FOOTBALL - Nigeria’s Flying Eagles emerge African champions

The Nigeria U20 team, the Flying Eagles, have been crowned champions of the 19th Africa Youth Championships as they defeated hosts, Senegal, by a lone goal in a thrilling final match on Sunday night at the 45,000-capacity Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium.

A stunning goal from Bernard Bulbwa in the first half was all that was required for Nigeria to lift her 7th AYC trophy. Nigeria and Senegal had faced each other two weeks ago in the group opener of the competition AYC with the Flying Eagles emerging as 3-1 winners.

Going into Sunday’s game, the Flying Eagles had vowed to complete a double but the Senegalese who were making the final for the first time promised to turn the tables against Coach Manu Garba and his boys in the final match.

The Senegal team did try to turn things around as they enjoyed the earlier attacking foray in Sunday’s final match with the likes of Ndiaye and El Hadji Niang both attempting to get the ball past Flying Eagles goalkeeper, Joshua Enaholo, who was in good form.

Despite Senegal’s initial initiatives, it was the Flying Eagles that took the lead in the 19th minute when Bernard Bulbwa justified his late inclusion in the starting line-up with a wonderful goal that is in contention for goal of the tournament.

From then on the two teams tried with no success to get another goal.

Before this latest triumph in Senegal, the Flying Eagles’ previous AYC title were in 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2005 and 2011.

Earlier in the day, Ghana won the third place game defeating Mali 3-1. The four teams that reached the semi-final – Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, and Mali- will represent Africa at the FIFA U20 World Cup.

Boxing News: Floyd Mayweather’s Uncle And Trainer Sends Warning To Manny Pacquiao, Filipino Not Going ‘Past Six Rounds’

Roger Mayweather, the outspoken uncle and trainer of top pound-for-pound fighter Floyd Mayweather is stating that Manny Pacquiao won’t survive against his nephew when they meet on May 2, 2015 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roger, like Mayweather’s father Floyd Mayweather Sr., is known for their brash and aggressive pre-fight predictions in most of the fights of the younger Mayweather.

"He is going to get knocked out. It ain't going to go past six rounds. I don't think so. He's going to hit him in the jaw - boom. He's going to hit him in the head - boom. He's going to knock his ass down - boom,” Roger Mayweather said in an interview with BoxeoMundial. "I'll tell [the referee] don't count too soon so he can get another ass-whooping. There won't be no rematch.”


Roger Mayweather is a former pro boxer who held two major titles in two different divisions in his fight career. He had a record of 59 wins, 35 by knockouts against 13 losses and has retired as a fighter but has served as part of The Money Team as Floyd Mayweather’s trainer since 1996.

Roger Mayweather rose to national prominence came during the Mayweather vs. Zab Judah fight in 2006 when he entered the ring and had a brawl with Judah and his trainers. Roger Mayweather was fined $200,000 and suspended in boxing for a year for the infamous incident. Judah now serves as one of the sparring partners of Mayweather in his training camp against Pacquiao. 


The elder Mayweather’s opinion that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will easily beat Pacquiao echoes a similar statement by Floyd Mayweather Sr in late January. Floyd’s father stated that his son is going to “whoop” Pacquiao in their fight in May and questioned Pacquiao’s punching power. Floyd Sr. wondered where is Pacquiao’s punching power that was seen in the fights against Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya but wasn’t present in the Filipino's recent fights.

Jose Mourinho has fun with a water bottle during Capital One Cup final

Jose Mourinho has had a contentious relationship with the media of late, especially after Chelsea's recent 1-1 home draw with Burnley and his infamous "four moments" postmatch rant.

Yet Sunday's Capital One Cup final caught the Special One in a more playful mood. Maybe it was the weather, the Wembley atmosphere or simply the fact that his Chelsea side was enjoying a comfortable win over London rival Tottenham. Whatever it was, he found it within himself to have fun with a nearby cameraman who snapped him swigging a drink on the touchline.





Nice, right? And to think Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger usually uses water bottles only for kicking ...

Cheers, Jose!

Boxing: Floyd Mayweather will fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2

LAS VEGAS – After years of frustration and disappointment, following many starts and stops, perhaps the most talked about boxing match in history is finally a reality.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced Friday that he's agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao in a welterweight bout May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. It's a bout the public has been calling for since late 2009 and pits the two finest boxers of their generation in a historic event.

"I am very happy that Floyd Mayweather and I can give the fans the fight they have wanted for so many years," said Pacquiao, who signed the contract for the bout Thursday. "They have waited long enough and they deserve it. It is an honor to be part of this historic event. I dedicate this fight to all the fans who willed this fight to happen and, as always, to bring glory to the Philippines and my fellow Filipinos around the world."

