Showing posts with label spysports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spysports. Show all posts
Monday, 15 August 2016
Check out this photo of US basketball player DeAndre posing with US gymnast Ragan Smith at Rio
Rio Olympics: Boxing: Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba knocks out opponent in round one
Nigeria’s sole representative in the boxing event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Efe Ajagba, is through to the quarter-finals.
Ajagba qualified for the quarter-finals in emphatic style as he knocked out Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul in round one to progress into the last eight.
Ajagba, who told PREMIUM TIMES before going to Rio that his mission was to end the 20-year medal drought that has plagued Nigeria in boxing at the Olympics, will now face Ivan Dychko from Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Friday, 15 July 2016
Barcelona FC criticized for defending Lionel Messi
Barcelona has drawn widespread criticism for its campaign to support Lionel Messi after a court found the Argentine forward and his father guilty of tax fraud.
Barcelona launched its social media campaign following last week's court verdict that found Messi and his father guilty of defrauding the Spanish state of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million US). Neither man is expected to go to jail despite being sentenced to 21 months in prison because courts in Spain often suspend sentences under two years for first-time offenders.
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Lionel Messi was Barcelona's golden boy in stellar 2015 trophy run
Barcelona are about to wave goodbye to one of the most successful years in club history, with the club in an endless sea of euphoria. Their spectacular 2015, which saw them lift a memorable five trophies, including La Liga, the Champions League and the Club World Cup, has already secured a place in the hearts of supporters all over the planet.
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Messi, Neymar aim to return for Club World Cup final
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Lionel Messi and Neymar are hoping to return for Barcelona in the Club World Cup final on Sunday after taking part in Saturday's training session.
Messi missed Thursday's semifinal against Guangzhou Evergrande with what the team said was renal colic, a type of abdominal pain commonly attributed to kidney stones.
Manager Luis Enrique refused to elaborate on Messi's condition during a news conference on Saturday.
Neymar, who sustained a groin injury last week, had skipped training on Monday and Tuesday, and did some light running on Wednesday before sitting on the bench for the semifinal.
Both trained vigorously on Saturday ahead of the showdown with River Plate of Argentina.
Barcelona is bidding for its third Club World Cup title, after victories in 2009 and 2011.
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Football FIFA Club World Cup Club World Cup: 5 reasons you should be tuning in as Barcelona and River Plate go for glory
The 12th FIFA Club World Cup in Japan enters the semi-final stage on Wednesday, with River Plate meeting Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Barcelona then take on Guanzghou Evergrande from China on Thursday, with the final on Sunday.
The tournament is a much bigger deal in other countries than it is in the UK, but even without a Premier League side in the mix, you should be tuning in.
Here are five reasons to be excited about the tournament.
MSN ready to conquer the world
Of Barca’s three bombastic strikers, only Lionel Messi has been crowned world champion before, scoring the winning goal against Estudiantes in 2009 with his chest and netting twice as the Catalan club outclassed Santos in 2011.
Playing for the Brazilians that night was a supremely talented mohawked teenager who produced some nice touches but was ultimately upstaged by Pep Guardiola’s world beaters.
So Neymar has a extra motivation to overcome a groin strain and get for the final so he can win the one club trophy he lacks.
You can also bet Luis Suarez will be relishing the chance to savage defences who have not yet had the misfortune to come up against him and his deadly strike partners. And the combative Uruguayan could prove the key to breaking down a robust River Plate should they cross swords in the final.
Matias Kranevitter out to impress
The excitement around the young midfielder, hailed by many as the successor to Javier Mascherano, has helped lift morale in the Argentine national team.
As well as shining in his first full international appearances for his country, the 22-year-old has been instrumental to River’s trophy glut, and Japan will be his last stand before joining Atletico Madrid in January, agreeing an €8million move last sumer.
River icon Enzo Fransescoli is one of many admirers of the youngster, saying: “He holds the team together, and plays well positionally. He’s always thinking of getting back the ball, even when River have it.”
With Atletico midfield lynchpin Tiago suffering a serious injury last month, we could be seeing a lot of Kranevitter in the near future. And seeing him match up against the likes of Mascherano and Sergio Busquets will give spectators a fascinating glimpse of what sort of player he is before he makes the jump.
