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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.

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.

The
Dallas Mavericks got a game-high 25 points from Jason Terry and held
off a late charge by the Washington Wizards for a 105-99 victory on
Saturday that marked the team’s fifth straight win. Washington looked
headed for a surprise win when a 19-foot jumper from Jordan Crawford
capped an 8-0 Wizards run that tied the game at 97-97 with 1:36 left.

However, Tyson
Chandler got the Mavericks back in front with a putback, while Dirk
Nowitzki and Terry each drained a pair of free throws that gave Dallas
a 103-97 lead with 37 seconds remaining.

“You’re up nine in
the fourth early, that’s a situation where you kind of want to go up
15, ice your knees and get on the bus,” Terry told reporters. “It
didn’t happen, but at the end of the day, we want wins.” Back-and-forth
The teams exchanged the lead 10 times in a back-and-forth second
quarter before the Mavericks seized control with a 21-9 run, after
calling a timeout with 5:36 remaining, and led 59-49 at halftime.

Chandler had a
season-high 23 points and added 13 rebounds for a double-double, while
John Wall, the top pick in last year’s NBA Draft, paced the Wizards
with 24 points.

“I wanted to come
out tonight and make a statement,” Chandler said. “I really wanted to
get involved, because coming after the All-Star break, I know it’s the
stretch now here we’ve really got to get focused and make our playoff
push.” The Wizards struggled at the free-throw line missing 10-of-16
opportunities.

“If we shoot free throws we win the game, it’s pretty point blank,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders lamented.

The win moved the Mavericks (42-16) to within six games of the
Western Conference-leading San Antonio Spurs, while the Wizards
(15-43), losers of five straight, are second last in the Eastern
Conference.

Ethiopia’s
Hailu Mekonnen sprinted to victory in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday,
taking advantage of the absence of world record holder Haile
Gebrselassie. Mekonnen won in two hours, seven minutes and 35 seconds
in dazzling sunshine before paying tribute to his countryman, who
pulled out of the race after a freak training injury.

“Haile is an
incredible athlete who can be beaten by no one,” the 30-year-old
Mekonnen told reporters after shaving two seconds off his personal best.

“It’s sad and
disappointing Haile could not participate. There’s no question he would
have made the Tokyo Marathon a much better race.

“I tried to make up
for him not being here by running the best race I could possibly run.
The Tokyo Marathon is one of the biggest races in the world and I’m
very happy to have won it.” Emperor no-show Gebrselassie withdrew last
week after bruising his knees following a stumble during practice.

The 37-year-old, who clocked a fastest ever time of 2:03:59 when he
won the 2008 Berlin marathon, announced his retirement last November
only to make a dramatic U-turn days later. The no-show of the man
dubbed the “Emperor” left Sunday’s field wide open and Mekonnen began
to pull away from Kenyan Paul Biwott around the 35 kilometre mark to
claim the win. Biwott finished in 2:08:17, followed in third by Japan’s
Yuki Kawauchi, who clocked 2:08:37 to qualify for August’s world
championships in South Korea. A record 36,000 runners lined up at the
start of the race in sunny but chilly conditions in the Japanese
capital. Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova won the women’s race in 2:27:29 with
Noriko Higuchi of Japan runner-up a minute and 20 seconds behind.
Russian Tatiana Petrova was third in 2:28:56.

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.

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.”

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.

Only Manchester
United or Arsenal can win this season’s Premier League title, United
manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday, four days before his side face
champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

United are one point
clear of Arsenal at the top of the table with a game in hand which they
will use up when they visit Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

With the leading
teams having 11 or 12 matches to play, United are eight points clear of
third-placed Manchester City, 10 ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and 12 clear
of Chelsea.

If United beat Wigan for the 12th successive league match they would be 15 points ahead of Chelsea by the time the sides meet.

Ferguson, who has led his side to 11 league titles, virtually dismissed Chelsea’s chances of retaining the championship.

Consistency

“Normally, two teams
break away when you come to the end of the season, it’s always two
teams — that’s the way it’s looking at the moment,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s either Arsenal or ourselves, either one of us will win it.”

