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Manchester
United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar looks likely to retire at the end
of the season, manager Alex Ferguson said on Thursday.

The 40-year-old
Dutch keeper’s retirement has been on the cards for some time and United
have been preparing to fill some big boots by bringing in Dane Anders
Lindegaard who will be registered with the club in early January.

“We’re planning for it to be possibly Edwin’s last season,” Ferguson told a news conference.

Asked if there might
be a coaching role for Van der Sar, the manager replied: “He’ll be
someone of interest in terms of his knowledge and standing in the game,
but we haven’t discussed that yet.”

Van der Sar, who in
2009 set an English league record of minutes without conceding a goal
when he went more than 21 hours unbeaten, has been key for United since
his arrival in 2005 from Fulham.

Moments of
brilliance have been peppered with the odd blunder like the one in
October’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion where he dropped a simple
catch in a mistake Ferguson said was “inexplicable” but one he would
make “the only time in his life”.

His cool head at the
times when it really counts, such as when he saved Nicolas Anelka’s
final penalty in the shootout against Chelsea in the 2007-08 Champions
League final, are what United will miss.

Clean sheet record

A modest man, who
even when he was setting his clean sheet record was quick to say the
secret to his success was hard work from everyone, Van der Sar has
helped United to three Premier League titles.

His team mates have
often said he has been getting better with age but even if that is the
case, Van der Sar knows everyone has an expiry date in the game although
he has yet to comment on the issue.

Having been caught
out a decade ago when Peter Schmeichel left, Ferguson has been
determined to avoid facing a big goalkeeping hole when his current
number one retires.

With that in mind,
26-year-old Lindegaard has been training with United in recent weeks and
will be registered after the holiday season.

“He is training with
us now and that is important,” Ferguson said of Lindegaard, who has
joined from Denmark’s Aalesund for 3.5 million pounds according to
British media.

Van der Sar is likely to be between the posts when the Premier League leaders host Sunderland on Sunday.

Women
football was introduced in Nigeria in the late 70’s, but it did not
become popular until 1991 when Nigerians began to show interest. The
reason for the change in attitude was the quality of football played by
the Super Falcons, then led by Coach Paul Hamilton, en route the first
edition of the Women’s World Cup in China that year.

The Falcons went on
to feature in all the edition of the World Cup since getting to the
quarter-finals at the 1999 edition in the United States of America. This
is in addition to dominating the women’s game in Africa, winning all
but one edition of the African Women’s Championship held since 1998.

While the Super
Falcons made women football popular in the country, the junior national
teams have helped to keep it popular. Both the Falconets (U-20 team) and
the Flamingoes (U-17 team) have fared well in their latest outings;
reaching the final and the quarter finals in the U-20 and U-17 World
cups respectively.

Great teams

After finishing
second in their group at the 2010 FIFA U-20 World Cup, the Falconets
went on to oust USA in the quarter-final and Korea Republic in the
semi-final, before falling to Germany in the final.

At the U-17 World
Cup, in Trinidad and Tobago, the Flamingoes topped their group, but they
were knocked out of the tournament in the quarter final by Korea
Republic, who recorded a 6-5 victory.

Theses achievements,
coming shortly after the disappointment of the Super Eagles was a
breath of fresh air for Nigerians; with many wondering why the Nigerian
Football Federation (NFF) cannot direct half of what they spend on the
Super Eagles to cater for the ladies.

The Super Falcons
this year were able to reclaim the African title, which they lost to
Equatorial Guinea two years ago. Despite their dominance on the
continent, the Six-time African Champions have failed to go beyond the
quarter-final of the World Cup.

No development

Current coach,
Eucharia Uche, has expressed confidence that 2011 Women World Cup would
be better. Unfortunately, the achievements of the teams have not led to
better care for the women league in the country.

Consequently, women football in Nigeria has continued to thrive only at the national level.

With no sponsors for
a local women league, many argue that regardless of the beautiful
campaign by the national teams in recent times, the game is in dire
straits. This they said is because a women league to provide the
foundation for the national teams is almost nonexistent.

