₦airaland Forum

West Brom in-form striker Osaze Peter Odemwingie has been named the Barclays player of the month for April.

Odemwingie has been a key figure in new boss Roy Hodgson's recent revival of the Baggies, and his goal scoring exploits have all but secured the club's place in the Barclays Premier League next season.

He began the month with a superb performance against Liverpool, winning two penalties to set up a 2-1 victory against his manager's former team. The striker then had a hand in all three of his side's goals in a thrilling 3-2 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, scoring once and setting up two more,


http://gblsoccer..com/2011/05/odemwingie-named-barclays-premier.html

Obama says death of the terrorist is justice for all,

The mastermind of the worst terrorist attack on American soil is dead, U.S. President Barack Obama announced late Sunday night, almost 10 years after the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people.

Osama bin Laden -- the longtime leader of al Qaeda -- was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

U.S. officials have taken custody of bin Laden's body, Obama said. No Americans were harmed in the operation, he added,

http://ngjobsncareers.com/2011/05/us-president-obama-says-osama-bin-laden-is-dead.html

The first half’s major talking point came after Walcott again marauded down the right and sent in an inviting ball to Van Persie in the box. With the lone front man primed to power a header home, the ball took a slight nick off Vidic, diverting it to safety. On closer inspection, the ball definitely caught the Serb’s hand.

As the first half came to a close, Manchester United looked a lot more sure footed, with Wayne Rooney become an increasingly influential figure, though unable to craft any clear cut errors on goal.

The voracity with which Van Persie argued his denied penalty appeal as Chris Foy blew for half-time was an indication of Arsenal’s frustration not to have capitalised on their superiority at the Emirates.

Arsenal emerged for the second half with Andrei Arshavin replacing Samir Nasri but were lucky not to see themselves a goal down almost immediately, after Rooney ominously curled a free kick into the top corner of Szczesny’s net only for the Pole to turn it away at full stretch.

Such danger for the hosts proved an isolated incident, however, as Arsenal eased back into the fluidity that characterised the game’s opening 45 minutes. Though, for all their endeavour, efforts on target came at a premium, with Bacary Sagna’s driven shot from range flying just wide.

Finally a breakthrough came in the 55th minute when Ramsey justified his start by finishing off a Van Persie raid down the right after arriving late in the box. The Dutchman picked up the ball and probed as he entered the visitors' penalty area. With the chance looking like it had been and gone, Ramsey caught up with play, received the cut back and swept an assured finish with his right foot into the far corner,

http://gblsoccer..com

Tottenham's goalkeeper Gomes is fast developing a reputation for costly goalkeeping errors. Here's video of his latest that gifted Frank Lampard the equalizing g=goal as Tottenham lost 1-2.

http://gblsoccer..com/2011/04/video-gomes-goalkeeping-horror-against.html

After a tension soaked match and having much of the possession and chances Chelsea who needed a win to keep the heat on rivals Manchester United managed to beat fellow Londoners Tottenham 2-1.

Against the run of play Tottenham midfielder Sandro hit a volley past Chelsea goalie Petr Cech for the first goal at the 19th minute.

Then as Chelsea pressed for an equalizer actor cum goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes committed one of his now regular howlers and gifted Frank Lampard a cheap goal when he let the midfielder's shot in through his legs. the goalkeeper scrambled in vain to stop the ball from crossing the line but the referee correctly judged it a goal. At half time both teams were level.

The second half was dominated by Chelsea as they sought to get the three points to keep their title hopes alive. They were however undone by poor finishing and had to wait till the closing stages of the match for the second goal.

With two minutes left Salomon Kalou tapped home Didier Drogba’s mis-hit shot from close range, from what replays to be showed an offside position,

http://gblsoccer..com/2011/04/match-report-title-race-hots-up-as.html

The hectic and stressful Champions League match between Real Madrid and Barcelona during midweek must have told on both teams as they lost their respective La Liga encounters today.

This was the first time both teams are losing at the same weekend since 2009. It was also Barcelona's first loss in the league since September last year.

Relegation threatened Real Sociedad came from behind to beat Barcelona 2-1 at the Aneota stadium. Real Madrid failed to capitalise and lost 2-3 to Real Zaragoza.

