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International Football

NINE DAYS TO FINAL DRAW: TIMELESS CLASHES OF THE WORLD CUP

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It is nine days to the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The highlight of draw ceremony of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is the matching of teams against the others.

In the first instance the 32 teams are broken into quartets of eight groups that will engage in a 48-match group stage before another 16-match knock-out stage.

In all, there will be 64 matches. But Sports Village Square can inform that some fixtures are often recurring. Till date, there have been 836 matches played since the World Cup kicked off on July 13, 1930 with a France versus Mexico encounter.

Of the matches played so far, there have been a number of recurring matches and often featuring the same teams’ pairings.

Sports Village Square recalls that top of such is the Brazil versus Sweden. This fixture had featured seven times in the past to rank as the most recurring fixture in the World Cup.

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The last time the two clashed was however 23 years ago at the semi finals of USA ’94.

But this match up will not hold at Brazil 2014 since Sweden failed at the qualifying series.  Two of the seven clashes of Sweden and Brazil involved legendary Brazilian players.

The 1958 clash featured Pele who was then 17 and later became a major factor in the first of Brazil’s five titles to date.

Another recurring fixture involved Germany and the former Yugoslavia. None of the match-ups took place beyond the group stage.

The next recurring matches are Brazil versus Spain, Brazil – Czechoslovakia, Argentina versus Germany and Brazil versus Italy. The latter will not occur at Russia 2018 as Italy failed to qualify.

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There have been five instances of those matches as well as Argentina versus England, France versus Italy, Germany versus Italy and Argentina facing Italy.

The pairings of Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Germany have produced six final matches and three semi finals. Brazil played Italy twice in the final while Argentina and Germany have also competed against each other twice in a final match.

Italy have played against past winners such as Brazil, Germany and France. Brazil and Germany have been to the World Cup finals more than any other country. Yet, the head to head clash of the two was a rarity until they met at the 2002 final match. The only other time they met was at Brazil 2014 when Germany humiliated their hosts, 7-1 in the semi finals.

With that, all the seven past winners of the world Cup have met. As for Nigeria, the commonest foe has been Argentina which the Super Eagles have faced on four of previous World Cup appearances.  They met in 1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014.

Next among the teams Nigeria met more than one occasion are Bulgaria and Greece. Nigeria met both twice. The Super Eagles beat Bulgaria 3-0 in 1994 and 1-0 in 1998.

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Greece lost 2-0 to the Super Eagles in 1994 and had a sweet revenge of a 2-1 win in 2010. That was the first time Greece ever won a match in the World Cup. The second time was the defeat of Cote d’Ivoire at Brazil 2014.

 

Most Recurring World Cup Matches

  • Sweden versus Brazil – 7 times
  • Germany versus former Yugoslavia – 6 times
  • Brazil versus Spain – five times
  • Brazil versus former Czechoslovakia – five times
  • Brazil versus Italy – five times
  • France versus Italy – five times
  • Germany versus Italy – five times
  • Argentina versus Italy – five times
  • Argentina versus Germany – five times
  • Argentina versus England – five times
  • Argentina versus Nigeria – four times

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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International Football

Grudgingly, Eto’o accepts new Cameroon coach Brys, but fails to attend ceremony

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Cameroon’s new coach Marc Brys penned a contract on Monday but the Belgian’s appointment by the government remains contentious as the football federation did not attend the signing ceremony.

Brys has been handed a 2-1/2-year contract by Cameroon’s sports ministry but the federation (FECAFOOT) was conspicuous by its absence at the event in Yaounde.

Last week, FECAFOOT criticised the unilateral decision of sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombito to appoint the 61-year-old Brys, who has no prior experience as a national team coach and has not previously worked on the African continent.

FECAFOOT president Samuel Eto’o issued a statement on Monday, excusing himself from the unveiling event.

“We thank you for inviting us to the ceremony. Following this, we inform you of the fact that we received the letter two hours before the said ceremony,” wrote Eto’o.

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“Unfortunately, we are busy organising the funeral of our late Dad, and for this reason we will not be able to attend presence at the ceremony.”

His father’s funeral is to be held at the weekend.

Eto’o balked at Brys’ appointment and is now in a deepening standoff with the minister.

In Cameroon, the government has long paid the salary of the national team coach and therefore held powerful sway over FECAFOOT’s affairs, even if such state interference is frowned upon by world football’s governing body FIFA.

Any heightened dispute risks a potential ban from international competition for Cameroon, one of the heavyweights of African football.

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FECAFOOT held an emergency meeting on Saturday and asked Eto’o to propose an alternative coach for the national team.

