Nigeria Content Online

It
has not been the start to the season that the Red Devils would have
liked but the 3-2 win over arch-rivals, Liverpool, last Sunday has done
a lot to boost the confidence levels of the players, especially
hat-trick hero, Dimitar Berbatov. They face Bolton, also of Manchester
in Sunday’s early kick-off before embarking on the Wednesday Champions
League fixture against Valencia in Spain.

Ferguson told the
club’s official website that: “There was a lot of criticism of Dimitar
in the media last season, but there’s never been any doubt here about
the quality of the man.

“This season he’s
started off in the right fashion. His pre-season training was good, he
was very good on the pre-season tour and he’s carried that on.” But one
player who is still in the dumps is last season’s 34-goal hero, Wayne
Rooney. The England man, still suffering from a dismal showing at the
World Cup then got caught in the headlights of revelations that he had
cheated on his wife – Coleen – when she was pregnant with their son,
Kai.

United manager
understands the scrutiny that Rooney is undergoing and has lent his
young protégé the needed support. “I don’t believe he has a confidence
problem,” Ferguson told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.” “He is
realising what it means to be at the centre of media attention for
non-football-related questions,” added Ferguson.

“I don’t think the
boy can turn a corner at the moment without a camera on him. He can’t
move without the paparazzi being on him and, for a young person, that
is not what you want.

“You want to play
and enjoy your football without that attention on you, because that can
be quite exhausting. He would like to keep playing with freedom, but
the siege of the tabloids can wear out anyone.” The trip to the Reebok
Stadium will be the Red Devils’ fifth game in 16 days, and Michael
Carrick, Antonio Valencia are out injured while Owen Hargreaves has
just returned to training. Rio Ferdinand should partner Nemanja Vidic
after he successfully completed 90 minutes at Scunthorpe on Wednesday
night.

Bolton have lost
just two of their last 12 home games in all competitions and will
welcome back goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Davies after
having served their respective suspensions.

Bolton manager,
Owen Coyle, explained in a pre-match press conference that, “Jussi has
been a fantastic servant to the Premier League, but nevertheless I’ve
still got a very tough decision to make, because Adam Bogdan has been
fantastic over the last three games.

Gary Cahill will
serve the final game of a three-match ban following his sending off at
Arsenal, and will be unavailable for selection, whilst Andy O’Brien,
Joey O’Brien and Sean Davis are sidelined with injury.

United are expected to pick the points at a stadium they have not lost at since 2008.

Yo-yo Juve face tough away trip

The up and down
fortunes for Gigi Del Neri and his re-building efforts at the Stadio
Del Alpi continued on Thursday as they lost at home to Palermo side
that needed a victory at all costs.

Where will the team go against Cagliari, who have not been easy opponents of the Bianconieri in recent times.

In the loss to Palermo, their opponents gave the home team more of the possession, and looked to hit on the counter.

Sitting
midfielders, Felipe Melo and Claudio Marchisio will have to do more
support work for the strikers as the fact was though Juve had more of
the ball, they did not get enough into dangerous areas of the Palermo
back line.

It left Juventus
with plenty of the ball, but not enough support in the final third,
either to provide chances or to capitalise on them. Milos Krasic tried
to stretch the opponent’s defence but so many times, his moves broke
down in the final third. Del Neri may have to start either Amauri or
Vincenzo Iaquinta to support Aessandro Del Piero and Krasic.

Cagliari will not be easy opponents and have made a good start to
the season. They held an impressive Sampdoria to a scoreless draw on
Wednesday. Cagliari are also unbeaten this term and in their last home,
pummelled Roma 5-1.

Acting
coach of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen has recalled West Ham
forward Obinna Nsofor and Marseille defender Taye Taiwo to the Super
Eagles for next month’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match
against Guinea.

Both players were
conspicuously left out of the Super Eagles’ last match against
Madagascar in Calabar but have now been recalled against the Syli Stars
in Conakry after posting a series of impressive displays for their
respective clubs.

However, former
Bolton Wanderers defender Danny Shittu was dropped from the 30-man list
for the match. Shittu has been without a club since he was released by
Premier League side Bolton early this month.

