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Premier League giants Arsenal are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup
after a hard-fought 3-1 replay win at Championship side Leeds United.

Arsenal started strongly and took the lead with a superbly worked goal in
just the fifth minute.

Samir Nasri opened the scoring at Elland Road in Leeds after five minutes
and Bacary Sagna made it 2-0 half an hour later with a right-foot shot from
about 15 meters (18 yards).

Two minutes later, Bradley Johnson got a goal for Leeds with a shot from
about 22 meters into the top corner of the net. Robin van Persie then scored
for the Gunners, who are third in the elite Premier League, with a headed goal
14 minutes from the end of the game.

The match had to be replayed at Leeds, which is fourth in the
second-division Championship, after the teams played a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on
Jan. 8.

Arsenal, which hasn’t won a trophy since collecting the F.A. Cup in 2005, is
scheduled to host Huddersfield, which is second in League One, at noon London
time on Jan. 30.

Venus Williams hobbled while Caroline Wozniacki and Justine Henin
cantered on Wednesday but all three reached the third round of an Australian
Open where upsets continue to be thin on the ground.

Williams, returning to action here for the first time since last
year’s U.S. Open, was severely hampered by what appeared to be a groin problem
but still managed to scramble a 6-7 6-0 6-4 victory over world number 97 Sandra
Zahlavova.

The seven-times grand slam winner took a medical timeout after
losing the first set tiebreak and then gritted her teeth and summoned up her wealth
of experience to grind out a victory in a shade over three hours.

“It was really tough,” Williams, flying the family flag alone
this year in the absence of injured 2010 champion Serena. “But I’m a long way
from home. It’s such a long way home and I didn’t want to go back yet.

“You’ve got to be able play in all circumstances — good, bad
strange, weird, bizarre.

I haven’t retired from a match in a long time. I have to go to
the bitter end.” Top women’s seed Wozniacki earlier looked in fine fettle as
she took just 58 minutes to overpower American Vania King 6-1 6-0, continuing
an impressive start to her attempt to vindicate her number one ranking with a
first grand slam title.

Wozniacki’s win set up a third round opportunity to avenge her
loss last week in Sydney to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulova, who advanced with a
6-1 4-6 6-2 win over Italian Alberta Brianti.

“I definitely felt like I was playing good tennis today,”
20-year-old Wozniacki said, adding: “I believe that I’m a really good player, I
can beat anyone on a good day.” Henin was shaking hands with the umpire on Rod
Laver Arena moments after Wozniacki clinched her win, having put Briton Elena
Baltacha to the sword 6-1 6-3.

Seeded a lowly 11th, Henin was still feeling the elbow injury
that kept her out of the game for six months last year and said the
unseasonably low temperatures had not helped.

Unhelpful weather

“It’s the worst conditions actually,” said Henin, the 2004
champion at Melbourne Park. “The weather doesn’t help, that’s for sure. So I
wasn’t feeling at my best on this part today.

“But I have to deal with it and get ready, be focused on your
game, even if it’s not easy. But I did a good job about that.” Twice grand slam
winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, a 6-1 6-4 winner over Dutch qualifier
Arantxa Rus, stands in Henin’s path to the fourth round.

France’s 15th seed Marion Bartoli was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-0 by
Vesna Manasieva of Russia but 2009 champion Maria Sharapova survived an early
scare to rally to a 7-6 6-3 victory over Virginie Razzano in another
Franco-Russian encounter.

In the men’s draw, former world number five Tommy Robredo also
registered something of an upset with a 1-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over American
16th seed Mardy Fish. Robredo’s fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco faced an
early exit but made a great escape by coming back from two sets down and saving
a match point in the fourth set on his way to a 2-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 6-0 win over
Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.

“I kept fighting all the time, because I was really close to
losing today,” said the ninth seed. “I think that just my mentality was one of
the biggest keys to my comeback today.” Thomas Berdych also had to fight back
after losing the first set to German Philipp Kohlschreiber but the sixth seeded
Czech found his range and ran out a comfortable 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 winner.

Real
Madrid issued a sharply worded statement criticising Spain’s soccer
federation (RFEF) on Wednesday for what the club called a lack of
respect and objectivity over an article mentioning coach Jose Mourinho.

