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No other match comes close to the AC Milan versus Juventus tie, billed for this weekend, at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan.

Juventus have had
27 triumphs in the Serie A, as against the 17 that Milan can boast of,
but this match will not be for those foregone battles, they now have a
common enemy in Inter Milan. Inter Milan have now won five straight
Scudetti and are gunning for a record sixth, and both these teams will
do all in their power to stop the Nerazzurri in this record march. Both
teams are in the process of rebuilding and the Milan giants now have in
their ranks the likes of former Inter player, Ibrahimovich; and former
Real Madrid winger, Robinho, added to the tested legs of Clarence
Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo and the others. Now in second place on 17 points
from eight matches, this has been largely on account of the four goals
scored by Alexandre Pato. Milan seems to have found their foot under
the aptly named Massimiliano allegri in the Serie A.

Loss of Krasic could be profound

Juventus will miss
dearly the services of Milos Krasic, who has been suspended for two
matches for simulation in the match against Bologna. Also Coach Luigi
Delneri has been accused of being fixated on the 4-4-2 formation, to
the detriment of the various players that he has in the squad. Krasic
has been one of the more positive notes in Turin since he transferred
from CSKA Moscow. A statement from the league read: “The TV replay
showed that there was no contact between the two players and that the
Bianconero player’s dive was the cause for the referee to make a
mistake.” Vincenzo Iaquinta lost the resultant penalty dubiously
earned, and Juve had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Krasic is Juventus’
joint-top scorer with Fabio Quagliarella on three goals, but will miss
the game against AC Milan and the next encounter against Cesena.
Another striker, Amauri, has also been ruled out from between 10 – 14
days with a right Achilles tendon injury which gives a chance for club
captain, Allesandro Del Piero to partner Quagliarella, if the coach
decides to stick to his favourite formation. Milan had a perfect record
against Juventus last season, six points and six goals for and none
against. That will be playing on the mind of the Juventus’ players as
they step on the San Siro pitch on Saturday.

Man. United vs. Tottenham

Old Trafford have
found a new hero in Javier Hernandez – fondly known as Chicharito. The
little Mexican striker has scored five goals in his last five matches
for United and the fans are already saying – ‘Who needs Rooney when we
have Chicharito’. Meanwhile Wayne Rooney is in Dubai cooling of his
heels after signing the new bumper £200,000 a week contract till 2015.
United and Spurs have always served up interesting matches with plenty
of goals, but if there is a side that Tottenham is still pining to
beat, it will be United. The teams are separated by two points on the
table and a win from either side will enhance their positions on a
league table that is already looking choked after just nine weeks of
action. In the last six league meetings between the clubs, Spurs won
just two points. And the task may have has just got harder with the
form of Chicharito and the return to fitness of Rio Ferdinand, who has
been restored to his partnership with Nemanja Vidic.

Another negative
for Spurs is the loss of Ledley King to another injury. When King
plays, Spurs look a different class to when he is absent. Harry
Redknapp will hope that William Gallas fills the king-sized hole
efficiently. Redknapp will be counting on Gareth Bale to infuse some
turbo-charged runs down the left flank and service either Peter Crouch
or Roman Pavlyuchenko in attack supported by Robin Van Der Vaart and
Luca Modric.

Barcelona must keep on winning

Another intense
match is in the offing at Nou Camp after the hard fought 2-1 win over
Valencia in the last home match. With no let up in the momentum of
arch-rivals, Real Madrid, the Catalan giants cannot afford to drop any
points and expect Real to slip up. They must do the business on the
pitch. Sevilla have not had a stellar start to the championship and are
already on a second coach for the season after the sack of Antonio
Alvarez, who was replaced by Gregorio Manzano. Brazilian striker, Luis
Fabiano, the subject of a summer transfer move, just scored his first
two goals against Atletico Bilbao last weekend and will want to
continue at the Nou Camp in partnership with Fredi Kanoute. Pep
Guardiola does not have any fresh injury worries. Lionel Messi
continued his braces with another two against Gijon but David Villa
must get over his scoring drought for Barca to hit the high notes of
last season. Expect a tough match but Barcelona should prevail.

