Fabio Cannavaro said taking Guangzhou Evergrande to the Chinese Super League title was “a miracle” and gave the strongest indication yet that he expects to keep his job.

The 46-year-old Italian World Cup winner was temporarily moved aside as coach in October but returned to lead China’s most successful club to the championship on Sunday.

It was the former Juventus and Real Madrid defender’s first major honour as a coach and a personal triumph after a turbulent few weeks during which he appeared to be on the brink of the sack.

“I know that many names have been mentioned as a replacement for me, including (Jose) Mourinho, (Zinedine) Zidane and (former Guangzhou coach) Scolari,” Cannavaro told the Guangzhou Daily in a report published Tuesday, referring to recent rumours.

“For a team of Evergrande’s level, fans hope to have the top coaches and the coach will definitely face various pressures.

“I’m definitely not a perfect coach and it’s impossible to make everyone satisfied.”

Guangzhou were still top of the CSL in late October but a poor run led them to briefly push Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning skipper aside and put veteran captain Zheng Zhi in charge.

Cannavaro made a surprise return at the start of November but only after a reprimand by the club, which scolded him for his “weak ability to rectify mistakes”.

Guangzhou went on to win the next three matches and seal their eighth title in nine years with a 3-0 win over Shanghai Shenhua at the weekend, after which Cannavaro was tossed in the air by his jubilant players.

“I know very well that the outside world had various opinions about it,” Cannavaro said of the brief period when he was relieved of his duties.

He did not say how close he came to leaving, but said winning the CSL had fulfilled Guangzhou’s demands for the season.

Bearing in mind injuries and the need to revamp an ageing squad, winning the title was almost “a miracle”, Cannavaro said, hailing Brazilian midfielder Paulinho as a “superhero”.

“An average team can’t do it,” he added.

Cannavaro said he has several priorities for next season, suggesting that he expects to still be in charge at Guangzhou.

“I hope to further reduce the average age of the team, get in better replacements and continue to provide talent for the national team,” he said.

Source: AFP

President Bach’s African tour continued with visits to Nigeria and Cameroon. It follows meeting in Cape Verde and Senegal earlier in the week.

The visit to Nigeria began in Abuja with a welcome dinner hosted by the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osibanjo, who was representing the Nigerian President, who, for personal reasons, could not be present. Joined by Nigerian Olympians, President Bach was accompanied by the President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), Mustapha Berraf, and African IOC Members.

IOC/GREG MARTIN

The following day, President Bach and his delegation attended the inauguration of the new ANOCA headquarters. He was joined by ANOCA President Berraf as well as presidents and representatives of many of the 54 African National Olympic Committees (NOCs). President Bach told them: “a new home is always a chance to look to the future. Bringing all African NOCs together under one roof is a chance to take African sport to new heights.”

Earlier, the President visited Aduive school, which puts the Olympic values at the heart of its curriculum. After meeting the pupils and seeing sports demonstrations, the President unveiled Olympic rings at the school playing fields. 

IOC/GREG MARTIN

Later, he had a Q&A session with Nigerian athletes, including Olympians and those hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The President answered a range of questions, from athlete numbers at the Olympic Games to the future of esports and egames. The athletes also thanked him for the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 and the progress being made by the IOC in gender equality.

In Cameroon, President Bach was welcomed by the new IOC Member in the country, Odette Assembe Engoulou, and by the NOC President, Hamad Kalkaba. Honorary IOC Member Issa Hayatou was also present.

The visit began with a dinner given by the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Joseph Ngute. The next day, President Bach was welcomed at the headquarters of the Cameroon NOC by hundreds of school children and many Cameroonian Olympians. He praised the role played by the NOC in bringing the country together, and wished the athletes luck for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

IOC/GREG MARTIN

Later, President Bach met with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, and they discussed the excellent relations between the government and the NOC, and the government’s respect for the autonomy of sport.

The President was also able to drop in on the Cameroon International Badminton competition – an event that counts towards Olympic qualification – which was being held in the capital Yaoundé, where he spent time talking with athletes.

Before attending a farewell lunch hosted by the Cameroon Minister of Sport, President Bach was able to visit the African Centre for Olympic Studies to meet staff and see the work being done at the centre. 

Source: Olympic.org

Former Arsenal star Thierry Henry was Thursday appointed coach at MLS franchise Montreal Impact on a two-year contract as he gets a new chance of management after a disastrous spell at Monaco.

“Welcome to Montreal @ThierryHenry!” the Major League Soccer (MLS) club tweeted.

