International Football
Festival of Champions, FIFA Confederations Cup Kicks Off
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Virtually every participant is a champion. It serves as a convergence of continental champions, World Cup holders and World Cup next hosts.
It is a dress rehearsal for the 2018 World Cup. It is the unfolding of what should be expected when Russia hosts the World Cup next year.
Eight teams from all the continents gather for the competition. In Group A are Russia, the hosts, New Zealand, Portugal and Mexico. Group B has Cameroon, Chile, Australia and Germany.
This edition has a different complexion from the previous ones. It is the first Confederations Cup to involve three teams from the same confederation, in this case UEFA. Each of the last four editions featured only two European sides.
The 10th edition of the Confederation Cup (eighth under the name as the first two editions were called Intercontinental Cup) kicks off on Saturday with Russia facing New Zealand in Saint Petersburg at 4pm, Nigerian time.
It is an encounter that brings to memory a similar encounter 35 years ago when the then Soviet Union beat New Zealand 3-0 at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
The odds weight heavily in favour of Russia who are appearing in the competition for the first time. No host team has lost its opening match since the 2001 edition when France beat Korea Republic 5-0.
Sports Village Square recalls that three out of nine Confederations Cup competitions have been won by the host nation, namely Mexico in 1999, France in 2003 and Brazil in 2015.
Since 2001, the home sides have recorded three wins and one draw in the last four editions. New Zealand are still looking for their first victory in the Confederations Cup.
In nine matches spanning three previous participations, they secured just one draw against Iraq in 2009, after losing eight in a row.
The All Whites netted their last goal on June 20, 2003, edging ahead against Colombia through Raf De Gregorio before ultimately losing 3-1. The Kiwis have since played four matches and a total of 423 minutes without finding the net.
TEAM FACTS
RUSSIA are making their bow in the tournament.
This is the first Confederations Cup to involve three teams from the same confederation, in this case UEFA.
Each of the last four editions featured only two European sides.
Three out of nine Confederations Cups have been won by the host nation, namely Mexico in 1999, France in 2003 and Brazil in 2015.
NEW ZEALAND are participating in their fourth Confederations Cup after the 1999, 2003 and 2009 editions, although they have never made it beyond the opening round.
Of the nine Confederations Cup fixtures they have contested, New Zealand lost the first eight before achieving a 0-0 draw with Iraq in their last group game at the 2009 tournament.
The All Whites qualified for the Confederations Cup on 11 June 2016, when they won the OFC Nations Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over Papua New Guinea.
A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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Nigeria’s Super Eagles were held to a 2-2 draw by FIFA World Cup-bound Jordan in an eventful international friendly in Antalya on Tuesday night, with the contest overshadowed by a late red card to Alex Iwobi.
Iwobi, making his 98th appearance for the national team, was sent off in the closing stages, capping a dramatic encounter in which Nigeria surrendered a first-half lead and finished the game with ten men.
The match, played at the Mardan Sports Complex, brought Nigeria’s March international window to a close, but it proved anything but routine as both sides delivered a fiercely contested and entertaining clash.
Jordan, ranked 64th in the world and enjoying strong recent form, struck first in the 17th minute through Mousa Tamari. A well-worked free-kick routine caught the Nigerian defence napping, allowing the forward to fire home the opener.
Nigeria responded quickly and thought they had equalised six minutes later when Raphael Onyedika finished from a Moses Simon cut-back, but the goal was controversially ruled out.
The Super Eagles eventually drew level in the 30th minute. Stand-in captain Moses Simon, earning his 97th cap, reacted fastest after Ademola Lookman’s effort was blocked, slotting home with a composed left-footed finish for his second goal in as many matches.
Nigeria went ahead four minutes before halftime when Bright Osayi-Samuel’s pinpoint cross found debutant Emmanuel Fernandez, who showed great composure to control and finish, giving the three-time African champions a 2-1 lead at the interval.
The second half took on a more physical tone, with goalkeeper Francis Uzoho forced off in the 57th minute after sustaining an injury while clearing the ball. Adebayo Adeleye replaced him between the posts.
Head coach Eric Chelle introduced Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi to shore up the midfield, but Jordan continued to press and were rewarded with an equaliser in the 77th minute.
Nigeria pushed for a winner late on, handing a senior debut to Philip Otele, while Samuel Chukwueze came on for Moses Simon. However, the closing moments were marred by Iwobi’s dismissal, leaving the Super Eagles to see out the match with ten men.
Despite the draw, the encounter offered valuable insights for the coaching crew as Nigeria continues preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
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