The bout is expected to set numerous records, including purse size, live paid gate and pay-per-view sales. The cost of the pay-per-view has yet to be determined and won't be until there are deals with the distributors.

Formal details on the agreement have yet to be announced, but it's expected that Mayweather will have a 60-40 split advantage on revenues, with Mayweather making at least $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million.

"Floyd should enjoy being the A-side while he can," Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, said. "Because on May 2, Manny is going to put him on his backside."

The two nearly came to terms around the Christmas holidays in 2009, a month after Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand. It fell apart, though, when Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum balked at Mayweather's demand for drug testing run by the United States Anti-Doping Agency during training camp.

There were numerous attempts over the last five years to reignite the talks. In 2011, then-HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg tried to act as a mediator between Mayweather adviser Al Haymon and Arum, but that didn't come to fruition.

In 2012, Mayweather, who was in Las Vegas, called Pacquiao, who was at his home in the Philippines, and offered him a guaranteed $40 million but with no pay-per-view upside. Pacquiao declined that offer.

Mayweather jumped from HBO, which had him under an exclusive television contract for much of his career, to Showtime in 2013, which seemed to be the death knell for the fight.

Mayweather has fought four of the six fights on his record-breaking Showtime contract and didn't have an opponent out there who would have made the kind of show that would resonate with the public the way a Pacquiao fight would.

Pacquiao remains under an exclusive television deal with HBO, so that further complicated the attempts to match the fighters. Only once previously, in 2002 when Lennox Lewis (HBO) and Mike Tyson (Showtime) fought, have the two premium cable giants gotten together to do a pay-per-view.

This most recent talks began in November and were started by CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves, a longtime acquaintance of Arum's. Roach actually got them together by speaking to a friend of his who owns a Southern California pizza restaurant that Moonves frequents.

Moonves and Arum were joined in the talks by HBO CEO Richard Plepler. And while there were many false alarms along the way, they were able to get the deal done.

Arum told Yahoo Sports on Jan. 13 that Pacquiao had agreed to terms for the bout and that all that was required was for Mayweather to agree.

But because Mayweather, the pound-for-pound king and the sport's biggest pay-per-view attraction, had the upper hand and was dictating the terms, there was a lot of skepticism and back and forth. Several times, Mayweather went to social media to announce that no deal had been reached.

Mayweather and Pacquiao spoke face-to-face for the first time during these negotiations Jan. 27 at American Airlines Arena in Miami at a Heat-Milwaukee Bucks game. Pacquiao had served as a judge at the Miss Universe pageant in Miami two nights earlier, but because of bad weather on the East Coast, his flight to Los Angeles had been canceled.

As a result, he went to the game to see the Heat because he’s friends with Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. Mayweather, who owns a home in Miami, also attended the game and walked over to speak to Pacquiao at halftime. Later, Mayweather went to Pacquiao's hotel room and they had further discussions.

That led to intense speculation of an announcement, but it took several more weeks before the deal could be consummated.

Roach told Yahoo Sports in January that he'd already gotten bleary-eyed from watching film of Mayweather and coming up with a plan.

"It's a huge challenge for Manny, no question, but I think it's a fight that he can win," Roach told Yahoo Sports.

The intrigue in the bout comes about because they are not only widely regarded as the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world but their styles are vastly different.

Mayweather is the brilliant tactician and one of the finest defensive fighters in the sport’s history. He has an innate sense of timing and can see punches coming that others can’t.

Pacquiao, a left-hander, is a powerhouse offensive fighter who has the speed and quickness to deal with Mayweather.

Former world champion Timothy Bradley, who has gone 1-1 in two bouts with the Filipino congressman and cultural icon, told Yahoo Sports last year that Pacquiao is an extraordinarily hard puncher.

"He hits hard, man," Bradley said. "It's a whole different level. You feel it when he hits you."

The result is the kind of boxer vs. slugger match that has long intrigued boxing fans.

And five years after it first was talked about, it's finally a reality, and the endless debates over who would win will be settled in the ring.

Cairo, Egypt: 25 people killed in Egyptian soccer match riot (PHOTOS)

A pickup truck bursts into flames as a riot breaks out outside of a soccer match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium in a suburb east of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015.

 
CAIRO (AP) — A riot broke out Sunday night outside of a major soccer game in Egypt, with a stampede and fighting between police and fans killing at least 25 people, authorities said.

The riot, only three years after similar violence killed 74 people, began ahead of a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium east of Cairo. Such attacks in the past have sparked days of violent protests pitting the country's hard-core fans against police officers in a nation already on edge after years of revolt and turmoil.

Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the violence killed at least 25 people.

Egypt's public prosecutor issued a statement ordering an investigation. After convening an emergency meeting to discuss the violence, the Cabinet announced that it was postponing upcoming soccer matches until further notice, Egypt's state television said.

What caused the violence wasn't immediately clear. Security officials said Zamalek fans tried to force their way into the match without tickets, sparking clashes. Fans have only recently been allowed back at matches and the Interior Ministry planned to let only 10,000 fans into the stadium, which has a capacity of about 30,000, the officials said.

Zamalek fans, known as "White Knights," posted on their group's official Facebook page that the violence began because authorities only opened one narrow, barbed-wire door to let them in. They said that sparked pushing and shoving that later saw police officers fire tear gas and birdshot.

Fans of Egypt's Zamalek soccer team flock in droves outside the Air Defense Stadium to watch a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI in a suburb east of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015.

The Zamalek fan group later posted pictures on Facebook it claimed were of dead fans, including the names of 22 people it said had been killed. The AP could not immediately verify the images.

Egypt's hard-core soccer fans, known as Ultras, frequently clash with police inside and outside of stadiums. They are deeply politicized and many participated in the country's 2011 uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak. Many consider them as one of the most organized movements in Egypt after the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which the government later outlawed as a terrorist organization following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The violence comes as police face increasing scrutiny following the shooting death of a female protester in Cairo and the arrest of protesters under a law heavily restricting demonstrations. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has pledged to bring stability to Egypt amid bombings and attacks by Islamic militants, but also has said Egypt's emergency situation meant that some violations of human rights were inevitable, if regrettable.

Soccer fans hold lit flares at the stand as they watch a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium in a suburb east of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015

The deadliest riot in Egypt soccer history came during a 2012 match when Port Said's Al-Masry team hosted Cairo's Al-Ahly. That riot, at the time the deadliest worldwide since 1996, killed 74 people, mostly Al-Ahly fans.

Two police officers later received 15-year prison sentences for gross negligence and failure to stop the Port Said killings, a rare incident of security officials being held responsible for deaths in the country. Seven other officers were acquitted, angering soccer fans who wanted more police officers to be held accountable for the incident and other episodes of violence.

In response, angry fans burned down the headquarters of Egypt's Football Association, also protesting its decision to resume matches before bringing those behind that 2012 riot to justice. They've also protested and fought officers outside of the country's Interior Ministry, which oversees police in the country.

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao met face-to-face at the Heat game

"Mayweather and Pacquiao attend the same basketball game" is the closest we've ever come to a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.

Frequent NBA attendee Floyd Mayweather is at Tuesday night's game between the Heat and the Bucks. Manny Pacquiao is also at Tuesday night's game between the Heat and the Bucks. The Heat decided to put them together on the big screen:

of course, the two boxers have been rumored as potential opponents for what seems like a decade, although it seems as if the possibility of a fight between the two is more real than ever.

This is the second time Mayweather has been reminded of his would-be rival at an NBA game -- when Mayweather attended a Clippers game last week, he was heckled by fans screaming "FIGHT PACQUIAO."

It's official: Arsenal are the most frustrating club in the world to support

Moments after Arsenal's extraordinary collapse this week, I tweeted my long-held view that they must be the most frustrating team in the world to support. Gunners fans were quick to agree, but others weren't so sure. A stream of Tottenham and Newcastle fans begged to differ, while supporters of smaller clubs, including my own Southend United, were just as dismissive. But while those clubs and others have problems far more serious than anything ever suffered by Arsenal, the point still stands.

Supporting Southend is not really that frustrating. Though they sit in an entirely respectable seventh position in League Two, generally they're not very good at football. Expectations are low and are only occasionally met.

Newcastle are frustrating in that they keep finding ever more inventive ways to shoot their own feet off, but no one really expects anything different. That's just what they do.

Tottenham's extraordinary habit of investing heavily in one ideology only to scrap it all at great expense and do the opposite two years later is certainly frustrating, but only one person has ever thought they were going to win the Premier League title and that, bafflingly, was chairman Daniel Levy shortly after the sale of Gareth Bale.

Arsenal exist on a different plane of frustration because, unlike those other clubs, great success is always possible. Indeed, great success for Arsenal, given all they have, is actually more probable than possible.

Yet they are so keen to squander their ambitions, and in increasingly ludicrous fashion. They were like the Wet Bandits this week. Bigger, stronger, more experienced than their pint-sized opponent, Anderlecht in the Champions League, they seemed certain to win out, but instead they found themselves being creatively and repeatedly assaulted in the last 20 minutes as they let a 3-0 lead slip away.