Eguavoen also
recalled the duo of Dele Adeleye and Yusuf Ayila while handing a shock
call-up to Sunday Stephen who featured for the Spanish U-20 side at the
2007 FIFA World Youth Championship in Canada.

Guinea and Nigeria won their opening Group B matches, but Guinea
lead the standings by virtue of having beaten Ethiopia 4-1 in Addis
Ababa, while Nigeria defeated Madagascar 2-0.

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel believes tough days lie ahead
for defenders who will be coming up against his London-based English Premier
League club side, Chelsea despite Wednesday’s Carling Cup loss to Newcastle
United.

The Blues rested a host of first-team players, including Mikel,
for the 4-3 home defeat to the Magpies and subsequently crashed out of the cup
tournament.

In addition to the loss, Salomon Kalou, Yossi Benayoun and Gael
Kakuta sustained injuries to make it a miserable Wednesday night for them and
their Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti.

To further compound the club’s woes, Frank Lampard, aggravated
his groin in training and will miss Saturday’s Premier League tie against
Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Chelsea currently tops the league table having secured five
straight league wins over West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham and Blackpool but
Manchester City will present them with a different type of challenge with a
team packed to the brim with top quality players.

However Mikel believes that defenders facing Chelsea must be
running scared after the league champions made good their intention of
retaining the league title by smashing in 21 goals in their opening five league
games.

Loads of options

“If I was a defender playing against Chelsea, I would be very
scared because you don’t know where we’re going to come from – we have Ashley
Cole bombing forward on the left side all the time,” Mikel said.

So it is hard to know what to expect when we have all these
players bombing forward all the time.

“If you look at our front three, none of them has a static
position, they are all moving around.

“It is the same with the midfield although I tend to stay a
little bit more because I cannot afford to leave that position.

“Playing that way helps us a lot while the other team is thinking about
whether to follow Nicolas Anelka’s runs, Frank Lampard or Michael Essien,” he
said. City coach Roberto Mancini is also short of defensive options with only
Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure as certain starters in their
backline.

The Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund (LSSEF) has finalised plans for Sunday’s Nigeria Independence Corporate Run.

Anthony Oni, a
retired Rear Admiral in the Nigerian Navy and chairman of the fund
disclosed this yesterday in Lagos at a meeting of ‘stakeholders’, which
took place at the Press centre of the Teslim Balogun in Lagos.

In attendance at
the meeting were officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority
(LASTMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State
Ambulance Services (LASAMBUS),

LAGBUS Asset
Management Limited and medical and sports medicine officials who are
all expected to be on duty during the race, which flags off by 8am at
the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

Oni said about 1000
entries have been received and processed with more still coming in. He
said the number included chief executive officers of leading corporate
organisations in the state. One of these he said, is Kehinde
Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Skye Bank who will be joined by Adesegun
Ogunlewe, Head of Service of Lagos State Government and officials of
sponsors of the race, Zenith Bank and Chevron.

“We expect a full house of executives to show up on Sunday,” he said.

Akin George, a
sports medicine specialist with the Lagos State Government said a team
of medical personnel would be on hand to attend to any emergency that
may crop up during the race.

“We are ready to
respond to any situation that may arise. We hope there are no serious
issues that would be dealt with but I want to assure the public that
arrangements have been made to respond to any development during the
race,” George said.

The independence
run is expected to flag off by 8am on September 18 at the Tafawa Balewa
Square (TBS) in Lagos, the venue of the official handing over of power
from the British to Nigerians.

From there,
competitors will run through Ahmadu Bello Way and turn off under the
bridge for the final stretch of the road, which will terminate at
Atlantic City on Victory Island.

The Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund was set up in 1990 by the
administration of Raji Rasaki. It went moribund for several years until
it was resurrected by the government of Babatunde Fashola.

Former Sports Minister, Sani Ndanusa alongside other candidates
that emerged victorious in the Nigerian Olympics Committee election, which was
annulled polls by the International Olympic Committee last week, all won the
fresh polls conducted yesterday.

While many expected a stiffer contest for positions into the
executive board of the NOC, it was not the case as most of the candidates threw
in the towel minutes before the election.

Habu Gumel, the man at the middle of the controversy, shocked
everyone present when he announced that he had pulled out of the race and was
ready to co-operate with his opponent, Ndanusa.

