International Football
Super Eagles land in Lagos, set for ‘Thunder and Blood’ fight with Cape Verde Blue Sharks
Qatar 2022 World Cup hopefuls, Super Eagles of Nigeria on Sunday after return to the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
They will be having their final battle with Cape Verde on Tuesday as they gear up to get to the African playoff to qualify for the 2020 World Cup.
They flew into the country aboard their official airline partner, Air Peace Embraer E-195 E2 jet after a four-and-half hour cruise from Morocco’s principal northern town to Lagos.
The aircraft touched down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 7.30am and the three –time African champions were immediately driven to their Eko Hotel abode.
They are scheduled to have a gym session in the evening to limber up ahead of a full training session on Monday at the match venue – Teslim Balogun Stadium.
The 2-0 victory in Tangier over the Lone Star meant the Eagles have won all their away matches in this qualifying series, and need only a draw against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde on Tuesday to progress into the final knockout round of African series for Qatar 2022.
They have scored two goals in each of the away games, with a 2-1 defeat of the Sharks on the island on Mindelo and 2-0 defeats of Central African Republic and Liberia in Douala and Tangier respectively.
They have to avert the type of slip they recorded last month when they unexpectedly conceded a late goal to Central African Republic.
This time around they need at least a draw to proceed to the final playoff holding in March 2022.
Ahmed Musa, who won a record 102nd senior cap for Nigeria after coming in as a substitute in Saturday’s triumph, said none of the players is thinking of a draw against the Sharks at the Teslim Balogun Satdium.
“No one is thinking of a draw. It is a must-win match, as far as we are concerned. The mindset is to win and reach the final round of the World Cup series without any story.”
Victory or draw against the Sharks will send 12-pointer Eagles into the knockout round, with the visitors, who are on 10, needing to win at the Teslim Balogun to make progress at Nigeria’s expense.
Nigeria has participated in all FIFA World Cup final tournaments since its debut in 1994 in the United States of America, bar the 2006 finals in Germany that she missed narrowly after FIFA opted to use the head-to-head rule in the qualifying campaign, which favoured Angola.
Already, in-form Senegal as well as Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Democratic Republic of Congo have sailed into that final round, with African champions Algeria expected to have no trouble doing the same. One of Ghana’s Black Stars and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana was set to emerge on Sunday night after their group’s final fixture in Cape Coast, with the home team needing a win and the visitors only in need of a draw.
Three other matches will produce the remaining two qualifiers. Five –time African champions Cameroon are at home to Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants in Yaounde on Tuesday. The Lions, on 12 points, need a win while 13-pointer Elephants require only a draw.
Tunisia hosts Zambia also on Tuesday, and would scale through with a draw as long as Equatorial Guinea, who shocked the Carthage Eagles on Saturday, do not pick all the points in Nouakchott against Mauritania.
The Eagles and the Guineans are both on 10 points. Zambia, who victimized Mauritania 4-0 on Saturday to go to seven points, are also still in with a chance, if they win well in Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea drop all points in Nouakchott.
The final round of the African qualifying series will hold in March 2022.
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
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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
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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
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