Sera Iloduba, a
player who used to star for Bayelsa Queens, has expressed disappointment
at the way things turned out with the league. She is happy for the
opportunity to play but she is getting discouraged.

“I have been playing
for five years and the only thing that has kept me going is passion I
have for the game,” she said. “My parents are now telling me to quit,
saying with all the hard work what do I get for my effort. Looking at it
from their perspective, it is true especially when I still have to ask
them for money to do things”.

Another player, Ogochukwu Atube, said the neglect by the NFF makes them feel like orphans.

“For the past six
years, we have not had any form of sponsorship and they expect us to
feel like we are part of the federation… If they can look for
sponsorship for the guys, I see no reason why they cannot do the same
for us”.

Though she plays in the league, Atube was not sure when the new season would begin.

“You see? That is
one of the things I am telling you. There is so much uncertainty that
you would get discouraged. I would not blame the club owners if they say
they want to pull out of the NFF”.

Giving women their due

About two weeks ago,
the Nigeria Women Football Clubs Owners Chairmen and Team Managers
accused the Nigerian Football Federation of neglecting the women league.

Joy Etim, Former
Falcons assistant Coach and manager of Puma FC, has warned that for the
gains achieved in women football to be sustained and improved, there is
the need to infuse funds into the grassroots. “Grassroots development is
the bedrock of any sports. If we do not encourage the upcoming
generation, how do we replace the older ones. Most of these girls are
financially constrained. Is it a girl that does not have transport fare
to come to camp, and has to trek that would be able to put up her best?”

For better results
in 2011 and for a sustained development in football, players and coaches
agree that there is the need to infuse much needed funds into the
league.

Atube said: “Maybe
part of the sponsorship fund should be earmarked to develop women
because with the way things are going, the women may never get the
attention they need if the hands of the sponsors are not forced. Absence
of funding is making the league very boring”.

Etim on her part believes that a separate body for the women will benefit the players.

“When there is
unequal representation in the NFF, do you think the women will be able
to have their say? So, I will suggest that women should also have their
own executives.”

Uche on her part reminded the NFF that many of the players who are now in the national teams started out from the local league:

“(The) female football league has not disappointed Nigerians.
Unfortunately, we have not been given our dues by the football
authorities. I am calling on the NFF to ensure that the league has a
viable department in the secretariat. In addition, corporate sponsors
must be wooed by them. Without sponsors, female football will not be
sustained”.

When the Glo/CAF African Footballer of the year Award winner was
declared this past week not a single protest voice was heard.

In joint acclamation, Inter Milan and Cameroun striker Samuel
Eto’o was crowned king of African football for an unprecedented fourth time.

The Cameroon all-time leading scorer with 42 goals in 87 games
has always showed incredible acceleration towards goal and has great composure
at scoring in one on one situations. Enter then the new king of African
football, Samuel Eto’o Fils.

The FIFA awards, Ballon D’or, may not throw up such a clear
winner. The short list of three, already excludes two of the world’s best
players last season in Inter Milan’s Dutch midfield, Wesley Sneider and
Uruguay’s Atletico Madrid striker, Diego Forlan. FIFA’s list includes Xavi
Hernandez, the 30-year-old Barcelona and Spain midfielder, who is the heartbeat
of perhaps the most stylish team in the last two or three years.

Xavi is a sublime technician and is the orchestra master that
sets the tempo for Barcelona’s very exciting displays. Without a doubt a
candidate but in spite of being a world cup winner at South Africa 2010, still
rates behind Wesley Sneijder in achievement this season.

Andres Iniesta, 26, joined Barcelona from Albacete as a
12-year-old and showed very early he was a prodigious talent. Alongside Xavi,
Iniesta operates as an auxiliary forward and is a consistent performer and
widely acknowledged as one of the world’s best players today, playing a very
important role in Barcelona’s glorious six trophy-season. Iniesta capped an
excellent World Cup, South Africa 2010, with the winning goal, which gave Spain
the title for the first time.

