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Tag: Coach

  • Uruguay sack 74-year-old coach after record-breaking 15-year stint

    Uruguay sack 74-year-old coach after record-breaking 15-year stint

    Iconic Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez was sacked on Friday after a record-breaking 15 years in the job, following a poor run of results that leaves the country’s World Cup qualification hopes in the balance.

    Tabarez, 74, enjoys almost legendary status in Uruguay having led the tiny country of 3.4 million people to the World Cup semi-finals in 2010 and then to the Copa America title a year later.

    But four straight defeats — three of them by three goals — have left Uruguay in danger of missing out on next year’s World Cup, a tournament they won in 1930 and 1950.

    “The executive committee of the AUF informs that it has decided to end the contract of Oscar Washington Tabarez and other members of the national team coaching staff,” said the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) in a statement.

    The AUF described it as a “difficult decision” that in no way “disavows Tabarez’s important contribution to Uruguayan football.”

    Uruguay have scored just one goal, conceding 11, in their last four matches that included defeats to Brazil, Bolivia, and twice to Argentina.

    They sit seventh in the single South American qualifying table for the World Cup in Qatar, with only the first four progressing automatically.

    Brazil and Argentina have already qualified, while Ecuador need just two wins from their final four matches to join them.

    The battle for the final spot sees five teams, including Uruguay, separated by just two points.

    Tabarez took charge of a record 221 matches with a single national team, even putting him ahead of former Germany boss Joachim Loew, with 198 games.

    He was the longest-serving current national team coach until Friday at 15 years and eight months.

    Tabarez first took over the Uruguay reins from 1988 to 1990 before he was hired again in 2006.

    He also coached Boca Juniors twice and AC Milan between his two stints with the national team

  • BREAKING: Aston Villa sack coach, Dean Smith

    BREAKING: Aston Villa sack coach, Dean Smith

    Aston Villa have sacked manager Dean Smith after three years in charge.

    Smith, 50, leaves following Villa’s 1-0 defeat by Southampton on Friday, the club’s fifth successive defeat in the Premier League.

    Villa are 15th in the league, two points above the relegation zone.

    “This year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for,” said Villa chief Christian Purslow.

    He added: “For this reason we have decided to make a change now to allow time for a new head coach to make an impact.”

    Smith was appointed Villa manager in October 2018, guiding them to promotion from the Championship in his first season in charge.

    Though they struggled in their first season in the top-flight, narrowly avoiding relegation, Smith led the club to the 2019-20 Carabao Cup final.

  • No manager could do better at Barca – Koeman

    No manager could do better at Barca – Koeman

    Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman insists no other manager could do better than he has with the current squad.

    Ahead of their Atletico Madrid clash this weekend, Koeman was asked if another coach would do better with Barca this season.

    “I don’t know what another coach would do, do I also have to talk about another coach? The squad in three months will be the same. There is a lot of talk about the system but the system is based on the players we have,” he said.

    “And we don’t have wingers with one on one and that’s why I put wing-backs. With the money bag I would still have Messi here. It is to prepare the game with what there is. If people recover we can have the strongest squad. But the young players deserve more opportunities.”

    Koeman was asked if he had been insulted.

    “No need to answer. What do you think? You are very important. You can help, you can criticise. It is not a question of being good or bad, it is the treatment.”

  • I haven’t retired from management – Arsene Wenger

    I haven’t retired from management – Arsene Wenger

    Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has left the door open to returning to management.

    Speaking with the Telegraph, Wenger has declared he hasn’t ruled out a return to the dugout.

    The legendary Frenchman remarked: “Overall we have to accept that our days come to an end at some stage.

    “I don’t rule it out, but I am completely focused (on Fifa) and I don’t worry too much about the rest.

    “There are always people who say ‘You are too old’ so at the time, maybe I thought they were right.

    “But I am in good shape and I have not completely decided not to do it anymore.”

  • Judoka, coach banned 10-year each for quitting Tokyo Olympics to avoid Israeli

    Judoka, coach banned 10-year each for quitting Tokyo Olympics to avoid Israeli

    Algerian Fethi Nourine and his coach have been suspended for 10 years by the International Judo Federation (IJF).

