International Football
BREAKING: AMERICA – BOUND IGHALO CONSIDERS RETURN TO SUPER EAGLES
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
With time running out on his loan spell at Manchester United, Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo is now considering a return to Super Eagles and a possible move to America’s Major League Soccer, MLS.
The striker whose last year’s January last day transfer to Manchester United hit global headlines told ESPN’s popular Interview programme, ‘Alexis Meet Nunes’ on Thursday that he was in good communication with Super Eagles’ manager and a return to the national team may be in the offing.
“I have good relationship with Gernot Rohr and at a time he wanted me to return to the team because he finds it difficult to seeing me play for Manchester United and not playing again for the Super Eagles.
“Although I retired from the team very early due to injury before the AFCON for eight weeks and unfortunately, I left the tournament with another injury and considering the travels from China wasn’t good from for me and have to look at other options of giving the younger ones a chance.
“I miss everyone in the team and if the need arises, I will want to play at another World Cup finals or the African Cup of Nations if not both tournaments but for now I will want the young lads to enjoy themselves,” he said in the television interview.
In a related development, with his loan move from Chinese side, Shanghai Shenhua, set to end on Jan. 31 after a year at Old Trafford the Nigerian star is waiting before making a decision on his next move but has said he would “love” the opportunity to play in the U.S.
“Today, I’m in Manchester but at the end of the month I don’t know where I’m going to be,” Ighalo told ESPN. “If it’s possible I’d like to stay here but if not I have to go.
“I have options. I wait for my agent. He is doing his job and I’m doing mine. At the end of the month, we have to decide what is best and we’ll take it. If it’s possible I’d like to play in MLS but I have to wait to see if it’s possible.
“The league is doing well and if the opportunity arises then I’d grab it with two hands,” he said.
In the finals days of the loan spell at Manchester United, things are not rosy for the Nigerian the arrival of Uruguay star, Edinson Cavani in the summer, it is unlikely United will extend Ighalo’s stay.
But if he leaves at the end of the month, the 31-year-old said he will do so having fulfilled his dream of playing for the team he supported as a boy in Lagos.
“I never believed I’d play for United,” he said. “Where I come from, we fight because of United games.
“We quarrel. We argue. When my team hasn’t done well, I’ve cried. I grew my love for United since I was young and I’m the happiest man on Earth for my dream to come true. I’ve fulfilled my dream to play for Man United.”
It was a surprise when United turned to Ighalo to fill the void left by the injured Marcus Rashford in January 2020. And not least to Ighalo himself.
“When the talk started I didn’t believe it,” he said. “I didn’t believe my agent.
“But I got a call from my agent that Man United wanted to do the deal at about 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Shanghai time and I didn’t sleep until day break.
“They said I would need to take a pay cut but I said I don’t care, whatever the pay cut needs to be, just make this deal happen. This is my dream. I was on my bed praying. I didn’t sleep for two days. I didn’t believe it until I landed at Manchester airport.”
Ighalo made a key contribution to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team at the end of last season, scoring five goals in 19 appearances as United reached the semifinals of the FA Cup and Europa League, as well as finishing third in the Premier League to secure a return to the Champions League.
He has found opportunities harder to come by this term but it has not dented his appreciation for the chance to live out his dream.
“I’m a professional, I don’t make trouble and I don’t complain,” he said. “I just go to training and give my best.
“Lately I haven’t been playing much but it’s the coach’s decision. If I’m not in the team and give them 100% support. The team is doing well and that’s the most important thing.”
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
As major global sporting events beckon, Morocco’s monarch launches the Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed rail project
Nigeria Premier League attains a crescendo this weekend
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL7 days ago
Naira rain falls on Nigeria’s Flamingos after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria
- OBITUARY4 days ago
NFF mourns the demise of former FIFA referee, Bosede Momoh
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria
- U-17 AFCON7 days ago
Morocco crowned CAF U-17 AFCON champions after dramatic penalty shootout win over Mali
- U-20 FOOTBALL6 days ago
Nigeria begin CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations title chase with Tunisian clash
- Nigerian Football6 days ago
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United
- feature4 days ago
Ghana’s Cardinal, Appiah Turkson, listed as a possible Pope
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu