Bad dream for Mexico – Iheanacho

Many have dubbed today’s match a revenge mission. Others, too, have called it a match to prove one’s superiority over another. Depending on which divide you are, it appears to be the truth.
Defending champions, Mexico have recovered from the pangs of that 6-1 humiliation in the hands of the Golden Eaglets to play in today’s final, beating notable teams like Brazil and Argentina before squaring up against the Nigerian goal-machines.
But one Eaglet who also shot himself into reckoning with the Mexico match is Kelechi Iheanacho who told them that they were nursing a bad dream in their revenge mission today. Iheanacho scored four out of the six goals and today stands tall as one of the contenders for the hotshot award.
“I’m sure they won’t feel great about that first result.They’ll want to put pressure on us and we’ll have to be careful. We’ll respect them, but it’s hard to go against us when we’re playing our good football”, he said.

TWO CAPTAINS, ONE TROPHY — Captains, Musa Muhammed of Nigeria and Ulises Rivas of Mexico

Football is good at offering second chances, but Iheanacho – near the top of the scorer’s charts with five of Nigeria’s 23 goals – has bad news for the revived Mexicans. “We’ve got better since that opener. We’ve become closer and we’re going to chase them all over the field; we’re going to press them with our attackers and we won’t rest. We’ll go at them for 90 minutes until we’re sure the trophy is ours’’, he said with a note of certainty.
Asked about the army of supporters club led by Dr Rafiu Ladipo who have provided moving songs for them, he shyly smiled and said; “They give us courage,” Iheanacho said of the Nigerian fans who’ve offered the tournament colour and swagger, their trumpets blaring for all of the Eaglets’ matches. But you can’t play for the gallery, you have to play for your team-mates.
But they do give us confidence and they cheer us up so that we can play in the right way,” he went on about the supporters who’ve sparked the venues of this Arab country with flashes of Lagos and Abuja.
“We have to work as a team, play as a team,” he added, knowing fully well he and his mates have offered as harmonious a brand of football as any before at this age level. “This is how you win matches.” It is indeed, and with talents like Musa Yahaya, Taiwo Awoniyi and Abdullahi Alfa alongside Iheanacho, rest may not come easy for Mexico’s defenders starting from 5pm(Nigerian time)

We’ll swoop on Sweden – Eaglets

Golden Eaglets have promised Nigerians a goals feast in today’s FIFA U-17 World Cup semifinal match with Sweden at Rashid Stadium, Dubai.
Eaglets have scored 20 goals in five matches, the most by any team in the tournament holding in the United Arab Emirates and as they gear up for another match with the Swedes, who they   held to a 3-3 thrilling draw at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, the
Nigerians, who could only manage to score twice in Saturday’s quarter final win against Uruguay, say goals will come aplenty against the Scandinavians.

Players of Nigeria pose for a team photo prior to the FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 Quarter Final match between Uruguay and Nigeria at Sharjah Stadium on November 2, 2013 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

“I am confident the team will score many goals against Sweden”, said midfielder Akinjide Idowu, ruled out of today’s game because of two yellow cards. “Even though I am not going to play, I am very confident that the other players will do well.
Sweden are good but we want this win more and are ready to go the extra mile to achieve our target”,added Idowu at the pre-match conference.
Also speaking, Coach Manu Garba said the match will be played with all seriousness, noting that “we can’t afford to go back to Nigeria empty handed without the cup. These boys will win tomorrow (today) and go on to win the Cup.
It’s the Cup or nothing for us. The game will be tight but the players are ready to score many goals against Sweden.
“I repeat that it is the Cup or nothing for us. We have come a long way and can’t afford to lose now. We will beat Sweden”, added Garba, who conceded that Sweden are good in the air.
“They have tall players, which make them good with aerial balls but I have the antidote to cut off their crosses”

Brazil coach bows to Eaglets

The coach of the Brazil U17 team to the FIFA World Cup in Dubai, Alexandre Gallo, has revealed that he holds the Nigeria team in awe.

