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Two weeks ago, Arsenal were dreaming of a quadruple, but by
Saturday evening, after their FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United at
Old Trafford, they could be reduced to chasing just the Premier League title.

Arsenal were surprisingly beaten in the League Cup final by
Birmingham City, knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and missed a
chance to close on United in the Premier League when they drew 0-0 at home with
Sunderland. Manager Arsene Wenger, bristling with fury at the red card for
Robin van Persie that he felt contributed to their 3-1 loss in the Nou Camp,
must refocus his energy as he seeks his first trophy since winning the FA Cup
in 2005. With United also standing in the way of the Premier League title and
the two teams due to meet in the Emirates next month, Saturday’s game is a
chance to gain a psychological advantage.

Tough luck

Arsenal have not won at Old Trafford since 2006, losing there in
the league, Champions League and FA Cup, a 4-0 thrashing in 2008. They are
likely to be without Cesc Fabregas after the captain aggravated a hamstring
strain against Barcelona and will definitely miss first-choice goalkeeper
Wojciech Szczesny after he dislocated a finger. With Theo Walcott also likely
to miss out and Andrey Arshavin struggling for form, it looks a tough task for
Arsenal, also beaten 1-0 at Old Trafford in December. “We’ve we got to pick
ourselves up, we have to go there on Saturday and get a win,” midfielder Jack
Wilshere said. “We are still in two competitions and we want a trophy.”

United have also experienced a mini-slump with back-to-back
league defeats at Chelsea and Liverpool but they remain a formidable force at
home, where they have won 13 and drawn one of 14 league games this season. The
record 11-times Cup winners will be without winger Nani on Saturday after he
suffered a cut shin in the 3-1 Liverpool defeat but Alex Ferguson’s team plans
are likely to remain a secret if the manager maintains a media blackout he
imposed in the wake of the two league defeats.

Other matches

Reading are the only remaining club from outside the Premier
League in the competition after the Championship (second division) side beat
Everton at Goodison Park to reach the last eight for the second successive
season. They face a tough task to go any further, however, as they visit
Manchester City on Sunday. City have probably given up any realistic hope of
winning the league but the Cup offers a great opportunity for their first
silverware since 1976.

After waiting 48 years for a cup success, Birmingham are now
eying two in one season as they host Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. Birmingham
climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw at Everton on Wednesday and
manager Alex McLeish faces a difficult juggling act with a series of crunch games
against relegation rivals on the horizon.

Two more clubs taking a break from the relegation fight are Stoke City and
West Ham United, who meet in the Midlands on Sunday. Stoke, who have never
reached the final, lost to Chelsea in the quarter-finals last season but have a
better chance this time to make the semis for the first time since 1972. West
Ham, who lost to Birmingham in the League Cup semi-finals, are back in the
relegation zone and will have mixed views on another drain on their resources.

Nigeria’s U-20 male football team, the Flying Eagles, has
arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Antalya, Turkey, in continuation
of the team’s preparation for this year’s African Youth Championship.

The team will play Egypt’s U-20 team today while also keeping a
date with Saudi Arabia’s U-20 side on Sunday, March 13, before returning to
Nigeria on March 14. Sam Ameobi, the younger brother of Shola Ameobi, is
expected to feature in today’s game as Coach John Obuh said he wants to give
the 19 year old a chance to prove his worth.

The Flying Eagles have been in Turkey for over three weeks
preparing for the tournament previously billed to start in Libya on March 18
but the current unrest in the North African country has forced the
Confederation of African Football to postpone the tournament indefinitely. The
team, though undefeated in most of their tune matches, have also not been too
successful outside the 3-0 whiplash of FC Aktov, a Premier League club from
Kazakhstan last week Thursday.

Gunning for glory

The Flying Eagles are gunning for an unprecedented sixth title
at this year’s championship but have been handed a tough draw which sees them
pitched alongside Africa and World Champions, Ghana, and also the duo of
Cameroun and Gambia. The football federation is yet to pick a new host for the
tournament, but there are speculations that last FIFA World Cup host, South
Africa, looks favoured to host the championships, which also doubles as the
qualifiers for Youth World Cup to be staged in Colombia later this year.