As it stands Barcelona are almost home and dry with the La Liga trophy as they currently lead the table with 8 points.

source: http://gblsoccer..com

I never cease to be amazed on how this man Beckham has held the media and business world captivated, earning consistently high income from sponsorships and endorsements even more than new generation and popular footballers like C. Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

That Barcelona has been heavily favoured by refereeing decisions in the past weeks against their illustrious rivals Real Madrid is saying the obvious.

For each of the four times both teams have met this season Real Madrid have ended up playing with 10 men against Barcelona. One may not grudge the fact that some of the sending-offs were merited but a situation were fouls by the Barcelona players were largely overlooked Real Madrid players were heavily sanctioned by the referees for fouls committed.

As video replays show the challenge by Pepe a few nights ago was never such to warrant a straight red card. he went for the ball with one leg just the same as Dani Alves and I was shocked to see the referee mess up was what promising to be a cracking match.

Given Real Madrid's status in Spanish football it baffles many football followers that Barcelona seem to be doing the politicking better and as a result are getting majority of the crucial decisions in their favour.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho perhaps gave an indication to what is behind the heavy influence Barcelona is currently exerting on refereeing decisions.

Jose said,'With our strategy we were not going to lose. So why did we? Maybe it’s because advertising Unicef gets you sympathy, maybe having [Spanish Football Federation chief] Villar on Uefa gets you sympathy, or some form of congratulations for being a great football team?"

"I don't know why. All I can do is leave this question and wait to see if there'll be any response'

So we ask,'Is it the UNICEF connection or the Villar connection that has seen Barcelona getting undue cover and protection by referees.'

Who saw the foul by Messi which deserved a yellow card but none was given as the attacking midfielder signalled to the referee with his thumb and the referee overlooked the matter.

The truth remains that though Barcelona play something close awe-inspiring football they have shown that they can be very aggressive and unsportsmanlike when their game plan is being shut down by the opposition. ,

http://gblsoccer..com

Guus Hiddink has told Roman Abramovich that he will decide in June whether to accept Chelsea’s offer to become their next sporting director, Goal.com can reveal.

Hiddink is also weighing up competing offers from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, who want the Dutch legend to accept a similar role to the one offered at Stamford Bridge,

http://gblsoccer..com/2011/04/chelsea-offer-guus-hiddink-sporting.html

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pegged daily cash withdrawal and lodgments by individuals at N150, 000 and N1 million by corporate organisations. The policy, which kicks off June 2012, is intended to curb the dominance of cash in the economy and its implication for cost of cash management to the banking industry, security and money laundering.

CBN Director, Currency Operations Department, Muhammad Nda, said the bank took the decision after a combined meeting with the Bankers’ Committee where it was agreed that the policy be adopted to reduce the high usage of cash, moderate the cost of cash management and encourage the use of electronic payment channels.

The CBN said that from the above date, organisations that make cash transactions above the limits will be charged a penal fee of N100 per thousand and N200 per thousand respectively for amounts above the cumulative limits.

Also, contravention of this policy will attract a fine of five times the amount that the bank waives as a first offender. Besides, further contraventions will cost the bank 10 times the charges waived,

http://ngjobsncareers.com/2011/04/new-cbn-rule-places-limit-on-cash-withdrawals.html

Career Questions asked by readers of a career and job blog. Here's a typical question from a job seeker.

Question
Sir,
I am a jobless graduate of Economics(Second class upper). Working with the Nigeria Stock Exchange has been my dream for years. My question is which additional qualification am I suppose to have to become a stock broker?

Our Answer
We aren’t experts in that but our advice is that you check out the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers in Nigeria. It is the umbrella body that registers and regulates the practice of stockbroking. You will get all the guidelines you need to get qualified.

Obasanjo said that no one had ever insulted him like Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State. Obasanjo said his experience with the governor taught him to limit his interventions in the governance of the state and would guide his relationship with any future governor of the state.

The former President spoke at the Journalists’ Estate, Arepo, Ogun State during a campaign tour he undertook on Sunday to boost the electoral chances of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tunji Olurin. Obasanjo, who took questions from the members of the community and encouraged them to hold nothing back, was told by a member of the crowd that the last eight years of the party had yielded little in terms of development in most areas of the state. The questioner then asked him to give cogent reasons why they should vote for his party.

http://nairabrain.com

Fernando Torres' long awaited first goal sealed a 2-0 victory for Chelsea over West Ham United
and ensures the Blues' remain six points behind Manchester United at a rain soaked Stamford Bridge. The result keeps Carlo Ancelotti's side six points off the pace and keeps Avram Grant's side rooted to the foot of the Premier League table.

