Sports

Indomitable Lions: Rigobert Song has done worse than his predecessors!

30, March 2023

Indomitable Lions: Rigobert Song has done worse than his predecessors! 0

In one year at the head of the Indomitable Lions, Rigobert Song has done worse than his predecessors. He has recorded only 3 victories in 12 games with the Cameroonian selection. A catastrophic record that makes a lot of noise in the country where many are calling for his departure.

Big favorite for these qualifiers, Cameroon have still not validated their ticket for the final phase of AFCON 2023, two days from the end. Worse, the Indomitable Lions are relegated to second place in Group C, capped by Namibia.

The Cameroonians were held in check by the Brave Warriors in Yaoundé (1-1). The Lions recorded a new disappointment, this time losing against their opponents in a relocated match in South Africa (1-2).

A new setback which brings back to the carpet the balance sheet of Rigobert Song on the Cameroonian bench while the coach of the Indomitable Lions recently celebrated his one year as coach of the A team.

Rigobert Song, 46, was appointed at the head of the Cameroonian national football team in March 2022. The former coach of the Olympic team has never been able to make his mark, despite his multiple unsuccessful attempts.

His disappointing coaching displays were characterized by persistent defeats that pushed Cameroon out of their usual standards.

Since he took office, the former central defender has taken part in twelve games, recording only three victories against Burundi, Algeria and Brazil, during the last World Cup.

Although no decision has yet been made regarding his future, it is likely that Rigobert Song will soon be forced out of office, if the situation remains as it is now.

Source: AfrikPage

Rigobert Song under pressure: Qualification for next AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire now uncertain

28, March 2023

Rigobert Song under pressure: Qualification for next AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire now uncertain 0

Qualification for the next Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire is now uncertain for the Indomitable Lions.

The lions were held to a 1-1 all draw last week in Yaoundé by a compact Namibian side that successfully won the return leg staged in the Dobsonville Stadium in the suburbs of Johannesburg in South Africa today.

Namibia opened the scoring in the 54th minute through Peter Shaluille, who scored in the first leg in Yaoundé.

The Indomitable Lions, who were playing in a 4-2-4 formation, were unable to react and in the 78th minute, Jean-Charles Castelleto committed a foul 30 meters from his goal which proved fatal as the score was increased by Namibia from a free kick executed by Absalom Limbondi.

Leading 2-0 with 10 minutes to go, the Indomitable Lions, despite the substitutions made by a frustrated Rigobert Song, continued to be confused and without ideas in their game. Vincent Aboubakar pulled one back in the 91st minute following a long ball in the Namibian area from Jean-Charles Castelleto but that proved insufficient to avoid defeat. Rigobert Song’s record since taking over as manager on 28 February 2022 is now 3 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats.

The Indomitable Lions, who have one more elimination match to play in September against Burundi, are now 2nd in their group of 3 teams with 4 points while Namibia has 5. Only one country will qualify from this group for the 30th Africa Cup of Nations scheduled from 13 January to 11 February 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire.

Cameroon, 5 times African champion (1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017) and 20 participations in the AFCON, has not missed any final phase of this major tournament since the 2013 edition in South Africa and 2012 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

By Staff Lady Nelly Epupa with files from Rita Akana

Football: Maidstone United name ex-Indomitable Lions defender Elokobi as manager

25, March 2023

Football: Maidstone United name ex-Indomitable Lions defender Elokobi as manager 0

Maidstone United have appointed George Elokobi as manager until the end of next season after a spell in caretaker charge of the National League club.

The 37-year-old former defender, who was born in Cameroon but moved to England aged 16, played in the Premier League during his time with Wolves.

Elokobi had been in temporary charge after Hakan Hayrettin left in January. “My plan is to rebuild and bring back the success Maidstone thoroughly deserves,” said Elokobi.

Maidstone have failed to win any of their 11 league matches under Elokobi’s temporary stewardship and are bottom of the National League, 13 points from safety, with eight games of the campaign remaining.

