The Super Eagles prepare to take on the world at the World Cup in only a matter of weeks. Coach Gernot Rohr has built a side which has fared well without the luxury of exceedingly talented players and holds huge promises for the future.

But as the clock ticks away to the big kick-off in Russia, concerns remain as to the components of his final team – especially in the attack – where he has limited himself to only a few options, due perhaps, to a dearth of quality and experienced out-and-out strikers.

The Super Eagles never really had, say, four world-class strikers per time in the past, but it usually had better quality than what is on offer today. Emmanuel Emenike was the last in the line of Super Eagles’ strikers worthy of the name; a list which includes Osaze Odemwingie, Obafemi Martins, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Julius Aghahowa, John Utaka – not to mention Kanu Nwankwo, Daniel Amokachi, Samson Siasia and Rashidi Yekini.

You can get the complete article on DOT COM

2019: Like Nigeria, like the Super Falcons


The year 2019 is poised to be a big one for Nigeria. Being another election year, it is to most people, a very defining one for the future of the country. This is so considering that over the years, the country’s progress stutters – if not outright stagnated – because the same basic problems continue to plague it.

Super Falcons likened to Giant of Africa

The women’s senior national team, the Super Falcons, in some wise, epitomizes the Nigerian situation. Like the acclaimed "Giant of Africa" (ironically, mostly in female football) who has failed to overcome her basic developmental challenges, the Super Falcons has yet to overcome quadrennial poor performances on the world stage at the World Cup, despite local continental dominance.

So while a lot is planned and speculated for the coming year on the political scene, very few even realize that the next edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup is also holding next year in France. Therein lies the crux of this article.

French Women Humiliation

Speaking of France, the French women’s national team recently handed the Super Falcons a third serving of her worst defeat at international level – an 8 – 0 humiliation. The previous two had been served, first, by Norway during the Falcons’ second World Cup appearance in Sweden 23 years ago, and second by Germany in a friendly match 8 years ago. Unlike the others, the recent defeat is hardly surprising, as it had been looming inauspiciously for a while.

Having won all but two of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations since 1991 (only coming 3rd and 4th in 2008 and 2012 respectively), the Super Falcon's ability to come up with the goods on the continent has never been in doubt. This complacency has led to failure to acknowledge a decline in the team's game in other aspects of the international circuit, like the failure to win the All Africa Games in over 10 years; failing to qualify in 2011 and finishing fourth in the last edition in 2015.

Also, in the wake of the Super Eagles' bid for a place at the World Cup in Russia, the Super Falcons had, for over a year, been relegated to the backstage – seemingly forgotten. And so the team was more or less dormant in the past year, having not played any major game in this time.

Super Falcons FIFA Ranking


Attention finally turned to the Women's team with the appointment of Swedish Coach Thomas Dennerby earlier this year, only after the men’s World Cup ticket had been secured. Any surprises then that the Super Falcons, who had dropped to 38th position on the FIFA ranking, were so roundly beaten by the 5th ranked women's team?

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Here are the specifications, price and more https://techstyleng.com/2018/03/24/infinix-launches-20-mp-infinix-hot-s3-smartphone/

Fast-rising mobile phone manufacturer, Infinix Mobility has added to its collection of Infinix phones with the recent launch of a new smartphone – the Infinix Hot S3.
Being its first mobile phone release of the year, the smartphone manufacturer decided it was time to start 2018 on a ‘powerful camera note’. Infinix S3 boasts of a 20MP-lowlight selfie.
This makes the flagship phone the first of its kind in Nigeria. Among its series of lifestyle smartphones, the 20megapixel-selfie Infinix Hot S3 stands out. Country Manager for Infinix Mobility, Jay Liu, said in a statement that the mobile phone brand intends to get a huge chunk of the mobile phone market share, adding that this has been the driving force behind the manufacturer’s innovation.

In his words, Liu said “We upgrade and make it real lifestyle model for perfect selfie/wefie for this 3rd generation Infinix series,”

Unique features of the all-new Infinix S3 smartphone
With only a few inches less than its fore-predecessor Infinix X600 fondly tagged the Big 6, this S series version of Infinix phone boasts of a 5.7 inch HD, 720 x 1440px display.

