Wilkins backs Rooney for England captaincy
JULY 23, 2014 BY AGENCY REPORTER 1 COMMENT
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Mourinho boasts
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.Says Chelsea’ll win trophies this term
Loquacious Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho has declared that the club will not end the 2014/2015 season trophy less as it did last term. Mourinho whose outfit is having its pre season in Austria said he has a stronger team now with the signing of high-profile players like Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Thibaut Courtois and Filipe Luis.
The flamboyant manager who escaped sack despite last term’s flop with the billionaires club told Goal.com that he would have gone home to rest if he felt Chelsea is not going to challenge for trophies when action begins next month.
In his words: “If I didn’t think that we have a chance to win trophies, I would go home and let somebody else take charge of this team. I wouldn’t have been in Austria working so hard. We respect our opponents and their ambitions, because they have the same ambitions as us, but we want to win the Premier League and we are ready for that.”
Mourinho argued that the EPL remains the best league in Europe given how competitive it is. “People can speak about other leagues but England is the only country where five or six teams can win the title. Football is about competitiveness every weekend and that only happens in the Premier League. When you have the two Manchester clubs, the three clubs from London – Tottenham, Arsenal and ourselves – plus Liverpool, that’s six top teams, where all of them can win the title. That’s why everybody loves the Premier League.”
The flamboyant manager who escaped sack despite last term’s flop with the billionaires club told Goal.com that he would have gone home to rest if he felt Chelsea is not going to challenge for trophies when action begins next month.
In his words: “If I didn’t think that we have a chance to win trophies, I would go home and let somebody else take charge of this team. I wouldn’t have been in Austria working so hard. We respect our opponents and their ambitions, because they have the same ambitions as us, but we want to win the Premier League and we are ready for that.”
Mourinho argued that the EPL remains the best league in Europe given how competitive it is. “People can speak about other leagues but England is the only country where five or six teams can win the title. Football is about competitiveness every weekend and that only happens in the Premier League. When you have the two Manchester clubs, the three clubs from London – Tottenham, Arsenal and ourselves – plus Liverpool, that’s six top teams, where all of them can win the title. That’s why everybody loves the Premier League.”
Usman to lead Team Nigeria out
By John Egbokhan
Team Nigeria will to night join other Commonwealth countries to celebrate the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
With the push for medals starting tomorrow, Team Nigeria will take their mind out of the hassles as they join other nations in a spectacular celebration of life, arts and entertainment all rolled into one show , which organisers say will blow the mind of all.
DOWN & OUT . . . Team Nigeria’s female weightlifter hopeful, Maryam Usman disappointed as she flops during the women’s +75-kg weightlifting event of the London 2012 Olympics.
London Olympics flag-bearer Mariam Usman will once again carry the flag of Team Nigeria tonight in Glasgow.. The weightlifter’s expected entrance into the track of Celtic Park will surely lift the spirit of Nigerian fans, who will be counting on her for medals. Nigeria will feature in seven events, comprising athletics, boxing, table tennis, wrestling, shooting, weight lifting, and Para sports.
Since the country’s maiden appearance at the 1950 edition in Auckland, Nigeria has featured in nine other Games, the last being in New Delhi in 2010, where the athletes garnered 11 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals, which ranks as the country’s second best outing at the Games.
The best outing for Team Nigeria was the Victoriaames in 1994, where the athletes scooped 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Carlos Dunga was announced on Tuesday as a hardly surprising case of returning Selecao manager. The surprise will not be the pattern -- after all, Brazil have previously rehired 12 coaches, the most recent being 2002 World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari -- but the immediate bending to the calls for a change in philosophy following the team's disastrous World Cup campaign, especially the 10 goals conceded over the final two games.
In Dunga, they might have one of the best managers the Selecao have ever had in terms of winning percentage; on his watch, the team won 49 of 68 games between 2006 and 2010. The problem is that out of the seven meager losses Dunga suffered, the 2-1 elimination at the hands of the Netherlands in South Africa 2010 sticks out like a thumb crushed by a mallet. Not because of the result itself, but because of the way his players collapsed psychologically and his inability to regroup them. Not to mention the pragmatic brand of football that would later be used as an example of how Brazil needed to get back to theirfantasista roots.
