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Lokoja – Malam Abdul Adama, the Chairman of Kogi United FC and Confluence Queens FC both of Lokoja, has commended the team’s performance in 2014. The chairman, in a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday, commended the two teams for maintaining standard. Adama tagged the last season as “Season of Restructuring and Repositioning’’ for the teams, especially for Kogi United which had been relegation-bound in the previous season. He said that Kogi United FC made a miraculous recovery to become one of the teams to be reckoned with in 2014. He attributed the feat to the new management team and a new indigenous technical adviser invited from Denmark to assist the team. “The teams achieved significant results with Kogi United finishing seventh in the last Nigerian National League season while Confluence Queens made the fifth position. He also praised the management team for working in conjunction with the new technical adviser to reposition the team. He said that the management h...

Ahead of the friendly matches against Sudan and Ivory Coast, former Nigeria international Patrick Pascal believes the Super Eagles should win those games so as to start the country’s football calendar on a positive note. A predominantly home based Super Eagles will play the Jediane Falcons of Sudan and Africa Cup of Nations bound Ivory Coast this January in two friendly matches in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Pascal says it will mean a lot for Nigerian football in the New Year, if they start with wins. “Those games against Sudan and Ivory Coast are games that I think we should win because we have to start the New Year on a positive note,” he said. “They are not must win games but it will mean a lot to us if we can win those games because it means we will start the football calendar on a good note, which will be a good omen. “Seeing that we have failed to qualify to the AFCON, these games should mean a lot to us and hopefully we will make them count,” he stressed. ...

Officials of the Nigeria Football Federation are at loggerheads on whether out of contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi deserves a new contract, with a majority still seriously opposed to this. It has exclusively been gathered that a section of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) leadership want Keshi to be given a new contract despite failing to qualify Nigeria to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations so as to, at least, keep their plum jobs. A top source informed that the group that favours a new contract for the failed coach believes Keshi’s “very powerful friends” will finally accept them if they give him a new deal. Keshi and Amaju However, this group is opposed by a majority on the NFF executive committee who has stuck to a “unanimous decision” in October to sack Keshi. It will be recalled that the NFF fired the coach only to later be forced to rescind this decision on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan. There is certainly no love lost between Keshi and his employers even ...

Manchester United’s record signing, Angel Di Maria would be sitting in the stands when Manchester United take on Liverpool tomorrow according to reports from Carrington. Di Maria picked up a hamstring injury in Manchester United’s win over Hull City and was out of action against Stoke and Southampton. But despite returning to light training, the fleet footed Argentine would not be fit for the Northern derby and would have to watch while his teammates renew English football’s longest surviving rivalry.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, has suggested that the Emirates Stadium be named after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, in recognition of his achievements at the club. The Gunners welcome Pardew’s Newcastle on Saturday, as Wenger continues to face criticism over the club’s worst start to a Premier League season. Some fans have unfurled banners calling for his sack, while other supporters booed him at a Stoke train station, following a 3-2 loss at the Britannia. But Pardew believes Wenger does not deserve any of that. “The stadium should be named after Arsene,” Pardew told reporters. “The job he did with that move across from Highbury, when he had all that debt and had to be very careful with his transfer budget, was incredible. It was a miracle that he kept them in the Champions League. He added: “The incident at the train station was totally disrespectful. I think 90 per cent of Arsenal fans would have been ashamed of that and we could get the backlash of it. “The c...

Manchester City booked its place in the last-16 of the Champions League following a 2-0 victory over Roma on Wednesday. Samir Nasri's stunning 60th minute strike and Pablo Zabaleta's late effort gave City all three points and secured second place in Group E behind Bayern Munich. Roma, who hit the post in the second half through Kostas Manolas, also had an effort cleared off the line. But City held out to ensure its place in the knockout phase of the competition. "I think the performance of the team was amazing," Nasri told Sky Sports. "It was important for me to score, after the surgery I took a while to get to my full level, now I am." The result was even more of an achievement for City given the absence of three of its star players. Sergio Aguero, who scored a hat-trick in the 3-2 win over Bayern Munich was ruled out with a knee injury, while captain Vincent Kompany failed to shake off a hamstring problem. City was also without its talisman midfielder Yaya...

Real Madrid showed are ready to become the first team to retain their Champions League title after securing maximum points from their group with a 4-0 win over Ludogorets that also set a new Spanish record for consecutive victories. The win was Madrid’s 19th in a row in all competitions and saw them surpass the run of 18 straight victories that Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona team collected in the 2005-06 season. The Catalans finished that season with the Champions League trophy and Madrid are looking for the same to ensure they are the first side to win it consecutively in its current format. It came on a comfortable night in the Spanish capital as Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed Madrid legend Raul’s 71 Champions League goals with the opener. The Portuguese forward was captain for the night in the absence of Iker Casillas and the suspended Sergio Ramos and he scored his 32nd of the season for club and country with a cheeky ‘Panenka’ chip from the penalty spot after Marcelinho had been sent off...

Steven Gerrard called it straight, declaring Liverpool’s Champions League elimination little more than they had deserved, but no one else was willing to stand up and be counted after a pitiful showing against Basel. Lazar Markovic headed out of the dressing room in a woolly hat and the rest did not even seek disguise as they left a freezing Anfield on Tuesday night. Their collective silence said everything. There can be no disguising the shattering anti-climax of the campaign Liverpool waited five long years to attain, which ended with the 1-1 draw against Basel. Six games, one win, five goals, extradition to the Europa League and possibly even a first continental clash with Everton. (Uefa rules governing intra-country fixtures mean that cannot happen until the last 16.) The obvious problem is the absence of a serviceable striker, though the malaise runs deeper. Liverpool have too many unhappy players and do not look as if they have a way to play now that they have lost the free-wheeli...

England captain Wayne Rooney was the most popular Manchester United player on Twitter in 2014, leading the likes of Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie and Angel Di Maria. The latter pair may have helped their teams to brilliant, if ultimately futile, World Cup campaigns (and a Champions League win in the case of the Argentine) but it was Rooney, now also United captain, who was the most mentioned player on the social networking site. David Luiz, since departed to Paris Saint-Germain, is the surprising name at the top of the Chelsea pile - but it was, perhaps, not for things the Brazilian defender did right. His error-strewn performance in the humiliating 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to Germany was the most Tweeted about event of the year - not only sporting - and Luiz, captain for the day, was at the centre of it with one of the worst World Cup performances of all-time.

The Brazil and Real Madrid legend said he has no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid who is up against Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich will win the Ballon d’ or. Cristiano if crowned will be winning the award the second time in a row, for the third time. “It’s very nice to see this Real Madrid team play,” he told Cope. “The team has a lot of quality in midfield and has Cristiano, who is very inspired every time he plays.”This year I have no doubt that the Ballon d’Or will be for Cristiano. This year he has quite an advantage.” The former Inter striker believes that Ronaldo and Messi are ahead of every other player in world football but believes his compatriot and Barcelona forward Neymar will soon join them at the pinnacle of the game, saying: “Neymar will arrive in good time”