Africa has been given four slots, meaning that only the semi finalist at
this year’s event will get a chance to represent the continent at the World
Championships. Meanwhile, as the Flying Eagles get ready to return back to the
country this weekend, the Nigeria Football Federation is already seeking
assistance from state governors that would help foot the bills for the camping
of the team as they await a new date for the championship. Sources close to the
NFF revealed that both the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and his
Taraba State counterpart, Danbaba Suntai, have both been approached for this
purpose.

Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia has handed a national team
recall to the duo of Obafemi Martins and Ikechukwu Uche ahead of this month’s
2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia.

They were both included in the 24-man list released by Siasia on
Wednesday in Abuja. Martins hasn’t featured for the Super Eagles since the
conclusion of the last FIFA World Cup in South Africa, no thanks to a dip in
form. But his recent run of games along with his cup-winning strike for
Birmingham City in their Carling Cup final victory over Arsenal ensured he got
a look-in from Siasia. Uche, for his part, hasn’t featured for the Super Eagles
since 2009 no thanks to two career threatening knee injuries. Although the Real
Zaragoza forward was included in the provisional list of players ahead of last
year’s World Cup, his match rustiness, owing to his long injury layoff, ensured
that he was excluded from the final 23-man squad for the tournament by former Super
Eagles helmsman Lars Lagerback.

He however recently made a return to action for the Spanish
first division side, and even got to score a goal in his side’s 2-1 win over
Athletic Bilbao at the start of the month. He now looks set to fight for a spot
in the Super Eagles attack ahead of the all important game against the
Ethiopians scheduled for March 27 at Abuja’s National Stadium. But getting into
the match-day squad won’t be a stroll in the park for Uche and Martins as they
will face stiff competition in the form of Everton’s Victor Anichebe, who’s
also staging a return to the Super Eagles after missing out of the World Cup,
Denmark based Peter Utaka and Warri Wolves’ Ekigho Ehiosun who made a scoring
debut in the win over the Sierra Leoneans. Solomon Okoronkwo, who now plays for
Norwegian side Aalesund after ending his three year romance with Russian side
Saturn Moscow, will also fight for a shirt in the Super Eagles’ attack.

Reunion

It will be a reunion of sorts with Siasia for the 24-year-old
Okoronkwo who was an integral part of the Nigerian sides that finished second
respectively at the 2005 FIFA Under 20 World Cup and the football event of the
2008 Beijing Olympics. Another player who will be reunited with Siasia is
Israel based central defender, Efe Ambrose, who was in the 2005 Flying Eagles
side.

Other members of the 2005 Flying Eagles side in the 24-man list
are: Heartland of Owerri’s Chibuzor Okonkwo, Xanthi of Greece’s Adefemi
Olubayo, Marseille’s Taye Taiwo, Ukraine based Dele Adeleye, and Chelsea’s
Mikel Obi. Inter Milan’s Joel Obi, who made his Super Eagles debut in the
international friendly against Sierra Leone, is also in the side, and he will
be joined by Obiora Nwankwo who could be in lone for his senior debut.

Other players in line for debut appearances against the Ethiopians are AC
Milan youngster Nnamdi Oduamadi, who is a natural right winger, as well as
central midfielder Fengor Ogude of Norwegian side Valerenga. The Super Eagles
presently trail Guinea on the log table after two round of matches. With four
round of matches to go until the end of the qualifiers, the Super Eagles must
win their remaining games to stand a chance of qualifying for the Cup of
Nations ahead of the Guineans, who grabbed a 1-0 win last time out in October
2010.

Peter Crouch, whose goal gave Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 aggregate
victory over AC Milan, believes Spurs are developing the same qualities that
took his former club Liverpool to the Champions League final in 2007.