The club were
responding to a piece on the RFEF website saying Real’s game at
Atletico on Thursday would be “under the close scrutiny of Mourinho,
who feels he has been mistreated by officials in recent league matches”.

Real used an
official statement to express indignation at the wording, which was not
present in the latest version of the article on Wednesday.

“We consider it enormously serious that these remarks about our coach were made on the Federation’s own website,” Real said.

“They clearly
demonstrate a prejudice that is a long way from the objectivity,
neutrality and balance which should inform the organisation’s official
publications.

“We demand action
is taken for what we believe is a lack of respect and consideration to
the coach of our team, the club itself and the fans.”

Real won the first leg of the King’s Cup quarter-final tie against Atletico 3-1.

RFEF officials were not immediately available for comment.

Mourinho, renowned as an outspoken figure, was banned for two matches earlier this season for verbally abusing a referee.

At a news
conference on Wednesday, the Portuguese repeated his view that Real had
been denied what he felt were two clear penalties in Sunday’s 1-1 draw
at Almeria that left his side four points adrift of La Liga leaders
Barcelona.

“I do not doubt the
honesty of referees but there are some things that are obvious and that
people who are not hypocrites have no problem in admitting,” Mourinho
said.

“There were decisive penalties in the match that weren’t given and this is not a criticism but something obvious.”

Unwavering in its campaign to curb violent conducts in the local
league, the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) has ordered Sunshine Stars FC of
Akure to play its next two home matches behind closed doors with effect from
week 13.

This was revealed in a statement by Tunji Babalola, the acting
Executive Secretary in reaction to the violent conduct by Sunshine fans against
Heartland FC.

“Sunshine Stars FC supporters were harassing the away team in
their game against Heartland FC over the weekend thereby violating the rules
and regulations of the NPL,” the statement said.

“The Supporters of Sunshine Stars FC are hereby warned to desist
from such attitude or NPL will be obliged to invoke stiffer sanction on the
erring club(s)”.

Supporters of 3SC were equally issued a warning by the NPL.

Ahmed Kadiri of Enyimba International FC was also handed a one
(1) match ban for unruly behaviour in their match against Warri Wolves FC.

In addition to missing their next away match against Kaduna
United FC, Ahmed will pay a fine of N100, 000.

Startled by the revelation by a FIFA official, Sampon Kablan,
that Nigerian football administrators have misused development opportunities
provided by the world football governing body, Aminu Maigari, the President of
the Nigeria Football Federation and its Acting General Secretary, Musa Amadu
are expected to meet FIFA President, Sepp Blatter and General Secretary, Jerome
Valcke.

The meeting is expected to take place at the FIFA hospital in a
fortnight in Zurich, Switzerland.

Kablan is one of the FIFA officials currently in Nigeria on the
Women’s World cup tour.

According to a statement from the NFF signed by Ademola Olajire,
its Media Officer, both men will hold extensive talks on Thursday, February 3
with the FIFA chieftains on the possibility of more FIFA goal projects for
Nigeria.

Nigeria short-changing
self

Kablan, the FIFA Development Officer for West Africa, told
members of NFF executive Committee in Abuja on Tuesday that Nigeria can benefit
far more than it is currently enjoying.

“I am happy to see the peace and understanding that exists
between the Ministry of Sports and the NFF. It is a good thing, and this will
propel development programmes.

“All I need from you is permission and support to show positive
aggression to secure more FIFA development programmes. You are behind schedule
and should be benefitting more.

“Some countries like Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are on their fourth
development projects, while Cape Verde is on the fifth. Nigeria, a great
football nation by all means, has only been able to get one, the Technical Centre,
and one artificial turf through the ‘Win-In-Africa-For-Africa’ programme that
was launched as a result of the first FIFA World Cup in Africa,” Kablan said.

At a separate meeting with the Sports Minister, Taoheed Adedoja and the NFF
Executive Committee, Kablan also suggested that FIFA should take the lead in
the construction of a befitting, ultra-modern secretariat for the football
federation.

Earlystart Football
Academy, a youth and Community development initiative of football
Commentator, Godwin Dudu-Orumen has opened its new season for January
at the main-bowl of the National Stadium Surulere, using Gate E
opposite the Stadium’s Medical Centre.