Ferguson also
dismissed remarks made by Chelsea captain John Terry who said United
might buckle under the pressure of challenging for the title, the FA Cup
and the Champions League.

“You try things. We all try things,” he said.

“But it won’t be easy (for Chelsea) to come back from that kind of points deficit.

“I said some time
ago, the team that is most consistent would win the league. That is why I
stress that we have to keep our momentum going and get that
consistency.”

Ferguson said
experienced striker Michael Owen, who has made only two substitute
appearances in the league this year and played one full match in the FA
Cup, could face Wigan after recovering from injury.

“He is back training and could be available on Saturday,” he said.

Ryan Giggs could
also return after missing last week’s FA Cup match against Crawley Town
and the Champions League trip to Olympique Marseille.

REUTERS

Anyone who is
surprised that former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Chairman,
Ibrahim Galadima failed to get on the executive committee of FIFA
clearly did not read the writing on the wall.

The Galadima FIFA
project was doomed at the beginning and this is not because Galadima as
an individual is a bad product. There are far more important reasons why
he failed. The primary reason is simply because the people who were
supposed to drive the project elected to prevaricate and dilly dally.

The biggest culprit
in this regard is none other than our sports minister, Taoheed Adedoja.
The man, who has boasted that as the first holder of a doctorate degree
to head the sports ministry, he will bring a change to our dying sports
establishment, undermined the Galadima project with the way he tried to
burnish Amos Adamu’s image in the hope that the fallen former Director
General of the National Sports Commission would win his appeal case,
which has been thrown out.

While other African
nations busied themselves with strategy on how to push their candidates
and subsequently lobbied hard for their success, Adedoja was telling
whoever cared to listen to him that Adamu’s case was not as bad as it
had been made out by the media to be. When it became clear to him that
he was making an exhibition of himself following criticisms in the
media, he beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately for Galadima, the precious
time wasted by Adedoja and his team at the National Sports commission
was put to good use by our other African brothers who understand the
important of making hay while the sun is at its zenith.

It is unfortunate,
really that a man like Adedoja who has been sounding off about the
miracles he will do in Nigerian sports in three months can bungle one of
the first major assignments that came his way.

Hard-nosed realists

I am not surprised
really; after listening to his comments on public golf courses, I do not
think I will be surprised any more by any action or utterance that
emanates from him. About two weeks ago when the minister visited Lagos
for a parley with sports journalists at the National Stadium, my friend
Pius Anakali of Daily Independent had asked him whether as a way of
encouraging young Nigerians to take to golf as is the case in South
Korea, government should make available public golf courses.

His response was not
only discouraging but reflected the lack of importance attached by our
sports administrators to grassroots sports development. He said golf was
squarely in the hands of the big men playing golf and they were at
liberty to administer the sport in any manner they pleased. Funny isn’t
it. Anyway, this piece is not about golf but about how the minister and
his men at the National Sports commission bungled an assignment that
required careful planning and strategising.

Aside, the minister
and NSC’s faux pax another reason Galadima failed to get into FIFA is
the fact having been out of the picture for a while he had lost whatever
clout he wielded whilst he was FA boss in Nigeria. This was even one
compelling reason Nigeria as represented by the NSC and Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) should have engaged in high wire diplomacy on his
behalf. They would have entered into hard negotiations with the would-be
voters offering inducements that would have swayed them to Galadima’s
side.

As we see from the
fate of Danny Jordaan, winning a seat into FIFA is not exactly a
popularity contest. Were it down to popular acclamation, the South
African who led the organisation of the hugely successful 2010 FIFA
World Cup in South Africa, would have glided into the Glass House in
Zurich. Some of the men in the Confederation of African Football (CAF)
like their brothers in FIFA are hard-nosed realists and I might add,
streetwise. The know how to play ball and are not squeamish about doing
business no matter how seamy they may appear. With the way our sports
administrators pussyfooted and with Adamu’s chums in the CAF executive
committee still upset by the treatment meted to him by FIFA, Galadima
clearly didn’t have a prayer.