A wonderful technician and arguably the first passer of the ball
in world football today, he is versatile, intuitive even if his physical
attribute are not great. He is the complete midfielder and again a credible
choice for the Ballon D’or crown.

Dropping Sneijder in
favour of Messi

Lionel Messi, 23, Argentina’s heir apparent to Diego Maradona’s
crown stands only 1.70m tall. Like his other illustrious Barcelona team mates,
Xavi and Iniesta; his ball skills and balance are exceptional while his runs
from deep position are almost unstoppable.

Guilty of often searching for ways to finish off moves himself
instead of a better positioned team mate to shoot at goal, Messi is a goal merchant
with 49 goals in 58 starts last season; he has a massive haul already this
season.

In spite for his amazing displays for Barcelona, his performance
for Argentina appears negligible. He performed below par at the 2006 World Cup
in Germany and again he failed to inspire Argentina against the youthful
Germans at the 2010 World Cup where he did not score a goal. Unlike his team
mates in the Spanish national team, Iniesta and Xavi, Messi has only the La
Liga title as silverware collection for the last season which raises question
on how FIFA arrived at his name as deserving of being on a final list that
excludes Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder.

Diego Forlan is Uruguay’s best known footballer. A very talented
player, he was Uruguay’s top marksman in the World cup qualifiers and finished
joint top scorer at the World cup 2010. He was named the tournament’s Most
Valuable Player for his wonderful contributions to Uruguay’s play and run at
the Mundial. He did not make the FIFA shortlist, but Messi did.

Wesley Sneijder was the difference between Inter Milan and all
oppositions they faced last season, Barcelona inclusive. And he added a
virtuoso performance with four goals in the World Cup and an appearance in the
final match; I cannot see why he did not make FIFA final shortlist. With these
credentials, Sneijder ought to win the Ballon D’or.

Once again, FIFA’s crookedness shows up in a vulgar manner in
its very subjective and questionable selection of candidates for the World
footballer of the year. I do not look forward to this year’s ‘arranged’
crowning of the FIFA choice.

In any case this is what you get when people and organisations
do not keep to what they know how to do best. There will always be
controversies with awards like this, but FIFA goofed big time this time around
with their unsellable shortlist.

Anyway like many things concerning FIFA, there are reasons to
believe that the 2010 Ballon D’or has been rigged in favour of Barcelona
players for reasons known only to FIFA.

But enjoy the yuletide period folks in spite of FIFA and its filthy stones.

The Nigeria
Academicals Cup, second only to the National Challenge Cup (now
Federation Cup) for popularity and all other ingredients of big time
football, was the wellspring of Nigeria’s best talent between 1965 and
1975 until the National Sports Festival football event and age-limited
competitions snuffed life out of it.

It brimmed with
talent, real talent who in a year or two after being part of a state or
the national academicals graduated to big time football at football
club level and the Green Eagles as the Super Eagles was then called.

In 1965 Sam Garba
Okoye led his Jos teammates to the national team to take on Ghana
Academicals. From St. Theresa’s Jos, came Peter Anieke, a 6ft plus
lethal striker with Tony Igwe, a quality right back later to be
nicknamed “World 2”. Segun Odegbami, later know as “Mathematical” was
also to come out of St. Theresa’s later.

At the National
team, Muyiwa Oshode, Sham-shudeen Olowoshode and Tunde Disu came from
Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Lagos. The incredible goalkeeper Inua
Rigogo came from a secondary school in Kano. I am not too sure what
school Segun Olumodeji, the rock of Gibraltar at the heart of the
defence came from, but I know he hailed from today’s Kogi State.

In my hurry to dish
out this stuff to titillate football fans, I also could not wait to
find out what school left-back Austin “Mazeli” Ofuokwu came from. What,
however, is the critical point being made is that a bunch of school
boys that beat their Ghanaian counterpart home and away in 1965 had two
years later in 1967 had become the nucleus of Nigeria’s national team
and actually played in the 1968 Olympic football event, holding mighty
Brazil to a 3-3 draw in Mexico.