Head coach Alexandre Gallo of Brazil

The Brazilians were knocked out of the competition by Mexico in the quarter finals via penalty shoot out, and the Brazilian already ‘crowned’ the Eaglets as the next champions with his comments.
Nigeria will face Sweden in the semi final game on Tuesday, still favourites to maintain their unbeaten run.
And their impressive displays of footballing prowess has drawn praise from Gallo.
“A strong side who play a similar game to the Brazilians. Their style is what we call football,” Gallo enthused about Nigeria in an interview with FIFA.com
Nigeria and Brazil are both tied on three titles each at this leve

Borussia Mönchengladbach in Kruse control as Hamburg fans get shirty

Max Kruse, left, has fired Borussia Mönchengladbach to fourth in the Bundesliga and may go to the World Cup with Germany.

Unlike the rest of his team, Lasse Sobiech didn't leave the Volksparkstadion empty handed. Max Kruse gave the Hamburg defender his shirt as a souvenir at the final whistle. This didn't come as a huge surprise – the two had played at St Pauli together and are still good friends – but still felt a bit weird under the circumstances: two bad mistakes from Sobiech had gifted Kruse his two strikes in the 2-0 win, the first one for Borussia Mönchengladbach away from home.
"The way to play against him is to be horrible, he doesn't like it," Sobiech had said before the match with some confidence. And the 22-year-old, who'd only come in for the injured Johan Djourou, did play horribly, albeit not in the sense intended. His back-pass to René Adler was intercepted by the 24-year-old Foals striker to score in the 23rd minute, and in the 63rd he was robbed of the ball by Raffael to allow Kruse to decide the match. "He's a good centre-back and will show that in the future," said the striker.
"I need to apologise to the team," Sobiech said later, hanging his head in shame. "I messed up the game." That was undoubtedly true but Hamburg hadn't really offered much going forward and the visitors were on balance worth the three points. "It was a pleasure to see them play," said Lucien Favre, who was particularly pleased with his men's pressing game. The Swiss coach had multiple reasons to celebrate. It was his side's first away win of the season, a win that confirmed their current status as the best side behind Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen, and on his 56th birthday 8,000 Borussia supporters serenaded him with "happy birthday" after the game.
For Kruse, 25, it was a special occasion, too. The locally-born forward had confessed to dreaming about playing for Hamburg during the week. He used to sleep in HSV bed linen as a kid. But his favourite club never recognised his talent. Kruse played for rivals Werder Bremen and St Pauli, then broke through last season at Freiburg. Now, with seven goals in eleven games, he's the best German striker in the league and has become the figurehead of a Gladbach side that has belatedly coped with the 2012 departure of Dante, Roman Neustädter and Marco Reus. "I'm just happy that I was able to help the team today," he said with typical modesty.
The €2.5m buy has galvanised the Borussia front-line. Raffael, Patrick Herrmann and Juan Arango all look much happier next to him than to club-record signing Luuk de Jong, who's been a big disappointment (and often injured) since making the move from Twente last season. Kruse's pace is such that he's great moving to the flanks or arriving late in the box; his passing is extraordinarily good, too: against HSV, he completed 46 out 48 attempts. He's both a "nine" and "false nine" and thus has a great chance to make Joachim Löw's World Cup squad.
Within the dressing room, some credited the black away shirts for the win. Gladbach had worn these at their last win on the road in a friendly against Celtic in July. But the real reasons had less to do with choice of apparel and more with a rare clean sheet: unlike typical Favre sides, this team had struggled to find the right balance behind their potent front line. The only sustained bombardment keeper Marc-André ter Stegen had to endure was a salvo of Mon Cherie pralines thrown down by the Hamburg fans in the first half. (They've just come into season again after the summer break).
If the much-coveted manager – Schalke, Lyon and Marseille were all interested in his services in the summer – can get his defence to play with the same efficiency as his attack, Gladbach will be favourites to finish in fourth spot for the second time in two years. According to Kicker, they've only needed 65 chances to score 25 goals; in other words, they've converted 38.5% of their goalscoring opportunities. No team in the Bundesliga has been this clinical.
For Hamburg, a bigger club in a much bigger, much wealthier city, the continued progress of Gladbach serves as a painful reminder of their own ineptitude. And the Foals are not finished yet. Favre has made them much less reliant on counterattacks, while the board are doing their best to tie both the coach and keeper Ter Stegen to longer contracts. Reports suggest that both will renew their deals fairly soon.
Just like Kruse, Favre was in generous mood and allowed the players to drink "whatever they want" on the coach journey back – provided it was either "coffee, tea or mineral water". That strict directive was later relaxed to permit "up to three beers per player"

