Squad
Stoke, Derby County others eager to have Akin Odimayo
English footballer of Nigerian descent Akin Odimayo has been caught in the middle as Championship sides Stoke and Derby County jostle to have him in their squad. The Swindon Town defender has been impressive doing his job and has attracted attention from a number of clubs in recent times. Odimayo joined The Robins last summer on a free transfer from Reading, and has played over 30 times for the League One side. He has played at both full-back and in central defence for Swindon, who are battling hard to avoid relegation. Despite their struggles as a team, the 21-year-old has impressed. Therefore, Swindon are set to take up the one-year option they have on him before then selling him. Aside from Stoke and County, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End are also in the race for Odimayo. Odi...
Crystal Palace boss impressed by Carlo Ancelotti’s work at Everton
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson expects a tough test against Everton on Monday night. Palace’s squad are preparing to travel to Goodison Park. “Any time you go to Everton, you’re going to face a very very difficult game,” Hodgson said. “They are a good team, well-coached and the players they’ve brought in have made them much stronger. We have to prepare as well as we can and have faith that if we play as well as we know we can do, we can get a good result. “I think it will be a very different team [to the last meeting at Goodison Park]. Carlo [Ancelotti] is working with them and improving them all the time. Almost a year has gone by so that’s another year of working with Carlo. “He’s brought in players that have strengthened the players even more. We know it will be a tough game, but unfor...
AFCON: Aston Villa congratulate Bertrand Traore, Burkina Faso on qualification
Premier League side Aston Villa have congratulated Bertrand Traore and Burkina Faso after qualifying for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations. Despite playing a 0-0 draw against Uganda on Wednesday evening at St. Mary’s Stadium-Kitende, Entebbe, Kamou Malo’s men booked a place in Cameroon with a game to spare. That will be the 13th time the West African country would reach the finals since their maiden appearance at Ghana 1978 – where they finished in eight position. The Villa Park giants have taken to social media to celebrate their winger and his country on their recent success. “Congratulations to Bertrand Traore and Burkina Faso, who qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations 2021 with a goalless draw against Uganda on Wednesday!” a tweet from the club read. Burkina Faso – who currently lead Gr...
Japan releases softball squad for Tokyo Olympic Games
Japanese softball team head coach Reika Utsugi has urged her players to capture Olympic gold on home soil after naming a 15-strong squad for Tokyo 2020. The team features Yukiko Ueno, captain Yamada Eri and Yukiyo Mine who helped Japan clinch softball gold at Beijing 2008 – the last time the sport featured at the Games. Pitchers Yamato Fujita and Miu Goto, who was named Most Valuable Player in last season’s Japan Women’s Softball League, as well as star outfielder Saki Yamazaki are other notable names. Haruka Agatsuma, Nayu Kiyohara, Mana Atsumi, Yuka Ichiguchi, Hitomi Kawabata, Minori Naito, Yu Yamamoto, Nodoka Harada and Sayaka Mori have also been chosen. “Of course, skills and physical competence are the necessary elements,” said Utsugi. “But in selecting the 15 members, we also took th...
Germany banking on victories to regain support
Germany will seek redemption for November’s humiliating thrashing against Spain as Joachim Loew’s squad look to get the fans back behind them by winning their first three World Cup qualifiers. Germany host Iceland in Duisburg on Thursday before facing Romania away on Sunday, then play North Macedonia three days later back in Duisburg. “We want to start the European championship year with an exclamation mark and please our fans again,” Loew said after naming teenagers Jamal Musiala, 18, and Florian Wirtz, 17, in his squad. “Our ambition and goal is to get ourselves into a good starting position with three wins.” A fortnight ago, Loew announced he will step down, after 15 years in charge, following the European championships, due to take place from June 11-July 11. He badly needs convincing ...
WCQ: Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombele returns to France squad
Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele has been rewarded for his upturn in form with a recall to the France squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The 24-year-old hasn’t featured for Les Bleus since the summer of 2019 but now has the chance to add to his six international caps in matches against Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Other notable returnees include Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Lemar, who hasn’t featured since November 2019, while Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele, a member of their 2018 World Cup-winning squad, is back for the first time in two-and-a-half years. This represents Ndombele’s first international call up since his club-record €60 million (£54m/$68m) move from Lyon to Tottenham. The Frenchman arrived in north London with a reputation as an all-action midf...
