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Tag: World cup

  • No new players to be invited for World Cup qualifiers – Rohr

    No new players to be invited for World Cup qualifiers – Rohr

    Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr said he is not expecting any new players in his team when the Nigeria national team start their 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign in June.

    Nigeria rounded up their qualification campaign for next year AFCON tournament, next up is the second qualifying round for the biggest football competition in the world where they have been pitched against Cape Verde, Central African Republic and Liberia in Group C.

    “The World Cup qualifiers will start soon and I think we will be able to do well, and we should expect good football again on a good pitch,” Rohr told the media.

    “We can’t try new players now, it is too late and it is getting more serious because it is World Cup qualifiers.

    “The Afcon qualifiers is over and we need to get the same result like in the World Cup qualifiers. We need to continue doing our job – the officials.

    “We thank Nigerians for their support even after the two draws (vs Sierra Leone). We had a lot of injuries and we saw three players in the first-leg in Benin City who went off in an ambulance – Osimhen, Balogun and Musa.

    “The record of our results is very good and I know we are unbeaten in all our away games in the qualifiers. It is a nice one and we have to continue to always be the best but sometimes we cannot always win all matches.”

  • I’m very proud of the team’s attitude – Spain coach

    I’m very proud of the team’s attitude – Spain coach

    Spain coach Luis Enrique says he’s happy with his players ahead of their second World Cup qualifier.

    Spain face Georgia on Sunday in their second World Cup 2022 qualifier. They drew 1-1 with Greece on Thursday in the opening game.

    Luis Enrique has spoken to the media ahead of the clash to offer his thoughts about the situation in Group B.

    “I am very proud of the team’s attitude,” said the former Barca coach. “It’s the best game of my career defensively speaking, as a coach.

    “Greece did not create a single chance against us. It’s true that we have to improve our attack against a very defensive team, but it wasn’t easy at Barca with the trident (Messi, Neymar, Suarez), so…”

    The coach believes in his team’s quality.

    “There’s no formula or a pill to find inspiration,” he said. “I’m calm because we have quality and we recognise the situations increasingly with more clarity. We’re not pessimistic, we’re close to getting both phases (of play). If there’s a pharmacy where they sell these pills, I want two bottles.”

  • Why Super Eagles can’t win World Cup – Rohr

    Why Super Eagles can’t win World Cup – Rohr

    Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has expressed his pessimism about Nigeria’s chances of winning the World Cup with the current players at his disposal.

    Rohr led Nigeria to their sixth appearance at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they crashed out at the group stage.

    “We are not ready to win the World Cup, for several reasons,” Rohr told NewsCentral.

    “France is the champions at the moment, where they are playing? They are playing in PSG, Bayern Munich. Four of them are world champions at their clubs also

    “So when you have so many of your players from your countries playing in the best clubs, so the probability that you also have one of the best teams in the world is very big.

    “So what we have in Nigeria for example, we have our players in Fulham, in West Bromwich. It’s not Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester United or Barcelona. But the other ones have their players there. So it would be a miracle if we actually win the World Cup.”

  • World Cup qualifier: 12 Falconets players decamped

    Ahead of next weekend’s Africa Zone FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup first leg qualifier against Burkina Faso, Falconets Moses Adiku has decamped 12 players out of 37 that began camping two weeks ago.

    Adiku who spoke after the training, said he retained 25 players to enable the technical crew concentrate and work on the lapses already identified.

    He said the Burkinabes were not push over in female football especially at this level and every Africa nation want to be represented at FIFA-organised competitions, adding “our players have advantage due to their involvement in our domestic league.

    “I have requested for the match tape of Burkina Faso. You know this is football, you can’t underrate any team. Women football is fast growing in Africa unlike before when our national teams had easy passage in both CAF and FIFA-organised championships.

    “My target is to win the first leg in Ouagadougou with wide margin like what the Flamingoes did to Guinea by beating them 6 -1 to make the return leg a formality. My joy is that some of the girls are not new to international competitions.

    “The girls also know the importance of the qualifier and only the best I will be selected for the match. For now the camp is injury free and I pray it continues to be injury free throughout our qualifiers,” he said.

    The Falconets yesterday played a scoreless draw with Nasarawa Amazon in a friendly match after they lost 2-1 to Abuja U-17 Boys in their first warm up game.

    The 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be co-hosted by Costa Rica and Panama in August.

     

  • World Cup star tests positive to Coronavirus, quarantined

    World Cup star tests positive to Coronavirus, quarantined

    Thomas Kahlenberg, former Denmark international who played at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has quarantined after testing positive to Coronavirus.

    He played for Denmark between 2003 and 2014 before retiring in 2017. He had 47 caps playing for Denmark.

    According to the UK Mirror, the Danish ex-international was infected with the deadly disease during a visit to Amsterdam, Holland.

    Also, players from Danish Super League clubs Brondby and Lyngby have also been isolated after they met and hugged Kahlenberg during last weekend match.

    Kahlenberg was said to have tested positive on Thursday.

    According to Brondby, 13 employees had been put in isolation, including the general manager Ole Palma, defender Joel Kabongo and assistant coach Martin Retov.

  • FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Checkout full draw for second round of African qualifiers

    FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Checkout full draw for second round of African qualifiers

    African countries learnt their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers group stage opponents on Tuesday when the draw for Qatar 2022 was conducted for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

    The second round of Africa’s qualifiers will kick off in March 2020 and will conclude in October 2021.

    Former Chelsea and AC Milan star Marcel Desailly, born in Ghana, and a World Cup winner with France in 1998, was the most prominent legend that assisted with the draw (40 teams).

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles (in Pot 1) are drawn against Cape Verde, Central Africa and Liberia.

    In Round 3, which is scheduled for November 2021, the 10 group winners from Round 2 will be paired up for knockout matches, with the five winners securing a berth at Qatar 2022.

    The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be played in Qatar between 21 November and 18 December 2022.

    See the full draw below:

    Group A: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti

    Group B: Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea

    Group C: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Liberia

    Group D: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi

    Group E: Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda

    Group F: Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola

    Group G: Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia

    Group H: Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo

    Group I: Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan

    Group J: DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania

  • African preliminaries for 2022 World Cup [Full draw]

    The draw for the first round of African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was made in Cairo on Monday:
    Below are the fixtures:
    Ethiopia vs Lesotho
    Somalia vs Zimbabwe
    Eritrea vs Namibia
    Burundi vs Tanzania
    Djibouti vs Eswatini
    Botswana vs Malawi
    Gambia vs Angola
    Liberia vs Sierra Leone
    Mauritius vs Mozambique
    Sao Tome &bPrincipe vs Guinea Bissau
    South Sudan vs Equatorial Guinea
    Comoros Islands vs Togo
    Chad vs Sudan
    Seychelles vs Rwanda
    The ties will be played over two legs in September, with the team mentioned first playing at home in the opening leg.
    The 14 winners will join the continent’s top-ranked 26 sides, who have been exempted from the initial round of qualifiers, in the next draw.
    This draw is to be held on a date still to be decided.
    Those 40 teams will then be split into 10 groups of four for the second qualifying round.
    The 10 winners of those groups will then be drawn against each other in home-and-away fixtures, with the five victors advancing to Qatar 2022.
    All Africa’s 54 member-countries are entered.
    Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco picked the five African tickets to the last World Cup, held in 2018 in Russia

  • Former South Africa World Cup winner Small dies aged 50

    Former South Africa World Cup-winning winger James Small died on Wednesday at the age of 50 after suffering a heart attack.
    Small, a key member of the Springboks side who lifted the 1995 Rugby World Cup trophy, scored 20 tries in 47 tests between 1992 and 1997.
    Small was praised for his performance in the World Cup final, where his brave tackles on giant New Zealand winger Jonah Lomu helped the Boks to a surprise victory at Ellis Park.
    “He always played with the type of passion and courage that encapsulate what Springbok rugby stands for and he lived his life in the same way,” South Africa Rugby President Mark Alexander said in a statement.
    “At 50 years old, James Small died too young. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends during this very sad time.”
    Known for his aggressive style of play, Small was the first South African to be sent off in a test when it was rare in rugby, banished in a match against Australia in 1993.
    He had numerous run-ins with opposition players and sometimes his own team mates, earning a reputation for his feisty personality that lived on after his career.
    Small is the third member of the world champion team to pass away after loose-forward Ruben Kruger succumbed to brain cancer in 2010 and scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen died after a long battle with motor neurone disease two years ago.

  • Women’s World Cup 2019 Round of 16 fixtures

    Nigeria’s Super Falcons on Thursday finally qualified for the Round of 16 of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, after a long wait.

    The Falcons qualified after Chile failed to beat Thailand as needed to qualify, only winning 2-0 in their final Group F match at the Roazhon Park in Rennes on Thursday.

    Below are the Round of 16 fixtures at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup holding in France:

    June 22, Grenoble ——- Germany Vs Nigeria

    June 22, Nice ——- Norway Vs Australia

    June 23, Valenciennes ——- England Vs Cameroon

    June 23, Le Havre ——- France Vs Brazil

    June 24, Reims ——— Spain Vs USA

    June 24, Paris ——- Sweden Vs Canada

    June 25, Montpelier ——— Italy Vs China

    June 25, Rennes ——- Netherlands Vs Japan

  • BREAKING: Golden Eaglets qualify for World Cup

    BREAKING: Golden Eaglets qualify for World Cup

    Nigeria’s U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets have qualified for the World Cup holding later in the year in Brazil.

    The Manu Garba-tutored boys defeated Angola 1-0 in Tanzania at the ongoing Africa qualifiers.

    The only goal was scored in the first half through a penalty.

    The Golden Eaglets dominated the game but lost many goal-scoring opportunities in both halves.

    When their Angolan counterparts were reduced to 10 men following a red card to the captain, the Golden Eaglets couldn’t capitalize on the advantage.

    They went on to lose more open chances to increase the tally.

    At the end, it didn’t hurt as they held on to the slim lead.

    Nigeria qualified having defeated host Tanzania 5-4 in the opening game of the tournament.