Crouch’s goal at the San Siro proved decisive as the two teams
fought out a tense 0-0 second leg draw in the last-16 at White Hart Lane on
Wednesday which put Spurs through to the quarter-finals of the tournament for
the first time. Crouch came on as a late substitute when Milan beat Liverpool
2-1 in Athens four years ago when they won their seventh title, but was on the
winning side as Spurs showed surprisingly resilient defensive qualities on
Wednesday.

The lanky striker, who caused Milan problems until he came off
in the closing stages, believes Spurs can emulate, or even better Liverpool’s
performance in 2007. “When I reached the final with Liverpool in a lot of those
games we had to grind results out,” Crouch told reporters. “If you are going to
get to the final you have to face top class opposition, you’re not always going
to have the ball and I think if you defend well you’re going to get results.
That’s what we did at Liverpool and I think that’s what we did tonight.” Asked
if his Spurs team are better than the one Liverpool had, he said: “I think individually
we are. In that Liverpool team that reached the final, we were extremely
organised, we knew our jobs inside out. Certainly this Tottenham side has got
better individuals and probably more attacking with the flair that we’ve got.”

Impossible dream

While Crouch did the damage in attack, Michael Dawson, Spurs
skipper on the night, had a superb match in defence and alongside William
Gallas, managed to nullify the threat from Milan’s forwards, the disappointing
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pato and Robinho. “I think tonight we proved something
different. We can be resilient as well. So why can’t we get to the final?
Normally we are a very attacking team but tonight we had to change the way we
normally play. I think the whole team has to take credit for the clean sheet.”

Harry Redknapp, who has become the first English manager to
guide a team into the last eight of the Champions League, was also buoyant
afterwards, but kept his feet very much on the ground. “It’s been a great night
for Tottenham, but we are not going to celebrate yet,” he told reporters
afterwards. “This is an impossible dream for us, if someone had said two years
ago we would be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League you’d have
thought they were mad. I am just going home and not getting too carried away.
I’ll have a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, and take the dogs out.”

Zimbabwe’s biggest
challenge in their next World Cup game against Sri Lanka is simply
batting the first 15 overs without giving away too many wickets,
according to their captain on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe will play
against co-hosts Sri Lanka on Thursday in Kandy looking for a surprise
victory after losing to New Zealand and Australia.

They beat fellow non-test playing Canada despite falling to 2-7 halfway through the third over.

“The biggest challenge is the first 15 overs,” Elton Chigumbura told a news conference.

“We haven’t done
well so far. So obviously it is to go through the first 15 overs. The
first 15 (overs) have been the most disappointing part for all our
games we have played so far.” In their tournament matches against
test-playing nations, Kenya were 4-44 inside 13 overs taking on
Australia and 5-46 inside 15 against New Zealand.

Chigumbura’s team
will face Sri Lanka’s in-form fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who captured
six wickets including a hat-trick in the match against Kenya, and the
game’s most successful wicket-taker, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

“It is a big
challenge. Most of their bowlers are match winners. So we have been
working on our plan to see if we can keep our wickets in the first 15
overs,” said Chigumbura.

Zimbabwe’s chances
of qualifying for the quarter-finals rely on them beating Sri Lanka and
Pakistan (March 14) before taking on Kenya on March 20.

“If we correct our batting, my bowlers have a chance of defending a score of over 260.”

Rotimi Amaechi, the
Governor of Rivers State, on Tuesday took a swipe at some members of
the Super Eagles describing them as disrespectful.

Amaechi, who spoke
during the 2nd edition of the Africa Independent Television (AIT)
Football Awards, which was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said
the players, who he did not name, lacked manners.

He singled out
Westbrom striker, Osaze Odemwingie (winner of the AIT Footballer of the
Year for 2009) and Hapoel Tel Aviv goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, who won
the award at Tuesday’s event, as two players who apart from being very
patriotic, show respect to both their colleagues and officials.

“A lot of the
Eagles players are disrespectful. Vincent and Osaze were among the few
that would talk to us at the PTF (Presidential Task Force — for the
Eagles 2010 World Cup preparations),” Amaechi said. The governor was
the president of the task force, which has now been disbanded.