What separates Arsenal from the likes of Tottenham, Newcastle, Southend and all the other names that streamed on to my timeline on Tuesday night is that they have absolutely no excuses for this. Arsenal have everything in place to be the most successful, trophy-laden club on the planet and their failure to reach their potential is extraordinary.

Newcastle have outstanding support and a wonderful stadium, but in the era of FFP when clubs can only spend what they earn, they're hamstrung by the financial chasm between London and the north of the country. They can get over 50,000 fans through the gates, but they can't charge Arsenal's prices. Nor can they hope to attract the sort of deep-pocketed, international corporate sponsors who have such a presence in the capital.

Tottenham could, hypothetically, match Arsenal in the matchday revenue stakes, but they haven't yet got a stadium to facilitate it. They're held back by White Hart Lane, its 36,000 capacity and its lack of a whopping great business and conference centre attached to the side of the pitch. Such are the sad realities of modern football.

Arsenal have the prime London location and they have their giant stadium. It's almost paid for too. Thanks to Arsene Wenger, they also have an advanced training complex, an excellent academy, a wide scouting network, experienced and qualified staff and a philosophy that will always attract new supporters. Perpetual Champions League qualification enables them, when they choose to do so, to attract all but the biggest names in the game and, most importantly, to pay them high wages without risking the future of the club. All of which explains why so many people took umbrage at the idea of this being a frustrating existence. Most clubs in the world would love to be that frustrated.

But for all that they have, they still cannot make the leap to the top billing, a place they haven't occupied in the last 10 years, and it doesn't look likely to change any time soon. The only teams they've beaten in the league this season are Burnley, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

What makes it all so fist-gnashingly ridiculous, so grind-your-teeth-into-dust annoying is that Arsenal seem to make the same mistakes again and again and again and again until you start to think they're doing it deliberately as some kind of vindictive performance art.

They surge forwards when they don't need to, they lack a defensive midfielder to protect them when it invariably goes wrong, they waste set pieces at one end and then wobble precariously at the other. They overcomplicate, they prevaricate and they do it so often that any rational individual would just give up on them and go and watch something less stressful. Unfortunately, very few supporters are rational.

All of our teams frustrate us, all of them make us feel as if we're cursed, but very few of them are as close to greatness as Arsenal. That's what makes the difference. They should have everything, they should sit astride global football like a king, clutching all of the trophies and laughing their heads off. Instead, it's the rest of the world that can't stop laughing at them.

Vincent Kompany: I wouldn't play for Arsenal for £60m and two Ferraris

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has said that even 60 million pounds and two Ferrraris would not be enough to convince him to join Arsenal.

The Belgian was replying to one of Arsenal's most famous fans, Piers Morgan, on Twitter. After his beloved Gunners conceded three goals to draw 3-3 with Anderlecht, Morgan asked if the defender would move to the Emirates.

Kompany, who began his career with Anderlecht, was celebrating the Belgian champions' comeback when the former newspaper editor and chat show host made the offer. But even if the offer was increased to include cars, Kompany wouldn't budge.

In any case, Kompany signed a new five-year contract with City in August to keep him at the Etihad Stadium until 2019.

Why Arsenal will specialise in failure until Arsene Wenger is replaced (Read More)

Jose Mourinho suggested that had any other manager pushed another manager in the middle of the match, as Arsene Wenger had done to the Chelsea man in their recent game, he’d have been treated more harshly.

It’s probably true - but the reason is more damning than some kind of pro-Arsenal bias

It’s more likely to come from the fact that Wenger, and by extension Arsenal, are no longer really seen as a threat.

In the past, Wenger’s Arsenal side would have been happy to exchange more than glances on the pitch, and now you know there’s going to be little more than a shove.

Arsenal are a spent force, forever playing catch up, but at a pace far slower than those ahead of them are moving.

Before the match against Hull City, when the side were gearing up for yet another disappointment due to yet another injury crisis, Wenger said he would move for a defender in the January transfer.

For reference, we are now in October, and Arsenal started with Nacho Monreal in central defence.

Monreal is an adequate back-up full-back for a Champions League team, and yet under Wenger he is regularly considered as a worthwhile option in the middle for the next three months.

As the transfer window closed, Arsenal weighed up making some kind of move for William Carvalho, the Sporting Lisbon defensive midfielder, but with Wenger abroad refereeing a charity match, the side were only able (or perhaps truly willing) to sign Danny Welbeck, unable to break into United’s first team as a striker.

This came after Wenger elected not to sign Cesc Fabregas, who has proven himself to be perhaps the best midfielder in the Premier League at the moment, firing Diego Costa and therefore Chelsea to the top of the table.