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Super Eagles of Nigeria Gasps for a Win over Leone Stars of Sierra Leone

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Super Eagles of Nigeria Gasps for a Win over Leone Stars of Sierra Leon in Monrovia.
…Liberian President, George Weah to watch Victor Osimhen Live.

 

The 22,000 capacity Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia, Liberia is expected to exceed its capacity above the highest ever experienced 60,000 attendance during the Liberia versus Malawi encounter of 11th June 1989 as the Super Eagles of Nigeria trade tackles with the Leon Stars of Sierra Leone on Sunday 18th June 2023 at 1700 hours in an AFCON qualifier.

 

 

Already Liberian President and only African Player to win football most prestigious award of Ballon D’or, George Weah has indicated attendance to shake hands with the grade A football stars that Nigeria is going to parade. He yearns to watch the superlative Victor Osimhen in Monrovia live.

 

 

President Weah believes so much in Nigeria and was one of the principal guests at the inauguration of the new Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu at Abuja on 29th of May 2023.

 

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Much is expected of the Group A match between hosts Sierra Leone and Nigeria as the West African country was adjudged by CAF officials not to have a standard turf befitting the status of such CAF match so after going front and back, Monrovia was picked.

 

 

The two teams landed Monrovia Friday and the Nigerian Coach, Jose Paseiro already acknowledged the match will be tough saying, “We therefore have to be at our best organization and commitment and play a collective game against them”. The Leone Stars Coach, John Keister is talking like Nigerian coaches used to speak anytime they have to face Brazil in years of Old, “we will try our best against Nigeria, we will give them a tough match”.

 

 

Nigeria slammed the Leone Stars in the first encounter on 9th June 2022 with a 2-1 drubbing when Guinea Bissau same day walloped Sao Tome and Principe 6-1. On the 2nd Day fixtures played 13th June last year Sierra Leone played 2-2 draw with Guinea Bissau while Nigeria took Sao Tome to football classroom with a 10-0 drubbing on their land.

 

 

On the 3rd Day fixtures played 22nd March last year, Sierra Leone again played 2-2 with Sao Tome even while hosting and Nigeria lost at home on 24th March to Guinea Bissau 0-1. On the 4th Day of Matches played 26th March last year the Leone Stars beat Sao Tome 2-0 on away encounter while Nigeria went to Guinea Bissau and took sweet revenge with a one nil victory on 27th March just the way the Guineans slapped them in their previous encounter.

 

 

Now is Match Day 5 and on the 14th June 2023 Guinea Bissau went to Sao Tome and grabbed a 1-0 victory to dethrone the Super Eagles on the Group table living Nigeria in a limbo for a must win encounter in Monrovia on Sunday.

 

 

Although there is an outstanding match for Day 6 in the group, to be played on 8th September 2023 when Guinea Bissau will host Sierra Leone and Nigeria will host Sao Tome this Day 5 matches are important because if Nigeria wins, the outstanding match will be a formality in the group reckoning.

 

 

As at Friday 16th June(today) Guinea Bissau tops group A with10 points from 3 wins, a draw and a loss; Nigeria is 2nd with 9 points from 3 wins and a loss; Sierra Leone is 3rd with 5 points with a win, two draws and a loss while Sao Tome sits at the bottom with a point from a draw. That is why Sierra Leone is looking forward to a miracle victory over Nigeria to keep qualification hope alive.

 

 

Nigeria relies on her top foreign players to clinch qualification in Monrovia but regular Goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho is on suspension so three new goalkeepers were invited namely Adebayo Adeleye of Hapoel Jerusalem; Victor Sochima of Rivers United and Olorunleke Ojo of Nigeria’s local league Champions, Eyimba of Aba. I understand that Chief Coach Paseiro has told Baruwa the Nigerian Goalkeeper Trainer that Adeleye will be in goal because he has the experience of playing against a hostile crowd many times before.

 

 

Nigeria and Sierra Leone has met six times before with Nigeria dominating with four wins and two draws. On 11th October 2008 Nigeria de-shined the Stars 4-0; beat them in an International Friendly on 9th February 2-1; smashed the Stars 2-0 in a WAFU encounter on 11th September 2017; played goalless in an AFCON match of 17th November 2020; after the 13th November 2020 duel in Nigeria that ended 4-4 when Nigeria was leading 4-3 and the last meeting of 9th June 2022 also an AFCON match that Nigeria won 2-1.

 

 

Sierra Leone has appeared in only three AFCON finals of 1994, 1996 and 2021 losing all appearances at group stages. Whereas Nigeria is three times champions of the African title in 1980 at the National Stadium under Christian Chukwu as Captain, 1994 in Tunisia and 2013. Nigeria also won the CHAN Cup called Cup of Nations meant for only local players two times. Nigeria is a star of African football.

 

 

Already eight countries are known to have already qualified for the AFCON finals scheduled for Ivory Coast in January namely Ivory Coast; Morocco; Algeria; Burkina Faso; Senegal; South Africa; Tunisia and Egypt. A total 24 teams are lined up to contest in Ivory Coast.

 

 

At the last edition played in Cameroun, Senegal lifted the trophy with Egypt as Runners-up; hosts Cameroun won the Bronze and Burkina Faso placed 4th.

 

 

A total 100 goals was scored in Cameroun with the Indomitable Lions Captain, Vincent Aboubakar winning the Golden Boot with 8 goals; Senegalese Captain, Sadio Mane was Best Player; Best Young player was Issa Kabore of Burkina Faso; Golden Gloves for Best Goal Keeper went to Edoard Mendy of Senegal and Senegal also carted home the Fair Play award.

