International Football
It Is Do-or-Die against Super Eagles, Boasts Cameroon’s Bassogog
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Youthful Chinese Super League player, Christian Bassogog is the player Cameroon have saddled goal scoring task to as the Indomitable Lions face the Super Eagles on Friday in the first leg of the back-to-back World Cup qualification fixtures.
The 21-year old Bassogog of China based Henan Jianye appears to be up to the task as he has started talking tough.
The player who was named best player at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations is not a stranger to the Super Eagles.
Apart from the possibility of having crossed path with the nearly half a dozen of Nigerian players in the Chinese League, he was in the Cameroon squad beaten 3-0 by the Super Eagles in 2015 in a friendly match played at Vise in Belgium, the home country of Hugo Broos, the current Coach of Cameroon.
According to information gathered from FIFA, Bassogog is “arguably the fastest player in the entire Indomitable Lions squad”.
He made his debut for Cameroon last November in the 1-1 home draw with Zambia in a World Cup qualifier.
Although he has chalked up a little over 14 international caps, he has scored just twice one of which was the goal that virtually sent Ghana out of the race for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Bassogog put into effective use, his swiftness which can be likened to that of Nigeria’s former international, the inimitable Segun Odegbami, as he paced past Ghanaians defenders to put score lines at 2-0 in the semi final clash of Africa’s premier competition. In the Chinese Super League, Bassogog has reportedly scored seven goals.
“I am not sure just how fast I am,” the former Wilmington Hammerheads winger told FIFA.com. “I have never tested my speed by running a 100-metre sprint. But I know my pace is my top strength.”
He told FIFA.com that the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year was a learning curve for him. “It was a great experience for me,” he said. “It was my first major competition with the national team. In the first game against Burkina Faso, I tried to play well but I missed a glorious chance.
“I was glad to open my account against Ghana and help my team to the final. And we won it.”
He continued that featuring in the FIFA Confederations Cup has added to his experience. He is aware of the importance of the back-to-back fixtures with Nigeria in the next few days.
That explains the over reliance on speedy Bassogog to unsettle the Nigerian defence when the two teams meet in Uyo. But Bassogog downplayed his individual skill, pointing out that the unified spirit in the Cameroon camp will see the team through in the Uyo battle if Cameroon will have any realistic chance of making it to Russia 2018.
. “Nigeria are a strong team,” he told FIFA.com. “They have very good players and many of them are playing in Europe. But we must defeat them if we are to maintain our qualifying hopes. We should take the game to them. We need to fight to defeat them.
“Our players are young, but we are strong as a team,” he said of Cameroon’s progress under Belgian coach Hugo Broos. “He is a good coach. He knows what the players are good at so he can get the best out of us. In this team, everyone has his chance.”
Having said that, Bassogog is all too aware what responsibility he shoulders.
“These are matches I want to win,” he said. “We are not in an ideal position but these are qualifying games for the World Cup. I will do my utmost to help our team.
“When I was young, I liked watching Eto’o. I watched carefully how he went forward and how he scored. He could always score some unexpected goals in amazing fashions. For a long time, I had thought of becoming a player like him.”
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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