The S3 packs so much megapixels in one with its 20mp selfie cam, unusually more than the primary camera at the rear which is 7 pixels short.

This is really a first-of-its-kind smartphone as the primary camera of phones is traditionally more powerful than the secondary selfie cam.

What’s more?

Hot S3 comes with a RAM size of 3 gigabytes, enough for you to play your games, send emails, do a lot more multi-tasks at once without freeze or hitch. Others exciting features of the Infinix smartphone include:

Storage bank: 32GB expandable up to 128GB
Available Colours: Sandstone Black and Brush Gold
Processor: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC
GPU: Adreno 505 GPU
Nano Dual SIM
Fingerprint sensor
Ambient Light sensor, Proximity sensor, G-sensor

Get in here all ye lovers of battery, with the Infinix S3, you can talk for as long as you like, chat and watch videos. The package was not complete until a 4000mAh-Xcharge battery pack was included.

More here: https://techstyleng.com/2018/03/24/infinix-launches-20-mp-infinix-hot-s3-smartphone/

Francis Uzoho’s consistent run in the Segunda B league with Deportivo La Coruna and his impressive second-half cameo against world vice champions Argentina has earned him another invitation to the Eagles for the next round of friendlies against Poland and Serbia.
After his towering performance during the last African Nations Championship and a recent move to Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Stephen Eze has now been promoted to the Super Eagles ‘A’ team.

After almost 5 years out of the Super Eagles due to an inconsistent career plagued by injuries, Joel Obi has earned a recall to the Eagles fold on the back of regular appearances in Italy with Torino. Junior Ajayi’s impressively consistent run in front of goal, albeit in Egypt with Al Ahly, at a time when the Super Eagles are in dire need of in-form strikers, has duly been rewarded with an invitation to the team.
These and others probably point to Coach Gernot Rohr’s commitment to putting out a worthy Super Eagles team at the upcoming World Cup. By inviting and recalling a few more deserving players showing a rich vein of club form for the friendly matches against Poland and Serbia, Rohr continues to inspire genuine belief that his Super Eagles project is on the right path to glory in Russia and beyond. However, the job doesn’t stop with the invitations.

Read more on www.fcnaijacom

Ernesto Valverde has named 21 players to the squad; as Barçelona faces Chelsea on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions round of 16
All 20 first team players available will be making the trip, plus Barça B goalkeeper Adrià Ortolá. Philippe Coutinho will not be going because, having already played in the Champions League this season for Liverpool, he is ineligible to appear for Barça in the tournament.

Fullback Nelson Semedo is suspended for yellow card accumulation. Thomas Vermaelen, however, has been declared fit and gets the green light.
The team will fly to London on Monday morning. Before the session at Stamford Bridge, Valverde and midfielder Ivan Rakitic will appear before the media.

Here is the full list:
Ter Stegen, Cillessen, Ortolá, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Denis Suárez, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Dembélé, Paulinho, Paco Alcácer, Jordi Alba, Digne, Sergi Roberto, André Gomes, Aleix Vidal, Umtiti, Yerry Mina, Vermaelen.

www.fcnaijacom

Second-tier Dutch club, Fortuna Sittard have confirmed that they have sacked their manager, Sunday Oliseh.
It was gathered that even though Oliseh did well in terms of results on the pitch, his man management skills were abysmal; leading to series of friction that the club tried all they could to mediate.

The statement from the club reads: "Fortuna Sittard immediately puts his coach Sunday Oliseh on non-active.
The club management makes this decision as a result of the repeatedly culpable actions for a longer period by the trainer towards several persons in the organization.

Read more here www.fcnaijacom

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is set to spend €500 million in the summer to land Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar, according to report.
The Real Madrid directors are keen on signing Neymar despite the huge financial involvement.
Neymar is a long-term target for Perez right from his days with Santos but the deal was hijacked by Barcelona in 2013.

The European Champions have been warned about the cost implication of the deal but Perez still wants to push for a move to sign the former Santos and Barcelona forward.

Get the full gist on www.fcnaija_.com

Football is one of the most consumed sports in the world with billions of fans supporting their favourite clubs.

Most of the football clubs in the world are either owned by billionaires or a group of stakeholders. When it comes football clubs it is safe to say that the wealth status of a club can contribute immensely to the popularity and performance of a team.