“I like Osaze and Vincent for their patriotism. If the country doesn’t pay you, God will pay you,” he said.

The governor
praised the organisers of the awards noting that there had been a
marked improvement in the organisation of the event, which he said was
laudable.

He said his administration is working towards completing the Games
Village including the 25,000 capacity Stadium named after Adokiye
Amiesimaka, a former Nigeria international. The stadium is expected to
be used for the National Sports Festival taking place in the state this
June.

Aminu Maigari, the
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has thanked the
organisers of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) Football Awards
for conceiving an event he says will aid the growth of the game in the
country.

Maigari said this in Port Harcourt on Tuesday night during the 2010 edition of the awards, which was held in Rivers State.

“The award has
overcome obstacles to set a standard and we at the NFF recognise their
efforts. This event is remarkable in more ways than one. Coming after
all that happened in 2010, it represents a breath of fresh air. The
year 2010 is one that is best forgotten for its turbulence. This award
not only recognises excellence but also motivates and inspires. I
salute the Rivers State governor for his encouragement and support
towards making the awards a success,” Maigari said.

The NFF President,
who presented a posthumous award to Nathaniel Idowu, a former vice
Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and a passionate
supporter of the national teams, extolled the qualities of the late
football administrator.

“Idowu was a
remarkable man. We acknowledge his contributions to the game. Nigerian
football will forever be grateful for his inputs into the game,”
Maigari said.

The 2010 AIT Football awards attracted dignitaries from within and outside Nigeria.

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vince Enyeama emerged winner of the
Footballer of the Year Award in the male category edging 2009 winner,
Osaze Odemwingie and Almeria FC of Spain forward, Kalu Uche. Super
Falcons Striker, Perpetua Nkwocha emerged winner in the female category.

Milan, seeking to reach the last eight for
the first time since winning their seventh title in 2007, failed to do
that for the fourth successive season, despite creating the better
chances on Wednesday.

Spurs, who
won 1-0 at the San Siro, could not press home their advantage but the
Premier League gave a resolute defensive performance to reach the last
eight of Europe’s premier competition for the first time since they
reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1962.

“A
great night for the players… a great night for the fans. It’s a great
achievement for this club, to be in the last eight of the Champions
League,” Spurs manager Harry Redknapp told ITV.

“It was hard work out there tonight. They were a good side but we worked our socks off and stayed with them.

“We
got outnumbered in the middle of the park, (Milan midfielder) Seedorf
played in that spare role, they passed it well in midfield and made it
difficult for us to get near them.”

Spurs
are the first English team through to the last eight this season
following Arsenal’s defeat by Barcelona on Tuesday. Chelsea and
Manchester United are still in contention for a quarter-final place.

Milan dominated the first half with Spurs penned in their own half for long periods and thankful to goalkeeper Heurelho

Gomes and centre back William Gallas that they were not trailing at the interval.

Gomes,
despite one or two typically erratic pieces of keeping, stretched to
save a goalbound shot from Zlatan Ibrahimovic after 15 minutes and also
did well to save from Pato just past the half hour.

But
he was lucky that Gallas was on hand to save his embarrassment after 26
minutes when he was rounded by Pato whose cross found Robinho.

The
Brazilian did not shoot cleanly, his effort looping off defender Benoit
Assou-Ekotto’s back and was seemingly goalbound until Gallas hooked it
clear from under the bar.

Spurs
tactic of high balls played up to the tall Peter Crouch did not bring
any tangible rewards even though the Milan defence struggled at times
to cope with them and the London side’s best chances fell to Rafael Van
der Vaart.

He poked a half-chance wide after only two minutes and sent a free kick just over Christian Abbati’s bar.

Milan,
needing just one goal to take the tie into extra time, almost achieved
that in stoppage time when Robinho sent a shot fizzing just over
Gomes’s bar.</

A low quality
make-shift friendly match with West African neighbours, Sierra-Leone
counted for so little as the Super Eagles moved just a step up in the
latest rankings released yesterday by world football governing body,
FIFA.