Elokobi, who won both the Championship and League One titles as a player at Wolves, finished his playing career with Maidstone, having captained them to promotion to the National League in 2021-22.

His three-year spell with Maidstone ended a career that saw him quickly rise from non-league Dulwich Hamlet into the EFL with Colchester United and later the top division with Wolves.

Another highlight of his time at Molineux was a headed goal in a Wolves win over Manchester United in 2011 that ended a 29-match unbeaten run for the Red Devils.

“As we are all fully aware this season has not gone as we all hoped. We can’t change the past, however we can learn from this and obviously look to the future,” Elokobi told the club website.

“A huge thanks to the board for entrusting me with the role. I also want to thank all the backroom staff, who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes since my appointment as interim manager.

“To all the players, I want to thank you for continuing to give your all under the current circumstances.

“Under the new structure and with your continued hard work, I know we can only get better and get back to our winning ways.

“To the amazing Maidstone United supporters, I want to thank you for your patience this season. Your support has not gone unnoticed. Here’s to bringing Maidstone United back to its winning ways.”

Hayrettin had guided Maidstone to the National League South title last season but departed after a run of two wins in 23 fixtures in all competitions.

Maidstone chief executive Bill Williams added: “As caretaker manager the performances under George have been encouraging, when you consider the squad he inherited and the horrendous injury list.

“George has set out a clear plan and vision for the first team and is ideally placed to hit the ground running as there is a lot of work to be done over the summer. “In the four years he’s been at our club, George has shown exceptional leadership.”

Source: BBC

Football: UEFA launch probe into Barcelona refereeing scandal

23, March 2023

Football: UEFA launch probe into Barcelona refereeing scandal 0

European football’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it was launching an investigation into claims Barcelona paid for favourable refereeing decisions.

UEFA said its ethics and disciplinary inspectors would probe “a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework by FC Barcelona in connection with the so-called ‘Caso Negreira'”, referring to the Spanish league’s former refereeing chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

Barcelona have already been charged with corruption by Spanish prosecutors for payments between 2001 and 2018 to a company owned by Negreira, totalling around 7.3 million euros ($7.95 million).

The club say they were paying for reports and advice on refereeing but prosecutors have accused the club of seeking to gain favourable decision-making from officials.

Charges were filed earlier this month against the club, Negreira and two former Barcelona presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, among others.

Negreira, a former referee, was the vice president of the refereeing committee of the Spanish football federation between 1994 and 2018.

The investigation began after Spain’s tax authorities identified irregularities in tax payments made between 2016 and 2018 by the company Dasnil 95, owned by Negreira.

Dasnil 95 reportedly received payments from Barcelona between those years.

The last invoice was issued in June 2018. After that the refereeing committee was restructured and Negreira left the organisation.

Joan Laporta, the current Barcelona president, has insisted his club is innocent.

“Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never,” he said.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has previously said Barcelona faced no immediate danger because the governing bodies of Spanish, European and world football all have five-year statutes of limitations.

On the criminal level, the accused could face up to four years in prison.

The case has caused tensions between Barcelona and old rivals Real Madrid, with the latter’s president, Florentino Perez, not travelling to the Camp Nou for last weekend’s Clasico, which was won by the Catalans.

Real Madrid have confirmed they will appear in the case as an “injured party” to defend their interests.

Relations between the two rival clubs seemed to be improving of late, as they looked to launch a European Super League project together in 2021 and remain set on the idea.

Source: AFP

Football: Mbappé named French team’s captain

21, March 2023

Football: Mbappé named French team’s captain 0

Kylian Mbappe has succeeded the retired Hugo Lloris as France captain, a source close to the team told AFP on Monday.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Mbappe, 24, accepted the proposal after discussions with Coach Didier Deschamps earlier in the day.

Tottenham goalkeeper Lloris brought an end to his international career in January after losing the World Cup final a month earlier.

Lloris, 36, had been skipper for more than a decade.

Atletico Madrid attacker Antoine Griezmann was named vice-captain after Manchester United centre-back Raphael Varane also hung up his boots following the defeat to Argentina in December.