Both Chelsea and West Ham, managed by former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, fashioned plenty of chances in an open and flowing game but failed to hit the back of the net which leaves them deep in relegation strife.

Both sides had big name players unavailable for the clash with Alex and Ramires out for Chelsea, West Ham were without the services of newly-crowned Football Writer’s Player of the Year, Scott Parker. Chelsea however have the strength in depth to cope better with these injuries.

With the deluge omnipresent throughout the first half, chances were raining down on both goals but neither side could find the accuracy required to open the scoring. Both Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou both broke the West Ham defences open but in the case of Malouda, when one-on-one with Robert Green, he should have chipped the ball over the advancing ‘keeper instead of trying to place it low.

As was expected much of the action in the first period was played in the Hammers half and stout defending was the order of the day for the team from east London. They were always open to the chance of launching a counter attack and this ploy almost paid dividends when Demba Ba let fly a rasping drive from distance which required Petr Cech to act with urgency.

http://soccerfiester..com/2011/04/torres-ends-his-goal-drought-chelsea-3.html

1. David Beckham

Despite being in the twilight of his career (he turns 36 next month), Beckham continues to be the highest-paid soccer player in the world with total earnings of $40 million last year.

“Beckham is more analogous to a Hollywood star than a footballer,” says Michael Stirling, CEO of Global Sponsors, which manages sponsorship properties worldwide. His appeal as a player has diminished as he enters the final season of his Galaxy contract (he intends to keep playing after this year), but he is a global celebrity that everyone knows.

Beckham added Electronic Arts and Diet Pepsi to his endorsement stable over the past year (he also inked a short-term agreement with Yahoo). His Adidas contract is the biggest in the sport thanks to royalties from soccer apparel and cleats as well as lifestyle lines like ObyO. He also has a cologne deal with Coty and pitches Go3’s Omega-3 line of products,

http://soccerfiesta..com/2011/04/worlds-highest-paid-footballers-in-2011.html

Sometimes you can celebrate too much. Wondered whether the Real Madrid fullback was drunk as he let the Cup (copa del roy) his team just won fall from high up in the bus. The cup got nearly damaged as the bus went over it. Celebrations indeed!

Video Link , http://soccerfiesta..com/2011/04/video-sergio-ramos-drops-copa-del-roy.html

Manchester United has been ranked football's most valuable team by Forbes magazine for the seventh year in a row, while Barcelona's valuation has dropped.

Taking into account income, profitability and debt levels, the American business magazine's valuation of Man United has risen slightly to $1.9 billion.

United is again followed by Real Madrid and Arsenal, but Barcelona has been dislodged from fourth place in the rankings by Bayern Munich, with the valuation of the Spanish champions slipping below the $1-billion mark to $975 million.

Forbes executive editor Mike Ozanian says Barcelona's decline is due to "a combination of high debt, a stronger U.S. dollar and uncertainty surrounding the financial stability of the media company that broadcasts their games."

http://soccerfiester..com/2011/04/manchester-united-ranked-no1-world.html

SATURDAY

Aston Villa v Stoke (3pm)

Blackpool v Newcastle (3pm)

Chelsea v West Ham (5.30pm)

Liverpool v Birmingham (3pm)

Manchester United v Everton (12.45pm)

Sunderland v Wigan (3pm)

Tottenham v West Bromwich (3pm)

Wolves v Fulham (3pm)
SUNDAY

Bolton v Arsenal (4pm)
MONDAY

Blackburn v Manchester City (8pm)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1379499/Premier-League-team-news-April-23-25.html#ixzz1KILtDqd9


http://soccerfiester..com/search/label/English%20Premier%20League%20Sports%20news

Video link, http://soccerfiesta..com/2011/04/video-referee-gives-2-yellow-cards.html

Video Link: http://soccerfiesta..com/2011/04/video-man-utd-2-vs-chelsea-1-all-three.html

Video link: http://soccerfiesta..com/2011/04/video-man-utd-2-vs-chelsea-1-all-three.html