Puyol Set to Miss Euro 2012 with Knee Injury

Carles Puyol 



Barcelona's Spanish international defender Carles Puyol could be ruled out of Euro 2012 after being told he requires an operation, reports BBC
The 34-year-old captain was sidelined for three months earlier this year with knee trouble and Barca confirmed he is now expected to be out for six weeks.
"After tests were conducted it was decided he would have arthroscopic surgery on May 12," the club said.
Spain's first game of Euro 2012 is against Italy on 10 June.
Vicente Del Bosque, who coaches reigning European champions Spain, will announce a provisional squad on 15 May, which will be whittled down to a final squad on 27 May.
Puyol experienced discomfort in his knee during Saturday's La Liga home victory over Espanyol.
He will miss Barca's final game of the La Liga season at Real Betis and Pep Guardiola's last game as coach, the Copa del Rey final on 25 May against Athletic Bilbao.
The powerful defender has been a reliable presence in the Spanish back line for more than a decade and has made 99 appearances for the world and European champions, scoring the winning goal in Spain's 1-0 semi-final victory against Germany at the 2010 World Cup.

World Cup Venues Will be Ready, Brazil Tells FIFA

 Some way to go for Brazil's best-known stadium: Rio's Maracana to be ready 






FIFA, football's world governing body, has no reason to worry about preparations for the 2014 World Cup, Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has told the BBC.
Rebelo was speaking ahead of a meeting at Fifa headquarters in Zurich.
FIFA officials are concerned that some venues in Brazil will not be ready in time for the Confederations Cup in 2013.
That event is seen as a key rehearsal for hosting the World Cup.
Brazil has spent billions refurbishing old stadiums and building new venues for the biggest sporting event in the country's history.
Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo insists there are no delays in the building schedule
But analysts say the work is running behind schedule.
Brazil's biggest and best-known stadium, Maracana, may not be finished in time to host the closing match of the Confederations Cup on June 30, 2013.
The two-week tournament gathers eight of the top teams in world football. Brazil, who qualify as hosts, will face the champions of FIFA's regional confederations, including Spain, Uruguay, Mexico and Japan.
FIFA regulations say all venues must be ready by February 2013, four months before the tournament takes place.
Ahead of the meeting in Zurich, Rebelo told BBC Brasil: "There is no delay and the building schedule is going ahead according to plan."
Now, a major corruption scandal involving some of Brazil's top politicians, may also get in the way.
A building company contracted to do one third of the work, Delta, is facing a congressional investigation after being caught up in the bribery allegations.
As a result, Delta is no longer involved in the Maracana project.
Rebelo said FIFA's concern is natural, "but we will show them all venues will be ready in time".
Jerome Valcke's remarks angered many Brazilians
Relations between the Brazilian government and FIFA were strained earlier this year after controversial comments made by FIFA's Secretary-General, Jerome Valcke.
Valcke said that that Brazil needed a "kick up the backside" and appeared more concerned with winning the World Cup than organising it.
He later apologised in a letter to Rebelo.
Rebelo told the BBC that relations had "neither improved nor deteriorated" since he took office as sports minister last October.
The Brazilian government has always said it is determined to deliver a successful World Cup as well as a lasting legacy.
The 2014 World Cup will be the first in South America since Argentina hosted the tournament in 1978 and the first in Brazil since 1950.

EPL: Wigan Send Rovers to Championship

Blackburn Rovers manager, Steve Kean

Blackburn have been relegated to the Championship after losing at home to Wigan, whose Premier League status is secure for next season.

Antolin Alcaraz headed the Latics to victory from a corner late in a rainy and rancorous night at Ewood Park, reports the BBC.

Only a win would have given Rovers a chance of avoiding the drop but they were sloppy and shot-shy.

The visitors were lively in the first half, less so in the second, but took their chance to claim another big win.

It is a remarkable sixth win in eight games for the Latics and leaves them five points clear of the relegation zone with just one game left to play.

The result brings about a disastrous end to what has been a turbulent season for Blackburn and their manager Steve Kean.

The Scot has regularly been the focal point for abuse from frustrated Rovers fans, unhappy with his management and the way the club is being run by the owners, Indian poultry firm Venky's.