The Super Eagles now occupy the 39th spot in the world rankings.

Though the Eagles
won the friendly against the Leone Stars 2-1, they still remain the
fourth best team in the African continent behind the likes of Ghana,
Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt.

Ghana dropped one
spot to become 16th in the world, but are still the highest ranked
African team with Cote D’ Ivoire as Africa’s second best team; 25th in
the world. Current African champions, Egypt are rated third in Africa
while occupying the 35th spot in the world.

Minor changes

According to FIFA, a total of 55 friendly matches were taken into account for the March edition of the world rankings.

Not many changes
were recorded as world champions, Spain still leads the overall
standing followed by the Netherlands in second and Germany in third
position.

Spain has been the top-ranked team in the world since winning the World Cup last July when it knocked Brazil from the top spot.

Even worse for the
Brazilians is the fact that they have now been overtaken by fierce
rivals Argentina, who now occupy fourth spot in the world rankings
ahead of the five-time former world champions.

England, Uruguay, Croatia, Portugal and Greece complete the list of the top ten teams in the world.

Task ahead

Meanwhile, the
Super Eagles stand a chance of making an upward movement on next
month’s rankings, which will be released by the world body on April 13,
as they have a competitive match ahead of them later this month.

The team will take
on Ethiopia in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match at the Abuja
National Stadium on Sunday March 27 with the knowledge that anything
other than a victory over the East Africans will end Nigeria’s dream of
qualifying for the tournament to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and
Gabon.

With just four
round of matches to go until the end of the qualifiers, the Super
Eagles need a convincing victory over the Ethiopians to put back their
Nations Cup participation aspirations back on the track as they
currently trail Guinea on the log by three points.

Naming the squad

Only the top placed
teams from each of the qualifying groups are guaranteed a ticket to the
biannual African championship. But Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia
has already promised to crush the Ethiopians who are currently ranked
124th in the world and 33rd in Africa.

The list of players to be invited for the must win match will be announced today by Siasia at a press conference in Abuja.

Already there are
speculations over those that may likely make the team list with the
likes of Obafemi Martins, Victor Anichebe and defender, Efe Ambrose
expected to make a surprise return to the Super Eagles team.

The FIFA world rankings are determined by points awarded from match
results in a three-year period, with more recent games given greater
weight while teams get additional points for playing relatively strong
opponents.

Even though this year’s Women World Cup taking place in Germany
in June will be a tough one for Nigeria, the Super Falcons will not be
pushovers. This is the view of team coach, Eucharia Uche.

Uche, who beat the coaches of the Falconets and Flamingoes to
emerge 2010 Coach of the Year at the AIT Football Awards held in Portharcourt
on Tuesday, said the Falcons, who also won the team of the Year at the AIT
event, will mount a serious challenge for the title. Drawn in Group A alongside
defending champions, Germany, France and Canada, the Nigerian ladies have a
tough task ahead of them in the opinion of Nigerian football fans. This belief
is predicated largely on the strength of the 8-0 spanking of the Falcons by
Germany last year after the Nigerian team won the African Women’s Championships
in South Africa.

Different ball game

“Things will be different this time around. No team is going to
beat us by that margin at the World Cup. My ladies are fired up and we will do
our best,” said Uche whose team engages Namibia on April 2 in a tune up match
for the World Cup. On the award won by the Falcons, she said it is deserved. “I
am happy we won the award,” she said. “It is an honour deserved giving the
performance of the ladies. I thank the organisers of the award for recognising
hard work and excellence. My girls have tasted victory and now they know what
it means to win.”

Nigeria has been to all the editions of the FIFA women’s World Cup since its
inception in 1991 but has yet to make it past the quarter-final of the
tournament. Africa’s other representatives, Equatorial Guinea, the team Nigeria
beat to clinch the Africa Women’s Championship, are in Group with Brazil,
former champions, Norway and Australia.