Felipão out to prove himself again
Luiz Felipe Scolari is out to put that capitulation in Belo Horizonte behind him. Since taking over at Guangzhou in June, the moustachioed Brazilian has collected the Chinese Super League League and the Asian Champions League as well as presiding over a 24-game unbeaten run.
Being in charge of Asia’s richest club has done the coach no harm, allowing him to bring fellow countrymen Robinho and Paulinho with him. It was the former Tottenham midfielder who headed in an injury-time winner against Club America to complete a remarkable comeback and set up a showdown with Barcelona, but the performance of goalkeeper Li Shuai proved just as crucial.
The custodian will be put under further pressure against Messi and co, but if he can keep them at bay and Scolari can find a way to topple the European champions, it would be an even bigger shock than the deluge of German goals against his Brazil side.
And Big Phil isn’t ruling out such a prospect, declaring: “Now we have to keep on dreaming big for our game with Barcelona. It’s not impossible for us to win.”
In pictures – Scolari's Brazil lose to Germany:
River Plate's crazy fans
Some 16,000 ‘Millionarios’ fans have flown to Japan, meaning River will have the biggest travelling support at any Club World Cup, pipping the 12,500 Corinthians fans who watched their side upset Chelsea in 2012.
In search of affordable flights, Argentines have flown to Tokyo via the United States, Mexico and Europe, as well as making huge sacrifices, some selling their cars, others huge credit card bills to fund trips costing thousands of dollars.
River fanatics have been arriving in Japan since last week, creating huge masses of red white and black in the country’s airports. And thousands of supporters lined the streets of Buenos Aires to give the team a huge send off as they embarked for Japan.
“The fans are feeling euphoric and it reaches you,” said Uruguayan midfielder Carlos Sanchez. “We have a huge responsibility to go out on to the pitch and show what River is and for our fans, those who have travelled and stayed at home, to feel proud of us.”
A mouth-watering final in order?
The dream final would pit Copa Libertadores holders River against Luis Enrique’s Barça, allowing Mascherano and Javier Saviola to face their former sides, and giving Messi the chance to dazzle against the club he came so close to joining as a 12-year-old.
River wanted to sign up a young Leo when he came for a trial but his age prevented them from taking him into their residence and they were reluctant to placate his father Jorge, whose attention soon turned to Barcelona.
Boasting a budget 10 times bigger than River’s and the likes of Messi, Neymar and Suarez, the Catalans would be overwhelming favourites in a hypothetical final. But this River side, engineered by former player Marcelo Gallardo, have an excellent track record in cup competitions, winning the Copa Sudamericana, the Recopa Sudamericana and the Libertadores in the last 12 months, knocking out superior opponents such as arch rivals Boca Juniors, Brazilian champions Cruzeiro and cash-rich Mexican side Tigres.
In other words, they know how to overturn the apple cart. And Messi is wary of the guile of the young coach, remarking: “Gallardo is very intelligent and I’m sure he’ll know exactly how to play us, he’ll have a plan in mind. Their intensity is everything and can level the playing field, so we will have to press really hard to stay
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Jose Mourinho is right: His misfiring Chelsea flops HAVE betrayed him this season
So now we wait.
Roman Abramovich is taking counsel from his right-hand woman Marina Granovskaia, Technical Director Michael Emanalo and chairman Bruce Buck.
He will then make a decision from which there will be no going back.
Keep Jose Mourinho , rip up the squad and back the Special One with big money and even bigger players, selling off the underachievers that have let him down.
Or sack him a second time (with a huge pay-off as he leaves just months into a new four-year deal) which would mean that is basically it for the Portuguese and Chelsea.
Twitter took a sharp intake of breath last night when Mourinho laid into his menafter their defeat at Leicester.
The Blues boss, however, was only - finally - accepting publicly what the football world has been saying since the start of Chelsea’s shambolic season.
The players have simply not been playing for him.
The fans love him and, even now, would have him over any of the men that were put to the sword for a ninth time in the Premier League on Monday night.
Gallery: Chelsea go down at Leicester
Yet the players say one thing and do another.
Up at the King Power stadium, as the jubilant Foxes stars celebrated in the home dressing room, Mourinho conducted three separate interviews: To Sky, to the written media and to the radio journalists.
Each of them were equally explosive. All of them contained the theme that has made every national back page in the country this morning: Betrayal.
He was right too. For months there has been a widely-held view that too many of the players in that Chelsea team have lost form for it to be tactical.
Eden Hazard has scored four times for Belgium this season but not at all for Chelsea. Remarkable considering some of the teams that the club have played against and the fact that the Belgian is the reigning Double Player of the Year.
Costa has been backed to the hilt by Mourinho and yet has still only scored four times this season. There is a search party still out for Cesc Fabregas. Branislav Ivanovic, one of the top right-backs in Europe let alone this country last year, has been frighteningly ordinary this.
The men that stormed to the top of the table 12 months ago and stayed there have simply not turned up this time.
Keeper Thibaut Courtois is exempt as he has been out injured. Willian has been the sole consistent performer while Cesar Azpilicueta’s standard has slipped because he has had to help out players around him.
But Ivanovic, Hazard, Costa, John Terry, Ramires, Nemanja Matic and Oscar have all been alarmingly poor.
They have talked about standing by Mourinho and wanting to get the club back into title contention, then into the top four, then, just winning a few games.
But they have unable to do any of those things.
Norwich, Newcastle and Watford have all scored the same number of goals as Chelsea this season - 18.
Bournemouth have scored more. So too have Southampton, West Ham and Crystal Palace.
Swansea, who have sacked their manager, have conceded fewer, so too West Brom, Stoke, Watford and Palace.
I was one of a handful of journalists to go on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of north America. They weren’t great back then but there a feeling that, having run out of steam during the back end of the last campaign, Mourinho was looking for ways to get them to peak later for longer.
It hasn’t happened.
Instead, Mourinho has lost the authority he had and players are openly defying him. From Costa’s bib toss at Tottenham (which draws a giggle of recognition from Jon Obi Mikel) to Hazard’s contemptuous wave of his hand as he walks off the pitch at Leicester, refusing point-blank to remain in the trenches for the Special One.
The board have to take their share of the responsibility for the crisis too. Even allowing for the qualify of their squad, they should have added more during the summer. A Griezmann, a Stones, even - dare I say it - a Pogba.
Mourinho is not without blame himself. His handling of the Eva Carneiro affair was ham-fisted.
Falcao may well be a busted flush but why has Loic Remy not had more game time?
Mourinho spent last season and the summer raving about his youngsters. Yet Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been pushed from pillar to post while right-back Ola Aina, goalscorer Tammy Abrahams and midfielder Charly Musonda can’t get anywhere near the first team.
With so many senior stars playing abysmally this season that has caused a great deal of frustration behind the scenes.
It seems everyone at Chelsea is good at saying one thing and doing another.
Yet, for all that, Abramovich should stick with Mourinho. To axe him for an Ancelotti would be to row back on the policy of stability that the Russian wanted to go with at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho has been vilified on social media for claiming that he is the one to have lifted the Blues players to the heights that they reached last season. Yet his CV proves that that is indeed exactly what he does.
He took an Inter Milan team that couldn’t make an impact in Europe under Roberto Mancini and won the Champions League - as part of an unprecedented Treble - with it.
Rafa Benitez succeeded Mourinho and fell out with so many of those very same players that he was sacked months later.
During Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea he took the club to their first title in 50 years.
If Mourinho is the man to blame for the club’s appalling first five months of this season then why should he not take the credit for the heights to which he lifted them last time around?
There is an assumption that, if you have top players and a stellar squad then those players make you look good. Why then, are Manchester City coveting the likes of Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone? They want a man to lift them to another level.
Mourinho should stay but the likelihood is that he will indeed be the latest manager to pick up his P45 at Stamford Bridge.
The players will then doubtless queue up to insult our intelligence by saying how great he was and by telling us how devastated they are.
Mourinho, however, will be better off without them.
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