The Academy which is open to children age 5-16, boys and girls has
professional youth football Coaches under whose watchful eyes the kids
will be training The academy said amongst other things it will be
offering training in physical conditioning, aerobics, football skills,
interactive sessions with adults and distinguished personalities in the
society. Time for the training daily is 8:30am – 12pm.

This
year’s edition of the All Stars Women Football Championship has been
described as disappointing by observers because of the low turnout
being witnessed.

The championship,
which has been organised by the Amalgamation of Nigerian Women Football
Club Coaches for 11 years, experienced a low turnout for both players
and spectators alike.

According to Joy
Etim, coach and proprietor of Puma FC, “The turnout this year has been
very poor. It is the lowest we have ever experienced. Not only is there
a decline in the number of fans around, the girls are also not here.

Before, after we
have played all the preliminaries, we get enough girls to make 20
teams, now let us hope we get about five teams”.

Conflict in schedule

The absence of the
women who are competing has been attributed to conflict in schedule. “I
think many of the girls went for trials to be able to play in the
League and got stuck at the respective places when the NFF (Nigerian
Football Federation) decided to postpone the start of the league. You
know most of these women are struggling and who knows what sacrifices
they made to get to the trials”, says Okunwa Ogunbor, former Super
Falcons and National Institute for Sports (NIS) trained coach.

Not deterred

Etim has however vowed that such setbacks will not discourage them from organising the championship.

“This is happening
for the first time and we hope that we would not face the same thing
next year. Last year, a girl even came from the UK to play. If I had
invited her this year and she came to meet such a poor arrangement
would she be happy?

This has been going
on for 11 years, it was started by us (women coaches) and we will do
everything in our capacity to see it remains because this is our way of
giving back”.

One way the championship can be moved forward is for sponsorship to improve.

“Some of us coaches
went to some of these corporate organisations for help, but they have
been turning up this way and that, we are not sure of what is going on.
Whatever it is they want us to do, they should just tell us and we
would do it,” Etim explains further. She went ahead to appreciate the
concern of the Lagos State Sports Council (LSSC).

This year’s edition
of the championship is supported by the LSSC. Chairman of the council,
Agboola Dabiri, has promised that the women would be kitted by the
council from the quarter-final stage. “Women football has not enjoyed
the support it deserves despite the honour it has brought to the
country. It is important that corporate bodies support them”.

Finals of the tournament, scheduled for January 22nd is expected to
have Abimbola Fashola, the wife of the Lagos State governor, in
attendance.

The
final list of players to represent Nigeria at the 13th International
Tennis Federation ITF/CAT West and Central Africa 14 & 16 Junior
Championship qualifiers has been revealed.

Coach of the team,
Mohammed Ubale, revealed the players on phone from Ado-Ekiti, where the
team is camped. Ubale said that they had a round-robin tournament
between the players to sift the best of the players. Their current
status and fitness was also taken into consideration before four
players were decamped.

Umoru Balami will
lead the team to Ghana and he said the key to winning in Ghana is hard
work. Balami, who has been praised by Dermot Sweeney of the ITF Centre
in South Africa, said:

“I work hard and
try to do all that the coaches ask of me to do and I believe that is
why I have been improving in my game. I know that practising is the way
to get better and I always make sure that I focus on training. My aim
is to win the Ghana tournament though I know it will be hard but I
believe I have prepared adequately to win my event.”

Another member of the Accra-bound team, Sarah Adegoke, is seeded number one in the 14 and under category for girls.

Adegoke is also a SS2 student at the St. Louis Secondary School, Ibadan and has been coached by her father,

Dapo, all her life. The elder Adegoke is with his daughter in Ado-Ekiti, as she prepares to represent Nigeria in Ghana.

“My aim is to win in Ghana. I am training harder than before and I know that if I am not lazy then I can win,” she said.

Her father who
coaches her full-time will not be following her to Ghana but Adegoke
said that would not dampen her determination to excel.

“Daddy won’t be
coming to Ghana but Coach Ubale is like a father to me. I have been
training under him also since I came into the national camp last year,
so I will not miss my daddy too much.”

Adegoke has on account of her consistency and improvement been invited for a one-month trial at the ITF Centre in Pretoria.