Bernard Hopkins becomes oldest fighter to retain world boxing title

Bernard Hopkins punches Karo Murat during his IBF Light Heavyweight title victory in Atlantic City on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. 

Winning has never been a problem for Bernard Hopkins. Entertaining while doing it hasn't come quite as easy. Neither was a problem on Saturday night.
The 48-year-old from Philadelphia rolled to a unanimous decision over Germany’s Karo Murat to defend his IBF light heavyweight title at Boardwalk Hall. Seven months after surpassing his own record as the oldest fighter in history to win a major world championship, Hopkins defended it convincingly before 6,324 fans at Boardwalk Hall, many of whom made the 62-mile trip up the Atlantic City Expressway from his hometown. Two of the judges at ringside scored it 119-108, while the third had it 117-110. 
Fourteen months from his 50th birthday, Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KOs) continues to humble younger, stronger opponents who are no match for his skill, experience and intelligence. Saturday marked his sixth consecutive fight against an opponent born in the 1980s – and yet another performance that embodied the ring generalship for which he’s become famous.
Murat (25-2-1, 15 KOs), installed as a 5-to-1 underdog against a man old enough to be his father, was not considered a serious threat. He hadn’t fought in nearly a year and a half and Hopkins only accepted the fight because he was the mandatory contender. (Incredibly, Hopkins entered with more world championship fights under his belt than Murat had pro fights.) But he fought shrewdly in the opening rounds, backing Hopkins up and making him work the full three minutes of each round. 
Then Hopkins moved him backward with a left-hand counter in the fourth, started to find range with the jab and put his punches together. Murat, an Armenian from Iraq who lives in Berlin, found himself moving backwards for the first time. The fight was on.
Hopkins has always drawn from the dark arts - the occasional rule-pushing intended to unsettle and intimidate an opponent - but he emptied out the bag of tricks for this fight. He thudded Murat with a rabbit punch when his back was turned in the second and kissed him on the back of the head coming out of a clinch in the fifth. The gamesmanship reached a flashpoint when a frustrated Murat landed a punch after the bell - and Hopkins fired back.
“You’re only wrong when you get caught,” Hopkins said of the gamesmanship.
By the sixth, it had descended into a dirty fight - Murat had the first of two point deductions for hitting off the break - but Hopkins appeared fresh while Murat looked exhausted. In the seventh, Hopkins landed a crisp two-punch combination to the head, connected to the body, then opened up with a flurry that backed Murat across the ring and left him stunned and hurt on the ropes. The crowd were on their feet.
As he bludgeoned Murat into exhaustion during the eighth - having opened a cut over the corner of his opponent's left eye - Hopkins deliberately backed into the challenger’s corner and began talking to Murat’s corner men while parrying and countering Murat’s punches. When the bell rang, Hopkins didn’t sit down between rounds.
By the end Hopkins was standing in the pocket, trading punches and getting the better of the exchanges. He clearly didn’t fear Murat’s power - and the result was his most active and aggressive performance in recent memory.
“The plan was to let the dog follow the bone into the dark alley,” Hopkins said afterward. “I wanted the knockout so you have to take risks. I'm an entertainer and this is what the people wanted to see.”
Hopkins’ entry into boxing was improbable enough: more than than 30 arrests before age 17, the 56 months at Graterford State Prison for armed robbery, winning the middleweight championship within seven years of his release.
Yet his exit threatens to be even more preposterous. He spoke at the post-fight press conference of fighting past his 50th birthday, unifying the light heavyweight championship and even going down to middleweight - the weight class he ruled from 1995 to 2005 while making a division-record 20 title defenses - to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“You give me until May of next year to make 160, that fight is on,” he said. “I don’t think too many reporters would count me out.”
Even at 48, time seems to be on Hopkins' side.
“Fourteen months from being 50, not a bruise on my face, that’s ahead of the game,” Hopkins said. “If you duck more than you take, you can count your own money later on.”

