Monday, 13 March 2017
Sunshine Queens brace up for new NWPL season
Sunshine Queens Football Club of Akure is ready for the new Nigeria Women Premier League (NWPL) season starting on March 25.
The Media Officer of the club, Francis Akinnodi, said this on Monday in Akure.
The NWPL had announced March 25 as the kick off date for the female football season with the abridged format.
Akinnodi said the Akure Stadium training centre of the team had been besieged by the players ready to play for the team.
He said that the players were eager to sharpen their skills under the guidance of their coaches headed by Wemimo Mathew.
“Both old and new players are training hard for the new season. Majority of our old players are back,
“We only need few fresh legs to fortify the team for the league.
“With all motivation and encouragement from the management, the team is ready to battle for the single slot in the group.
“No doubt, it is a tough group but I believe Sunshine Queens FC has the records to succeed in the league. I hope the team can be a title contender.
“With the experience of the old players and the talents of the new blood, I am confident the team can battle any opponents,” he said.
According to the board of the team, 16 teams were divided into two groups of eight each.
The winner of the two groups will have to square up in a play off to determine the league champion.
Group A is made up of defending champions Rivers Angels, COD Ladies, Bayelsa Queens, Ibom Angels, Heartland Queens, FC Robo Queens, Sunshine Queens and Abia Angels.
The 2011/12 NWPL League Champions Delta Queens, Nasarawa Amazons, Osun Babes, Confluence Queens, Abia Angels, Adamawa Queens, Edo Queens and debutants Saadatu Kolo Amazons make up Group B.
The post Sunshine Queens brace up for new NWPL season appeared first on Vanguard News.
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Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Pressure mounts as Wenger mulls Arsenal future
Arsenal's French manager Arsene Wenger. / AFP PHOTO / Ian Kington
Arsene Wenger is under unprecedented pressure to end his storied 21-year tenure as Arsenal manager following their humiliating 10-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Tuesday’s abject 5-1 defeat in the second leg was preceded by a fan protest and ended in front of swathes of empty red seats at the Emirates Stadium.
Wednesday’s sports headlines spoke of “humiliation” and an “all-time low”, while the players who helped Wenger turn Arsenal into the superclub they are today said the time for change had finally come.
“He looks like a lost man,” Ian Wright, Arsenal’s second-highest goal-scorer, said on BT Sport. “It just seems to be mounting up. You’ve got the fans, the protests. It’s imploding.”
Though noisy, the pre-match protest was a low-key affair, attended by only around 200 fans, but the banners held and slogans chanted revealed the extent of the divisions within Arsenal’s fan base over Wenger.
The protestors’ banners bore messages including “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”, “STUBBORN. STALE. CLUELESS” and, in reference to the two-year deal for Wenger that is reportedly on the table, “NO NEW CONTRACT”.
Some fans even chanted: “Arsene Wenger, you’re killing our club!”
Wenger, 67, has said he will make an announcement about his future either this month or next.
He is not thought to be under any pressure from above, with American majority shareholder Stan Kroenke said to be happy with Wenger given his repeated success in qualifying Arsenal for the Champions League.
The retiring Kroenke, known as ‘Silent Stan’, was also the target of protests during the rout by Bayern, angry supporters urging him to “get out of our club”.
But as Arsenal’s most successful manager, Wenger will be allowed to determine the timing and nature of his departure.
While he refused to be drawn on his future in Tuesday’s post-match press conference, he gave an upbeat assessment of the club’s current health.
“I think this club is in great shape, but we’re just going through a very difficult situation at the moment,” said the Frenchman.
– Smirking Sanchez –
The signs of stasis, however, have become impossible to ignore.
Arsenal have gone out of the Champions League in the last 16 for the past seven seasons running and it is now 13 years since they last lifted the Premier League trophy.
The signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, coupled with back-to-back FA Cup successes in 2014 and 2015, hinted at a return to former glories, but the two players have come to symbolise the current malaise.
Ozil has become a ghost-like figure, seemingly incapable of rising to the big occasion, and while Sanchez continues to produce the goods on the pitch, he is becoming problematic off it.
The Chile forward was reported to have clashed with team-mates in training last week — reports Wenger denied — and was pictured supposedly smirking on the bench after being taken off against Bayern.
Both he and Ozil are stalling over new contracts.
