Football
FIFA lodges fresh criminal complaints against Sepp Blatter
Getty Images FIFA has lodged a criminal complaint against former president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter over the finances of a museum in Zurich, Switzerland bringing the name of the ex-President into the fray. The football world governing body lodged the complaint on Tuesday. The involvement of Bladder and other former officials in the FIFA museum project is the crux of the latest allegation of financial impropriety against the 84-year-old, who resigned from his post as president in 2015 amid a corruption scandal. The Swiss have always denied any wrongdoing. However, football’s world governing body allege that Blatter’s administration cost them £420m in renovation costs for “a building that the organisation doesn’t own”, while also “locking itself into a long-term rental agreement on unfavourable...
Big Sam develops goose pimples over West Brom poor show
West Bromwich Albion manager, Sam Allardyce, believes the team cannot concede easy goals if they want to stay up. The Baggies endured a poor 3-0 home defeat to rivals Aston Villa during the first match of Allardyce’s time at the club. Matters were not helped by Jake Livermore getting a red card early in the game. “Yes I am upset – I couldn’t be anything else other than upset,” Allardcye told reporters when asked about Livermore’s red. “When I arrived one of the first things I said to the players was ‘lads one thing we can’t have is any more sendings off.’ “So it really is very disappointing. “They had a couple before I arrived. I’ve done my homework. That can’t happen again if we want to get out of trouble. “And we have got to stop letting in easy goals – which Villa’s first one was. It wa...
Pep Guardiola: No new striker for Manchester City due to coronavirus impact
Manchester City’s strikers will have to rediscover their scoring touch because reinforcements will not be signed in January, manager Pep Guardiola has said. Guardiola explained that even with the backing of their Abu Dhabi owners, City were subject to the same financial pressures as their rivals due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. City have scored only twice in their last three league games but hope to welcome back Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus for Tuesday’s League Cup quarter-final with Arsenal. However, the League Cup holders’ record goalscorer Argentinian Sergio Aguero is sidelined by an undisclosed issue having had knee and illness problems already this season. Asked about the prospect of new blood coming to the club, Guardiola replied: “No I don’t think so because the eco...
Liverpool star set to leave on free transfer at end of the season
Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum is reportedly expected to leave the club on a free transfer at the end of his contract in the summer. The Netherlands international has been a hugely important part of Jurgen Klopp’s squad for some time now, but it looks like he’s now heading for the Anfield exit instead of landing a new deal. This is currently looking the most likely scenario, according to The Athletic, who report on how Liverpool tend to have a firm stance on new contracts for players over 30. Wijnaldum is surely still an important part of this squad and many fans would surely rather he stayed for a little while longer, even if it might not be the most sensible financial decision. Liverpool have plenty of other options in midfield so should be in a strong position in that departme...
Bernd Leno: Arsenal ‘don’t have time’ to feel sorry for themselves
Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno says there is no time for the players to feel sorry for themselves after an eighth Premier League defeat of the season ramped up the pressure on manager Mikel Arteta. Sunday is an unhappy first anniversary for the Gunners boss as he reflects on a 2-1 reverse at Everton that extended their winless run to seven league matches and left them just four points above the Premier League’s bottom three. “A lot of things are going wrong for us but we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to fight for every ball, for our team-mates,” said Leno. “Now the confidence is not at the top level but the only thing that can be said is we should stick together and come out of this situation.” The 28-year-old German said Arsenal showed a good attitude in the second h...
Luis Suarez admits he had preliminary agreement in place with Juventus before joining Atletico Madrid
Luis Suarez has told Italian authorities that he had a preliminary agreement in place with Juventus last summer according to Il Corriere dell’Umbria and carried by Football Italia. The Uruguayan striker ended up joining Atletico Madrid instead, but even went through an Italian citizenship exam in an effort to grease the wheels and make the move happen. This exam has become a great controversy. The 33 year-old has admitted that he was informed of the questions of the exam as well as that he reached a preliminary agreement with the Italian club at the end of August. Perugia’s Prosecutor Office confirmed at the beginning of the month the suspension for eight months from the exercise of pubic offices for the Rector of the University Giuliana Grego, the University’s CEO Simone Olivieri and prof...