Roger Federer happy with his form for ATP World Tour Finals in London

It is the 12th year in a row that Roger Federer has made the end-of-year finals.

Roger Federer insisted he is happy with his form as he arrived in London for the ATP World Tour Finals.
The 32-year-old has endured his worst season for more than a decade and secured his place in the season-ending tournament only last week as the sixth of eight qualifiers.
It is the 12th year in a row Federer has made the finals but he faces a real challenge to get out of a group also featuring Novak Djokovic, Juan Martín del Potro and Richard Gasquet.
Federer will begin his campaign at the O₂ Arena against Djokovic on Tuesday, his 10th match in two weeks across three cities. "It's been a lot of tennis. I was hoping for that problem to occur so I'm happy it's gone this way. I'm happy with my game and the confidence is back. That can carry you really far, so that's good. I like this court. It has a great feel to it."
Back problems have been at the heart of Federer's troubles. "I feel like it's coming together at the right time for me but it has a different feel because it hasn't been as consistent and as good and as solid as it has been in previous years.
"I'm maybe still a little bit unsure about how high is my level of play. You wonder if things are going to be how they used to be just going out there and playing tennis. Warming up for one minute like I used to do when I was 20.
"You do so much work to be able to be in decent shape and then still you're not feeling great. It becomes quite frustrating and a little disappointing.
"But I always see the glass half full, I'm a very positive thinker."
The round-robin stage of the tournament begins on Monday, with the No5 seed Tomas Berdych taking on the finals debutant Stanislas Wawrinka, before the in-form Del Potro plays Gasquet.

Manuel Pellegrini tells CSKA Moscow 'we don't want any more racist abuse'

Yaya Touré gets some TLC from David Silva during Manchester City's training session ahead of their return match against CSKA

Manuel Pellegrini has warned CSKA Moscow fans that there should be no more racist abuse when their team visit the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening, with the Manchester City manager calling on them to remember that the 2018 World Cup is being held in their country.
During their first group game in Moscow two weeks ago a section of CSKA's supporters aimed monkey chants at Yaya Touré, causing Uefa to rule that a section of their stadium should be closed for their next home game in the competition.
CSKA denied that Touré had been racially abused during their team's 2–1 defeat, and Pellegrini was asked about the state of relations between City and their Russian opponents. "I don't know about the relations of both clubs," he said. "The fans of CSKA made an important mistake. The club, I don't know why they denied at the beginning or what their reaction is now, but Uefa acted and gave them the punishment they deserve. I hope we can leave it in the past and [give something to think of] for Russian fans because they have a World Cup in their country."
Pellegrini will not say anything special to Touré ahead of the game, which 500 CSKA supporters are expected to attend. "I think Yaya is an experienced player," the Chilean said. "What happened in Russia, maybe he can't forget but tomorrow is a special match for him, not because of that but because Manchester City can go to the next stage of the Champions League. I think he will only be thinking about football."
Pablo Zabaleta said: "Obviously what happened in Moscow was really hard for Yaya. We are all behind him and any time we see something like that we try to help the players. Hopefully Uefa is always on it, as players we can do nothing we just need to give a massive support to the black players when they have some problems like that. Let me talk about football, that is the most important thing.
"I don't want to talk too much about racist chants or problems because I think we need to be more focused on football. That is the most important thing. And let Uefa take decisions about it."
If City beat CSKA they are all but certain of progressing to the knockout stages for the first time in the club's history. "I think in the last four or five years this club has been improving incredibly," Zabaleta said. "We know that the owners been spending much money to try and build a good team and try and have one of the best teams in Europe. Sometimes it takes time. We won the FA Cup, the Premier League – the Champions League is a different competition, you play against the best teams in Europe.
"It is time for this club to take a step forward. If we can qualify for the next round, it will be great for this club. Hopefully in the next few years we can be one of the top clubs in Europe."
Pellegrini confirmed that Joe Hart will again be omitted in favour of Costel Pantilimon but the manager does not believe his decision has affected the England goalkeeper's confidence. "No, I think Joe reacted very well. He is a professional player," Pellegrini said. "For him it is also a good thing to have a rest after playing so many matches. He is working without any problem, supporting Costel Pantilimon. Nobody wants to be out but he thinks it will be useful for him."
Pellegrini added that Stevan Jovetic will be out for "three weeks" due to a calf injury

