International Football
World Cup 2022: ‘Jollof derby’ sees West African rivals battle for Qatar
BY OLUWASHINA OKELEJI, FOOTBALL WRITER, BBC
Mention Nigeria v Ghana and two things spring to mind for many – a rivalry that centres on football and jollof rice.
While the debate over which nation makes the best version of the red, spicy rice dish may never be resolved, the argument over football will be decided, at least for the time-being, on the pitch on 25 and 29 March.
The two nations will meet in Kumasi on 25 March with a place at the World Cup at stake – a fitting event to mark the 50th instalment of West Africa’s fiercest footballing rivalry.
It’s their first meeting in 11 years and their first in a World Cup qualifier since 2001.
Four days later, Nigeria host the Black Stars in Abuja with the victors qualifying for Qatar 2022.
The Super Eagles are bidding to reach a fourth consecutive World Cup, and sixth in total, while Ghana – three-time qualifiers – are looking to return to the tournament after failing to reach the 2018 finals in Russia.
Big brother, little success
There are very few matches that have the cultural and emotional impact that defines a Nigeria-Ghana clash.
The two nations stood side-by-side on the frontlines in the battle for independence from colonial rule in the 1950s, while Ghana had a large migrant community in Nigeria up until the 1980s.
As far as size and population go, Nigeria – with Africa’s largest population of nearly 200 million – is clearly the bigger of the two.
However, in terms of football, Ghana has the edge: 4-3 in Africa Cup of Nations trophies, a World Cup quarter-final appearance (albeit in fewer tournaments) and a 21-10 advantage in head-to-head meetings.
Most of those victories came in the period of Ghana’s continental dominance in the 70s and 80s, but the tide has turned decisively since 1992 when the Black Stars inflicted a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Super Eagles in the Nations Cup semi-final.
Nigeria have since gone on to claim continental success in 1994 and 2013, to add to their 1980 title while Ghana – four-time African champions – have not won the trophy since 1982, instead gaining a reputation for coming up just short all too often over the last four decades.
Mind games
Ahead of the crunch play-off, Ghana delayed the public announcement of their squad until as late as possible, in a “strategy” designed to muddle the Nigerian camp’s preparations.
“And they are very confused,” Ghana FA (GFA) executive council member Sammy Anim Addo claimed to BBC Sport Africa prior to the squad’s announcement earlier this week.
“We can’t always do the same thing all the time and for the first time this is the strategy and we believe in it. We will beat Nigeria and qualify to Qatar 2022.”
Under a new technical team with Otto Addo as coach and former Tottenham player Chris Hughton as technical director, Ghana will be without suspended captain Andre Ayew as they file out in front of the highly-demanding Kumasi crowd.
Nigeria are also missing players, with Alex Iwobi suspected, influential Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi injured while another Leicester player, Ademola Lookman, is available after changing allegiances from England.
Super Eagles fans have, however, gone from enthusiastic optimism to mild pessimism about the fixture since the draw took place in late January.
On the day, the sense was that Ghana represented one of the more favourable match-ups because the four-time African champions had just suffered a humiliating exit at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana finished bottom of Group C – behind tournament debutants Comoros – and lost two of their three matches, including to the island minnows.
In contrast, Nigeria’s three wins from three group matches had secured them a place in the round of 16, and also the favourites tag, but the team led by Augustine Eguavoen suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Tunisia in the last 16.
“I take responsibility for everything that happened in Cameroon, but things will be different against Ghana,” Eguavoen told BBC Sport Africa.
“What we have at stake is a place at the World Cup, and nothing comes bigger than that. I prefer we talk less and take care of business on the pitch.”
Long-standing rivalry
The Ghana-Nigeria rivalry has been around for as long as both countries have existed.
Ghana became the first black African nation to gain its independence from colonial rule in 1957 and Nigeria only got theirs in 1960, with Nigerians feeling slighted as they believed their more sizeable nation should have gained its independence before ‘tiny’ Ghana.
The countries do not share borders and are separated by Togo and Benin but both rivalries and friendships have seemingly developed as a result of both being English-speaking British colonies surrounded by French-speaking neighbours.
The football rivalry started while they both fought for independence, with Ghana winning the first friendly meetings in the 1950s, including an incredible 7-0 thrashing of the Red Devils, as the Nigerian team was then called, in June 1955.
Political tension between the West African cousins started with the Ghanaian government’s Aliens Compliance Order of 1969, which ordered all undocumented aliens to leave Ghana.
Although Togolese, Burkinabes, Ivorians, Nigeriens and other West Africans were in the country, Nigerians – mostly ethnic Yorubas – formed the majority of the foreign population in Ghana then.
Some of them had been living in Ghana for years and were into their second and third generations, and Nigerians – whose journeys home were not pleasant – felt as though the exercise was aimed at them.
Things changed when oil came to Nigeria and Ghana’s economy collapsed, meaning that from around 1974 the Ghanaian exodus to Nigeria in search of jobs was on.
Almost a decade later, the oil boom excitement slumped with the world petroleum glut and the Nigerian economy suffered a downturn, prompting the government to order over a million West African migrants, most of them Ghanaian, to leave Nigeria at short notice in 1983.
Undocumented West African immigrants were taking jobs from Nigerians and causing high crime rates, the government said.
Events of 1983 often set the tone and tend to dominate pre-match discussions among both sets of fans when the countries clash on the football field, with this week’s coming games likely to be little different.
-BBC
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro
“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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