Complete with older
and experienced internationals, Sam Opone, Sebastine Broadericks, Paul
“Wonderboy” Hamilton, Mohammed Lawal, Peter Fregene, Duro Adigun etc,
the Eagles stopped Ghana especially from humiliating us 6-0, 5-1 as
their predecessors in the time of Fabian Duru used to suffer!

The 1965
Academicals team served the Green Eagles till 1972 when new blood, new
talent pushed into the team but Tony Igwe and Austin Ofuokwu remained a
while in the team. Peter Fregene and Peter Anieke were still good
enough, but their somewhat rebellious nature made them unpopular with
officials and selectors otherwise they could have made the All African
Games football gold winning team in 1973.

A glut of talent

They gave way to less colourful but effective successors in Emmanuel Okala and Eyo Essien for Peter Fregene and

Sunny Oyarekhua, and Kenneth Olayombo for Peter Anieke.

Interestingly, a
new set of academicals players had emerged again. Josiah Dombraye and
Sunday Izevbigie from the Midwest (Bendel) Academicals of 1970 and 1971
respectively had moved up to the Green Eagles by 1972. Joining them
from the East Central State Academicals of 1971 was Dominic Ezeani who
walked straight into the central defence, displacing skipper Godwin
Achebe and then pairing Victor Oduah as new skipper.

Haruna Ilerika the
dribbling wizard of Zumraltu Ahmadiyya Secondary School had all the way
created waves with his team-mate Tajudeen Ajagun. Had Ajagun gone to
play for Stationery Stores FC like his more illustrious team-mate,
Ilerika, he too would probably have stepped up to the Eagles.

At ECN, later NEPA
Lagos, the politics of the game put him down the perking order for the
striking roles which had Sunday Oyarekhua (Police Machine Team) Kenneth
Olayombo (Lagos Garrison Organisation) Sunday Izevbigie and Sam Ikedi
(Bendel Insurance).

Morton Owolo, a
left back from Hussey College Warri claimed left back position in some
matches too. Waiting in the wings to claim shirts were Academicals from
the East-Central state after Dominic Ezeani broke into the Eagles, his
team-mates, Patrick Ekeji, now Director-General National Sports
Commission, Christian Chukwu, later Captain of the Green Eagles that
won the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 1980, Kenneth
Ilodigwe (alias Kendo), Obed Ariri (later Captain of Vasco Da Gama FC,
Enugu, and Godwin Ogbueze arguably one of the most gifted
centre-forwards Nigeria’s football has ever seen. There were other
great talent in the East Central State team like Tony Uzoka, a left
winger, Keeper Ahamefuna Umelo, Chukwuma Nwankwo and John Azinge.

And with other
states throwing up quality talent like Clement Okwufuleze, Patrick De
Adinkwe, Raphael Uwechie (a great keeper now a pilot), Patrick Ezeocha,
all from the Midwest (Bendel), Salihu Tijani a terrific striker came
from the North shooting with both feet and scoring spectacular goals.

From the West,
goalkeeper Zion Ogunfemi had his hands full because Emmanuel Okala and
Eyo Essien were not just going to quit. But Tunde Balogun, son of
Teslim Balogun, the football legend, a great mid-fielder and wing
player emerged too from the Western State Academicals team. Had he
stayed a little longer he would have displaced Yakubu Mambo and Gideon
Njoku from the right wing position in the Green Eagles.

That did not happen
because Tunde Balogun joined another striker from the West- Yomi Bamiro
(Shooting Stars), Sunday Izevbigie and Muyiwa Sanya (Bendel Insurance),
Kenneth Ilodigwe and Dominic Ezeani (Enugu Rangers) and Ghana’s Sam Ayi
Akwa (a left back) to proceed to Howard University on Scholarship.