Henry, whose baptism by fire as a manager ended in his firing by French club Monaco in January, will coach Impact for a minimum of two seasons.

“Henry signed a two-year deal, with an option for 2022,” the club said on its website.

Henry, 42, who helped France win the World Cup in 1998, is familiar with the MLS, having played from 2010 to 2014 with the New York Red Bulls.

He scored 51 goals and had 42 assists in 122 games with the club.

“It’s an honour to coach the Montreal Impact and return to MLS,” said Henry. “It’s a league I know well, in which I had some very nice moments.

“I’ve always kept an eye on the club and now I’m here.”

Henry becomes the seventh coach of the Montreal Impact in just eight years, succeeding Colombian Wilmer Cabrera, who was acting coach for two months after the dismissal in August of French coach Remi Garde after 10 months in charge.

Henry made his name as a world-class player at Arsenal where he scored 228 goals in 377 appearances, making him the English club’s record goalscorer.

After winning the World Cup on home soil in 1998, he played in three further World Cups in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

He is also France’s all-time leading scorer with 51 goals in 123 games, in front of Michel Platini.

– Undimmed desire to coach –

His much-heralded return to Monaco ended in the sack as the team plummeted to second-from-bottom in the league.

So he must still prove himself as a coach and show he is capable of standing up to the team’s owner Joey Saputo, who is reputed to meddle in the affairs of his managers — including stopping by the team’s locker room to share post-game criticisms.

Henry could have contented himself as a highly-paid TV pundit in Britain, but his desire to coach remained strong.

He previously also turned down offers to be an assistant coach, setting his eyes on the top job after already having been number two to Roberto Martinez when Belgium reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

“Call me crazy if you want, but I love football and I believe I can be a successful coach,” Henry told the Daily Telegraph in August.

Despite the Monaco setback, he said: “I came out of it fully reassured that’s what I want to do, zero doubt about it.

“I saw some of my ex-coaches after I left and they said ‘Now you can say you are a coach because you’ve been sacked.'”

Henry’s hiring by the Impact is expected to help revitalize the Montreal club, which has struggled over the years to score big, missing the playoffs in 2019 after finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference.

The team has long been overshadowed by its stronger Canadian rival, Toronto FC, which lost 3-1 to the Seattle Sounders in the 2019 MLS Cup on Sunday.

In Montreal, Henry reunites with his former France teammate Bacary Sagna and former Barcelona teammate Bojan Krkic, as well as French defender Rod Fanni.

“Henry will bring a new energy to our club,” Impact president Kevin Gilmore said in a statement.

Source: AFP

The African champions headed home after losing their third straight game in the age-group tournament

Cameroon were eliminated from the Fifa U17 World Cup following a 2-0 defeat by Spain in a Group E encounter at Estadio Walmir Campelo Bezerra in Gama, Brazil on Sunday.

After also losing to Tajikistan and Argentina in earlier games, the African champions needed nothing short of victory to entertain any hopes of progressing to the Round of 16.

But first-half goals by Jordi Escobar and Barcelona midfielder Ilaix Kourouma saw Spain condemning the Cameroonians to their third straight defeat at this tournament.

The game started balanced with Cameroon looking to fight but Escobar broke the deadlock with a shot from inside the box after being set-up by Pedri 21 minutes into the match.

Leonel Wamba Djouffo tried to respond for the Indomitable Lions four minutes later but had his shot blocked, while Steve Mvoue missed from close range soon after.

The Africans looked determined to claw their way back into the contest and Mvoue was back again to try for an equaliser on 34 minutes but shot over the bar from outside the box.

Despite leading, Spain were not dominant although they had Roberto Navarro being denied by Cameroon goalkeeper Jacques Mbeubap Mbiandjeu.

The Spaniards then further frustrated Cameroon three minutes before the interval with Guinea-born Kourouma firing into the bottom right corner from outside the box where Pedri was again the provider.

What could have been the biggest undoing by Cameroon was their ineffectiveness in front of goal as Arnold Eba Tchecegna’s headed effort went just over 10 minutes after the restart.

After that, the African champions did little to push their way back into the contest as Tchecegna, Yanick Noah and Medou Marc’s goal attempts were not convincing for a side that was on the brink of elimination.

The damage for Cameroon could have been worse but Oscar Aranda Subiela’s goal was ruled offside (by VAR) five minutes from time.

Spain then held on to their two-goal advantage and sent Cameroon packing from the tournament. The Africans managed just one goal and conceded six in three matches to anchor Group E in the tournament.

Source: Goal.com

Siya Kolisi, became the first black captain of the South African rugby team, the springboks; to lead them to a world cup title.