Publicly, the players continue to put on a united front, with right-back Hector Bellerin declaring “the whole team is behind the manager”.
But Britain’s football writers believe the Bayern embarrassment represented a thrashing too far in the story of Arsenal and Arsene.
“Arsene Wenger must go” was The Sun’s stark verdict, while the Daily Mirror’s chief football writer John Cross, who published a biography of Wenger in 2015, said the Bayern rout “must represent the endgame”.
With Arsenal having slipped out of the top four in the Premier League, and amid competition for places that is fiercer than ever, qualifying for the Champions League for a 19th successive season will be a battle.
In the meantime, Arsenal return to the Emirates on Saturday for an FA Cup quarter-final against non-league Lincoln City.
Wenger is chasing a record seventh triumph in the competition and, it seems increasingly likely, a glorious farewell.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2n5FQFq
Sunday, 26 February 2017
‘I’m a clean athlete’ insists Mo Farah
(FILES) This file photo taken on August 21, 2016 shows gold medallist Britain's Mo Farah celebrating near the podium for the Men's 5000m during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 20, 2016. Britain's four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah on February 26, 2017 insisted he was "a clean athlete" after a leaked United States Anti-Doping Agency report suggested that his coach had "almost certainly" broken anti-doping rules.<br />Eric FEFERBERG / AFP
Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah on Sunday insisted he was “a clean athlete” after a leaked United States Anti-Doping Agency report suggested that his coach had “almost certainly” broken anti-doping rules.
“I am a clean athlete who has never broken the rules in regards to substances, methods or dosages and it is upsetting that some parts of the media, despite the clear facts, continue to try to associate me with allegations of drug misuse,” Farah said in a statement.
“As I’ve said many times before we all should do everything we can to have a clean sport and it is entirely right that anyone who breaks the rules should be punished.”
The USADA on Saturday confirmed it had compiled a dossier on controversial coach Alberto Salazar following a report accusing the athletics guru of dangerously using drugs to boost the performance of his athletes.
Britain’s Sunday Times said a USADA report — obtained by the Fancy Bears hacking group — had found Salazar abused prescription drugs and experimented with infusions of a research supplement based on the amino acid L-carnitine at his Oregon base.
The newspaper said it had seen documents showing Salazar gave intravenous drip infusions to Farah and to half a dozen top US runners and that USADA had concluded the treatments of the Americans “almost certainly” broke anti-doping rules.
Farah said it was “unclear as to the Sunday Times’s motivations towards me” and that it was “entirely unfair to make assertions when it is clear from their own statements that I have done nothing wrong.”
“If USADA or any other Anti-Doping Body has evidence of wrongdoing they should publish it and take action rather than allow the media to be judge and jury,” added the athlete, who won both the 5,000m and 10,000m in the London and Rio games.
USADA said Saturday that no conclusion had been reached.
“USADA can confirm that it has prepared a report in response to a subpoena from a state medical licensing body regarding care given by a physician to athletes associated with the Nike Oregon Project,” USADA said in a statement.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lTsLRw
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Kay Faith – Waya Waya ft. Ginger Trill & OhGooch [Mp3 + Lyrics]
Waya Waya is a local South African term meaning all the time. This song goes to all the hustlers, the hard workers and those who dream big.
Way Waya is the first single of In Good Faith by Kay Faith. It features Ginger Trill and OhGooch. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Kay Faith at Cape Audio College for Fife Avenue.
Download and enjoy below…
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Toure says Man City need more goals to see off Monaco…See full details
Manchester City's Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure / AFP PHOTO / OLLY GREENWOOD
Manchester City’s Yaya Toure believes his side must score at least two more goals against Monaco if they are to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
City twice came from behind to defeat the Ligue 1 leaders in a stunning 5-3 win in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, with Sergio Aguero scoring twice for the Premier League club.
But given how their defence was tested at home, midfielder Toure said merely trying to defend their lead was not a viable tactic for the second leg in Monaco in three weeks’ time.
“The game is not finished, we have one game to play away in Monaco. We don’t have to underestimate them and must try to score goals again. We are a team that can get the goals but we can concede goals,” Toure said.
The 33-year-old Ivory Coast international, out of contract at the end of the season, added: “Monaco are such a good team, as you could see. People underrated them but it was not easy.
“They are young, they have pace, they have desire and we needed to show more. I think we showed more. After going two down we continued to believe.