 

NB: The Author, Eniola Olatunji (Formerly Yomi Kassim) has been in the media for some 46 years with vast experience in Radio Sports Commentaries and Newspaper reporting. He worked as Presenter/Producer on many radio stations and Reporter/Editor in some Newspapers,

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Leicester City Put Up For Sale

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General view of a Leicester City sign from the front of King Power StadiumLeicester City are looking to sell the club for more than £200m, with its Thai owners King Power ready to leave after 16 years.

 

The Foxes have had an eight-page sales booklet produced by a leading US investment bank to help offload the one-time Premier League title winners.

Citigroup lists the Foxes, its women’s team, and other major assets – including the 32,000-seat King Power Stadium and its Seagrave training facility which was opened in 2020 and is valued at £121m – as well as OH Leuven, Leicester’s Belgian sister club, as up for sale in a brochure titled ‘Project Lineup’.

The document, seen by BBC Sport, values the club’s physical assets at more than £200m, though no specific sum has been attributed to the sale of its struggling teams.

The brochure speaks of “a rare opportunity to acquire a club with an excellent track record of winning promotions to higher divisions”.

Leicester’s successes, including the 5,000-1 Premier League title win of 2016 and the FA Cup triumph five years later, are well promoted in the brochure, while their place in League One, after back-to-back relegations from the top flight and the Championship, fail to get a mention.

The club’s turnover, which Citigroup forecast to be more than £97m for the 2026 financial year are also part of the pitch, but the years of financial losses and the club’s debts – which, as outlined in its 2025 accounts, include £103.6m in bank loans – are omitted.

In the years that the club yo-yoed between the Premier League and Championship, with two relegations from the top flight in three years between 2023 and 2025, the club lost more than £180m.

King Power, run by the Srivaddhanaprabha family, bought Leicester for £35m from Milan Mandaric in 2010.

Khun Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha is currently chairman after his father Khun Vichai died in a helicopter crash outside the stadium in 2019.

Efforts to put the third-tier club up for sale were first reported in the Financial Times, external in July, but the product brochure now being circulated to prospective buyers is public confirmation that new investors are being sought.

The sale process comes just eight months on from Khun Top saying he is shouldering the blame for the club’s drastic recent demise.

There have been growing calls from disgruntled fans for the club to be sold, with the most vocal showing coming outside King Power Stadium after relegation from the Championship was confirmed last season.

Leicester’s struggles in recent years have come at a time when the King Power duty-free business in Thailand, which has been intrinsically linked to the club since the Srivaddhanaprabha family bought the Foxes, has also endured financial difficulties.

Despite the club’s issues, Leicester City is being positioned for sale as one of only five clubs to have won all three major English trophies – the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup – since 2000.

The document also outlines the potential of the club’s academy, stating the Foxes have a “strong talent pipeline backed by leading scouting infrastructure, active transfer management and highly developed academy system consistently producing top players”.

Leicester sold academy graduate Jeremy Monga to Manchester City for £10m last month.

Leicester, relegated to League One for just the second time in their history last season, will start their latest campaign in the third tier under head coach Russell Martin at Notts County on Saturday.

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Amorim Wants Tomori, Nkunku 6 Other AC Milan Stars Out Of Club

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AC Milan coach Ruben Amorim has decided Fikayo Tomori and Christopher Nkunku do not figure in his plans this season.

 

David Odogu, Pervis Estupinan, Santiago Gimenez and Philip Terracciano are also expected to leave after Amorim held a crunch meeting with club bosses on Thursday.

The Portuguese, who was dismissed by United in January following a dismal 14 months in charge, accepted the task of transforming Milan’s fortunes – with the Italian giants finishing fifth last season.

He is set for a reunion with his old side this weekend in Poland, where he will search for his first win in charge of his new club having failed to register a victory in pre-season.

A 2-2 draw with Scottish champions Celtic was followed by a 1-1 tie with fierce rivals Inter Milan, before Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea put three goals past the Portuguese’s side in a woeful result in Jakarta.

But Amorim is ready to embrace the challenge, and suggested that his task at the San Siro is even greater than his job at Old Trafford.

‘I’m really very happy to be here, it’s an honour to be the coach of Milan,’ he said.

‘Why did I choose Milan? If you read an old interview of mine you will understand it, for me a special club.

‘It’s a very big challenge that I accepted even if after the last one [at Manchester United] I told myself to accept a smaller one.

‘Perhaps it is a greater challenge than the last. I’m proud to be here, we all are, me and my staff.

‘I’m at Milan to win, if you’re Milan coach you have to have this mentality,’ he added.

‘I’m not naive, I know there’s a lot of work to do, but if you’re the Milan coach you have to play to win.’

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Transfer: Man Utd Name 6 Clubs Rashford Can’t Join

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Manchester United co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has blocked Marcus Rashford from joining any direct Premier League rival.

 

According to the UK Mirror, the Red Devils are determined to avoid a scenario where Rashford shines at a domestic competitor.

The 28-year-old is back at Carrington for pre-season training following a loan spell at Barcelona, but his long-term future at Old Trafford remains uncertain.

Ratcliffe wants to remove Rashford from United’s wage bill, but he won’t sanction a move to the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City or Liverpool

The restrictions extend to loan inquiries, as Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur have been rebuffed.

There is fear among United senior officials that Rashford could prove instrumental in helping a rival secure a Champions League spot, a scenario that would be viewed as ’embarrassing’ by the club’s top brass.

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