Mbappe, who has played 66 times for his country, had been heavily linked with the role for weeks and scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final loss after helping Les Bleus to the title in 2018.

The former Monaco attacker is vice-captain at PSG behind Brazil’s Marquinhos and led the side in the defender’s absence during Sunday’s loss to Rennes.

His first game as captain will be Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against the Netherlands at the Stade de France.

Source: AFP

Football: Gianni Infantino re-elected FIFA president

16, March 2023

Football: Gianni Infantino re-elected FIFA president 0

Gianni Infantino has referenced Rwanda’s hardship in recovering from a genocide, which saw an estimated 800,000 people murdered, when discussing his campaign to become FIFA president in 2016.

Infantino was speaking at the FIFA electoral congress in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali where he was re-elected for another four-year term after running unopposed. And while he will view the result as confirmation of his popularity, his opening speech is the latest example of his bizarre and often controversial style.

Ahead of the World Cup in Qatar last year, the 52-year-old attacked his critics in a rambling hour-long speech in which he declared: “Today I feel Qatari, Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

Source: Mirror.co.uk

Football: Ireland U17s reach Euro finals as Nickson Okosun’s late strike seals win over Cyprus

13, March 2023

Football: Ireland U17s reach Euro finals as Nickson Okosun’s late strike seals win over Cyprus 0

Ireland’s U17 side are off to the European Championship finals after a dramatic finish to their qualifying campaign today, a superb 3-2 win over Cyprus sealed with a stoppage time goal from Bohemians prospect Nickson Okosun.

Having played out a 2-2 draw with Italy and earned a 3-0 win over Ukraine in the first two games of the Elite round of qualification, Colin O’Brien’s side went into the final game, against qualifying tournament hosts Cyprus, aware that a win would seal qualification while they could still make the finals in the event of a draw.

Ireland trailed 1-0 at half time, drew level on 62 minutes through Luke Kehir but fell behind again.

Shamrock Rovers man Naj Razi scored on 82 minutes to make it 2-2.

Okosun came on for Kehit in added time and scored in the 96th minute to give Ireland that 3-2 and a place in the finals, which will be held in Hungary from May 17th to June 2nd.

Source: Independent.ie

Football: Premier League clubs casting an eye over Cameroonian wonderkid Carlos Baleba

13, March 2023

Football: Premier League clubs casting an eye over Cameroonian wonderkid Carlos Baleba 0

Newcastle United are among several Premier League clubs casting an eye over Lille’s 19-year-old wonderkid, Carlos Baleba who has been impressing in Ligue 1 this season.

A report in 90mins credits Newcastle amongst the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal as potential destinations for LOSC Lille‘s ‘in-demand’ midfielder after he burst onto the scene this season.

He’s so far made 12 appearances from the bench for Lille in Ligue 1 this season and has caught the eye of many clubs around Europe, with his own teammate, Jonathan David singling him out for praise saying: “Carlos is young, but he brings something different, which is very good for us. He is powerful, strong, he drives the ball very well”

Baleba is already in demand around Europe                                                                       

The report mentions Newcastle along with Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, West Ham and Leicester as the Premier League clubs who have despatched scouts to take a closer look at Baleba with a view to making their move in the summer.

AC Milan are said to have failed in an attempt to land the Cameroonian in January with Lille apparently seeing him as the ‘future’ of the club, but as Newcastle proved with Sven Botman, it doesn’t matter how highly Lille value a player, they have a price and can be bought.

With that being said, it’s believed that it would take a bid of around £30million to pique Lille’s interest, which given Baleba’s age and little experience could prove to be a step too far for many clubs. Of course if the delegation of scouts like what they see, then that price tag might seem justifiable.

Baleba could be another one for Ashworth’s revolution

With his reputation rising, Baleba will be pushing for more game time to prove what he can do, which can only benefit those interested clubs as the more they see of him the more of a feel they can get of his potential and where he needs to focus in training.