Before now, both men had been trying to outwit each other and
gain the reins of power in the Committee.

While the Gumel board had earlier disqualified Ndanusa on allegations
of “forged documents”, Gumel was also believed to have been forced out from the
volleyball federation where he was the president by Ndanusa.

No victor, no vanquish

However, while speaking on his victory, Ndanusa said he has no
grudge against anyone and that he is ready to work with any one that is wants
to help the Olympics family move forward.

“This not the time to start trading words on who is right or
wrong. I am happy for this opportunity given to me to serve as the president of
the NOC. I hope to bring about more improvement in the fortunes of the body and
move sports forward” he said. “What I see is a team, a team that is ready to
put the events of the past behind us and work harmoniously and assiduously for
the common good of sports in our country.”

Apart from Ndanusa, other members of the new executive board
include Jonathan Nnaji, who returned as the 1st Vice President, while Solomon
Ogba was returned unopposed as the 2nd Vice President and Tijani Umar as the
3rd Vice president.

Tunde Popola emerged as the Secretary General amassing 20 votes
to defeat the incumbent Banji Oladapo who had 10 votes while John Hamakim
emerged as Deputy Secretary-General after his opponent, Uche Nebedum withdrew.

Bappa Aliyu and Tony Ubani completed the list of the newly
elected board as they were voted in as the treasurer and public relations
officer respectively.

Mustpaha Berraf, the IOC representative, who supervised the elections, urged
the participants to work together for the development of sports in the country

More nations delayed their teams’ arrivals for the Commonwealth
Games in India as organisers raced against time to address security and health
concerns that have already led several top athletes to pull out.

New Zealand joined Canada and Scotland in delaying its arrival
in New Delhi due to poor accommodation for athletes, compounded by heavy
monsoon rains and a dengue epidemic.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard highlighted security
fears surrounding the Games and said athletes should decide for themselves
whether or not to attend. Two foreign visitors were shot and wounded by
suspected militants in the city on Sunday.

“There is obviously widespread concern about the Commonwealth
Games,” Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennell has
asked for an emergency meeting, expected this evening, with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to evaluate the Games in what is being seen as last ditch
attempt to avoid national withdrawals.

The Games, held every four years for members of the organisation
of mostly former British colonies, are estimated to have cost $3-6 billion.
India had hoped to use them to display its growing global economic and
political clout, rivalling China.

Instead, they have snowballed into a major embarrassment for the
government, having to fend off criticism of shoddy construction, inadequate
security and unfit accommodation.

In a sign of desperation, the federal government ordered the
organising committee to hand over management of the Games Village, which will
house 6,500 athletes, to the government.

In contrast, preparations for the Asian Games in China in
November are on track, with organisers in Guangzhou handing the athletes’
village over to the Asian Games authorities for sign-off earlier this week.

Pre-games glitches

Many sporting events have suffered glitches in the run-up to the
opening ceremony, such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, and some infrastructure
projects, like a new metro and international airport in Delhi, are widely
praised.

But polls in the Times of India and Hindustan Times newspapers
showed that a vast majority of Indians were ashamed by the state of the Games.

Leading personalities have also criticised the government and
labelled organisers “buffoons” who had sullied India’s image abroad as the
country gains respectability on the world stage.

Singh has been accused of being out-of-touch and failing to
recognise that events like the Games carry huge international prestige. Much of
the Congress-led government remains focused on its rural vote, which has little
interest in the Games.

“I genuinely feel sorry for what has happened and would like to
apologise not only on my behalf and on behalf of the organising committee, but
for everyone connected,” A.K. Mattoo, Organising Committee Secretary General,
told NDTV broadcaster.

“This is a collective failure,” Mattoo said, in a rare admission
of failure by the organisers.

The government and organisers have promised a prompt clean up.
Teams start arriving this weekend for the October 3 official start and so far
no one has said the Games will be cancelled or delayed.

Athletes pull out World discus champion Dani Samuels of
Australia has pulled out of the Games because of security and health concerns,
as did England’s world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu. Four other
champions have quit due to various reasons, including injuries.

Skipping the event

Triple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica is the
highest profile athlete to skip the event.