Too much money for a club means top class players, good facilities, better allowances and salaries for players and workers. We will be looking at what makes a team rich and the number of clubs that can be termed the "money bags" (Richest Football Clubs In The World)


10. Tottenham Hotspurs


Team Worth - $1.017 billion.

Owned by a British billionaire Joe Lewis, Tottenham Hotspurs is a football team that plays in the English Premier League in Europe. Their home stadium is White Hart Lane in England. The team is worth a whopping $1.017 billion.

You can read more on www.fcnaijacom
latest football news in Nigeria

Former Enugu Rangers defender Henry Obiekwu reportedly slumped and died during a friendly match with his youth team in Enugu.

Nigerian football has been hit with another tragedy following the death of former Enugu Rangers player, Henry Obiekwu.
Read more on www.Fcnaijacom

The runaway Premier League leaders are, alongside Liverpool, the only title contender who are absent from continental commitments this season. But is this a big reason for their Premier League domination this far?

A direct consequence of Chelsea's mediocre 2015/2016 season, their 10th-place league finish and failure to win any domestic cup is that they are completely absent from European action for the first time in two decades. This season, however, under new manager Antonio Conte the Blues have been flying again and now find themselves sitting 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table after Sunday's draw at Burnley.

With the knockout stages of the Champions League set to resume this week, Chelsea will not be taking any part and, naturally, the debate has been rekindled as to whether the Blues have had a big advantage over their title rivals because of their European absence.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni has signed a short term deal with Coventry City.

Nigeria striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, has impressed Coventry City manager, Russell Slade, after signing a short term contract with the club.

The 34-year old has signed a deal until the end of the season with the League One club subject to international clearance, and they are hoping he can help them with his wealth of experience in what will be his 14th club, which has seen the Coventry boss shower encomiums on him.

Read also: Nigerian striker scores 13th goal of the season

“We’re pleased to have secured the signing of Yakubu, who brings vast experience and a terrific goal record.

“His professional career speaks for itself, having scored consistently at the highest level of English football, and will act as a superb role model for the younger players.
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“He is astute on the ball, has clear quality and presence, and we’ll continue to work on his match fitness as we prepare for the final 16 games of this season.”

‘The Yak’ as the Nigeria international is usually called, has featured for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Leicester, Blackburn and Reading in England, and has also featured for clubs in Israel, China and Turkey.

He has scored over 140 goals in 400 appearances in his career and is highly regarded in the United Kingdom.

The duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are top on the list of world football stars penciled down to feature in an exhibition match against human trafficking, insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria.

The match according to the organisers will be played on May 21 in Abuja.

It is understood that FIFA and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have sanctioned the initiative tagged: Africa My Africa.

This initiative is from next2none, a non-profit making organisation who say they agaare out to use football to promote global security and fight against human trafficking.

While addressing journalists in Abuja, the organisers say the novelty match will be between Africa Stars Vs World Stars and it will feature other household names including Zinedine Zidane, Ruud Gullit, Ronaldinho, George Weah, Samuel Kuffour, Samuel Eto'o, Abedi Pele, Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Jay Jay Okocha and Thierry Henry.

Also listed are the likes of David Beckham, Didier Drogba and a cluster of female footballers such as Sydney Leroux, Asisat Oshoala, Birgit Prinz, Sun Wen, Abby Wanbach, Homare Sawa, Kelly Smith, Marta, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Toni Duggan, Anouk Hoogendijk, Nayeli Rangel, Lauren Sesselmann, Julia Simic and Corine Petit.

It is yet to be seen how far the organisers will be able to match their words with action going by the ambitious list drawn out.

An exciting opportunity to reward fans’ loyalty and football knowledge has been provided by Nigeria’s Number One Football Portal, .com.

Through its Trivia, fans have a chance to win The Beat By Dre Headphone after answering a set of questions in record time.

Quite exciting and equally fun-filled, the Trivia beyond testing the knowledge of the fans will also be majorly harping on how fast they can be in responding to questions they know the right answers for.

TO GET YOUR FREE BEATS BY DRE HEADPHONES, Visit our website, -com

On the Nigerian players abroad round-up today, we start off from Russia with love as Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa was the hero for CSKA Moscow in their 1-0 win over neighbours Spartak in the Moscow derby. The 23-year old’s 11th minute finish was enough to see CSKA through, and give them a three-point lead in the Russian Premier League. It was his seventh goal of the season.