FIFA’s
executive committee began a two-day meeting on Thursday with the task
of reducing the confusion surrounding a World Cup bidding process being
played out against the backdrop of a corruption scandal.

FIFA’s executive
committee is due to choose the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups
in Zurich on December 2 but, with barely more than one month to go, the
voting process has not been announced and it is not clear how many
voters there will be. The bidders – Russia, England, Spain/Portugal,
and Belgium/Netherlands for 2018 and Japan, South Korea, Australia,
United States and Qatar for 2022 – say they are carrying on regardless
of the troubles. “Actually, it hasn’t had any effect,” Alexei Sorokin,
the Russian bid’s chief executive officer, told the International
Football Arena conference in Zurich. “We’re doing as we did before.
Today, we don’t know the number of executive committee members who will
vote. Other than that, we don’t see any impact. We are still
concentrating on presenting our case.”

Cleaning the mess

Last week, FIFA
provisionally suspended two members of the executive committee – Amos
Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti – over allegations they
offered to sell their votes to undercover newspaper reporters from the
Sunday Times. FIFA’s ethics committee is due to make a definitive
decision on the pair by mid November. It could extend the suspensions,
meaning that there will be only 22 or 23 voters at the December 2
election.

FIFA is also
investigating claims of collusion and vote-swapping between unnamed
bidders for the 2018 and 2022 bids, which is banned by the rules. The
ultimate penalty for this is disqualification. This week, the Swiss
parliament’s legal committee said it was considering an amendment to
the country’s anti-corruption laws, which do not currently cover
officials from the international sports organizations based in the
country. FIFA are due to hold a media conference after the meeting on
Friday (9 a.m. ET) to announce the committee’s decisions.

Super
Eagles and West Bromwich Albion striker, Osaze Odemwingie, has been
ruled out of the November 17 International friendly match between
Nigeria and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The recuperating
Eagles all-action player, who was on target against South Korea in a
previous friendly, has been replaced by the relatively unknown Akabueze
Chukwuma, who plays for Norwegian club, Odd Greenland. Chukwuma, a
left-footer, was one of the players that represented Nigeria at the
2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. According to the teams’ handlers,
Osaze’s exclusion was primarily to allow him recuperate well and fast
enough from the knee injury that has seen him absent for his club in
the past three weeks. Osaze got a knock in his team’s 1-1 draw with
Bolton on Saturday, October 2, and he still remains a doubt for the
game against Blackpool on Monday, November 1. Also out of the 20-man
list previously released by the Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen,
is Wasiu Sowemimo, who plies his trade with NPL side, Kano Pillars.
Nkume Alex, of VVV Venlo of Holland, has been drafted in to replace the
injured Pillars defender.

Yobo returns for the match

Meanwhile, Super
Eagles Skipper, Joseph Yobo, has been handed a late invitation to join
the team for the friendly. The new Fenerbahce of Turkey defender was
one of the high profile players that were initially left out of the
previous list of players invited for the match billed to take place in
Tehran next month. The addition of Yobo now brings the number of
players invited for the match to 21. While the likes of Yobo and
Vicient Enyeama were formally axed out of the team, Deputy Secretary
General of the NFF, Emmanuel Ikpeme, explained that the move was not
punitive, but meant to try out younger players.

“There is nothing to be read from the decision,” he said. “The
players are not dropped. We just want to try out some younger players
so that we can build strength in depth for the team. It also does not
mean that the players not invited are no longer members of the team.
They are our key members but we need to give other players a chance to
see if they can fit in when these big players for any reason, are
unavailable.” According to arrangements put in place by the NFF, the
home based players are to assemble in Abuja a week before the match
where they will train while the foreign based pros are expected to fly
straight to Iran and meet up with the squad two days to the match.
Iran, preparing for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011, lost to Brazil 3-0 in
a friendly held in Abu Dhabi, the UAE earlier this month.

