Monday, 18 June 2012
Panoramic By: FM 16/06/2012 08:31 GMT Nigeria coach promise to upset visiting Rwanda's Amavumbi NIGERIA’s Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has promised to give visiting Rwanda's Amavumbi a run for their money in their anticipated potential 2013 Africa Cup NIGERIA’s Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has promised to give visiting Rwanda's Amavumbi a run for their money in their anticipated potential 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Saturday in Calabar. However, the legendary coach said that his team will not take Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars lightly ."'Rwanda is a strong team in the region.It will be suicidal to underrate them.I have told my charges to anticipate a highly charged clash.I'm confident my players are equal to the task and come saturday, we shall aim for a win" he said. Keshi has however pleaded with the players to make him happy by scoring plenty of goals against the Amavubi as a show of gratitude to Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River, who is his in-law, for the support he has offered not only to the national teams but sports in general. “Last time, we were not quite satisfied with the goals that we scored against Namibia, but the governor was still happy that we won the game. “This time around we want to take it to the next level by ensuring that we score more goals, so that I can even demand for a room to sleep and rest in Calabar in my in-law’s house. The players have promised that they will rise up to the occasion,” he said on Wednesday during a news conference. On his part, Sunshine Stars defence ace, Godfrey Oboabona, who has become a regular in the national team, said the team has forgotten what transpired in Blantyre last week against Malawi, and are ready to roast Rwanda with goals come Saturday.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Players profile
Ibrahimovic factfile
Clubs: Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan
Honours: Nine domestic league titles in three countries
Eredivisie with Ajax: 2001-02 & 03-04
Serie A with Juventus: 2004-05 & 05-06 (both revoked)
Serie A with Inter Milan: 2006-07, 07-08 & 08-09
La Liga with Barcelona: 2009-10
Serie A with AC Milan: 2010-11
Super Spain
Fernando Torres scored twice as Spain knocked Republic of Ireland out of Euro 2012 with a dominant display.
David Silva's composed effort just after the restart doubled the advantage, Torres poked in a third after a quick break and substitute Cesc Fabregas drove in a fourth.
The victory was enough to move Spain above Croatia, who they face on Monday, at the top of Group C.
The Republic's previous successes in major competitions had been based on organisation and discipline.
But their performance in their first major tournament in a decade can be summed up by the fact that, including their 3-1 defeat to Croatia, they have conceded a goal inside four minutes at the start of each half they have played.
Before their sobering loss to Croatia, the Irish had never conceded three goals in a major competition but they have now done so twice in five days on the way to losing consecutive matches in a major tournament for the first time.
For Spain, who drew their opening game 1-1 with Italy, this was a ruthless reminder of their ambition to become the first team to win three consecutive major tournaments, 24 hours after Germany drew the focus with a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands.
Analysis
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque
was also boosted by the performance of Torres, who replaced Fabregas in
the starting line-up and scored his first competitive international
goals since September 2010.
For all the pre-match rhetoric, and a history of
battling performances by the Republic, the concession of a yet another
early goal left Giovanni Trapattoni's game-plan looking redundant.
Simon Cox, drafted in to replace Kevin Doyle up front only to be withdrawn for Jonathan Walters at the interval, forced an early save from Iker Casillas but the defending champions took just three minutes to move in front.
Richard Dunne did well to block Silva after Andres Iniesta had guided in an intelligent pass, but Torres drifted around Stephen Ward before thumping a shot over Shay Given.
From that point on, Spain were able to strangle the game, controlling possession deep inside the opposition half.
When the Irish did manage to win the ball back, wingers Damien Duff and Aidan McGeady were generally too deep to contribute in attack and Robbie Keane was invariably too isolated to be picked out.
Silva had a low shot held by Given and Torres prodded wide at the near post before Keith Andrews had a shot deflected wide and Dunne missed with a header at the other end.
Iniesta had a powerful effort pushed away by Given, Silva headed over and Gerard Pique failed to make the most of a free header from Silva's corner.
When Cox finally picked out Keane in a dangerous area, the Irish captain's effort was easily blocked by Pique.
The pattern was never likely to change and after Given palmed away an Iniesta shot three minutes after half-time, Silva calmly waited for the room to guide a shot into the bottom corner.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, Silva clipped a ball in behind the defence for Torres and the Chelsea striker prodded past Given.
And there was still time for substitute Fabregas, who had come on for Torres, to drive in a powerful cross-shot to add a fourth and further underline Spanish superiority.
Germans too strong for the Dutch
Rhodes ready for Rabchenko
Veteran still eyeing world title shot - after beating Belarusian
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Ryan Rhodes: Still hungry for one more title shot
The fire in Ryan Rhodes still burns bright ahead of his clash with Sergey Rabchenko in Manchester on Saturday.
The 51-fight veteran will be looking to regain his old European
light-middleweight title against the unbeaten Belarusian - but he hopes
it is only the start of bigger things to come.
fought for the WBC light-middleweight title last summer, holding his
own in a gutsy performance against Saul Alvarez in Mexico before being
stopped in the final round.That appeared to be the pinnacle of a long, successful career for the 35-year-old that included a sensational win over Jamie Moore,
but he has come back hungrier than ever and is still longing for that elusive world title.
"This kid's no Alvarez but what I've been doing in the gym I'm confident I've got the attributes and ability to beat him."
Ryan Rhodes Quotes of the week
"I want to become world champion, I think that's the ultimate
goal," he told Sky Sports. "I've won everything apart from a world
title. I've been in some fantastic fights, me and Jamie won fight of the
year in 2009, I worked my way into a mandatory position to fight for
the WBC title.Ryan Rhodes Quotes of the week
"I feel like I got beat by a superstar in boxing in Saul Alvarez. I think I fought the best light-middleweight champion out there without a shadow of a doubt. Give me Cornelius Bundrage or Austin Trout any day of the week."
While Rhodes contemplates a return to the elite level, he has not lost sight of the job in hand - removing Rabchenko from his path
Germans too strong for the Dutch
KHARKIV, Ukraine – The Netherlands hardly needed extra motivation heading into Wednesday night’s encounter with Germany at the European Championships. The countries have plenty of footballing history between them – as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a friendly between these two nations, let alone in a big tournament. More importantly, the Dutch flopped against Denmark in the "group of death" opener and desperately needed all three points. They didn’t get them, losing to Germany 2-1.If a few members of the team were lagging for whatever reason before the match, they would have been pumped when Portugal scored a late winner to beat Denmark 3-2 in the other Group B match. It meant that no matter what happened on the pitch in a hot Kharkiv, the Oranje couldn’t be eliminated – yet.
And in the early going, the Dutch, as they did against Denmark, pressed, probed and seemed in the mood. Three times within 10 minutes, a ball over the top caught the German defense napping.
However, as the minutes unfolded and no goals came, memories of Saturday’s defeat to the Danes surfaced. The Germans, even more of a contender than the 2010 World Cup finalist when the tournament began, started dominating proceedings, especially for the first 60 or so minutes. If anything, it was almost too easy for Die Mannschaft, and the Netherlands closed Germany’s lead. Proving that a two-goal lead is always tricky (stick or twist?), Germany settled after Robin van Persie’s goal and saw out the game comfortably to reach the quarterfinals.
SUPER MARIO: Germany manager Joachim Low admitted this week he didn’t discount the possibility of tinkering with his lineup, even though Germany downed Portugal 1-0 on Saturday.
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