Evidently CBF president Jose Maria Marin thinks otherwise, and Dunga will have a chance to resume his dream to follow the steps of fellow countryman Mario Zagallo and German legend Franz Beckenbauer as the only men to lift the World Cup as a player and manager.
But the 1994 Selecao captain is hardly what people in Brazil reckon the national team needs now. A Globo TV poll reveals 85 percent of the population opposes Dunga's impending appointment. A pinch of salt is needed, though. Dunga engaged in a fierce and public war against the television station in his previous spell, and how media executives and the new manager will get along is one of the subplots in what already promises to be a soap opera.
After all, Dunga's penchant for a siege mentality makes Scolari look like a pacifist. Hardly a democrat, the former captain became famous for the lack of diplomacy peppered with a messianic devotion to the so-called "power of the yellow shirt."
After taking over in July 2006, Dunga immediately declared the team jersey, rather than individuals like Ronaldinho and Kaka, to be the star of the team. At the time, the speech rang a lot of bells given how France unceremoniously dumped a star-studded Selecao from the World Cup in Germany. Eight years later, that talk would sound as outdated as Scolari's "brilliant" game plan to face Germany at the Mineirao.
Brazil 2014: Musa’s wonder goal rated among best
Ahmed Musa’s opening goal against Argentina has been named one of the best goals scored at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Although the Eagles lost the game 3-2, with both goals coming from the boot of the former Kano Pillars man, the first was a gem, and was voted in at 10th place.
A long ball was played to Musa who cut in from the left hand side of the box and curled an effort past Sergio Romero, with two Argentina defenders stranded.
The vote was conducted among the readers of Italian online soccer publication, forzaitalianfootball.com.
David Villa’s back-heeled goal against Australia was voted in 9th place, while Colombia’s James Rodriguez chipped goal against Japan was named 8th, followed by Andre Schurrle’s screamer against Brazil that made it 7-1 for the winners in their semi final tie.
Mario Goetze’s winner in the final against Argentina is 6th, followed by the Classic Lionel Messi goal against Iran, which came on 5th. Tim Cahill’s volleyed equalizer against Holland, Robin van Persie’s ‘Salmon header’ against Spain, and David Luiz’ exquisite quarter final free kick winner against Colombia then followed.
A long ball was played to Musa who cut in from the left hand side of the box and curled an effort past Sergio Romero, with two Argentina defenders stranded.
The vote was conducted among the readers of Italian online soccer publication, forzaitalianfootball.com.
David Villa’s back-heeled goal against Australia was voted in 9th place, while Colombia’s James Rodriguez chipped goal against Japan was named 8th, followed by Andre Schurrle’s screamer against Brazil that made it 7-1 for the winners in their semi final tie.
Mario Goetze’s winner in the final against Argentina is 6th, followed by the Classic Lionel Messi goal against Iran, which came on 5th. Tim Cahill’s volleyed equalizer against Holland, Robin van Persie’s ‘Salmon header’ against Spain, and David Luiz’ exquisite quarter final free kick winner against Colombia then followed.
But the votes for the best goal again went to James Rodriguez for the strike against Uruguay. The goal was also voted best by readers on FIFA.comrown Ideye joins West Brom for £10m
Nigeria Super Eagles striker, Brown Ideye, has signed for English Premiership side, West Bromwich Albion for a fee of 10 million pounds.
The 25-year-old signed a three-year deal with an option to increase it by a year.
He has been given jersey number nine and is to play alongside his compatriot, Victor Anichebe.
“Brown is a quality striker and I’m looking forward to working with him,” head coach Alan Irvine told the club’s website
“He’s a strong, quick, powerful player who likes to get in behind defences and has plenty of Champions League and international experience,” he added.
Brown Ideye joins West Brom from Ukranaian side, Dynamo Kiev.
He has played for Ocean Boys football club in the Nigerian League and also for clubs in Switzerland and France.
He was a prominent part of the Nigerian squad that won the African Nations Cup but was not selected for the World Cup.
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