This continued Monday night in the form of mass chanting throughout, a lone fan invading the pitch at the start of the second half and, presumably, the reason why a chicken draped in a Blackburn flag appeared in the Wigan box five minutes into the game and had to be caught by Latics keeper Ali Al-Habsi.

Blackburn are the only former Premier League champions that have been relegated. They have suffered this fate twice. In 1999, they made the descent to the second tier, where they stayed for two seasons before returning to the top flight in 2001-2002.

The goal heightened calls for Kean's sacking and the exit of Venky's, which only increased when the final whistle blew to confirm Rovers' fate.

Six weeks ago, Venky's looked set to be rewarded for sticking with Kean when he led them six points clear of the drop zone following a win over Sunderland on March 20, but a disastrous run of seven defeats in eight games since then has cost the club.

The Latics success is testimony to their manager Roberto Martinez, who has stuck to his passing principles, and owner Dave Whelan, who never waivered in his loyalty to the Spaniard despite the threat of relegation.

Bayern Must Break Losing Streak, Demands Mueller

Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller (right) celebrates scoring with teammate Arjen Robben during the Bundesliga match against 1. FC Cologne in Cologne on Saturday

Germany star Thomas Mueller has said Bayern Munich must break their four-match losing streak at the hands of German champions Borussia Dortmund when the teams meet in Saturday's German Cup final.

Bayern face the first of consecutive cup finals this Saturday when they take on Dortmund for the German Cup at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, then face Chelsea at Munich's Allianz Arena on May 19 in the Champions League final.

The Bavarian giants have a score to settle with Dortmund having lost to them in their last four league meetings both home and away, while Borussia have never won the league and cup double, reports AFP.

They lifted the Bundesliga shield for the second consecutive season on Saturday after their 4-0 hammering of Freiburg, with second-placed Bayern trailing by eight points in the league table.

"When you lose four times, there is a certain anger," Mueller told German daily Bild. "We want to show them that this isn't how it's going to be for the next five years."

Mueller is not the only Bayern star itching to break the losing streak.

"We all have a burning desire, we want to win," said Munich's Dutch winger Arjen Robben.

Dortmund will travel to Berlin in confident mood: they are undefeated in their last 28 games and broke Bayern's record for the most points collected in a single German league season with their tally of 81.

"We want the double! It's never been done before in the 103-year history of Borussia Dortmund," said Dortmund wing Kevin Grosskreutz.

Loew Names Uncapped Pair in German Euro 2012 Squad

Germany's head coach Joachim Loew (L) talks with his players during a training session

Germany coach, Joachim Loew on Monday named uncapped teenage midfielder Julian Draxler and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in his provisional squad for Euro 2012.

The two surprises in Loew's initial 27-man squad are Schalke 04's 18-year-old Draxler and Moenchengladbach's shot-stopper ter Stegen, 20, for the European Championships to be hosted by Poland and the Ukraine, reports AFP.

Loew has named four goalkeepers and 13 midfielders in his provisional group but must cut four names by May 29 before taking a 23-man squad to Euro 2012 which kicks off on June 8 with the final in Kiev on July 1.

"Julian Draxler has not played for us yet, but he has enormous potential, especially with his speed in one-on-one situations," explained Loew.

With just one appearance for Germany, another surprise is the call up of midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, one of five players from German champions Borussia Dortmund, while eight Bayern Munich players have been selected.

Twins Lars and Sven Bender, of Bayer Leverkusen and Dortmund, have both been included.

With Dortmund and Bayern both in Saturday's German cup final in Berlin, Loew will take the bulk of his squad to a training camp in Sardinia on Friday before the second camp in the south of France begins on May 19.

Bayern's stars will join up with the Germany squad after the Champions League final in Munich against Chelsea the same day.

Germany has Euro 2012 warm-up games against Switzerland, in Basel on Saturday May 26, then face Israel, in Leipzig on Thursday May 31.

Having been drawn in Group B, Germany play all their games in the Ukraine when they face Portugal in Lviv on June 9, the Netherlands on May 13 and Denmark on May 17, both in Kharkiv.