The
first properly organised open-wheel motor sports competition in Nigeria
will take place on Saturday, November 30, at the GET Arena, Lagos.

The event will be
the first of its kind in Nigeria, and a chance for lovers of motor
sports to show their skills and compete with a world-class renowned
champion in Abdo Feghali. Feghalli is a track manager on the
Rally-4wheel – Tarmac. He has in the past won many awards. His most
recent is a 3 race of champions. The event, which is called ‘Beat the
Champ,’ is an initiative of Red Bull to encourage lovers of go-kart
racing to again embrace their passion. All the participants will have a
chance to challenge and beat the racing record that the multi-award
winning Lebanese national, Abdo Feghali, popularly known as Dado, will
set at the go-kart event.

The spokesperson
for the company, Vivian Ihaza, expressed that the Red Bull initiative
has been going on in other parts of the world, but this is the first
time it is happening in Nigeria. “We are keen supporters of extreme and
innovative sports and are looking forward to sharing our brand world
with participants,” she said.

Racing against the champion

Commenting on the
possibilities that the event may generate for the country, Feghali, who
arrived the country yesterday, said he hopes that it would be a chance
for the country to explore the talents in the sports, and improve on
it. For him, Red Bull has sponsored him for the last 10 years, and it
will be good to have a Nigerian in the sports too. Go-kart enthusiasts
can come to the GET arena on Saturday to register and participate. The
winners will not only get the opportunity to “beat” a world-class
champ, but the sponsors are promising some attractive prizes.

Go-kart is seen as the base for anyone who is interested in getting
into motor sports, which comes in various forms. Go-kart racing is
inexpensive and safe way to introduce the sport to motor racing
aspiring drivers. Those interested can rent go-karts per session from
between 15 – 20 minutes and use it to perfect their body movements and
driving skills, before going to the big events. It is known globally as
a good recreational sport.

It
has been an eventful year for Nigerian football. The bad reasons are
known to most if not all of us, and it is not quite over yet until Amos
Adamu’s case is decided in about a month and our football hopefully
stays scandal-free for a long while to come. After all is said and
done, it is time to move forward. I quote from Philippians 3:13-14
which urges us to “forget those things that are behind us, and reach
for the things ahead and press towards the mark”. This was more or less
Aminu Maigari’s plea upon resumption as FIFA approved NFF President.
Already, the NFF have impressively taken steps to immediately resolve
dire pending issues like the resumption of the Nigeria Premier League
and deciding who will be our National team coach or manager.

In light of
pressing toward the mark, it would be great if the NFF could clarify
what ‘the mark’ is, so that Nigerians can appraise their performance
during their 4-year tenure. However, I believe appointing the right
national team manager at this time is very crucial to our football
because of the team’s role to our national psyche.

The way forward

We are at another
threshold of our football development which is similar the position
Germany was in immediately after a woeful 2004 European Championship in
Portugal. Like us, the Germans didn’t win a single match and didn’t get
of the group and knew they needed to take drastic action. They did so
boldly by appointing Jurgen Klinnsman, a known advocate of attacking
football at the helm of football affairs. The first thing he did was to
attempt giving the national team an identity, an attack-minded identity
which entailed passing the ball on the ground from the back to the
front line as quickly as possible. That decision has paid off with two
World Cup semi-finals (2006 & 2010) and the final of Euro 2008. It
was not easy and Klinnsman and crew came close to being sacked but the
DFB (German Football Federation) were patient and focused on the long
term results based on their appraisal of results and progress reports.

Nigerian can
similarly recover from the poor showing in South Africa as quickly as
Germany did six years ago but we must do it our own football way. Every
nation has its own culture and specific environment as well as its own
footballing identity. The NFF has to develop (or rediscover) our own
vision and decide how we should play. Making that vision work is not an
easy process and may take time and our results might not be positive
while it takes effect. I know that is something the current board and
most Nigerians may not want to hear because we all want immediate and
continually good results. Something else that Klinnsman did was to
enlist the help of every Bundesliga coach through the DFB’s backing to
influence and imbibe the attacking playing style. I advocate the same
for Nigeria based on our history, strength, skills and physique.