“After the game my wife called me and said we were looking young today, the team was brilliant.”
Raheem Sterling gave City a 26th-minute lead but a loose kick by home goalkeeper Willy Caballero enabled Monaco to level through Radamel Falcao’s header.
A dawdling Nicolas Otamendi was at fault for Monaco’s second goal, scored by Kylian Mbappe, and then conceded a penalty, only for Caballero to save Falcao’s effort.
Sergio Aguero and Falcao swapped goals, the latter scoring with a sublime chip.
Aguero’s volley made it 3-3 in the 71st minute before City surged ahead as further goals from John Stones and Leroy Sane saw Pep Guardiola’s men to a remarkable win.
“The goalkeeper Caballero made the important save to be honest,” said Toure. “He put us back in the game again.”
He added: “The game was unbelievable. That is why I want to stay in Europe. We saw a real team. We were fighting, running everywhere.
“But we need to continue. We are delighted with the win but maybe we can score more, because in the Champions League it always costs when you concede goals.”
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Tuesday, 21 February 2017
310,000 IDPs in Borno return to their liberated communities (Read full details)
In this photo taken on September 15, 2016 women and children queue to enter one of the Unicef nutrition clinics at the Muna makeshift camp which houses more than 16,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. AFP PHOTO / STEFAN HEUNIS
The National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA), says about 310,000 Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs),from seven local governments areas of Borno have returned home following liberation of their communities and return of peace.
Mr Muhammad Kanar, the NEMA North-East Coordinator, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Maiduguri.
Kanar said that as at Monday, only about 101,387 IDPs were still remaining in camps across Maiduguri, the Borno capital.
He said that about 67,000 returned to Dikwa; 9,000 to Bama; 13,000, to Konduga;, 5,000 to Lassa; 52,000 to Damboa;52,000 to Banking;71,000 to Gambrun Ngala, and 41,000 returned to Konduga.
Kanar also gave statistics of the number of returnees to other communities, adding that many of the IDPs returned willingly.
“In Konduga, for example, about 41,000 IDPs that returned to the area, were those who returned willingly. You know is a few kilometres from the town, and all their houses had been rebuilt by the state government.
” We have a lot of IDPs in Mafa, which is just 100 kilometres from Maiduguri. Many farmers from Gamborun Ngala have gone back to farm.
“The Borno Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement (RRR), had already completed re-construction works in some of the councils to enable IDPs return home.
” NEMA, Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, would work together to provide packages to returnee IDPs to enable them become self reliant.
“Also, international Non-Governmental Organisations, have been up and doing in the area of welfare for IDPs as well as provision of optimal health services,” Kanar said.
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Sunday, 29 January 2017
West Ham rebel Payet to sign for Marseille (Read full details)
PHOTO:AFP
Dimitri Payet’s stand-off with West Ham appears to be close to a resolution with reports Sunday the France international was poised to sign for Marseille.
Premier League side West Ham and Marseille have reached a deal whereby the wantaway 29-year-old moves to his former Ligue 1 employers in a 30 million euros (£25 million) transfer until 2021, L’Equipe said.
Payet is due in Marseille Sunday for a medical and will be officially presented at the Velodrome on Monday, according to RMC.
This brings to an end a month long saga with Payet refusing to play for West Ham with his teammates barring him from team bonding sessions and dinners.
This month after Hammers manager Slaven Bilic revealed Payet wouldn’t play for the team a steward had to guard the photograph of him outside the Hammers stadium.
Payet — who has been sent to train with the Under-23 squad — joined West Ham from Marseille for £10 million ($12 million) in 2015 and signed a £125,000 per-week five-year contract last February.
West Ham are believed to have turned down offers for Payet — who had a sensational first season, scoring 12 goals and supplying 12 assists — of £19 million and another one of £20 million.
Payet’s arrival represents a coup for Marseille’s new American owner Frank McCourt, representing a record signing for the south coast side.
Payet joins Patrice Evra, the veteran French defender who arrived at Marseille last week on a free transfer from Juventus.
West Ham rebel Payet to sign for Marseille
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Saturday, 28 January 2017
In Lebanon camps, Syria refugees slam Trump bar (Read full details)
Snow covers the ground on January 28, 2017, at a Syrian refugee camp on the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek. Syria's conflict has pushed more than half the country's population out of their homes, many fleeing to other countries.<br />On January 27, 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries including Syria.<br />STRINGER / AFP
Shivering in their makeshift homes in camps in eastern Lebanon, Syrian refugees ask what they have done to deserve being barred from the United States.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries, including Syria.
