Nigeria Content Online

Egypt
have asked the Confederation of African Football to postpone an African
Nations Cup qualifier in South Africa because of the recent civil
unrest in their country, a CAF spokesman confirmed on Sunday. Egypt
want the game, scheduled for March 26 in Johannesburg, to be put back
to June because of a shutdown of their premier league programme
following the riots and demonstrations that led to the toppling of
president Hosni Mubarak earlier this month. Egyptian clubs have not
played league matches since early January and the federation feels
their players will not have had the requisite preparation for the
qualifier.

CAF said they had received a request from the Egypt Football Association and would discuss it over the next few days.

It is a key game
for Egypt, who have won the last three Nations Cup finals, because they
have fallen three points behind South Africa in the standings after the
first two rounds of matches.

Only the group winner is guaranteed a place at the 2012 finals, co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Egypt have asked CAF to consider their situation a case of ‘force
majeure’, which would allow them to claim a postponement because of
circumstances beyond their control.

Wayne
Rooney seems likely to escape punishment for elbowing Wigan Athletic’s
James McCarthy on Saturday as the referee saw the incident and awarded
a free kick against the Manchester United striker. Rooney caught
McCarthy off the ball in an innocuous situation on the halfway line
after four minutes of the Premier League match at the DW Stadium, which
United went on to win 4-0. He was widely condemned for the action. The
referee awarded a free kick but did not caution Rooney, leaving Wigan
manager Roberto Martinez furious.

“I saw the incident clearly and the referee did as well because he gave the free-kick,” Martinez told reporters.

“Once you give a
free-kick it is quite clear that it is a red card. When you look at the
replay, it is quite clear he catches James McCarthy in the face with
his elbow.

“If one of my
players had done that, I would think he was very lucky to stay on the
pitch.” United manager Alex Ferguson, however, said “there is nothing
in it.” “But, what will happen, because it is Wayne Rooney, the press
will raise a campaign to get him hung by Tuesday or electrocuted or
something like that.

“It is unbelievable. Watch the press. It will be interesting to see it.”

United’s victory took them four points clear of Arsenal, who play
Birmingham City in the League Cup final later on Sunday. They can
stretch that lead to seven when they play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on
Tuesday.

The
Nigeria Football Federation has threatened to take the organizers of
the Green Bowl Soccer Tournament to FIFA for failing to notify it of
the tourney’s postponement. The Super Eagles were already in the United
Sates before receiving news of the postponement of the tourney also
known as the 2011 United States’ President’s Holiday Celebration Soccer
Tournament. While describing the fiasco as an embarrassment to the
country, NFF president, Aminu Maigari lambasted the tourney’s main
organizer, US-based Nigerian licensed agent, Pius Oleh and instructed
the NFF secretariat to make a detailed report of the fiasco to
football’s world governing body, FIFA.

“This is untenable.
How can he tell us that there was a ticketing problem after our team
had travelled that long distance to play? How can he tell us that he
did not know there was a problem until our national team arrived in
America?” demanded Maigari.

“This is totally
irresponsible on his part. How come he did not ensure that everything
was perfected before telling our team to start coming?” he further
demanded.

He added: “We are
not going to take this lightly. We will get all the documents that have
to do with the tournament, all the agreements we had with him along the
way and send these to FIFA.”

Late notice

Nigeria’s
delegation, made up of 20 players and nine officials, left Lagos for
the US city of Atlanta last Wednesday night, and arrived at Dallas’
Fort Worth Airport by 10am local time (4pm Nigerian time) on Thursday
under the impression that they would be taking part in the four-nation
tournament. However, the delegation was shocked when Oleh called to
inform them that they were having problems with ticketing outfit,
Ticketmaster, and that the competition would have to be postponed by
two weeks.

As a result, Super
Eagles coach Samson Siasia, who has long been resident in the United
States and whose wife and kids reside there, made efforts to arrange
friendly games for the side albeit to no avail.

To make matters
worse, Oleh, at short notice, also changed the team’s accommodation
plans redirecting the Super Eagles to the Marriott Courtyard instead of
the Double Tree Hotel, and then failing to meet with the team until
Friday. But regarding the tourney’s postponement, Oleh was quoted by
the media head of the NFF, Ademola Olajire as stating that he had
everything tidied up until the problem with Ticketmaster cropped up on
Thursday evening.

According to
Olajire, Oleh expressed regret that the Super Eagles had arrived in the
United States for the event before the unfortunate development but
reiterated that he had gotten the approval of the USSF for the
tournament, adding that the tournament ‘was not a scam’ and that it
would get underway in a fortnight.