He led his charges out a the Yokohama International Stadium in Japan where the competition was taking place. In the end, his team thrashed opponents England to win the title for the third time in the country’s history.

The Springboks also join New Zealand as joint-top winners – each with three trophies to their name. South Africa had previously won the trophy in 1995 and 2007.

Throwback photos to when 1995 and 2007 when then presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki received the winning trophy.

South African President Nelson Mandela ® hands over the William Webb Ellis Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar after his team defeated New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final June 24, 1995.

South Africa’s rugby captain John Smith (L) hands their World Cup trophy to President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Building in Pretoria before the Springboks paraded through the streets of Pretoria and Johannesburg October 26,2007.

Match Report

Wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe scored South Africa’s first tries in a World Cup final as the Springboks out-gunned England 32-12 to win the trophy for the third time and reassert the supremacy of the southern hemisphere on Saturday.

Superb game management, set piece dominance, brutal defence and almost flawless place-kicking looked like being enough to see off an England side that had dismantled the double defending champion All Blacks in the semi-finals last week.

Mapimpi has been in prolific form this year, however, and he showed the South Africans can play a bit with ball in hand too when he finished off a try created by his own chip-through in the 66th minute.

Kolbe added the second try eight minutes later, skipping past the tackle of Owen Farrell on the wing and racing away to touch down to the delight of the South Africans in the crowd of 70,103.

Flyhalf Handre Pollard had already given the South Africans a clear lead from six penalties and he added the two conversions to take his match tally to 22.

While tactics were as traditional as the dark green Springbok shirt, the team was far more representative of a multi-racial nation than those of 1995 and 2007 and Siya Kolisi is the first black captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

England came into the match with huge expectations after the New Zealand win but only offered flashes of the brilliant all-pitch game which undid the All Blacks last week.

Head coach Eddie Jones, who was in charge of Australia when England won their only World Cup in 2003, becomes the first coach to lose two finals.

Flyhalf Farrell kicked four penalties for England but they were chasing the match all evening and hanging on doggedly trying to contain the rampant Springboks by the end.

The English suffered a huge blow when prop Kyle Sinckler went off with concussion in the third minute leaving their scrum all but uncompetitive against the Springbok pack.

South Africa made the most of the weakness, winning a string of scrum penalties and building a foundation that enabled their wingers to seal the victory in the last 15 minutes.

The Springboks became the first team to lose a pool match at a World Cup and go on to win it, having lost to the All Blacks in their tournament opener at the same Yokohama International Stadium.

Source: Africa News

Lewis Hamilton drove to a near-flawless victory, but not yet a sixth drivers’ world championship on Sunday when he claimed his 10th win of the season for Mercedes at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The defending five-time title-winner produced the measured drive of a champion-elect to claim a well-judged triumph ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who kept his own title bid alive for another week by finishing third.

Charles Leclerc, who started on pole position in the second Ferrari, finished fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon and Max Verstappen, who stormed through the field after an early pit stop, and local hero Sergio Perez of Racing Point.

Daniel Ricciardo came home eighth for Renault ahead of the two Toro Rossos of Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Renault.

Hamilton’s victory was only his second since Formula One’s European summer break in August, his second in Mexico and the 83rd of his career, but it was also Mercedes’ 100th victory in Formula One and extended his run points-scoring finishes to 30 races.

He now looks certain to clinch his sixth title at next weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, where he will need just four points.

“That was for Bono!” said Hamilton on his slow-down lap in reference to his absent race engineer Peter Bonnington.

“Today’s an incredible result and I have to say thank you to our team. We came here on the back foot, but we pulled through.”

After winning his last two titles in Mexico without even finishing on the podium, it was ironic for Hamilton to win but know he has to wait for a sixth coronation.

“I enjoyed it,” said Bottas, who survived a heavy crash in qualifying on Saturday.

“Considering what happened yesterday, it’s a good result… I don’t think we could have done much more.”

Hamilton added: “I don’t mind not winning the title here. I can wait. I just love racing and I am happy to take each race as it comes.”

Four-time champion Vettel said: “It was a long race with no break, but I think Lewis was just cruising for most of his second sting. I’m happy, but we could have had a sharper strategy.”

Source: AFP

Tiger Woods said Monday his fitness was ahead of schedule after arthroscopic knee surgery, and dropped a heavy clue he might use one of his four Presidents Cup captain’s picks on himself.

“I’m probably a week early. My season had ended a little bit earlier than I had expected it,” the 15-time major winner told reporters at Narashino Country Club near Tokyo.