The other players
that make up the team are Joseph Imeh, Emmanuel Idoko and Mohammed
Mohammed, for the boys and Zainab Oladimeji, Miracle Sunday and Ramota
Adeyemi for the girls.

The ITF/CAT West
and Central Africa 14 & 16 Junior Championship qualifiers being
hosted by Ghana and will be held at the National Sports College,
Winneba from January 24-30, 2011.

While the first
match is scheduled begin by 9:30am on January 24, the match fixtures
will be sorted after the draw on Sunday, January 23 after the arrival
of the 13 participating countries.

The 13 countries
participating include: Benin Republic, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of Congo (RD Congo), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The championship will also serve as the qualifiers to the Africa Junior Championships to be hosted by Egypt in April 2011.

Tough
times await clubs who fail to prevent their fans from intimidating or
harassing match officials at football venues hosting matches of the
Nigeria Premier League (NPL).

This was revealed
by the league body on Tuesday following recent acts of intimidation
aimed at match officials in match venues, the most recent of which took
place last weekend at Ijebu Ode’s Gateway International Stadium
involving Sunshine Stars and Heartland.

In the course of
the game, which ended 2-1 in favour of Sunshine Stars, sections of the
home crowd threatened to harm the centre referee Friday Awogo and his
assistants, as well as journalists at the match venue.

No comment

There hasn’t been
any official statement from the NPL regarding the incident in Ijebu Ode
but the league body has warned clubs to do all within their power
prevent the harassment and intimidation of match officials and players
before, during and after matches.

“The league board reminds all Premier League clubs of the provisions of articles 3.7, 4.3,

5.7 of the
2010/2011 Rules and Regulations,” said Tunji Babalola, the acting
Executive Secretary of the NPL, in a statement made available to NEXT
where he further emphasize that henceforth, provisions of the articles
shall be fully enforced on all erring clubs.

Sections of Article
3.7, amongst other things, states that: “Intimidation and harassment of
match officials by club fans or club officials before, during, or after
pre-match meetings is strictly prohibited and attracts a fine of
N5,000,000 payable before the club’s next home match.

Article 4.3 and 5.7
deals mainly with disruption of matches by fans, club officials or
players and, besides a possible year-long ban of those responsible for
the disruption, attracts a maximum fine of N10,000,000.

NPL approves venues for Heartland, three others.

Meanwhile, the
league body in its effort to continuously play Premier League matches
on television friendly pitches and to avoid setbacks, has approved
alternative home grounds for four clubs.

The affected clubs are Heartland, Niger Tornadoes, Plateau United and JUTH.

Heartland will now
play its subsequent home matches at the E.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar
while Kaduna Township Stadium will be the new home ground of JUTH and
Niger Tornadoes. Plateau United, meanwhile, will play its home matches
at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

According to a statement from the NPL, Heartland and Niger
Tornadoes, were relocated due to the poor state of their playing pitch,
while the duo of Plateau United and JUTH were moved out of Jos
following the recent unrest in the Plateau State capital.

Telecommunications
outfit, Globacom, has withdrawn the suit it instituted against the
Nigeria Premier League (NPL) challenging the propriety of awarding of
the country’s Premier League title rights to rival telecommunication
firm, MTN.

Globacom,
represented by its lawyers, on Tuesday filed a notice of discontinuance
before presiding judge, Mohammed Liman at the Federal High Court in
Lagos.

The notice of
discontinuance was brought in pursuant to Order 50 Rule 2(1) of the
Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2009.

Globacom had
through its lawyer, Abiodun Adesanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
filed the suit challenging the award of the league sponsorship right to
MTN, claiming that the NPL ignored the tenets of due process in the
entire process.

The
telecommunications company, which had previously sponsored the Nigerian
top flight for four years before pulling out last year, said it was
shocked to hear that MTN had won the title sponsorship right, even when
it (MTN) did not participate in the bid process.

However, the league body said MTN was represented by Total Promotions all through the bidding process.

Speaking on the latest development, a senior official of Globacom who did not want to be name said:

“We did this in the interest of Nigerian football. The longer we
stayed in court the further the league would continue to suffer and
that was not what we set out to do from the outset.” He said his
company will seek other dispute resolution mechanisms while also
looking for other avenues to contribute to the development of football
in Nigeria.