But Maigari, who
cancelled his Friday trip to the United States, has disclosed that the
Super Eagles will definitely not be available for the new date.

“Pius Oleh will
first have to account to FIFA on this embarrassment,” said Maigari. “We
have no business with him concerning any new date. He should be ready
to offset all our expenses and also pay compensation. Let him play his
tournament with any team he wants.

“All the same, we apologize to Nigerians and the government for this unfortunate incident,” said Maigari.

West
Ham United climbed off the bottom of the Premier League with an
uplifting and well-deserved 3-1 home win over Liverpool on Sunday. West
Ham went ahead after 22 minutes with a superb goal by Scott Parker as
the England midfielder played a one-two with Thomas Hitzlsperger before
placing a shot beyond Pepe Reina.

They doubled their lead at the end of the first half when Demba Ba headed in a Gary O’Neil cross.

Liverpool struggled
to get control and managed only one goal in reply when Glen Johnson
tapped in a cross-shot by Luis Suarez four minutes from time.

West Ham had the final say though when Carlton Cole blasted in their third in stoppage time.

The victory took
West Ham to 28 points and above Wigan Athletic and West Bromwich Albion
and completed a good week after they thrashed Burnley 5-1 on Monday to
reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

It was sixth-placed
Liverpool’s first defeat in eight league games and, following a 1-1
home draw with Wigan after five straight wins, severely dents their
outside hopes of snatching a Champions League place.

Manchester United, who beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 on Saturday, lead the standings on 60 points, four clear of Arsenal.

Jose
Mourinho has lashed out at what he called the “hypocrites” who did not
agree with his complaints that the La Liga calendar was unfair on his
Real Madrid team and favoured Barcelona over other clubs.

In a colourful
performance at a news conference on Wednesday, the flamboyant
Portuguese called one Spanish journalist a hypocrite to his face,
though he later apologised and said he had only done it to make a point.

After Real’s 0-0
draw at Deportivo Coruna on Saturday, which left them seven points
behind leaders Barca, Mourinho said his players had not had enough time
to rest after the previous Tuesday’s Champions League match at
Olympique Lyon.

He repeated the
complaint on Wednesday and noted Barca do not play at Sevilla until the
Sunday after Tuesday’s Champions League match at home to Arsenal,
whereas Valencia must play on Wednesday at Schalke 04 and on Saturday
at Real Zaragoza.

“It’s you who have
to comment on this and you can report this in a serious and balanced
way or you can report it in a hypocritical way,” Mourinho said,
addressing some 40 journalists at the Real training ground outside
Madrid.

“If you want to be
hypocritical it’s your problem”, the former Inter Milan and Chelsea
manager added. “I am not afraid of saying the truth.” Real host
struggling Malaga on Thursday.

Mourinho will be
without Germany midfielder Sami Khedira, who is still recovering from a
muscle strain, and Portugal central defender Pepe, who has flu.

Malaga are coached by the man Mourinho replaced at Real, Manuel
Pellegrini who is returning to the Bernabeu for the first time since he
was sacked.

Chelsea defender David Luiz was the centre of attention after
scoring in their 2-1 comeback win at home to Manchester United on Tuesday as
visiting manager Alex Ferguson unleashed another rant at the match officials.

United led with a Wayne Rooney goal after half an hour but
Brazil centre back Luiz slammed home a well-taken equaliser nine minutes into
the second half and Frank Lampard completed the turnaround 11 minutes from time
with a penalty.

United had centre back Nemanja Vidic sent off in stoppage time
for a second booking but Ferguson was incensed that Luiz had not suffered the
same fate earlier and was also unhappy with the penalty given after Chris
Smalling tripped Yuri Zhirkov.

“The penalty kick was so soft but we played very well.

It was a great performance by us. We didn’t deserve that,”
Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“That’s three years in a row referees’ decisions have changed
the game (here).”

Luiz was booked by referee Martin Atkinson for a foul after 61
minutes then appeared fortunate to escape a second yellow card after flattening
Rooney.

“It was incredible. Even before that he’d done Chicharito
(Javier Hernandez) off the ball. He’d done him late. Nothing done, the
referee’s in front of it,” added Ferguson.

“He (Luiz) does Rooney clear as day, he’s six yards from it, he
doesn’t do anything. These are decisions that change the game and he’s going to
be refereeing every week.”

Proud Ferguson

Ferguson, who said before the game that Rooney was lucky not to
have been banned after a clash with Wigan Athletic’s James McCarthy at the
weekend, added:

“I’m proud of the players. They’ve endured a lot of decisions
against them but they’ve come through it, they’ve done their best and created
good chances.” Chelsea’s win took them within 12 points of leaders United and,
asked if they were back in the title race, Ferguson said: “If they get
decisions like tonight then it can change everything. They got a lot of
decisions that surprised me.”

