Category: Football

WINNER EMERGES IN MAIDEN SANWO-OLU YOUTH SOCCER FIESTA

•Surulere wins Gold, Cash Prize in BOS Cup

•Ifako Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Agege teams are runners-up

The frills and thrills of the maiden Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (BOS) Youth Cup came to the pinnacle on Sunday, with the final round’s team jostled for the first prize – a gold cup.

Mobolaji Johnson Sports Arena in Onikan, formerly Onikan Stadium, came alive for the final match played between Surulere and Ifako Ijaiye-Ojokoro teams.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu personally declared the event open with a kick-off of the ball.

Ex-international goalkeeper of the national team, Dosu Joseph, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Austin Eguaveon, Coach of the National Under-17 team, Fatai Amoo, and members of the State Executive Council graced the final fixture.

Youths under the age of 21 across the State’s 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) took part in the soccer contest organised by the Governor’s Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) to complement youth development programmes of the Sanwo-Olu administration and curb restiveness.

The participants were brought together under the BOS Academy platform on which they were screened and certified to take part in the tournament. Each council was represented by a team.

The final round started after the third place fixture won by Agege team against Lagos Island East side.

About 30 minutes into the first half, Surulere team led by Yusuf Lukman, destabilised the opponent’s team with a goal.

At 77 minutes, the Ifako Ijaiye-Ojokoro team led by Marvelous Ajayi, however, came back with an equaliser.

The match ended in a tie, resulting to penalty shootout at the end of which Surulere team coasted to victory with 5-4

The winning team went home with a cash prize of N1.5 million and golden trophy. Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, presented the trophy on behalf of the Governor.

A member of the Ifako Ijaiye-Ojokoro team, Timilehin Lawal, got the prize for the Most Valuable Player (MVP), while Abdulazeez Agbaje of the Surulere team went home with the Highest Goal Scorer prize.

Also, Akpan Oyena of Agege team was rewarded with Best Goal Keeper of the tournament.

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Sports, Mr. Anthony Adeboye, said the soccer fiesta achieved its intended objectives of leaving positive impacts on the youths, families and communities across the State,

He said: “In the last three week, we have seen our young people coming to the field to display great football skills and pour out energy that could have been diverted to vices. Having participated in all activities that culminated into the final round, I have no doubt that the objectives of the tournament have been realised, as we witnessed excitement on the faces of all participants.

“Inclusion is part of the ‘Greater Lagos’ agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration and this football competition has further bridged the gap between the Government and the youth. We are highly elated that the maiden edition has been widely received by young people across the State. The subsequent edition promises to be bigger and more impactful.”

The first runner-up, Ifako Ijaiye-Ojokoro team, got N1 million cash prize and silver medals, while the second runner-up, Agege, got N750,000 cash prize and bronze medals.

Lionel Messi return to Paris with his award amidst fanfare and wild jubilations among his fellow players and the ever cheering PSG fans.

He Presents his record seventh Ballon D’ Or to PSG Crowd.

Arsenal defender Gabriel fought off a baseball bat-wielding thief who attempted to steal his car in video footage released by the Metropolitan Police.

The Brazilian had just returned to his home in Barnet, north London, when he was approached by three men as he got out of his car on August 20.

One of the men, Abdi Muse, 26, was armed with a baseball bat.

The men ordered Gabriel to give them his car keys, but the 23-year-old refused to do so.

Footage of the incident shows the ensuing struggle between Gabriel and the men as he fended them off.

The men fled with his keys but left the car behind in the garage.

Muse was later arrested, and he was jailed at Harrow Crown Court earlier this month for five years after admitting robbery and possession of an offensive weapon.

“It’s not a nice thing to go through, when you have family involved and they’re trying to access your house,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

“Gabby showed a lot of character, you see the reaction that he had straight away. Credit to the boy. After that he was fine.

“He was shocked and obviously he wanted to change a few things in his life to make sure that didn’t happen again.”

Arteta added that Arsenal supported Gabriel in the wake of the robbery.

“The club gave him all the support that was needed to try and help him forget about the situation, learn about it and move on”, he said.

Gabriel joined the Gunners from Lille for £27million ($36 million) last year.

At the time of the robbery he had been sidelined with a knee injury, but he has since made 10 Premier League appearances for the club.

It was not the first time that an Arsenal player has had to face off against robbers.

Two armed men attempted to rob expensive watches from defender Sead Kolasinac and midfielder Mesut Ozil in Hampstead, north-west London, in 2019.

However, Kolasinac fought back and was able to jump into a car driven by Ozil.

Ozil then drove them from the ambush as the would-be robbers pursued them on a moped.

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi has been awarded the 2021 Ballon d’Or.

At a star-studded ceremony in Paris on Monday evening, the 34-year-old Argentine forward was crowned the world’s best player for the seventh time.

It is a record seventh occasion overall after seeing off strong competition from the likes of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, Real Madrid’s Benzema and Chelsea’s Jorginho.

The brainchild of France Football magazine journalist Gabriel Hanot, the Ballon d’Or is widely seen as the most prestigious award in the footballing calendar.

Stanley Matthews of Blackpool and England was the inaugural winner while Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Real Madrid have dominated the 21st century, winning 12 times between them.