“I had the procedure a little bit early and got ahead of it,” he added.

Woods is in Japan this week to play in the US PGA Tour’s inaugural Zozo Championship, a $9.75 million event that is the second tournament of an almost $30 million Asian swing.

He then intends to round off his year by playing in the Hero World Challenge on December 4, before going to Australia to captain Team USA in the Presidents Cup which begins on December 13.

“I thought that I had enough time to rehab it correctly and be ready for this event, be ready for Hero, and I’m going to Australia either way whether I’m playing or not,” Woods said.

“I had it done and, as I said, it’s been nice to be able to squat down and read putts and I started going at it full speed again.”

Woods, who completed a remarkable return from years of injury and personal problems to win the US Masters in April, said his knee had been giving him more pain as the year wore on.

“It progressively got worse and got to the point where it was affecting even reading putts,” the 43-year-old Woods said.

Woods has a large depth of talent from which to make his four captains picks ahead of the match against Ernie Els’s International team at Royal Melbourne.

He admitted it hasn’t been easy. “I’ve been pretty consumed by it,” he said, adding his return to fitness made it more likely that he would use one of his wildcards on himself.

– ‘Tall order’ –

“It made me more hopeful that I could play this week, play Hero and play Australia,” said Woods, who has dropped one place to number 10 in Monday’s new world rankings.

“The way I was feeling towards the middle part of the year, it was going to be a tall order to be able to do it all.”

If Woods burns one of his picks on himself that leaves him the difficulty of choosing three players from the likes US Open champion, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner and Jordan Spieth, who showed a return to form at the CJ Cup in Korea which ended Sunday.

All except newlywed Fowler, who is on honeymoon, are playing in Asia over the next two weeks. Woods has to nominate his side directly after next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

“I’ve been able to communicate with all the eight (already qualified) guys who they want on the team and who they think that will fit on the team,” he said.

Woods also reiterated he wanted to come back to Japan next year to represent the US at the 2020 Olympics.

“I would love to play in an Olympic Games,” he said.

“Over the years, having friends compete in the Olympics, seeing golf be part of the Olympics, it would be an honour to represent my country in an Olympic Games.

“Hopefully next year I can have a good year and qualify.”

Before all that, however, he was taking part in a Skins Challenge on Monday afternoon against Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama to kick off Zozo Championship week.

Source: AFP

Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar will be out for four weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered playing for Brazil, the French club said on Monday.

Neymar limped off in the 12th minute on Sunday as Brazil drew 1-1 against Nigeria in a friendly in Singapore.

PSG said that an MRI scan showed that their star player had suffered “a grade two lesion” in his left hamstring.

If he is out until November 11, Neymar will miss four French league matches, including a trip to Marseille on October 17, and home and away Champions League games against Bruges.

Source: AFP

Eliud Kipchoge’s historic marathon time on Saturday was greeted with joy and pride in his native Kenya.

“I am happy today because he has won in Kenya and in the world. I thank him so much for this, for me, for Kenya and the world,” said Kipchoge’s mother Janet Rotich who watched in her home village Kapsisiywa as her son became the first man to run the marathon distance in less than two hours.

Kipchoge’s run in Vienna was broadcast live on all Kenya’s television stations.

Even so, in Eldoret, the city 40 kilometres from Kapsisiywa where the 34-year-old runner, his wife and three children live, and in Nairobi, crowds gathered in the early morning to watch the run on giant screens.

In Eldoret, the fans watched in feverish excitement as their champion ticked off the kilometres and exulted when Kipchoge crossed the finish line with a clock displaying 1hr 59 min 40 sec, throwing hats and water bottles into the air.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta quickly issued his “hearty congratulations”.

“You’ve done it, you’ve made history and made Kenya proud while at it. Your win today, will inspire tens of future generations to dream big and to aspire for greatness. We celebrate you and wish you God’s blessings,” President Kenyatta continued.

Kenya’s vice-president William Ruto, who had made the trip to Vienna, sent out a series of tweets.

“A blistering 1.59.40! Congratulations @EliudKipchoge for the historic achievement in shattering the sub-two-hour barrier for the marathon; you are arguably the greatest runner of all time.”

Athletics, along with sevens rugby, is the most successful sport in bringing Kenyans together, regardless of their social or ethnic background.

In Kapsisiywa, Eliud’s older brother, Wilson Sugut, said the run showed what individuals could achieve.

“He told the world that no human being is limited and that he will overcome this two-hour barrier,” he recalled. “People couldn’t believe it, but now we can believe it.”

Source: AFP