Champions League is coming back

Soon on your Television screens, the biggest soccer game will be live on air; The Champions League!

To remind you of the fixtures ( FROM UEFA.COM)

Paris		20.45		Chelsea
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Parc des Princes, Paris (FRA)
Shakhtar Donetsk		20.45		Bayern
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Arena Lviv, Lviv (UKR)

18 February 2015

Basel		20.45		Porto
Referee: TBD – Stadium: St. Jakob-Park, Basel (SUI)
Schalke		20.45		Real Madrid
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen (GER)

24 February 2015

Man. City		20.45		Barcelona
Referee: TBD – Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (ENG)
Juventus		20.45		Dortmund
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Juventus Stadium, Turin (ITA)

25 February 2015

Arsenal

20.45

Monaco

Referee: TBD – Stadium: Arsenal Stadium, London (ENG)

Leverkusen

20.45

Atlético

I’m still desperate for success, says Aiyegbeni

The new Royals’ signing has promised to bang in goals aplenty for the Championship side if given the right service


Reading FC striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has pledged to score goals for the English Championship side.
The prolific who made a shock move to English football from his Qatari based outfit trained for the first time with his teammates on Wednesday, and has expressed his confidence to deliver the goods in opposition boxes.
"When I get the ball I know I’m going to score, for sure. I have confidence in myself. I hope they [teammates] feed me and then I can score, Aiyegbeni told Reading Chronicles.
"As a striker you want to score goals. If you don’t score goals then you’re not doing your job. For me, I always believe I’ll score, no matter what league.
"It’s great to see people recognising the goals I’ve scored. People back home were excited for this move as well, so I don’t want to let anyone down.
“I’m still desperate for success. I’m not finished.”

The new Royals hitman has found the net on his last three debuts in England - and he is hoping to be involved at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday so that he can continue that streak.
“It would be nice to make it four. For me, I just want to give everything and hopefully I can score and we can win. It’s a quicker journey home when you pick up all three points,” he continued.
“I’ve been training hard in Qatar for the past two weeks so I’m fit. The Championship is more physical and I’m ready to go.

“I hope to be involved on Saturday but we’ll see what the manager decides.
The deal for Yakubu is only a short-term one until the end of the season. But the talisman is already looking long-term and is confident that Reading are a club on the up.
“The club has ambition. They want to be in the Premier League next year.
“I don’t think it is possible this season but hopefully we finish in a good position and then we can fight to be in the Premier League next season.

“If I do well here then I’d love to stay but you never know in football. I’m just loving it at the moment, I’m happy to be here and hopefully I can help the team,” he concluded.

Culled from Goal.Com

Official: Estoril sign Dele Alampasu

Congrats Alampasu! Estoril, a club in Portugal's top flight league,  has signed former Nigeria's U-17 goalie, Dele Alampasu for an undisclosed fee according to Goal Nigeria.

Alampasu, who was tipped to join a couple of teams in Spain and Belgium after impressing at the last U-17 Championship was training with the current U-20 side for the African Youth Championship in Senegal, but was excused in order to sort his future.

This is hoping that he quickly becomes a success at EStoril, and who knows, he may exceed Vincent Enyeama in club football.

Violence in African soccer.

Equatorial Guinea were knocked out of the AFCON on Thursday and the fans did what was common with bitter Nigerian soccer fans or better put any bitter, unintelligent soccer fan in the world, they started to vent their anger on the players who 'dared' to defeat them.

The home fans, who saw their team thoroughly and probably deserving beaten, threw bottles at the Ghanian players and their fans, inviting the interference of the security personnel. The whole situation ate up thirty minutes of the game as police had to use tear gas and an helicopter to stop the maddening scenes. Consequently, play resumed, but with Guinea been soundly beaten.

It has been condemned by the Ghana FA and i suspect the LOC of AFCON will condemn it as well, part of what I like to call 'positive noises', but the question I will like to ask is, when will African soccer fans learn to be gallant losers?

We know how it feels to lose badly when expectations are high, but seriously we have to grow beyond this 'violent' way of demonstrating our anger. Its not only Equatorial Guinea mind you, am sure most African soccer fans will do the same in their shoes. We see these incidences in our local leagues; especially those from West and Central Africa. There are also incidences in Europe, so its not entirely an African thing, but the intensity and 'regularity' it occurs in Africa is astounding.

