National men’s basketball team, D’Tigers have qualified for both the 2015 All Africa Games and FIBA-Africa Championship after beating Burkina Faso 63-50 in the return leg match played at the indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium,. Surulere, Lagos on Wednesday. . The Olumide Oyedeji captained side had won the first leg match in Ouagadougou before coming home to seal their passage to the two competitions billed to hold in Congo and Tunisia respectively. . The qualifier which was the first the senior basketball national team will play in Lagos this year, saw D’Tigers winning three quarters while the Burkinabes…
Author: David Folami
Theinfostride.com has learnt that South Africa’s Premier Soccer League side, Ajax Cape Town, is set to test Nigerian Under-23 International, Chijioke Omeke. . The up-and-coming Omeke was part of the Dream Team squad that played participated in the Super Six pre-season tournament, in Abuja. . However, he was left out of the squad that played a goalless draw against Zambia in the Al-Africa Games qualifier. . Omeke is already in the Mother City for the test with The Urban Warriors, which marks a continuation of its romance with Nigerian players. . Chippa United’s duo of George Akpabio and James Okwuosa…
Germany coach Joachim Loew will delay injecting fresh talent into his World Cup-winning squad until next season as they eye the next big international title, Euro 2016. . Loew, who recently extended his contract until the 2018 World Cup, said on Tuesday he would not bring in new players for the next four matches despite having vowed last year to introduce them. . Germany play Australia in a friendly on Wednesday and then travel to Georgia for a Euro qualifier. They then meet the United States and Gibraltar in June. . Loew said several candidates for the senior team would…
Hanover captain Lars Stindl announced on Wednesday that he will leave the club in the summer to join Bundesliga rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach. . The 26-year-old’s deal with Hanover was not due to expire until 2016, but a clause in the contract allowed him to move on this year. . “I decided not to renew my contract with Hanover and to leave for Moenchengladbach this summer,” Stindl wrote in a letter posted on Twitter, adding that he wished “to take on a new challenge at Borussia.” . He chose Gladbach – who won 2-0 at Bayern Munich at the weekend –…
Germany will be more focused when the World Cup winners take on Georgia in Tbilisi on Sunday for their Euro 2016 qualifier after a lacklustre performance in their 2-2 friendly draw against Australia on Wednesday. . Coach Joachim Loew rested half a dozen key players, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng against Australia and the lack of quality on the pitch showed at times as the bold Asian champions narrowly missed out on a shock win. . “This was a good test from which we can draw some conclusions,” said Loew, who recently extended his contract…
After scoring two goals in two matches for Heartland, free-kick specialist, Ebere Odiche, is excited with his decision to return to the club from Warri Wolves. . Odiche left Heartland for Wolves in 2014, but it turned out to be an unholy romance, which did not go beyond the first round of the season. . “Wolves lured me from Heartland and my career started well at the club. However, the situation changed and I had to leave the club. As a professional, I have put all that happened at Wolves behind. . “I remained clubless after my exit since the…
The hero of the 2015 African Under-20 Championship, Bernard Bulbwa, who scored Nigeria’s goal in final against Senegal, tells superport.com that the Flying Eagles played according to instructions and were selfless in their roles on the field. . It took just 17 minutes from kickoff for the 19-year-old midfielder of Shuttle Sports Academy in Nigeria to break the stalemate and put his side ahead 1-0. . His long-range effort was another breathtaking goal of the tournament, although Senegal coach Joseph Koto believes Bulbwa was only lucky to find the back net. . “He wasn’t that close. He attempted something and…
Nigeria’s loss to Uganda in Wednesday’s international friendly in Uyo has been put down to the lack of understanding between the players who didn’t have enough time to gel together before the game. . AA Gent attacker, Moses Simon, who came in as a second half substitute is optimistic that the squad has enough quality to pull through as the players get to know each other better on the pitch with subsequent games. . “It wasn’t how one would want to start his international career, but it happens like this sometimes,”Simon, who made his debut in the game told Theinfostride.com…
Mouhcine Iajour scored a 22-minute hat-trick as Moroccans Moghreb Tetouan thrashed Nigerians Kano Pillars 4-0 this weekend in the CAF Champions League. . He struck after 14, 27 and 35 minutes of the delayed last-32, first-leg match at Stade Saniat Rmel in northern Morocco and Zaid Krouch added a last-minute fourth goal. . The hat-trick makes 29-year-old Iajour the leading Champions League scorer this season with four goals, having got one in a dramatic preliminary-round triumph over Malians CO Bamako. . While Tetouan were favoured to win at home, even their most partisan supporters would not have dreamed that the…
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…
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.…