Real Madrid and France forward, Karim Benzema was found guilty of being complicit in a criminal plot against his former France international team-mate.

Karim Benzema has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of blackmailing his former France international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.
The Real Madrid striker has also been fined €75,000 for his role in the criminal scheme.

Benzema stood trial last month for his role in former Lyon and France team-mate Valbuena being blackmailed over a sex tape ahead of a friendly against Armenia five years ago.

What has been said?

Benzema’s lawyer said they would appeal the decision: “We are quite flabbergasted by this judgment. An appeal is necessary. He will be exonerated at the height of this appeal.”

The striker had denied any involvement in the incident.

AS Roma Coach, Jose Mourinho Fufils His Promise To 18 Years Old AS Roma Player Felix Afena-Gyan By Gifting Him €800 (₦600,000) Balenciaga Shoe. After Scoring Twice And Winning The Match vs Genoa.

José Mourinho promised to buy wonderkid Felix Afena-Gyan [born in 2003!] new €800 shoes after match-winning brace for AS Roma in 10 minutes…

…and he did it. “He was dreaming of these shoes, so I thought: let’s do it”. @ohenegyanfelix9

Former Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce wants to be the man to hold the fort until the end of the season at Man Utd, according to reports.

Bruce left St James’ Park by ‘mutual consent’ last month with the announcement coming 13 days after the club’s takeover by a Saudi-led consortium.

He left three days after his 1,000th game as a manager ended in a 3-2 home defeat to Tottenham, during which disgruntled fans renewed calls for him to go.

But now he is apparently ready for a quick return to management after Man Utd confirmed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had left his role on Sunday.

As soon as Man Utd called an emergency board meeting on Saturday night it was obvious the writing was on the wall for their former striker, who despite changing the atmosphere around the club following the toxic end of Jose Mourinho’s reign never really convinced in the role.

A 4-1 defeat to Watford on Saturday means Man Utd have now lost five of their last seven Premier League matches, while they have only won three of their last 11 fixtures.

There have been numerous possible replacements mooted with Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers and former Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane top of the list.

However, Man Utd announced that they will appoint an interim manager to take over until the end of the season before deciding on a long-term replacement for Solskjaer.

And The Athletic claim that ‘former United captain Steve Bruce, recently let go by Newcastle, would be very keen on the role, and believes he could help stabilise the dressing room’.

The report mentions Ralf Rangnick, Lucien Favre, Laurent Blanc, Ernesto Valverde and Rudi Garcia as potential other options for the interim position.

Michael Carrick will take a caretaker role until the interim boss is found but former defender Gary Neville believes the club should be looking at ex-Tottenham manager and current Paris St Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino as a long-term option.

“He’s always been a stand-out candidate and the only name I’ve mentioned as someone I thought really suited Manchester United in terms of core principles and values and how they play, how he acts and behaves,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“They haven’t planned or prepared for this, it’s deteriorated so badly and so quickly; Michael takes over now, the only option the club had was to put someone in to the end of the season, that’s been obvious for the last few weeks.

“If there was a world-class manager sat on the shelf ready to go two or three weeks ago, I think Ole would have been gone by now.”

Yakubu Ayegbeni (born 22 November 1982), known as Yakubu, is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. His nickname is “The Yak”.

His performances in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League for Maccabi Haifa earned a loan move to English club Portsmouth which became permanent as they were promoted to the Premier League in 2003.

He has since appeared in over 250 Premier League matches for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, and Blackburn Rovers, and is the fourth highest African goalscorer in Premier League history with 96 goals.

He is the third highest scorer in the history of the Nigeria national football team, and represented them at four African Cup of Nations finals, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 Summer Olympic.

Early career
Yakubu was born in Benin City, Edo State. He started his career with Julius Berger in Lagos as a teenager in the Nigerian Premier League. He was later loaned to Portuguese club Gil Vicente.

Personal life
In 2008, Yakubu married Yvonne Lameen Ikhana, the daughter of former Nigerian international footballer Kadiri Ikhana, who is also the father-in-law to former Nigerian international footballer Patrick Ovie. Yakubu and Ikhana have two daughters. He used to play barefoot on the streets of Benin, Nigeria, until his brother gave him a pair of boots aged 12.

Footage has emerged showing Cristiano Ronaldo fuming at Portugal boss, Fernando Santos after their damaging defeat by Serbia in Lisbon which puts Portugal’s qualification to the 2022 world cup in jeopardy.

Portugal will have to qualify for the next year’s World Cup in Qatar through the play-offs after a stoppage-time header from Aleksandar Mitrovic secured a dramatic 2-1 victory for the Serbians at the Estadio da Luz on Sunday night, November 14.Renato Sanches opened the scoring inside two minutes for Portugal, but Ajax star Dusan Tadic equalised 31 minutes later before Mitrovic scored.

The result saw Serbia go top of Group A, and Ronaldo was seen breaking down in tears after the final whistle.

As players and staff from both sides shook hands following the final whistle.

Manchester United star, Ronaldo then saw Santos, 67, approaching and began shouting and gesticulating furiously with his arms towards him.

The Portugal boss quickly walked off after a brief handshake with the 36-year-old.