    The sanction was for the act of withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics after the draw set him on course for a bout against an Israeli.

    The 30-year-old was due to face Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool for his first bout in the men’s 73-kg class.

    Victory would have paired him with Israel’s Tohar Butbul in the next round.

    Nourine said his political support for the Palestinian cause made it impossible for him to compete against Butbul.

    The Algerian Olympic Committee withdrew the accreditation for both Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef and sent them home from the Tokyo Games.

    The IJF, which had temporarily suspended Nourine and Benikhlef, said the pair used the Games “as a platform for protest and promotion of political and religious propaganda”.

    This breached the federation’s code of ethics and the Olympic Charter.

    The duo of Nourine and Benikhlef are banned from all IJF events and activities through to July 23, 2031.

    However, they can appeal their bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the IJF said in a statement.

    The incident was not the first time that Nourine had withdrawn from competition to avoid facing an Israeli opponent.

    He pulled out of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo for the same reason.

    Tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared again this year as confrontations in contested Jerusalem triggered cross-border clashes

  • I can help Arsenal as defensive coach – Sol Campbell

    I can help Arsenal as defensive coach – Sol Campbell

    Arsenal great Sol Campbell says he’d welcome the chance to return and coaching the defenders.

    Campbell was one of Arsenal’s best defenders during a golden era for the club between 2001 and 2006.

    He has gone on to have brief stints in management with Macclesfield and Southend, but he now believes his knowledge and experience could be put to best use in north London.

    The 73-cap England international told talkSPORT: “I’d love to go there and help them out.

    “There is a serious problem there and I’m happy to help, even if it’s a couple of days a week.

    “The tricks of the trade and little things, there is a blind-spot there and I’d help them out all day long.

    “It’s been happening a lot and it doesn’t matter who plays at the back, it seems to be the same type of occurrences.

    “I think it’s a young team, there’s great footballers but I think they just need the know-how, the little nuggets of information that someone like me or someone else can give over to them.”

  • Gunmen abduct ‘longest-serving coach’ in Nigeria Football League

    Gunmen abduct ‘longest-serving coach’ in Nigeria Football League

    The Enugu State Police Command has confirmed the kidnap of Rivers United coach Stanley Eguma, the longest-serving coach in Nigeria’s Football League (NFL).

    In a statement on Thursday, the police said the abduction of the coach happened on 15 June along Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway while he was on his way back from an away match against Adamawa United played in Gombe State.

    The police spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, said two men travelling with Eguma alerted them of the ambush, which they said was carried out by unidentified gunmen.

    Enugu state commissioner of police, Mohammed Ndatsu Aliyu has since launched a full-scale investigation to rescue the coach.

    According to BBC Sports, Eguma is the longest-serving coach in the Nigeria Professional Football League as he joined the now-defunct Dolphins in 2008 and was retained by Rivers United in 2017 after the government merged Sharks and Dolphins football clubs to form a Port Harcourt club, Rivers United.

    Read full statement by Enugu State Police Command below:

    ENUGU STATE POLICE COMMAND BULLETIN OF 16TH JUNE, 2021

    ALLEGED TRAILING AND ABDUCTION OF STANLEY EGUMA ALONG ENUGU/PORT-HARCOURT EXPRESSWAY; CP ALIYU ORDERS INTENSE FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION TO RESCUE VICTIM AND APPREHEND ASSAILANTS

    The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Mohammed Ndatsu Aliyu, psc, has ordered that no stone should be left unturned in the already launched full-scale investigation to rescue one Stanley Eguma (m), Head Coach of Rivers United Football Club of Port-Harcourt, and the arrest of the yet-to-be-identified gunmen, alleged to have abducted him on 15/06/2021 at about 1600hrs, along Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway.

    2. The order is sequel to a complaint made at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command same date of the incident at about 1705hrs, by two other persons traveling with the victim, who alleged that the unidentified gunmen, operating in a white-coloured Hilux Van, trailed and forced the black-coloured Hilux Van conveying them from Gombe State to Port-Harcourt, to stop. They further alleged that the assailants pushed the two of them out and made away with the vehicle, and in the process abducted the victim to an unknown destination.