More than one million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon from the devastating conflict in their homeland that has killed more than 310,000 people. Over a third live in makeshift housing in the Bekaa valley near the Syrian border, where temperatures have dropped below freezing in recent days.
“What on earth have the Syrian people done to deserve this?” asks Abu Mahmoud al-Ghol, standing in the cold at one informal camp in the Marj area.
“And to think it’s a democratic country doing it,” says the 44-year-old, who fled the Syrian town of Quseir with his six children to seek refuge in Lebanon.
“We reject the decision. But what can we do about?” he says, his face appearing tired and drawn above a salt-and-pepper beard. Nearly six years of conflict in Syria have driven more than half the population from their homes, with many fleeing abroad.
– ‘Show some solidarity’ –
Trump’s executive order cuts the number of refugees the United States plans to resettle in fiscal year 2017 — which is calculated from last October — from 110,000 to 50,000.
The United States has only let in 18,000 Syrian refugees since the war began in 2011, a former US official has said. The United Nations on Saturday urged Trump to continue his country’s “long tradition” of welcoming refugees, regardless of race, nationality or religion.
At another informal camp in the Bekaa, a Syrian mother-of-four says Trump’s order is unjust. “He has no right to take such a decision,” says Ibtisam Yusef, 41, her face wrapped in a green scarf.
“What’s his problem if we enter the United States legally? What have we done to him?” she asks as stands outside her tent in the Bar Elias area. Because Lebanon has not signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it treats Syrians as foreigners, not refugees.
Syrian refugees struggle to get by in Lebanon despite aid from international organisations. Those who register for residency must pledge not to work. “He should come and see how we live in the camps,” says Yusef, who fled her home in the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus. “He and European countries should show us some solidarity.”
In Lebanon camps, Syria refugees slam Trump bar
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In Lebanon camps, Syria refugees slam Trump bar
Snow covers the ground on January 28, 2017, at a Syrian refugee camp on the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek. Syria's conflict has pushed more than half the country's population out of their homes, many fleeing to other countries.<br />On January 27, 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries including Syria.<br />STRINGER / AFP
Shivering in their makeshift homes in camps in eastern Lebanon, Syrian refugees ask what they have done to deserve being barred from the United States.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping new executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries, including Syria.
More than one million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon from the devastating conflict in their homeland that has killed more than 310,000 people. Over a third live in makeshift housing in the Bekaa valley near the Syrian border, where temperatures have dropped below freezing in recent days.
“What on earth have the Syrian people done to deserve this?” asks Abu Mahmoud al-Ghol, standing in the cold at one informal camp in the Marj area.
“And to think it’s a democratic country doing it,” says the 44-year-old, who fled the Syrian town of Quseir with his six children to seek refuge in Lebanon.
“We reject the decision. But what can we do about?” he says, his face appearing tired and drawn above a salt-and-pepper beard. Nearly six years of conflict in Syria have driven more than half the population from their homes, with many fleeing abroad.
– ‘Show some solidarity’ –
Trump’s executive order cuts the number of refugees the United States plans to resettle in fiscal year 2017 — which is calculated from last October — from 110,000 to 50,000.
The United States has only let in 18,000 Syrian refugees since the war began in 2011, a former US official has said. The United Nations on Saturday urged Trump to continue his country’s “long tradition” of welcoming refugees, regardless of race, nationality or religion.
At another informal camp in the Bekaa, a Syrian mother-of-four says Trump’s order is unjust. “He has no right to take such a decision,” says Ibtisam Yusef, 41, her face wrapped in a green scarf.
“What’s his problem if we enter the United States legally? What have we done to him?” she asks as stands outside her tent in the Bar Elias area. Because Lebanon has not signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it treats Syrians as foreigners, not refugees.
Syrian refugees struggle to get by in Lebanon despite aid from international organisations. Those who register for residency must pledge not to work. “He should come and see how we live in the camps,” says Yusef, who fled her home in the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus. “He and European countries should show us some solidarity.”
Vía The Guardian NigeriaThe Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2kxpHrb