Arsène Wenger senses more Arsenal momentum after win over Liverpool

Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey celebrates with Santi Cazorla after scoring the second goal against Liverpool. Photograph: Alan Walter/Action Images

It was not the most articulate line to have left the lips of Arsène Wenger yet it captured perfectly the sense of cautious optimism that has built around his Arsenal team. "It's a kind of … people start to say … 'Oh maybe'," the manager said.
Maybe Arsenal can win the Premier League. The very notion would have met with derision after the opening day home defeat to Aston Villa and the vehement backlash that rocked the club. But there they were on Saturday, composed, aggressive and incisive, deservedly beating an in-form Liverpool to establish a five-point lead at the top of the table.
"After the Aston Villa game, if I had told you we would have been five points clear in November, I would have had to run away because you would have killed me," Wenger said.
The pundits still say no. Arsenal have yet to face either Manchester club or Chelsea, they say. It remains too early to pass a definitive judgment while Arsenal's frailties of seasons gone by make it a risky business to tip them.
The last time that they sat five points clear at the top was in February 2008. Then came the infamous 2-2 draw at Birmingham City, which was scarred by Eduardo da Silva's leg break and William Gallas's meltdown and the club lost their bearings. It was not an isolated wobble. Recent history says that Arsenal will falter.
And yet momentum is growing, along with dressing-room belief. You will not hear any player make a bold statement about how they might win the title; no one wants to jinx it. But, privately, they know that they have a wonderful chance. The Manchester clubs and Chelsea are under new management and, as such, in transition. The league is tantalisingly open. But Arsenal are stable and they have been excellent from the final two months of last season onwards.
"We have more belief [this season] and we are starting to create a bit of fear in the opposition, and that gives us a better chance to win the games," Mikel Arteta said. "When you are on a good run and the confidence level is high, it makes everything much easier."
"In the last few seasons," Bacary Sagna said, "we were responding technically but when we had to go to tough, physical games, sometimes we were not responding. Now, we are more confident with the arrival of [Mesut] Özil and [Mathieu] Flamini. Özil has made us even better technically while with Flamini, we get the confidence of the physical challenge. The team is more together as a group and we can respond to every aspect of the game."
Flamini did not play against Liverpool because of a groin injury but it did not matter. Arteta was superb in front of the back four while Aaron Ramsey drove forward, prompted and killed the game with his long-range pot-shot. It was his 10th goal of the season for Arsenal; he had previously scored 11 in his five seasons at the club. Ramsey's improvement during this calendar year has been startling and it has helped to soften the blow of Jack Wilshere's continuing battle for fitness.
Arsenal's options in midfield provide the greatest reason for optimism and it was in that department that they won this game to make their loudest statement of the season. Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, started with three central defenders and two wing-backs, and he saw Arsenal take charge upon Santi Cazorla's goal. The visitors struggled to suppress Arsenal's runners from midfield.
Rodgers switched to 4-2-3-1 in the second-half, with the substitute Philippe Coutinho looking sharp at left midfield upon his return from injury. Luis Suárez bristled with menace throughout. But the frustration for Liverpool went deeper than the referee Martin Atkinson's decision to pull back Suárez's quick free-kick on 26 minutes, which led to Jordan Henderson putting the ball in the net.
They did not do enough offensively until after Ramsey's goal while Steven Gerrard could not exert his influence. Rodgers said afterwards that the captain "took a knock towards the end with his hip".
Liverpool intend to respond at home to Fulham on Saturday while for Arsenal there are the away games against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday and Manchester United in the league on Sunday. Dortmund hammered Stuttgart 6-1 on Friday night. "I wanted something more testing for them," Wenger said. "Unfortunately, they had a good friendly." Arsenal's defining period has begun well