    4. Meanwhile, the Commissioner has enjoined members of the public with useful information that will assist the Command in the ongoing investigation, to endeavour to provide same by calling the Command’s hotlines on: 08032003702, 08075390883, 08086671202 or 08098880172; or by sending an email to: contact042ppro@gmail.com. He assures the confidentiality of the informants’ identities.

    ASP DANIEL NDUKWE, Anipr
    Police Public Relations Officer
    FOR: Commissioner of Police
    Enugu State Command

  • Lazio appoints Maurizio Sarri new coach

    After teasing the news with a cryptic tweet, Lazio yesterday announced they had hired former Chelsea and Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri.

    “Maurizio Sarri is the new coach,” posted the Serie A club on social media.

    Earlier Lazio sent out a tweet showing a hand holding a lit cigarette, track suit tops and a simple drawing of a bank.

    Sarri, the former Napoli, Chelsea and Juventus coach, worked as a banker and is a notorious chain smoker who wears a track suit on the side-line.

    Italian media reported that the two sides agreed to a two-year deal earlier in the week.

    Lazio followed the announcement of the signing with another tweet which they posted on their web site.

    It said: “Sarrismo…The conception of the game of football advocated by coach Sarri based on speed and attacking propensity.”

  • We need an ambitious coach – Tottenham midfielder

    We need an ambitious coach – Tottenham midfielder

    Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg hopes the club gets their next managerial appointment right.

    Spurs are looking for a permanent replacement for Jose Mourinho following the Portuguese’s sacking last month and are understood to have compiled a shortlist.

    Hojbjerg said: “It is a difficult question, it is not one I can answer, or one I want to answer.

    “But Tottenham is an ambitious club and we need an ambitious coach.”

    Hojbjerg, a contender for the club’s player of the season, conceded his side have under-achieved but wants to make sure they secure Europa League qualification.

    He added: “We haven’t reached the ultimate target that we wanted to reach. We had a cup final so we had the chance to win some silverware, we didn’t do that, so the disappointment is of course there.

    “But now we have to be in the present and the present is to achieve and try and be part of the top six, top five and miraculously top four. Again we will try and do our things and see what happens.”

  • 8 games without winning is unfortunate, Sunshine Stars coach laments

    8 games without winning is unfortunate, Sunshine Stars coach laments

    Sunshine Stars’ Head Coach, Gbenga Ogunbote, on Monday in Akure said team’s record of eight matches without a win in the ongoing 2020/2021 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) is unfortunate.

    Ogunbote, while speaking during a post-match interview with newsmen after they drew goalless with visiting Nasarawa United in a delayed Match Day 15 encounter said the situation was lamentable.

    “Eight games without a win is really unfortunate. You will do your best, but along the line, other challenges creep in. But we will get better as we advance in the league.

    “As an independent body, I challenge the media to speak to the world on what they have seen here in terms of officiating,” he said.

    Sunshine Stars and Nasarawa United could not be separated after the 90-minute encounter which spread over two days.

    The match was suspended on Sunday after the referee alleged at half-time there was a threat to his life, with scores at 0-0.

    On Monday, both sides returned to the match venue for another barren 45 minutes.

    A lively restart to the match had gifted Tolu Oluwole a real sight at goal but the lanky forward could not beat the Nasarawa United goalkeeper, Danlami Umar.

    The early rush by the hosts continued, with youngster Ayo Adejubu troubling Umar with a decent effort from around the edge.

    Nasarawa United were not without chances of their own though, as they saw an effort rolling across the face of goal in the game’s 56th minute with Sunshine backline stranded.

    Five minutes later, Adamu Hassan blasted high in front of goal for the Solid Miners.

    In the 68th minute, Adejubu, while getting set to unleash inside the area went down under a challenge but the referee appeared unconvinced to award a penalty kick.

    Sunshine Stars’ Uche Okafor had to stay alert to spare the Owena Whales’ blushes after a miscued clearance 18 minutes from time.

    Stephen Begbaji was brought down in the penalty box, but the referee again ignored Sunshine Stars’ scream for a penalty kick moments before the contest was brought to a goalless end.