One season later,
Ben Popoola, Segun Adewale, Olumeko (a Keeper), Damian Ogunsuyi and
Emmanuel Egede (alias Tailor) all from Bendel Insurance, Godwin Ogbueze
and Damian Odoh (Enugu Rangers), Obed Ariri (Vasco Da Gama Enugu) all
went to Clemson University in the United States on Scholarship.

From the Lagos axis
we had Emilo John and Keeper Manuwa who had followed Ilerika to knock
on the doors of the Green Eagles. So also did Keeper Marcelus Obinatu,
Tunde Martins, Kwame Senaya, Tony Eyo, Tex Egbedi (now a top class
Fashion and Trend Consultant/designer),

Isaac Annan, Fred
Obadiaru, Bernard Mensah, Kehinde Oworu and Maxwell Yebrufra whose
winning goal in a Lagos State Principal Cup match made front page
headline in Nigeria’s leading daily newspaper at the time, Daily Times.

Adokiye Amiesimaka,
fondly called Chief Justice and a former Attorney-General in Rivers
State is a product of Academicals football and so was Thompson Usiyen,
Nigeria’s best striker in my opinion. Such was the strength intensity,
excitement, talent flow and attention-capture capacity of academicals
football those days. It provided empowerment through well-paying jobs
and scholarship to American Universities.

Academicals football, nay schools sports is it and there is the
strong need to revive it because apart from being a veritable well-pool
of talent for the Eagles, it reduces if not banishes entirely
age-cheating while opening avenues for further education and
scholarship schemes locally, as well as in America and Canada.

The new Super
Eagles coach, Samson Siasia, will resume work today. Siasia, who
unveiled by the Nigeria Football Federation as the Eagles’ coach on
December 1, 2010, has been tipped by fans to change the fortune of the
Eagles with many praying that he succeeds.

Last week, the
named Salisu Yusuf, the current Kano Pillars coach as Siasia’s second
assistant, while former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Ike Shorunmu was
appointed as goalkeeping coach for the team. The first assistant is
Simon Kalika, a Dutchman.

Yusuf and Shorunmu have worked with Siasia at different times.

Shorunmu was with
the U-23 team before the Beijing Olympics and Yusuf was on the bench
with Siasia at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Championship in Egypt.

Rebuilding job

Siasia’s
appointment comes at a time when many are calling for the team to be
rebuild. To do this, Siasia said he would need at least three years.

“It is going to take two, three years for us to assemble a formidable team,” Siasia said in Abuja, when he was unveiled.

“It should be a
gradual process, trying to build a new team with the old and the new
players. The team will be a mix until we find the players that are
needed, actually the ones who would play the way we want them to play.
That time, I would come out and say publicly we have a team.”

Targets for the crew

The NFF has set
targets for the coaching crew and have instituted a code of conduct,
but Siasia said all that is needed at the moment is to rebuild the
team’s confidence and ability to play good football. “We just want to
focus on how to rebuild the team. Yes, the Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF) could set targets, but if we want to be realistic, targets won’t
be realistic, if you don’t have a good team,” he said.

Siasia also believes the fans have a role to play.

“The fans must come
out in large numbers to watch us play. They must exercise patience too.
What we lack here is patience. We want results immediately.”

Not intimidated

Having had his eye
on the Super Eagles job for three years, Siasia said he is ready for
the task ahead. “After the players I have coached in the U-20 and U-23
teams moved on to the senior side and were doing well, I started to
believe that I also could make the move into the Super Eagles and by
God’s grace that dream has now come true. Though it will not be easy
but I will urge the fans to be patient and give us their unalloyed
support.

“Now that I am ready, I am not intimidated at all. I am ready for this job.”

FIFA president Sepp
Blatter said on Sunday he wanted to set up an anti-corruption committee
after the allegations which shook soccer’s governing body last year.

Blatter also
criticised penalty shootouts, suggesting that, in a team sport, it was
wrong to use a system which turned one player into a scapegoat.