Germany squad:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hanover 96)

Defenders: Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber, Philipp Lahm (all Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal/ENG), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke 04), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielder: Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira (both Real Madrid/ESP), Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Bastian Schweinsteiger (all Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Mario Goetze, Ilkay Gundogan, Sven Bender (all Borussia Dortmund), Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Andre Schuerrle (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (Cologne)

Forwards: Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio Rome/ITA)

EPL Scout Sad over Yekini’s Burial Site

Rashidi Yekini

English Premiership League scout, Latif Alnasaar has expressed dismay over the last resting place of the late national striker, Rasidi Yekini.

Alnassar, who was among the mourners at Yekini's country home in Irra, Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State remarked that the choice of burial site for the goal poacher lowered his international esteem.

The EPL scout, who is presently in Ibadan with FRENAGE-Progression International Soccer Academy (FPISA), fumed over how one of Africa’s  greatest players was buried arguing that his resting place should be a monument site where visitors and coming generations will be visiting.

The former Los Angeles Galaxy player said the body of other great players of Yekini’s repute who died in western world were preserved in a monumental-like burial site, where it easy and accessible for anyone to visit and pay homage.

“This man was a respectable football icon throughout the world based on what he had done in African soccer scene while alive, so I think he deserved more befitting burial than this. And this place he was buried is damned too remote,” said the UEFA licensed coach who was in Nigeria to head technical crew of FPISA  

He however, called on Nigerian football authority to do something about the burial ground of the man who helped Super Eagles win the 1994 African Nations Cup, where he also topped the goal charts.  

Meanwhile, the financier of the last youth side Yekini trained with before his terminal exit, Janata FC, Hakeem Sanni expressed his team’s sincere appreciation to the 1993 African Footballer of the Year.

Sanni said Yekini was a God-sent to his club that recently won the All Eastern FA Cup which is organised annually in Ibadan by an Igbo group.

“It was Rashidi Yekini’s gesture that motivated our boys to win this first major laurel in the ten-year history of the team.”

Yekini on many occasions, according to the youth club financier, had registered youth clubs for local competitions so that they can measure their level of improvement but always warned them not to publicize any assistance he rendered to them.

A sports loving politician, Seyi Makinde in the interim, has described the death of Yekini as horrific and tragic and charged the federal government to name a national monument after the former African footballer of the year.

Makinde explained that it is high time Nigerian leaders from local, state and federal levels set aside trust fund managed by men of proven integrity to cater for Nigerians who have served this country with patriotism and courageously. ‘It is difficult to believe that despite the much publicized traumatized life Yekini lived before his tragic end, no government not even the Nigeria Football Federation showed interest or came to rescue the gangling striker from the strange ailment.

Meanwhile, former West Africa Football Union (WAFU) President and member of the Nigeria Football Association, Chief Jonathan Ogufere, has described Rashidi Yekini’s “exploits as yet unmatched in the annals of Nigeria football”

Chief Ogufere who is president of Association of Sports Veterans, Nigeria was speaking in Lagos in reaction to the passing away of one of Nigeria’s greatest footballers.

Eaglets Land in Calabar

Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke

The camp of the Under-17 national team, the Golden Eaglets opened Monday in Calabar, Cross River State.

Director of Technical of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, said 40 players were invited for the second camping exercise following the one-week screening programme in Abuja that ended some weeks ago.

“We are indeed very grateful to the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, for the grace granted the NFF for all-expense-paid, one month camping exercise in Calabar for the Golden Eaglets.

“The Cross River State government of Governor Liyel Imoke have always been there for the NFF and Nigeria football. The administration hosted the African Nations Championship qualifier between Nigeria and Ghana in 2009 as well as the African Nations Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Madagascar in September 2010.

“Calabar was also one of the best centres during the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009.

“Governor Imoke has underscored his love for the development of the Nigeria game by now accepting the Golden Eaglets, as they prepare for the qualifying series for the 2013 African Junior Championship in Morocco,” said Ikpeme.

The Golden Eaglets have been drawn to play Niger in September, in the first leg of a three-round qualifying series for the African Junior Championship Morocco 2013.