That kind of information will be vital to Dan Ashworth as he looks to build his youthful army to secure Newcastle’s future away from the constraints of FFP. By signing young players with bags of potential who can break into Newcastle’s first team, the feeling is they can take the roles that we’d otherwise have to spend big to fill.

Source: Geordie Boot Boys

UK Football and Politics: Match of the Day shortened and silenced in wake of Lineker row

12, March 2023

UK Football and Politics: Match of the Day shortened and silenced in wake of Lineker row 0

The BBC’s flagship football highlights show Match of the Day was cut short on Saturday as pundits and commentators pulled out after presenter Gary Lineker was taken off air by the corporation.

Lineker was told to “step back” from the role he has held since 1999 on Friday after an impartiality row broke out over the former England striker’s comparison of the UK government’s rhetoric in tackling illegal immigration to Nazi-era Germany.

But the decision sparked a major backlash from BBC pundits and commentators, decimating the publicly-funded broadcaster’s sports schedule.

First broadcast in 1964, Match of the Day is the world’s longest-running football television programme and has grown into a cultural phenomenon in Britain.

For the first time it was broadcast without a presenter, pundits or even commentary with only crowd noise accompanying a 20-minute highlights package of six Premier League games, an hour less than scheduled.

The programme’s famous theme tune was even dropped for an introduction apologising to viewers for the curtailed show.

Source: AFP

Football: UEFA to reimburse Liverpool fans who attended Paris Champions League final

7, March 2023

Football: UEFA to reimburse Liverpool fans who attended Paris Champions League final 0

UEFA said Tuesday it will reimburse all Liverpool supporters who attended last year’s chaos-hit Champions League final between the English club and Real Madrid at the Stade de France in Paris.

Heavily criticised in an independent report published last month for organisational failures which “almost led to disaster”, European football’s governing body said its refund scheme would cover the entire Liverpool allocation of nearly 20,000, as well as supporters of Real and other spectators affected by the trouble outside the stadium.

“Refunds will be available to all fans… where the most difficult circumstances were reported,” UEFA said, adding that all ticket-holders who did not enter the stadium by the originally scheduled kick-off time, or could not get in at all, would also receive a refund.

“Given these criteria, the special refund scheme covers all of the Liverpool FC ticket allocation for the final, i.e. 19,618 tickets.”

Real’s 1-0 win at France’s national stadium on May 28 was overshadowed by events outside, with the kick-off delayed by 37 minutes as fans struggled to access the stadium after police funnelled them into overcrowded bottlenecks as they approached.

Police then fired tear gas towards thousands of supporters locked behind metal fences on the perimeter to the stadium.

UEFA tried to pin the blame on Liverpool fans arriving late despite thousands having been held for hours outside the stadium before kick-off.

A leading Liverpool fans’ group, Spirit of Shankly, later said fans were left “fearing for their life” in a “maelstrom of chaos and alarm”.

The Spirit of Shankly and the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association hailed the decision but underscored that it did not go far enough.

A joint statement said the announcement “does not excuse UEFA, exempt them from criticism or lessen the need for them to implement all of the recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry”.

The French authorities claimed an “industrial scale fraud” of fake tickets was the problem.

A French Senate enquiry in July found that poorly-executed security arrangements were the cause of the mayhem.

The independent report said that “UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster”.

“We have taken into account a huge number of views expressed both publicly and privately and we believe we have devised a scheme that is comprehensive and fair,” said UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis.

“We recognise the negative experiences of those supporters on the day and with this scheme we will refund fans who had bought tickets and who were the most affected by the difficulties in accessing the stadium.”

In a brief statement, the English club said: “This is a UEFA refund policy, not a Liverpool FC policy.

“The club’s role, as a ticket agent for this match, will be to administer the refunds to qualifying supporters that bought match tickets via LFC, as directed by UEFA.”

Images of the final tarnished France’s reputation for holding major sports events ahead of the Rugby World Cup this year and the 2024 Olympic Games, both of which will host events at the Stade de France.

This year’s Champions League final is due to be played in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 10.

Source: AFP

«< 31 32 33 34 35 >»