NIGERIA-Basketball: National finals date set

The finals of the basketball championship in nigeria have been set for the 6 of november 2013 in lagos.The announcement was made by officials of the organising committee of this finals who say that much has been taken into consideration before that date was chosen .
This according to them is so becouse the finalist teams need time to prepare adequately for a beautiful final on that day .Also the officials are calling on the public to show up massively on the day of the final to cheer up both teams .Inorder to make the final beautiful authorities say they will grant supporters free access into the stadium so as to give the finals its merit.

Nigeria: Haruna sad for missing out on Eagles return

Dynamo Kiev’s winger Lukman Haruna has said he is sad for failing to enter the list of Super Eagles that will receive Ethiopia in the second leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifier on November 16, and play Italy in a friendly game on November 18.
Haruna was enthusiastic to play for Nigeria this month after Nigerian head coach, Stephen Keshi, tipped last month that he will call the winger for the Italian friendly.
Haruna, who played his last game for the Eagles in 2010 World Cup, has said that he remains positive that his hard work will forge him a place in the Eagles Aerie.
“I am sad but I’m still positive that I will get my chance,”
“I was very happy when I heard the coach said he would consider me for the Italy game but now that I’m not listed, it only means I should work extra hard and that is exactly what am going to do. I will continue to work hard and keep my form,” The Punch quoted Haruna.
Super Eagles squad
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille FC, France); Austin Ejide (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel); Chigozie Agbim (Enugu Rangers, Nigeria)
Defenders: Elderson Echiejile (Sporting Braga, Portugal); Benjamin Francis (Heartland FC, Nigeria); Efe Ambrose (Celtic FC, Scotland); Solomon Kwambe (Sunshine Stars, Nigeria); Godfrey Oboabona (Rizespor FC, Turkey); Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves, Nigeria); James Okwuosa (Chippa United, South Africa); Kenneth Omeruo (Chelsea FC, England)
Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Victor Moses (Liverpool FC, England); John Ogu (Academica de Coimbra, Portugal); Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Nnamdi Oduamadi (Brescia Calcio 1911, Italy); Nosa Igiebor (Real Betis, Spain); Sunday Mba (Enugu Rangers, Nigeria); Reuben Gabriel (Kilmarnock FC, Scotland)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Brown Ideye (Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine); Shola Ameobi (Newcastle United, England); Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce FC, Turkey); Obinna Nsofor (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia); Uche Nwofor (SC Heerenveen, The Netherlands)

Eaglets to unleash fireworks on Sweden

Golden Eaglets and Sweden will tomorrow battle for a place in the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup here in Dubai, with the Nigerian coach Manu Garba warning the Scandinavians to prepare for fireworks on the Sheiuk Rashid stadium.

