International Football
Super Eagles’ World Cup foes, CAR put hopes on left-sided young star, Marc Raphaël Yapende
Central African Republic (CAR) may be relatively anonymous in the committee of football powers in Africa, the side could be tricky when they faced the Super Eagles on Thursday in a World Cup qualifying duel.
They carry with them the quality of surprise, often displayed by underdogs. One of their players to watch out for, even though has not yet featured in the World Cup qualifiers, is Marc Raphael Yapende aka Marco.
He was a big revelation in national football during the African U-20 Youth Championship. This left side of the national team has already been selected three times with the main national team.
According to a report garnered from local radio station, Radio Ndekeluka, for his coaches, Marco is a great future for the Central African round ball.
In March 2021, Marc Raphael, the national team coach, Yapende said Marco was the captain of the national team for CAR’s first participation in the Africa U-20 in Mauritania.
Even if the CAR were eliminated in the quarter-finals, the performance of this 19-year-old push François Zahoui, national coach at the time, to start him during the last three days of qualifying for Afcon 2022.
His complicity resides in the field when he is with his team mates. Pascal Lafleuriel, a former interim coach of the national team appreciated the qualities of Marco despite his shortcomings.
” Marco, he’s a boy with great athleticism. He has a very good left foot. He has a real quality of speed, play and hitting. He really is a powerful player. Now he has left. to work on his athletic ability, to make the right choice in his passes, in his crosses and positions, “said the coach.
Freeman Niamathé, his teammate is impressed by Marc’s talent and gives him some advice.
“He’s a good player. I started with him from our childhood. Now he has to work on his personality and his temperament in a game,” he said.
Former student of the Foot School, Jimmy Yanibada (EFJY), Marc Raphael Yapende explains his role in the field.
“Today my coaches ask me to work a lot on crosses, my placements in the match every time I receive the ball. I don’t like to lose and I always have the thirst to win. evolve outside ” , he says.
Elected the man of the match during the 3rd day of the CAN U20 in Mauritania against Tunisia in March 2021, Marc Raphaël Yapende intends to work hard to stay the course and do better for the senior team.
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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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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