Heartland Set To Uncover
New Stars From Open
Screening Exercise
…As Team Manager, Coaches
Comb Communities for Talents
Even as the League Management Company (LMC), has shifted the resumption of the 2013/14 Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), until after the end of CHAN next year, the Naze-Millionairse who had an unpleasant run last season have continued with their preparation programs in other to discover untapped talents for the coming season.
Speaking to Trumpeta sports head, the former back-to-back Federation Cup winners Team Manager, Promise Nwachukwu disclosed that the management is not leaving any stone unturned as they aim to reclaim their position in Nigerian Football and at the Continental scene.
Nwachukwu further stated that they have put behind all the unpleasant experience of last season thanking His Excellency the Governor of Imo State for the wonderful interaction he had recently with the team and for his promises that will soon be put into action.
“As we speak the team has been engaged in series of well-coordinated training sessions that is hope will un-earth future stars while we have been visiting various competition venues hoping to at least catch young talents that will be like Kelechi Iheanacho”, Promise said.
He however, used the opportunity to call Imolites and supporters of the club who feel that their players where dropped from the team last season to understand that the coaches have maintained an open door screening program admonishing them to rally roun
Should FIFA follow CAF Example?
FIFA relies on their own official Rankings system to decide the seeds for the World Cup finals, but would they better off following the CAF system?
Currently, FIFA names the seeds based on the Rankings which reward current form, but have little historical context.
CAF have taken a different tack when announcing seeds for the Africa Cup of Nations, rewarding performance and constancy in that competition over short-term gains.
It will be a matter of some debate over which system is fairer, but reports has it that CAF principle to the seeding’s for the 2014 World Cup draw on Friday and it does make for some interesting reading.
First off, here is how it works. Teams receive points for their finish at the World Cup tournament, namely winners (8 points), finalists (6), semifinals (4), quarterfinalists (3), last 16 (2) and group phase (1).
These points are then given a certain weight depending on how far back in the past they are. So all points gained in the 2010 World Cup were multiplied by three, in 2006 by two and those in 2002 left as they are. That does reward the most recent successes then.
FIFA seeding’s as follows: Brazil (hosts), Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland and Uruguay.
But according to the CAF principle it would look quite different with Brazil (hosts), Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Argentina, France and England the chosen eight. England just pip Portugal by virtue of a better playing, won, drawn, lost record over the three finals in question.
It is a much stronger selection. Although Switzerland, Colombia and Belgium should be applauded for the strides they have made in recent times, they do not have the football pedigree of France, Netherlands, Italy and England who come into the reckoning.
The only country who may feel aggrieved to have lost out would be Uruguay, who have been consistently good in the past four years since finishing fourth at the 2010 finals in South Africa, but suffer under the CAF system for having done little in 2002 and 2006.
In the CAF system, Belgium, for example, would only be ranked 28 out of the 32 teams, not in the top eight as per FIFA.
What the CAF system does is also gives the African sides a better chance if they progress to the latter stages of the World Cup. In between global tournaments African sides generally battle to pick up ranking points because matches against top nations are few and far between, and when they do come along they are friendlies which are scored down.
In this instance, Ghana fell just two points short of being one of the seeded teams, and if they can reach the quarterfinals or better again in 2014, would almost certainly be in the reckoning come the finals in Russia in 2018.
World Cup ball ‘Brazuca’ Unveiled
The official match ball for the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil has been revealed.
The ball is named ‘Brazuca’ after a fan poll in Brazil that drew almost a million votes.
‘Brazuca’ is a colloquial phrase that refers to the Brazilian way of life, and is also a phrase sometimes shouted in approval of a skillful move on the pitch.
The ball was launched at the iconic Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, with former Netherlands international Clarence Seedorf and Brazil great Cafu in attendance.
The Brazuca is the most tested adidas ball in history. Over a two-and-a-half-year period, it was tried out by over 600 of the world’s top players or former players, including Iker Casillas, Dani Alves, Lionel Messi, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Zinedine Zidane, and 30 teams in 10 countries across three continents.
The ball was also used at a selection of international matches, albeit with a different design, including a friendly between Sweden and Argentina last February.
The Brazuca’s colours and ribbon design symbolise the traditional multi-coloured wish bracelets worn in Brazil, in addition to reflecting the vibrancy and fun associated with football in the South American country.
It has a new structural innovation, with six identical panels compared to the eight panels of the 2010 World Cup’s Jabulani, or the 32 of the iconic 1970 World Cup Telstar.
In a further local twist, and a play on the adage that all Brazilian children are “born with a ball at their feet,” Adidas are donating copies of the ball to every baby born on the day of its release, December 3.
WORLD CUP SEEDING’s CAF SYSTEM
the figures in brackets are the FIFA ranking as per October 2013 which was used to determine the current seeds.
02 06 10 TOTAL
Spain (1) 3 4 24 31
Germany (2) 6 8 12 26
Brazil (11) 8 6 9 23
Netherlands (8) 0 4 18 22
Italy (9) 2 16 3 21
Argentina (3) 1 6 9 16
France (21) 1 12 3 16
England (10) 3 6 6 15
Portugal (14) 1 8 6 15
Ghana (23) 0 4 9 13
Uruguay (6) 1 0 12 13
South Korea (56) 4 2 6 12
Mexico (24) 2 4 6 12
United States (13) 3 2 6 11
Japan (44) 2 2 6 10
Australia (57) 0 4 3 7
Switzerland (7) 0 4 3 7
Chile (12) 0 0 6 6
Ivory Coast (17) 0 2 3 5
Ecuador (22) 1 4 0 5
Cameroon (59) 1 0 3 4
Nigeria (33) 1 0 3 4
Algeria (32) 0 0 3 3
Costa Rica (31) 1 2 0 3
Honduras (34) 0 0 3 3
Croatia (18) 1 2 0 3
Greece (15) 0 0 3 3
Iran (49) 0 2 0 2
Belgium (5) 2 0 0 2
Russia (19) 1 0 0 1
Colombia (4) 0 0 0 0
Bosnia-Herzegovina(16) 0 0 0 0
FRENCH LEAGUE ONE RESULTS
3/12/13
Lille 1 — 0 Marseille
Nantes 2 — 1 Valenciennes
Nice 0 — 2 Monaco
FIXTURE 5/12/13
Lyon — Toulouse
EPL MID-WEEK GAME (3/12/13)
Crystal Palace 1–0 West Ham
CECAFA CUP RESULTS (3/12/13)
South Sudan 0 2 Ethiopia
Kenya 2 0 Zanzibar
FIXTURE 5/12/13
Rwanda — Eritrea
Uganda — Sudan