Earlier on the weekend, the minister had defended the appointment, saying he had acted in accordance with national and international regulations.

In a letter to FECAFOOT, Kombi said his ministry’s appointment of coaching staff “in no way affects the autonomy of FECAFOOT and does not violate any of the ‘supranational regulations”.

He said FECAFOOT had suggested three candidates to the ministry but their salary demands ranged between 1.5 million euros and 2.5 million euros ($1.63 million and $2.71 million) per year.

“These are excessive amounts never paid to any coach in the history of the Indomitable Lions,” Kombi said.

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-Reuters

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International Football

Cameroon FA to propose national coach after emergency meeting –

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BREAKING! Turmoil In Cameroon Federation Over Naming Of New National Coach Brys -

Cameroon’s football federation (FECAFOOT) held an emergency meeting on Saturday and asked its president to propose an alternative coach for the national team, deepening a standoff with the sports ministry.

FECAFOOT on Wednesday accused the ministry of unilaterally appointing Belgian Marc Brys as coach and other staff to manage the Indomitable Lions, who are five-times African champions.

The dispute risks a potential ban from international competition as world soccer’s governing body FIFA has strict rules against government interference in national federations.

In a statement, FECAFOOT said its emergency committee had met on Saturday and unanimously confirmed that the federation had not been involved in the appointments in alleged contravention of regulations.

As a result, it asked its president Samuel Eto’o to propose a national coach and other management staff for the national side within 72 hours.

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Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the ministry said the result of the FECAFOOT meeting was “an appeal. It is not yet a decision.”

On Friday, Sports Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi wrote to FECAFOOT to defend the coaching appointments, which he said were in accordance with national and international rules.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Kombi said the ministry’s move “in no way affects the autonomy of FECAFOOT and does not violate any of the ‘supranational regulations’.”

A spokesperson for the ministry confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

Kombi’s letter also said the salaries requested by three candidates earlier proposed by the federation for the position of coach ranged between 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) and 2.5 million euros per year.

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“These are excessive amounts never paid to any coach in the history of the Indomitable Lions,” Kombi said.

FECAFOOT did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.

-Reuters

 

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BREAKING! Turmoil in Cameroon federation over naming of new national coach Brys. https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2024/04/03/breaking-turmoil-in-cameroon-federation-over-naming-of-new-national-coach-brys/

Soccer Cameroon appoint Brys as new head coach https://www.sportsvillagesquare.com/2024/04/03/soccer-cameroon-appoint-brys-as-new-head-coach/

 

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National team and club-mate Owolabi commiserates with grief-stricken Odegbami –

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National team and club-mate Owolabi commiserates with grief-stricken Odegbami -

Powerful left-wing back in his playing days, Felix Owolabi has expressed great grief over the loss of a son of former teammate, Segun Odegbami.

Both Felix Owolabi and Odegbami share common traits as the earliest tertiary institution footballers featuring for clubs and the national team.

While Odegbami was a mechanical engineering student at The Ibadan Polytechnic, Owolabi was an undergraduate at the University of Lagos.

Both were players of the then rampaging IICC Shooting Stars and the Africa Cup of Nations winning team of 1980. The crucial goals that won the cup for Nigeria were scored by the duo.

While Owolabi’s goal against Morocco sent Nigeria to the Africa Cup of Nations final match for the first time, Odegbami’s two goals in the final against Algeria put a stamp of definity to Nigeria’s victory before another club-mate Muda Lawal put in the third.

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“We have come a long way”, remarked Owolabi in a message to the Sports Village Square  Thursday morning.

“I have just arrived from Morocco on a national assignment trying to adjust and deal with the extreme and gruelling hot weather here in Nigeria when I got the sad news of the sudden death of the son of my dear brother and senior colleague Dr Olusegun Odegbami.

 

“Hearing the death of Oluwagbeminiyi Omo Odegbami,  I paused for a moment and did not know what to say.

“All the media both print and electronics carried it as a breaking news.

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“And that was when it dawned on me that I had to call ‘Big Sheg’ as he is fondly called by me.

“His authoritative confirmation about it dealt a blow on me and put me total darkness.What would have happened to this our vibrant and such an enterprising Oluwagbeminiyi?

“Why would death be so so wicked to suddenly take this gentleman away from us without notice. Going on a journey that he will need not to look at anybody, an eternal journey till Christ come.

“My heart and  that of my entire family are with you and the rest of the family”, remarked Owolabi.

“It is well. I pray that God grant him eternal rest. I pray also that the almighty God grant you the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Today the death of Oluwagbeminiyi has made me to believe and conclude that death is real and it is universal

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