The fact is that we can't continue like this, and while stadium bans and competition bans are useful in these situations, it seems like the best thing is to enlighten the fans about what they are doing. Its wrong, no matter what happens on the pitch, to constitute such nuisance in the stadium. They must learn that.

An advice to African soccer fans; If you know that defeat pains you easily, then don't come to the pitch expecting anything specific, just come to enjoy the game. That's the best way to enjoy African soccer.

Which January Transfer will shape the Premier League race?

The January transfer window is firmly shut right now, with the highlight of the deadline transfer shopping been the Sale of Darren Fletcher to West Brom and West Ham's failed attempt to sign Emmanuel Adebayor from Tottenham. However, most of the deals that looked 'decisive' seemed to have been wrapped up much earlier, or much quicker than expected. Here are the perceived deciding transfers.

1.

Juan Cuadrado Of Colombia, who moved to Chelsea for around 30M pounds is the first in my list. Unremarkable , considering what he brings to the table. Cuadrado is pacy with a lot of trickery, which Chelsea lacked, apart from Hazard of course. He also brings some defensive soundness and may well be the answer to the lack of incisiveness at the opponent half of the field, that is if other teams don't find a remedy for him.

2.

Manchester City always looked one-legged with just Sergio Aguero and Pellegrini did what most of us thought he would; He went for a striker and got Bony. In the strong Ivorian, he has a proven goal scorer at Swansea and to top it all, one of the leading lights of African football. With his strength akin to an Aguero or Tevez  (not with the latter's tenacity though) and his aerial abilities far better than what both Argentine players can offer, he may be the last piece of the jigsaw that may bring the EPL to Manchester City for a consecutive time. Currently at the AFCON, he must be given the time to rest if Pellegrini wants to get the best from him, though with the Champions League getting closer, I doubt if its  possible.

3.

I first did not understand this signing. First of all, Liverpool and Arsenal have more problems in this aspect of the team than Manchester United and would be prefect candidates for this coup. However, with Ospina back from injury and contending seriously for the goalkeeping berth at Arsenal and Liverpool seemingly content with Mignolet, it seems to be a shrewd signing, consiodering the immediate future is not known. With Chelsea and Manchester City off the FA Cup, Manchester United seem to suddenly have two realistic targets, get a spot in the Champions League and win the FA Cup. And Valdes seems to come in handy here. Vastly experienced, winning all the trophies available in Spain and playing crucial part in Barcelona's sucesses in the past five years at least, Valdes will be the lad to ease off any tiredness from current number one in Manchester United; David De Gea. The very least he will have an run in either the league or the FA Cup, which will not be bad for him or Manchester United at the moment.

4.

We all moaned and mourned about Arsenal defensive woes, especially in the centre back position. Now with Gabriel, Arsenal may have solved that problem. Fast and comfortable on the ball, he also seemed to have the strength to cope with the Premier League and may well be key to Arsenal pulling off their usual 'last four spot' rally. With engagements in Europe set to be a bit prolonged ( as Monaco should be easy enough for the Gunners), it will be comforting if Arsenal has a centre-back they can fall back on in lieu of injuries to either Mertesacker or Koscielny.


So there they are. Which one will be most useful?

African Refrees and the World Cup.

          It was the Final of the FIFA World Cup, 2024, Held in Ontario Canada. The match, between Brazil and Uruguay. The Officials for this match, Seechurn Rajindraparsad from Mauritius, the centre referee and.... Wait did I just say Mauritius? An African Official the deciding official in this competition? Yes, I just said that, only that it could just be a mirage if officiating is not improved in the continent.

While we still have some way to go with officiating in Africa, situations like the sham of a penalty given by the aforementioned official in the Equatorial Guinea versus Tunisia match must be seriously avoided. In as much as I have little sympathy for the Tunisians as they are among the masters of theatrics in African Soccer, it is quite appalling that for a competition not too regarded due to the absence of powerhouses like Egypt and Nigeria ( Yes, I said it), such mistakes should occur in high profile and tense matches like that. If African referees are to be given more duties and chances to impress and deliver at international( worldwide) competitions, then they need to do far better than give such cheap calls. The official was rightly suspended for six months, but if C.A.F(Confederation of African Football) wants to avoid the bias-blame game the Tunisian FA played on them in the nearest( and far) future, then African Officials need to step up.

 And not turn to another Seechurn Rajindraparsad.