A dengue epidemic has spread through the Indian capital, sending
thousands of people to hospital.

“They (athletes who compete in numerous competitions) may not be
able to sustain their performance so they find out some reason or other why
they are not participating, but these things happen in every game, every
competition,” Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the Delhi organising
committee, told CNN Scotland and Canada had already announced they were
delaying sending athletes to New Delhi and Wales said it had sought guarantees
that venues and athletes’ accommodation were safe. Other nations have also
threatened to stay home On Thursday, the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC)
told their athletes to delay their arrival until at least next Tuesday, just 5
days before the showpiece event is due to open.

New Zealand’s lawn bowls, hockey and badminton teams, and
officials from cycling and athletics, were all scheduled to begin arriving in
Delhi from Saturday.

However, after an inspection by NZOC President Mike Stanley and
Secretary General Barry Maister on Wednesday, they pushed back their arrival
dates.

“It is tremendously disappointing,” Stanley said in a statement.
“The long list of outstanding issues has made it clear the village will now not
be ready for New Zealand athletes to move in as planned.”

Images of stray dogs, stagnant water, workers urinating in
public and human faeces found at the unfinished athletes’ village in central
Delhi have overshadowed the successes of the Games – the main stadium and other
sporting venues.

A portion of false ceiling in the weightlifting venue caved in
on Wednesday, a day after the collapse of a footbridge by the main stadium,
injuring 27 workers.

“People from my place are not coming here for the Games. It is
for Delhi and the people here,” said Mohammad Tahir, working at the stadium but
from Azamgath in the poor Uttar Pradesh state.

The event has also been plagued by security concerns.

Two foreign tourists were shot and wounded at the weekend by unknown
assailants in Delhi and Australian TV broadcast how a reporter bought
bomb-making devices to smuggle through security points. Indian police have
denied he ever crossed a checkpoint.

Former
Super Eagles midfielder, Emeka Ezeugo has been relieved of his position
as the assistant coach of Nigerian Premier League side, Heartland FC.

The club’s media officer Cajetan Nkwopara said Ezeugo was officially sacked by the Owerri-based side on Monday.

He also revealed
that plans were underway to fill the vacant position, but declined to
disclose the names of those shortlisted for the job of assisting the
club’s chief coach Samson Siasia, whose job, he insists, remains intact
despite the club’s early exit from this year’s CAF Champions League.

“A couple of names have been mentioned but as far as Siasia is concerned, his job is safe,” said the Heartland official.

Ezeugo joined
Heartland prior to the commencement of their CAF Champions League
campaign on the recommendations of Siasia with whom he played alongside
in the Super Eagles beginning from the 1988 Seoul Olympics to the 1994
World Cup in the United States of America.

“Yes, I got the
letter on Monday,” Ezeugo told Supersport.com on Wednesday. “The issue
of sack is often synonymous with the life of a coach because it is
either you’re hired or fired. But I will be leaving Owerri for Lagos
now because for me life must go on.”

Contract dispute

According to the
club’s chairman, Ignatius Okehialam, Ezeugo’s stay with the former
Nigerian league and FA Cup champions had to be cut short after he
refused to accept the club’s contractual terms thus leaving the club’s
management with no option than to end his stint with the side.

“After I discussed
with Emeka alongside his lawyer and his brother, I made an offer,”
Okehialam told Supersport.com. “He said he was going to consider it. He
came back to state his terms and I told him that I cannot go beyond my
offer for him.

“So he started work
and I made a contract and gave to him, which he read. I also asked if
the contract was okay with him and he said it was. We begged him to
sign the contract but he didn’t, and I didn’t have a contract to be
able to get out money for him since Heartland is owned by the Imo State
government. So something had to happen at some point.

“But I must say that Emeka is a fantastic person and I’d have loved
to work with him but unfortunately this had to happen and I wish him
the best,” said the Heartland boss.

Dolphins’
chances of posting a good performance in the 2010/2011 Premier League
season doesn’t appear so good at the moment after a vast majority of
the club’s players from last season’s campaign failed to turn up at the
club’s training ground for pre-season training.

Only 14 players out
of 30 retained by Dolphins trained with the club on Tuesday morning
leaving coaches of the team worried at the development.