The football federation is important

The NFF must also
help by putting a lot of pressure on all the Premier and second
division teams in the NPL to build real academy programmes to ensure
talented young players come through playing the same style. Workshops
should be held by the NFF with Nigerian coaches and players to intimate
them more on how we want to be playing, how the Nigerian public want to
see the national playing and how we want to be seen playing by the rest
of the world. This strategy should then be implemented at all levels by
coaches with the same like mind so that our national teams play the
same at all levels. Also importantly, existing senior players must buy
into the vision to make it work. Some foundations need to be laid to
form the basis for the manager’s appointment. The most pertinent are
that the NFF should

1. Appreciate that
our football is at threshold and they can decide to undertake a bold
revolution or try a conservative approach.

2. Be committed to
change 3. Demonstrate a full understanding of the significance of a
successful national team in decision making.

4. Define the kind of football that epitomises our skills, strengths and character to revive those heady days of 1994.

5. Leave coaching
to the manager and provide with the tools to succeed. This includes
excellent monetary motivation and perks to international standards.

Therefore the new coach must have the character, savvy, pedigree,
desire for attacking football and experience to implement the task and
take us out of the doldrums we currently reside in. Though the choice
does not have to be popular, it seems obvious to me. The man appears to
be Samson Siasia who has the right mix of these qualities never mind
his recent club management experience for which I think he has learnt
valuable lessons from and he will be a popular choice. We wait and see
in expectation of a significant positive change in Nigeria football.

After
spending three months in Nigeria, Lenka Sehropferova and Helen
Schonbrodt will complete their internship with a clinic at the Ikeja
Sports Ground today. Both ladies, in partnership with Search and Groom,
a non-governmental association (NGO), have been in Nigeria helping to
facilitate training of coaches and young female football players.

Lenka, who is a Ski instructor in the winter periods, said the trip to Nigeria has been very colourful and interesting.

“I was able to come
to Lagos, Nigeria for an internship in non-profit organisation trough
the GLEN program organised by INEX – Association for Voluntary
Activities.”

Her partner, Helen, is an amateur footballer in Germany. For her, doing non-profit work in Nigeria is a dream come true.

Good experience

“I have always had
the dream of coming to Africa and Nigeria was the first point of call
and I am so happy because it was the fulfilment of a dream,” Helen said.

“This trip has given me an opportunity to experience first-hand how development and cooperation works.”

The clinic is
especially organised for the women as the two interns have structured a
programme or an initiative called ‘Fempower’ – which is a female
empowerment programme using football as the tool of communication.

Yomi Kuku, the
director of Search and Groom said: “The programme is basically to
connect females to their inner strength and help to build capacity.
There seems to be a barrier to growth in this neck of the woods and the
ladies will be trying to help through short drama sketches and football
training to help dispel these doubts.

Kuku said even
though the focus is on football, the ladies also encouraged to take
their education seriously as that it will prove helpful if they fail to
make it in football.

Helen hopes Fempower will give women the freedom to make their dreams come true.

“We have noticed in
all our clinics over the past three months that the women are more
inhibited than the men, maybe by the culture and society and that is
why the watchword for Fempower is kicking away the barriers. We hope to
help in our own little way to help the girls achieve their dreams. That
is why we have been here for the past three months.”

The ladies will be leaving Nigeria on Sunday on a road trip to North Africa.

England performed
well below expectation at the World Cup in South Africa and judging by
the FIFA Ballon d’Or list announced on Tuesday the stock of the Premier
League is not at its highest either.

