International Football
AITEO CAF AWARDS: LIVERPOOL CHARTERS PRIVATE JET FOR SALAH, MANE
Top contender for the African Footballer of the Year, Mohammed Salah and club team mate, Sadio Mane will literarily make flying visits to Accra for the award as their premiership club, Liverpool has chartered a private jet to flying in the duo to Accra on Thursday and fly back almost immediately so they can feature Friday’s FA Cup match with Everton.
The influential attackers will leave Merseyside on Thursday morning and return immediately after the event. It is a six-hour flight to Accra but Jurgen Klopp has no concerns about Mane, who scored his first goal in the Premier league since November 29 in the 2-1 win over Burnley, spending 12 hours in the air before the FA Cup third round tie and does not believe their preparations will be affected.
‘We have everything organised,’ said Klopp. ‘We have two of the three best African players in our squad. We have to show them respect.
‘If it had been a matchday, they wouldn’t have asked (to go). We sleep in a hotel the night before a game, they will sleep in a plane. That is all the difference.’
Salah will continue to receive treatment for the groin injury that ruled him out of Monday’s trip to Turf Moor but, should he not make the squad against Everton, Klopp says it will have nothing to do with being in Ghana.
‘If Mo is not fit, it will not be for that,’ he said. ‘For our side, it is just a sign of respect. I know it, I had (Pierre-Emerick) Aubameyang at Borussia Dortmund and there is nothing more important than to go there.’
Mane has been struggling for form and looked deflated after scoring the opening goal but Klopp said: ‘Sadio is unbelievably important for us. He is strong, quick, so many things.
‘He scores a goal like this and it is like wow. He comes into the dressing room and the whole team gives him a hand.
‘We need him, we need him so much for all teams coming. I am happy because I had a lot of players with moments where it wasn’t clicking and he still scores.’
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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