Captain Ejindu, one
of the stars from last season’s campaign is reported to have dumped the
former league champions for Enyimba while Uche Oguchi is reported to be
on his way to Rangers. Sunday Mbah is rumoured to be in Kano with
Pillars while Achibi Ewenike hasn’t rejoined the side after attending a
few training sessions.

Last Sunday, Victor
Ezuruike and Osita Echendu took permission to go to Owerri to watch
Heartland take on Algeria’s JS Kabylie in the CAF Champions League.
Both players are yet to return.

The players’
attitude is said to be linked with the fact that they have not been
paid 20 match bonuses and are being owed three months salary and as
much as 60 per cent of their sign on fees from last season.

All about money

The club’s media
officer, China Acheru in a report published on the website of the
Nigeria Premier League, confirmed that players were still being owed
certain sums of money but expressed hope that they will soon be paid in
a matter of days.

“I think most of
the players not happy about being owed, which we understand. But we
expect that the money will be paid soon and we should have a full house
this weekend,” he said.

Owing to the
absence of most of the club’s key players, the coaches have had to rely
on untested players who are undertaking trials with the Port
Harcourt-based club in order to have a full training programme, a
development that is viewed as a distraction by the club’s team manager,
Stanley Eguma.

“You know we are in
pre-season but we cannot really start our program for the new season
because we have lots of players coming in as they all think they can
play for the club,” said the coach, who hopes the club’s spoonsors will
release funds on time for closed camping.

“It is not helping us because we need to concentrate and start planning for the new season.

“We can’t do that with this crowd here and that is why we need to go for close camping as soon as possible.”

Acting
coach of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen has recalled West Ham
forward Obinna Nsofor and Marseille defender Taye Taiwo to the Super
Eagles for next month’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match
against Guinea.

Both players were
conspicuously left out of the Super Eagles’ last match against
Madagascar in Calabar but have now been recalled against the Syli Stars
in Conakry after posting a series of impressive displays for their
respective clubs.

However, former
Bolton Wanderers defender Danny Shittu was dropped from the 30-man list
for the match. Shittu has been without a club since he was released by
Premier League side Bolton early this month.

Eguavoen also
recalled the duo of Dele Adeleye and Yusuf Ayila while handing a shock
call-up to Sunday Stephen who featured for the Spanish U-20 side at the
2007 FIFA World Youth Championship in Canada.

Guinea and Nigeria won their opening Group B matches, but Guinea
lead the standings by virtue of having beaten Ethiopia 4-1 in Addis
Ababa, while Nigeria defeated Madagascar 2-0.

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel believes tough days lie ahead
for defenders who will be coming up against his London-based English Premier
League club side, Chelsea despite Wednesday’s Carling Cup loss to Newcastle
United.

The Blues rested a host of first-team players, including Mikel,
for the 4-3 home defeat to the Magpies and subsequently crashed out of the cup
tournament.

In addition to the loss, Salomon Kalou, Yossi Benayoun and Gael
Kakuta sustained injuries to make it a miserable Wednesday night for them and
their Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti.

To further compound the club’s woes, Frank Lampard, aggravated
his groin in training and will miss Saturday’s Premier League tie against
Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Chelsea currently tops the league table having secured five
straight league wins over West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham and Blackpool but
Manchester City will present them with a different type of challenge with a
team packed to the brim with top quality players.

However Mikel believes that defenders facing Chelsea must be
running scared after the league champions made good their intention of
retaining the league title by smashing in 21 goals in their opening five league
games.

Loads of options

“If I was a defender playing against Chelsea, I would be very
scared because you don’t know where we’re going to come from – we have Ashley
Cole bombing forward on the left side all the time,” Mikel said.

So it is hard to know what to expect when we have all these
players bombing forward all the time.

“If you look at our front three, none of them has a static
position, they are all moving around.

“It is the same with the midfield although I tend to stay a
little bit more because I cannot afford to leave that position.

“Playing that way helps us a lot while the other team is thinking about
whether to follow Nicolas Anelka’s runs, Frank Lampard or Michael Essien,” he
said. City coach Roberto Mancini is also short of defensive options with only
Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure as certain starters in their
backline.