Just three players
from the league that likes to call itself the best in the world are on
the list and it would be a huge surprise if any of them made it into
the top three:

Have a glance
through the full list (in all its glory above) and you’ll see just
Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas and Asamoah Gyan representing England’s
Premier League, and the latter has barely figured for his new club
Sunderland.

I doubt anyone in
English football will be too worried by this, with the money from TV
rights still rolling in, but perhaps they should be.

In terms of star quality La Liga makes the Premier League look strictly second division.

Serie A, derided
over the past few seasons, now boasts the European Cup holders and a
resurgent AC Milan and even the Bundesliga has a healthier than usual
representation thanks to the exploits of Champions League finalists
Bayern Munich and Joachim Loew’s fearless Nationalmannschaft – the
national team.

It was different,
perhaps, when Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Fernando
Torres and the likes were being described as among the world’s finest
but performances at the World Cup that were indifferent to poor have
made those assessments look like so much hype.

The Premier League still commands enormous global appeal which
translates into massive revenues for the clubs. That will continue for
the foreseeable future but the fact that the most exciting players from
the World Cup are all delighting audiences elsewhere should at least
give the Premier League pause for thought.

After successfully securing a ticket to the Africa Youth Championships (AYC) scheduled to take place in Libya next year, Flying Eagles coach, John Obuh, says he now has his eyes on the African title.

The Nigerian under-20 team defeated their counterpart from Mauritius 2-1 in the final round of the qualifiers at the Abuja National Stadium over the weekend and qualify with a 4-1 aggregate score line to join seven other countries that will be vying for the African title.

“I am happy we have now qualified, we have seen our mistakes during the qualifiers and we now have the time to correct them before the championships proper so we can also give a good challenge for the title” Obuh said Obuh who was in charge of the Golden Eaglets team that finished second at the last World Cup hosted by Nigeria hinted at plans of fortifying the team that secured the qualification ticket.

“I think the team is not that bad. You know the players, they are very good.

“But there will be some inclusion in the team ahead of the tournament in Libya,” Obuh said.

More support

Mauritius Coach, Raven Dorasami, has also tipped the Nigerian team for honours in Libya.

“Your boys have great skills, strong and highly talented. I think they are sure bet to win the 2011 Africa Youth Championship in Libya. They are a very strong side,” Dorasami said.

“I think the Nigerian team played better, in the defence, attack and in the midfield.

He, however, observed that the Flying Eagles’ weakness was shown in the defence which he said needed to be fortified ahead of Libya 2011.

“If I were to identify any weakness in the Nigerian team, that would be the defence, it was shaky today,” the coach said.

Nigeria had been tipped to win the last edition in Rwanda, but finished in a disappointing third postion which led to the sack of Ladan Bosso, who was coach at that time.

Nigeria’s last win at the tourney was at the 2005 edition in Benin where Samson Siasia led the team to victory and a second place at the World Cup played in Holland.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Davidson Owumi, has said he is ready to clear his name of all the allegations of corruption levelled against him.

“I have submitted documents to back up my answers, which the EFCC was seeking to know. They have the right to investigate any petition filed in, said Owumi, who was arrested last week by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“So I will cooperate with them to make sure that the case comes to a very good conclusion. Like I have said since this case came up, I will not run away from being investigated because I am not hiding anything.

“If I drove myself from Abuja down to Enugu to face the EFCC, I can also tell you that I am ready to clear my name of any wrongdoing,” he said.

The EFCC had on Wednesday asked Owumi to answer a petition bordering on a number of allegations about his tenure as chairman of the Club Owners Association of Nigeria.

Femi Babafemi EFCC Head, Media and Publicity, confirmed that Owumi has reported to the office of the anti-graft body in Enugu and has also submitted relevant documents to help the commission with its investigation.

“He has reported to our office in Enugu, I must tell you. And I have also been informed that he has submitted documents relating to all the allegations levelled against him,” Babafemi said.

Allegations of corruption

Owumi has been accused of running the Club Owners Association of Nigeria, which has been described as an illegal body. He is also being investigated for allegedly running an illegal website; used to sell players from the Enugu club and for the receipt N23 million from Globacom Nigeria Limited under the guise of the Club Owners Association of Nigeria.

