1. . “I said earlier that we lost heavily to Nigeria in the…
Real Madrid should focus on the positives from Sunday’s 2-1 La Liga defeat at Barcelona and remember there is still a long way to go until the end of the campaign, according to centre-back Sergio Ramos. . Real’s defeat in the ‘Clasico’ at the Nou Camp, their third reverse in their last four outings in all competitions, left them four points behind leaders Barca in second place with 10 games left. . Ramos noted that Real had dominated their arch rivals for much of the match before Luis Suarez settled the contest in Barca’s favour with a superb effort 11…
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has agreed to extend his contract with the Spanish champions by three years to 2020 and pledged to help the club cement their position back among Europe’s elite. . The deal, which runs until the end of the 2019-20 campaign, was widely expected although that did not prevent plenty of speculation a wealthy rival could try to lure Simeone away from the club he twice represented as a player. . “I have chosen to be here because I am convinced the club will continue to grow,” Simeone told a news conference. . “Because it is…
David Villa’s international career is not necessarily over and the striker could return to the squad and extend his Spain scoring record, coach Vicente del Bosque said on Tuesday. . It was widely assumed the New York City player, who has 59 goals in 97 games for La Roja, had played for the last time at the World Cup in Brazil last year although the 33-year-old never said he was quitting the national team. . Captain Villa scored the opener and set up the second goal in his club’s Major League Soccer home debut this month, a 2-0 win against…