Raheem Sterling denies rumours of a rift with Pep Guardiola
Raheem Sterling says rumours he was involved in a bust up with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are false. Sterling was an unused substitute against Southampton last week and was then left out of the squad entirely for City’s victory over Fulham on Saturday night. And on Sunday, a rumour emerged on Reddit claiming that the winger and team-mate Phil Foden had both fallen out with Guardiola over their lack of playing time. But writing on Twitter on Sunday night, Sterling vehemently denied the rumours. Sterling has contributed 13 goals and eight assists for City in all competitions this season. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to m...
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has no sympathy with David Moyes for Manchester United failure
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not sympathise with former Manchester United manager David Moyes for his short tenure at Old Trafford. Moyes was sacked just 10-months after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary Scot who identified him as the club’s next manager. The 57-year-old is now leading West Ham in an impressive charge for the European places, after spells at Real Sociedad and Sunderland. Moyes’s West Ham side travel to Old Trafford on Sunday evening, and would go within three points of Solskjaer’s Reds with victory. Solskjaer praised Moyes for his turnaround in East London but refused to have sympathy for the manner in which he lost a ‘dream job’. “I don’t think you can feel sorry for someone who has managed Manchester United,” he said in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by ...
Asisat Oshoala cleared to return for Barcelona despite Fortuna Hjorring injury
Asisat Oshoala’s absence from Barcelona victory over Santa Teresa will not prevent her from taking part in Wednesday’s second leg against Fortuna Hjorring in the Women’s Champions League. The Nigerian featured in the final 13 minutes for Lluis Cortes’ team, after replacing hat-trick hero Jenni Hermoso at Estadi Johan Cruyff, as the Spanish champions cruised to a 4-0 first-leg victory. Oshoala was forced to watch the last match against Santa from the sidelines, having been left out due to an injury on her right foot. Besides the Nigerian, teammates Lieke Martens and Andrea Falcon also missed the Santa trip due to discomfort in their knees on Friday. Ahead of their trip to Denmark, Oshoala and Martens, however, were cleared to make the Barcelona squad to Hjorring for the second leg match. Th...
Arsenal provide update on Smith Rowe ahead of Burnley clash
Arsenal have this evening revealed a late update on the fitness of Emile Smith Rowe, ahead of their showdown with Burnley. Mikel Arteta’s men are set to return to action tomorrow afternoon, in a Premier League meeting with the Clarets. The Gunners will of course head into the Turf Moor clash with their tails up, on the back of a morale boosting pair of wins over the last couple of weeks. First, a last-gasp Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header saw Arsenal get the better of Benfica, to book their spot in the Last-16 of the Europa League. And this was followed last weekend by a hugely impressive 3-1 downing of Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. The news, as a whole, proved of a positive nature, with only two players – including 3rd-choice goalkeeper Alex Runarsson – struggling as things st...
Liverpool’s centre-back crisis worsens as manager confirms Ozan Kabak injury
Kabak was brought into Anfield during the January transfer window following a series of injuries at centre-back for Liverpool. The 20-year-old has not made an ideal start to life in the Premier League. His debut came against Leicester City, where his mix up with goalkeeper Alisson allowed Jamie Vardy to tap home to put the Foxes 2-1 ahead late on. After a victory in the Champions League over RB Leipzig, the Turkey international was once again under fire after the 2-0 home defeat to Everton in the Merseyside derby. This was followed by a victory at Bramall Lane, before a 1-0 loss against Chelsea. Kabak is now believed to be a doubt for the visit of relegation strugglers Fulham, as reported by Times journalist Paul Joyce on Twitter. The extent of his problem is currently unknown. The loanee ...
AFCON: NFF confirms date of final qualifying matches for Super Eagles
On Wednesday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) took to the official Twitter account of the Super Eagles to officially confirm the dates and kickoff times for the final stage of the senior men’s national football team’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers. For Matchday five, the Super Eagles will meet the Squirrels of Benin Republic on Saturday, March 27, in Porto-Novo, the capital of Republic of Benin, for a 1600 hours (GMT) kickoff. The next fixture against the Crocodiles of Lesotho, which will be the last of the series, will take place on Tuesday, March 30, in Lagos at 1600 hours (GMT) as well. At this point of the qualifiers, Nigeria has eight points from their first four Group L games and a draw from either of these matches will earn the Super Eagles the point they need ...