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti did not want to discuss the
officials but said Luiz might have been lucky.

“There was a lot of intensity and it was not easy for the
referee to decide every time,” he said. “There was a lot going on on the pitch
so the referee decided he didn’t see this.” The Italian preferred to
concentrate on the spirit shown by his side after they had been outplayed in
the first half.

“We kept going with strength, intensity and power in our performance
against a fantastic United team,” he said.

“We actually started well but at halftime I told them that we
had to do it for 45 minutes, not just 15.

“It was not easy to come back but we had a good balance in the
second half.” The win took Chelsea back into the top four but Ancelotti said
the champions had no realistic hope of catching United, who are four points
ahead of Arsenal having played a game more.

“It’s too far, we can’t think we can get to the top,” he said.
“But the victory was important for us and our confidence.” Midfielder Lampard
added: “We’re still a lot of points behind but all we could do was win the
game.

“United are deservedly top but we’ve still got some fight in us and we
showed that tonight.”

Arsenal returned to form with a 5-0 drubbing of Leyton Orient and Manchester
City eased past Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on
Wednesday.

Nicklas Bendtner fired a hat-trick as Arsenal recovered from their League
Cup final loss to Birmingham City in a one-sided fifth-round replay against
Orient to set up a titanic quarter-final against Manchester United.

The Gunners’ victory was never in doubt after Marouane Chamakh and Bendtner
put Arsenal 2-0 up and Arsene Wenger’s side bounced back emphatically from
Sunday’s shock defeat by Birmningham.

Manchester City also reached the last eight with an easy win over much-changed
Aston Villa team and they face Championship side Reading who beat Premier
League Everton on Tuesday.

“It was important we came back from Sunday’s defeat with a win,”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters.

“We are having a fine run apart from Sunday’s defeat which came under
special circumstances. But we played very well tonight.”

The Gunners, held to a 1-1 draw by third tier Orient in the first game, were
looking for a rapid response after Sunday’s painful 2-1 loss when they conceded
a last-minute goal to Birmingham after a mix-up between goalkeeper Wojciech
Szczesny and defender Laurent Koscielny.

But there were no mistakes at the Emirates where the crowd were subdued
until Arsenal took control of the game.

Chamakh settled nerves with a well-taken side-footed goal, his first since
November, after seven minutes before Bendtner headed the second, Arsenal’s
100th of the season in all competitions.

Orient, who scored in the last minute to take
the tie to a replay, had chances in the opening stages with Dean Cox almost
cancelling out Arsenal’s opener after 14 minutes.

But despite a spirited performance from the visitors, Arsenal were too sharp
and had too much guile, and that included 19-year-old midfielder Conor
Henderson who had a fine debut.

Bendtner’s second just before halftime exposed the gulf in class between the
teams when he beat off defenders before firing a curling shot past goalkeeper
Jamie Jones.

Jones had no chance of saving his 62nd-minute penalty either before Gael
Clichy wrapped up the win with an angled left-foot drive 15 minutes from time.

Early grip

Manchester City took an early grip at Eastlands with Yaya Toure opening the
scoring after Villa failed to clear a corner in the fifth minute.

The ball bounced off the shoulder of Ciaran Clark and into Toure’s path and
he cracked it home from inside the six-yard box.

Mario Balotelli, beginning to settle at City after a difficult first few
months at Eastlands disrupted by injury, added the second when he collected a
pass from Toure and sidefooted home a half-volley from 15-metres that bounced
in off Brad Friedel’s post.

David Silva added the third 20 minutes from time with a powerful drive from
the edge of the penalty area.

The other quarter-finals are Stoke City against West Ham United and
Birmingham against Bolton Wanderers.

REUTERS

Lionel Messi missed a slew of chances before squeezing home a late strike to
give Barcelona a 1-0 win at third-placed Valencia in La Liga on Wednesday and
stretch the champions lead over Real Madrid to 10 points.

With Barca looking like they might drop points for only the fourth time this
season, the Argentina forward struck a low shot in the 77th minute at the
Mestalla that spun just inside the post off the outstretched arm of goalkeeper
Vicente Guaita.

Messi’s league leading 27th goal lifted Barca to 71 points from 26 matches.
They have now won 12 of 13 away games, drawing last month at Sporting Gijon in
their only slip-up on the road.

They are also unbeaten in their last 20 away matches, beating a La Liga
record set by Basque club Real Sociedad at the end of the 1970s.