According to Owumi, contrary to the claims, the Club Owners Association is neither his company nor an illegal association. He said it has been in existence for over twenty years and was founded by Femi Olukanmi with members like Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and others.

Owumi told a sports news website that the allegegation that he received N23 million from Globacom was untrue as the club owners had no contractual terms with the company.

He said during the 2007 congress of the NPL, a motion was passed that one percentage of the title sponsorship fee should be ceded to the club owners.

“But the truth is that in the congress of 2007, the motion was moved and adopted that one per cent of the title sponsorship fee should be remitted to the club owners association. The money in question is meant to cover hotel accommodation and flight tickets of the club owners during matters relating to the congress meetings,” he said.

Owumi said he will leave the EFCC to carry out its inquiry into the matter since they have every document at their disposal.

Fernando Alonso could take his third Formula One title in Brazil next week but neither Ferrari nor his rivals expect that to happen after a weekend win in South Korea that owed more to luck than strategy.

Even if the Spaniard won both his previous titles with Renault at Interlagos, and the last five championships have been settled in Sao Paulo, this year’s battle is set to be a cliffhanger right to the finale in Abu Dhabi one week later.

“This championship I believe will go down to the last lap in Abu Dhabi,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters on Sunday.

His two drivers, Australian Mark Webber and Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, failed to finish at the new and hastily completed Yeongam circuit some 400km southwest of the capital Seoul.

“There is still only a race win between Sebastian in fourth (place overall) and Alonso in the lead.

“And how many times have we seen this year the championship to and fro? It’s impossible to have a crystal ball and predict what will happen in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.”

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali also expected a tough fight over the last two races, rejecting a suggestion that another victory in Brazil might be enough for Alonso.

“I don’t think so to be honest. I would love it if you were right but I don’t think so,” he said.

McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh agreed:

“Brazil is a great circuit and always produces a great race, but there is little doubt now the championship decider is going to be in Abu Dhabi.”

Webber had started the day as overall leader but handed the initiative to Vettel when he crashed out – only for the German to suffer an engine failure nine laps from the end while leading.

That left Alonso to collect the winner’s 25 points and, in the latest twist in a rollercoaster of a season, surge 11 points clear of Webber, who won in Brazil last year.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is third and 21 points off the lead while Vettel is four further back. World champion Jenson Button remains mathematically a contender but, 42 points off the pace, the McLaren man is effectively out of the running.

Silverstone warning

Alonso had said after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July, when he finished 14th after a drive-through penalty,

that he could still win the championship.

That sounded overly optimistic to some at the time but results since then has more than proved his point.

The Spaniard has won three of the last four races, four of the past seven, and collected more points since Silverstone than any other driver. He also knows exactly what it takes to win a championship and how to handle the pressure.

“We have been doing well, been very concentrated, very focused in the last six or seven races. But we cannot forget we need to be on the podium and fighting for victory in the next two races,” he said after his fifth win of the season on Sunday.

Alonso, whose team had railed against the stewards and cursed their misfortune in Valencia in June, said luck was a key factor but consistency also crucial.

“We struggled to be on the podium for one part of the season, as I said, maybe because of the luck factor.

“Now we are achieving more wins than expected because of the luck factor as well, because today we were third and one Red Bull crashed, one Red Bull blew up, so as we said many times, luck at the end of the year is compensated.”

Ferrari, who decided to make Alonso the focus of their title challenge when they invoked ‘team orders’ at a controversial German Grand Prix in July, will remain focused on improving the car and keeping level-headed.

“The key of the end of the season will be reliability and to keep concentration to the end,” said Domenicali.

“Now is the time to be humble and prepare the race in the best way we can. We cannot afford to have any kind of problem.

“They (Red Bull) have a fantastic car.

But despite this fantastic car we are there, fighting, and we will fight up to the last corner of the last race.”