Wafu B Cup: Ghana edge Burkina Faso to win tournament
Ghana have been crowned winners of the 2020 Wafu B Cup of Nations following a 2-1 triumph over Burkina Faso in Saturday’s final in Benin. Kouame Jean Fiacre Botue scored first for the Young Stallions but captain Daniel Afriyie and Precious Boah hit back for the Black Satellites at Stade Charles de Gaulle in Porto-Novo. Abdul Karim Zito’s outfit not only leave Benin with the trophy but also have a qualification ticket for the 2021 Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Mauritania. Afriyie was among the returnees to the coach’s line-up for the final, taking back his place – at the expense of Issah Huda – after dropping to the bench for the semi-final 5-3 penalty shoot-out win over Niger. Ofori McCarthy was also a new face in the starting set-up, replacing Abdul Mugees Zakaria. Burkina Faso opened the ...
Joe Aribo helps Rangers extend Scottish Premiership unbeaten run
Joe Aribo provided an assist to help Rangers extend their unbeaten run in the Scottish Premiership following a 3-1 victory over Motherwell on Saturday. The midfielder was handed his 11th league appearance as a second-half substitute and made a vital contribution for his side. Rangers started the game unimpressively, allowing their visitors to open the scoring as early as the sixth minute of the encounter through Callum Lang. The Gers struggled to level proceedings as Motherwell frustrated their efforts before respite eventually came their way when Kemar Roofe found the back of the net in the 73rd minute. Eight minutes before full-time, Cedric Itten handed Steven Gerrard’s men the lead for the first time in the game after benefitting from Ianis Hagi’s assist. Aribo then set up Roofe to scor...
Laurent Blanc named new Al-Rayyan manager
Laurent Blanc returns to management 4 years later. He hadn’t managed since he left PSG, and now, he will try his luck at Al-Rayyan in Qatar. 4 years after leaving PSG, Laurent Blanc will return to management with Al-Rayyan, the Qatari club announced. The French manager, 55, signed for a year and a half, and his mission will be to improve their position in the Qatari league, as they are 6th and 12 points from top, Xavi Hernández’s Al-Sadd. Blanc was champion of the world in France 98 and of Europe in Belgium/Netherlands 2000 as a player, also managed Bordeaux for three seasons, spent 2 years at France and 3 at PSG. Curiously, his appointment as Al-Rayyan manager comes not long after he assured that he wouldn’t manage professionally anymore: “I no longer like football, I would only manage ch...
Tijani Babangida: Gernot Rohr to blame for Eagles poor form
Former Super Eagles winger Tijani Babangida has blamed Gernot Rohr for the national team’s poor form after ending the 2020 calendar year without a win. Babangida made this known during an interview on Friday. The Eagles drew 4-4 against Sierra Leone in Benin City and 0-0 in Freetown in their final games of 2020, and thus failed to clinch an early ticket for the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Cameroon in 2021. Former Ajax winger Babangida blamed Rohr for the national team’s woes. “The coach of the Eagles is the one to be blamed for the poor form of the team. He is the one in charge of the team and one thing I know he has deviated from is that he has not followed the football culture of Nigeria’s national team,” Babangida said. “We used wingers during our time with the team, but looking...
Jose Mourinho drums support for under-fire Steven Bergwijn
Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho said the team are supporting Dutchman Steven Bergwijn who missed two clear chances in Wednesday’s top-of-the-table clash at Liverpool and received criticism on social media after the 2-1 defeat. “I don’t know what I can do apart from the player knowing in this club we are all together,” Mourinho told a news conference ahead of Sunday’s game at home to Leicester City. “We lose, we win and we draw all together. So he has us and we have him. In here we don’t feel any individual criticism, we never feel it that way, it is always about us, so no problem. “He’s one of my boys, period. There is no point to boo, to individualise. He’s a good professional, he works hard for the team, he gives everything he can.” Second-placed Spurs slipped three points behind L...
AFCON: Golden Eaglets fail MRI test three weeks to kick-off
In another embarrassing age-related moment for Nigerian football, 40 out of the 60 boys pencilled down as part of the Golden Eaglets contingent to prosecute the Under-17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers in Benin Republic failed the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age test. Coming just three weeks to the qualifiers, this means the coaching crew will have to race against the clock to pick a squad qualified enough to represent the country at the West African Football Union (WAFU) Group B qualifiers billed to kick-off on Tuesday, January 5. Out of the 20 players who passed the tests, only five of them are part of the main squad and just two of the five are included in coach Fatai Amoo’s preferred starting lineup for the competition. Most of the players the coach banked on d...