Real Madrid can trim the gap to seven points with a win at Malaga on
Thursday, when the Andalusian club’s coach Manuel Pellegrini returns to the
Bernabeu to face the man who replaced him at Real at the end of last season,
Jose Mourinho.

Another of Pellegrini’s former clubs, Villarreal, breathed life into their
bid for a place in next season’s Champions League earlier on Wednesday when
Giuseppe Rossi struck to give them a 1-0 home win over promoted Hercules.

The Italy forward sped on to Cani’s through ball in the 21st minute at the
Madrigal and finished past Juan Calatayud to lift Villarreal to 50 points from
26 matches, one behind Valencia.

Juan Carlos Garrido’s Villarreal side, who are still alive in the Europa
League, had lost two and drawn two of their last four league matches.

Desperate defence

Messi should have put Barca ahead in the
ninth minute at a noisy Mestalla in Valencia when he was denied three times in
quick succession by some desperate defence.

He had another great chance when he was clean through in the 31st but his
chipped effort landed on the roof of net and he also skewed a shot just wide of
goal early in the second half.

Valencia, who had hassled and harried the Barca players impressively
throughout the match, had several good opportunities of their own but Pablo
Hernandez and substitute Roberto Soldado were unable to convert.

Barca’s Brazilian defender Adriano, who provided the assist for Messi’s goal
when he cut in from the left wing, said his team had been made to work hard for
the three points.

“It was our most difficult away game, together with the (Real match
next month), but the work is not over,” he said in a television interview.

“We have to work a lot to win the championship,” he added, with an
eye on Barca’s games at Sevilla on March 13 and at Villarreal on April 3.

Europa League champions Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao stumbled in
their campaigns for a European berth.

Atletico were held to a 1-1 draw at city rivals Getafe and Bilbao squandered
the lead to lose 2-1 at Real Zaragoza.

Atletico are eighth on 35 points, three behind Bilbao and Sevilla, who beat
visiting Sporting Gijon 3-0 on Tuesday.

Espanyol lost 2-1 at home to Real Mallorca on
Tuesday and remain fifth on 40 points.

In other matches on Wednesday, Osasuna drew 0-0 with visiting Deportivo
Coruna and Real Sociedad and Levante drew 1-1 in San Sebastian.

REUTERS

Birmingham city today at Wembley dashed Arsenal’s hope of winning their first trophy since the FA Cup in 2005.

The game started with great expectation as over 88,000 fans made it to the venue to cheer their teams as they looked to end frustrating spells without silverware.

While Arsenal were victorious six years ago, Birmingham have not lifted a major trophy since they won the 1963 League Cup, and their desperation showed.

Tactically they were impeccable, with their three defensive midfielders an absolute handful. Arsenal were limited to 10 minute spells of superiority, and conceded two extremely soft goals from high balls into the box.

Nikola Zigic gave Birmingham the lead in the 28th minute, but Arsenal fought back with Robin van Persie levelling the scores in the 38th minute.

An awful defending from Arsenal gave Birmingham victory as a header on from Zigic caused panic between Koscielny and Szczesny. The duo fail to deal with the ball and allowing Nigerian striker, Obafemi Martins to knock the ball into the empty net.

Jose
Mourinho hit out at Spain’s football authorities after the 0-0 draw at
Deportivo Coruna on Saturday, saying his Real Madrid players had not
been given enough rest after Tuesday’s Champions League match. The
dropped points at Depor’s Riazor stadium enabled Barcelona to stretch
their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points with 25 games played
after the champions won 3-0 at Real Mallorca in Saturday’s earlier
kickoff. Mourinho, whose side drew 1-1 in their Champions League
last-16, first leg at Olympique Lyon on Tuesday, told a news conference
it would have been easier on Real if they had been allowed to play
Depor on Sunday.

Extra day

“I don’t know what would have happened if we had played on Sunday but it would have been fairer,” the Portuguese said.

“We could have given an extra day off to those who were most tired, we could have trained an extra day,” he added.

“The calendar is
set by people who know what they are doing. They do what they want and
they will carry on like that.” Real, who twice struck a post late on,
face a stiff task to catch Barcelona and end their great rivals’
two-year reign as Spanish champions.

However, Real
director general Jorge Valdano said it would be absurd to give up on
the title with 13 matches remaining and 39 points still available.

“Nobody gives up on
the league in February so we will keep on fighting and see if we have a
bit more luck in the next few matches,” the former Argentina
international said in a television interview.

“The team played with a lot of intensity as usual but we were unable
to find the net,” he added. “We weren’t clinical enough in front of
goal and we were also lacking in luck.”