Manu Garba Photo by FIFA

Both sides met in the group stage, with the Swedes, who are making their debut in this tournament, holding out for a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.
And as both teams prepare for another heavyweight showdown clash, the Nigerian coach insists that his boys have enough weaponry in their arsenal to defeat their foes.
Having scored 20 goals in five matches, the Golden Eaglets remain the best attacking.
Speaking to reporters, Garba who congratulated his boys for defeating Uruguay 2-0, said “We have learned so much playing against Sweden the last time but we shall be ready for them this time around.
Sweden should be ready for the fireworks which we shall fire on them. ”we are going to   fly the   flag of the   continent since   so much would be expected   from us ,”added Garba.
Coach Manu Garba also confessed that he was missing the on-field contributions of top striker Success Isaac, who was injured in the match against Sweden and has since not featured for the Golden
Eaglets, who are just one match from reaching the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in UAE.
Garba said that Isaac embodied the spirit of the team, noting that his absence was missed by the entire team. “I miss Isaac a lot.
Apart from scoring goals, he also assists others to score goals. He embodies the spirit of the team and his contributions cannot be overstated. Before we came here, he had scored in every match that we played and was the top scorer at the African Championship”, said Garba, who added  that if Isaac is fit for tomorrow’s match against Sweden that he would start from the bench.
“If he is fit, he will start from the bench because he is just coming from an injury break and cannot just be thrown into the action from the start”, said Garba.
Golden Eaglets midfielder Akinjide Idowu will miss tomorrow’s semi-final showdown against Sweden at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
Idowu went into Saturday’s quarter-final against Uruguay with a yellow card to his name and when he bagged another in the encounter, which the Nigerians won 2-0, he was automatically ruled  out of the next match.
According statistics obtained by Sports Vanguard from the Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA, Idowu’s yellow card was among the 145 yellow cards so far issued by referees at the ongoing tournament.
It males an average of 3.02 cards per match, below the 172 mark issued at this stage of the tournament in Mexico 2011.

I made 11 mistakes, Mourinho admits after Chelsea crash

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho could be set to ring the changes after launching a scathing attack on his players following their shock 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United.
The Chelsea manager left his squad in little doubt about his displeasure after an abject display saw them squander an opportunity to make ground in the Premier League title race.
Chelsea have an immediate chance to atone for a disjointed

Mourinho

performance — which Mourinho described as lacking in all departments — when they host German side Schalke in the Champions League this week.Several of the players who failed to impress at St James’ Park are unlikely to have an opportunity to restore their reputations immediately, with Mourinho ready to shake things up to avoid a repeat of the 90-minute no-show in the northeast.
Taking his own share of the blame for a defeat that leaves Chelsea with just five points from five away league games so far this term, the Portuguese said: “I made 11 mistakes with my team selection — 11 mistakes.
“That’s the feeling I have when my team plays so badly. We deserved to lose because for 45 minutes we played at the level of a friendly. The result is down to the fact that one team wasn’t there.
“There was no aggression there and we lacked intensity. It was a bad performance and it sends me home with a lot to think about because I have to try and understand where a display like this came from. I have to admit I’d be worried if we play like that again.”
Mourinho concedes Chelsea’s patchy away form is a concern after they succumbed to second-half goals from French duo Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy.
“We’ve won just once away in the league this season and that worries me,” he said.
“You have to come here to Newcastle with a certain mentality, and we just didn’t show that. We were lacking everything, to be honest, and that’s how I explain a result like this.
“We’re 10 games in and it’s an open title race, but that’s not something I’m thinking about every week at the moment. I must go home and reflect on this game because Newcastle gave us a lot of space to play in and hurt them, but we just lacked any kind of sharpness.”
Newcastle ended a testing week on a high with a fully deserved win to help erase the memory of their derby defeat at Sunderland last weekend.
Manager Alan Pardew paid tribute to his side and dedicated the win to owner Mike Ashley, who has come in for criticism for banning three local newspapers from reporting on Newcastle’s games in a stand-off over their coverage of the club.
“We started off conservatively, because if you go chasing from the start you’re in for a long afternoon against Chelsea,” he said.
“In the second half we had a bit more energy to put more pressure on them and that cranked up as we went on.
“We’ve been playing well for the past four or five games, and if you work hard enough and keep showing that spirit you’ll get the breaks, and that happened today (Saturday). Our players really put in a shift and got their reward.
“This win is for Mike Ashley and all our Newcastle fans. Trust me, he is a fan. I’m pleased for the club. We’ve had to make a stand with the local press. We want them to be onside with us and this was about giving a message to our fans that we are very much alive and kicking.