His compatriot at the club, Aaron Samuel wasn’t as lucky as he could only watch proceedings from the bench for the entire duration. He joined the CSKA last month on loan from Chinese club, Guangzhou R&F.

Still also in Moscow, Locomotiv new signing Henty Ezekiel made his debut for the club in 2-1 loss to Terek Grozny, while Sylvester Igboun was not listed by UFA in their 1-1 draw with Mordovya.

In Austria, former youth international Olanrewaju Kayode came off the bench to score the third for Austria Vienna in their 3-1 win over Ried in the Austrian Bundesliga. It was the striker’s 11th goal of the season in 25 appearances.

READ ALSO: Last week on Nigerian players abroad round-up

Former Enyimba attacker Kingsley Sokari scored his second goal since joining CS Sfaxien of Tunisia as they recorded a 3-1 victory over Stade Tunisien.

In Italy, Ogenyi Onazi was again confined to the Lazio bench for the entirety of their 1-1 draw with Torino, while Joel Obi featured for only four minutes as he was introduced by Torino after 86 minutes.

In Ligue 1, Vincent Enyeama kept a clean sheet as Lille beat Reims 2-0. Elderson Echiejile was on for the entire duration in Monaco’s 2-2 draw at Caen.

In the Premier League, John Obi Mikel couldn’t help Chelsea continue their recent winning streak but was good enough to help them prevent a defeat as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Stoke City.

Odion Ighalo fired blanks for Watford as leaders Leicester City closed in on the title with a 1-0 win at Vicarage Road Emmanuel Emenike started and featured for 61 minutes but fired blanks for West Ham as they came from two goals down to beat Everton 3-2. Meanwhile. Victor Moses was not listed.

Kelechi Iheanacho came off the bench in Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa but failed to increase his tally against the Villans. The 19-year old replaced David Silva in the 70th minute.

Arsenal enforcer Francis Coquelin has issued an apology to Arsenal fans after being sent of in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

The French ace was given the marching order after the break for two bookable offences Arsenal with leading 1-0 thanks to Aaron Ramsey’s flick. Spurs responded to the red card with two quick goals from Toby Alderweireld and Harry Kane before Alexis Sanchez rescued a point for Arsene Wenger’s side 14 minutes from time.

After the encounter, the Arsenal enforcer apologized for the red card while also admitting to being relieved that his side managed to get a point after being reduced to ten men.

“I didn’t really see the goal [because I was in the dressing room] but someone came and told me that we scored the second one – it was a relief for me. I did not want us to lose today because at 1-0 I thought we were doing great.

“A point today is a good point, it is a great result for us. I’m really sorry to all the fans for the red card, I think with 11 against 11 we could have won the game as we were playing really well. This red card changed the game. I’m really sorry to the club, to the team and all the fans.”

“I actually thought I could get the ball when I slide tackled [Harry Kane] – that is why I went for it. I touched him and [the referee] gave me the second yellow.

“But at the end of the day, it’s a good point and hopefully it will be an important point for the title.” Coquelin told Arsenal Player.

Join us on YouTube this Thursday [March 3] as we will be live in Watford with Nigeria’s hottest Premier League star and .com 2015 footballer of the year Odion Ighalo, for an exclusive Google Hangout with him.

The Nigerian star will be stopping by for a Hangout a day after his team’s crucial league game with Manchester United. The Q&A session will be live on FC Naija Google+ Page (3pm. Nigerian time).

We’ll talk a little bit about Ighalo’s own digital habits, but we’re leaving most of this show up to you – the fans on social media.

Submit your questions for Ighalo, use the hashtag #AskIghalo on the Google+ event page, Facebook, Twitter or in the comments section of this post.

It’s all fair game: Ighalo’s Nigerian XI, his biggest football challenges, his debut goal for the Super Eagles, his football heroes, his most memorable goal and his aspiration for the national team.

You don’t want to miss this so tune in here at 3pm for the conversation. You can even return later on to watch a replay. What questions do you have for Ighalo?

Let us know in the comment box.

Want to participate in the Hangout?

Click the link below to also drop your questions.

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