Last year two of
FIFA’s 24-man executive committee, Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, were
suspended after allegations they had offered to sell their votes in the
contest to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to undercover reporters
from Britain’s Sunday Times As a result, the pair missed December’s
vote in which FIFA chose Russia to host the 2018 tournament followed by
Qatar in 2022.

“I will take care
of it personally, to make sure that there is no corruption at FIFA,”
Blatter said in an interview with the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.
“This committee will strengthen our credibility and give us a new image
in terms of transparency.” He said the committee would consist of seven
to nine members “not only from sport but from politics, finance,
business and culture”, although Blatter would not be on the committee
himself.

New solution?

“The committee must
be independent to guarantee maximum credibility,” he said. “I want to
present this committee to the FIFA Congress here in Zurich at the start
of June.” FIFA already has an ethics committee which dealt with last
year’s case in which four other officials were also suspended.

Blatter, who stands
for re-election in June, said he had never thought about resigning as
FIFA was rocked by last year’s allegations.

“Not for a single
moment have I thought, I must now go,” he said. “I’m staying for
longer. But I need a lot of strength, to endure the fierce criticism
against me.” Blatter then suggested that penalty shootouts were not the
best way of settling drawn matches at major tournaments.

“The discussion
which is still going on is that, in a team sport such as football, we
should try and find a solution in which the team as a unit generates
the final result,” he said.

“Not something such
as a penalty shootout, where one single person becomes a scapegoat and
is made responsible for what happened.” Blatter said that finding a new
method to decide drawn matches was the job of the task force which has
been set up to suggest changes that to the game in time for the 2014
World Cup.

Blatter had previously suggested a more prominent role for penalty
shootouts, saying they could be used to find a winner in group matches
at the World Cup and that drawn knockout games could go straight to
penalties without extra time being played.

Los Angeles Galaxy
midfielder David Beckham wants to join Tottenham Hotspur on loan,
according to the London club’s manager Harry Redknapp.

“He just said he’d
like to come and play here at Tottenham,” Redknapp told reporters after
Spurs beat Fulham 1-0 on Saturday to move up to fourth in the Premier
League.

Galaxy’s Major
League Soccer (MLS) season restarts on March 15. Former England captain
Beckham played on loan at AC Milan during similar breaks in 2009 and
2010.

“We’d have to (move fast),” said Redknapp.

“I’ve left it to
the people at the club (Spurs). I’ve passed it on to them. They’re
talking to whoever they have to talk to at his club.” Redknapp said
Darren Eales, Tottenham’s director of football administration, was
trying to persuade Galaxy to allow Beckham to join Spurs who are in the
last 16 of the Champions League.

“We’ll contact LA
Galaxy to see if they will let him go and if David is up for a
three-month deal, we will definitely be interested,” Redknapp had told
reporters on Friday.

Beckham, 35, said
in October he would not go out on loan again after missing last year’s
World Cup in South Africa with an Achilles tendon injury picked up
playing for AC Milan, who face Spurs in the Champions League first
knockout round next month.

Cover plan

The Londoner, who
has 115 England caps, has already turned down the opportunity to join
Everton on loan while Galaxy could also be reluctant to let him go
after last season’s injury.

However, Beckham
appears to have had a change of heart and wants a spell back in the
English top flight almost eight years after he left Manchester United
for Real Madrid.

He has maintained
his desire to play for his country and a temporary move to London could
appeal as he looks to force his way back into England manager Fabio
Capello’s plans.

Redknapp wants
Beckham to provide cover for fellow England right winger Aaron Lennon,
with David Bentley having struggled since his big-money move from
Blackburn Rovers 2-1/2 years ago.

“We’ve got no one else to play on the right,” said Redknapp. “David Bentley keeps picking up injuries on a Friday morning.

It’s a no brainer.” “I’m sure he (Beckham) can still do a great job at the top level otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

“He isn’t going to come here and get big money; we aren’t massive
payers at this club. But he wants to come over here to the freezing
cold and play football.”