International Football
NFF: WE ARE KEEPING ALL COMPETITIONS IN FULL FOCUS
The Nigeria Football Federation says it is keeping good focus on the several competitions in which the various national teams are participating this year, beginning with the trio of FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland, FIFA Women’s World Cup in France and the Africa Cup of Nations that are in full swing between this week and next month.
On Thursday, the FIFA U20 World Cup finals, in which Nigeria’s U20 squad is one of the 24 participating teams, will kick off in Poland.
The Flying Eagles, who spent three weeks at a final training camp in Germany, will open their account, against Qatar, on Friday.
African champions, Super Falcons, arrived at the Avita Resort, Bad Tatzmannsdorf in Austria on Tuesday, for a two –week residential camping leading to their departure for the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France, starting on 7th June.
The Falcons will play Norway in Reims on Saturday, 8th June in their first match of the championship.
On Sunday, 2nd June, the Super Eagles will begin to gather in Asaba as they begin preparations for the 32ndAfrica Cup of Nations taking place in Egypt 21st June – 19th July.
“We are very focused and not distracted by anything. The well-being of these teams, as well as their adequate preparation to go to their different championships and do the country proud, is of utmost concern to us and that is what is receiving our full concentration, not anything else.
“Football is a global unifying force, and even in our country we know the importance of the performance of these teams and how almost every Nigerian at home and in the disapora are looking forward to the matches. Nothing else matters,” NF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi said on Wednesday.
While the Flying Eagles qualified for the U20 World Cup after reaching the semi finals of the U20 AFCON in Niger Republic in February, the Super Falcons made sure of a ticket to France after winning their ninth Women AFCON title in Ghana in December 2018.
The Super Eagles, just as they did in the race to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, earned a ticket to this year’s AFCON finals with a match to spare in the qualifying race.
“There are many more competitions this year, even after the U20 World Cup, FIFA Women’s World Cup and the AFCON. We are also focusing on them and will do everything necessary to prepare our different teams for glory.”
Nigeria is one of the eight teams that has qualified for this year’s Women’s Football Tournament of the 12thAll-Africa Games, coming up in Rabat, Morocco between late August and early September.
Around the same period, the Super Eagles B will be engaged in the qualifying campaign for the 2020 African Nations Championship – the tournament for senior players plying their trade in their country’s domestic league. Nigeria finished as runners-up in the fifth edition of the championship in Morocco early last year.
The Eagles B are also scheduled to take part in the WAFU Cup competition (in which they finished as runners-up in the last edition in Ghana in September 2017). The draw for this year’s championship will hold in Dakar next week Wednesday.
The U23 National Men Team, having defeated Libya in the second round of the race to the 2019 U23 AFCON (for which Nigeria is the defending champion), will take on Sudan in the last hurdle in September. The finals will hold in Egypt in November 2019.
The U17 National Boys Team, Golden Eaglets, will take part in the FIFA U17 World Cup finals in Brazil in November, having qualified from the U17 AFCON held in Tanzania in April this year.
The Beach Soccer team, Supersand Eagles, will feature in this year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay in November, having finished second at the Beach Soccer AFCON in Egypt in December 2018 to emerge as one of Africa’s two flagbearers.
Yet, the Super Eagles will kick –start their race to the 2022 FIFA World Cup later this year, while the U20 and U17 girls will also begin their race to their different FIFA World Cup competitions in 2020.
This year is, indeed, the busiest ever for all National Teams in the history of Nigerian Football.
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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