Vincent Enyeama

Nigeria’s first choice goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama has signed a four-year deal with French Champions Lille.

The 28-year-old signs as a free agent after completing his contract with Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv.

“I have signed a deal with Lille. It is for four years,” Enyeama confirmed.

The ex Enyimba shot-stopper will now get the opportunity to feature in next season’s Uefa Champions League with the three-time French champions who also won the French Cup in the just ended season.

Enyeama posted superlative performances at last year’s World Cup in South Africa to fuel rapid speculations about his future.

His move follows that of compatriots Taye Taiwo to recently joined crowned Italian kings AC Milan and striker Emmanuel Emenike to Turkish champions Fenerbache.

Gyan got Ghana's consolation

South Korea edged Ghana 2-1 in a football friendly match Tuesday, thanks to a last-minute go-ahead goal.

With the score tied at 1-1 before more than 41,000 fans at Jeonju World Cup Stadium, about 240 kilometers south of Seoul, Koo Ja-cheol scored the winner in injury time.

Ji Dong-Won’s header from close range was stopped by Ghana’s diving keeper Richard Kingson, but Koo, who entered the game in the second half, tapped home the rebound to seal the victory.

South Korea got on the board first in the 10th minute, as Ji soared above two defenders to head the ball past Kingson.

Ji, a 20-year-old who has recently been linked to Sunderland in the English Premier League, now has six goals in 11 career international matches.

Asamoah Gyan tied it up for Ghana in the 62nd, after Sulley Ali Muntari threaded a pass between two defenders to set up the Sunderland striker.

Ghana missed several chances to equalize before Gyan’s goal. Gyan was denied on a fast break after the South Korean defense was caught napping in the 51st. A minute later, goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong was forced to stop Gyan on a hard turnaround shot from point-blank range.

In the 59th, Park Chu-young almost gave the home team a two-goal cushion, but his long-range strike rattled off the crossbar. Then Gyan finally struck to make it a tie game.

Jung was by far South Korea’s best player on this night, keeping the score respectable as Ghana kept breaking down the defense with crisp passing and launched shots with relative ease.

Jung denied Gyan on a penalty in the 15th, after defender Hong Jeong-ho brought him down to foil a breakaway chance. Gyan’s low penalty shot to his right was easily grabbed by Jung.

After Ji missed a chance to score his second goal in the 20th, it was all Ghana the rest of the action-packed first half. Muntari pounced on a loose ball from just outside the box and forced Jung to make a tough diving save in the 23rd. Gyan’s low shot rolled just wide of the left post three minutes later. Then Jung had to make another tough save, this time on Gyan’s header in the 31st.

Ghana, a quarterfinalist at last year’s World Cup in South Africa, was missing some key names, including Michael Essien of Chelsea in the English Premier League and Kevin-Prince Boatenng of AC Milan in the first-division Italian league. It came in as the top-ranked African nation at No. 15 in the world, 16 spots ahead of South Korea.

This was the second of two friendly matches for South Korea this month. Last Friday, South Korea beat Serbia 2-1 in Seoul. South Korea is getting ready for the Asian qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Moussa Sow

Moussa Sow is set to snub interests from a host of clubs with the announcement he will stay with Ligue 1 champions Lille.

Sow, 25, played a vital part in the club’s title feat by producing the good upfront, a quality that eventually earned him the league’s top goalscorer award.

The Senegal international alongside Eden Hazaard and Gervinho have been tipped to leave Lille with growing interests from Europe’s elit clubs following their exploits in the Championaire.

Newcastle, the latest of clubs to be linked to Sow appears to be heading for a major disappointment with the posturing of the player which suggests he wants to stay.

Majid Bougherra

Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra has said he wants to quit the Scottish champions for a second spell in the English Premier League.

However, the Algerian has insisted he will only leave Ibrox with the support of new Rangers manager Ally McCoist.

“My focus is still on the Premier League,” Bougherra, who has a year left on his Rangers contract, told Monday’s Scottish Sun.

“I played there for six months with Charlton and I want to go back as six months isn’t a long time.

“I’ve spoken to Coisty and told him that if there is a new challenge which excites me then I’d like to take it. He understands my position.

“I have told him the truth because I respect him. He knows me, he knows what I need and he knows I have a good relationship with the club but if I go, I’d have to go cleanly.

“I don’t want to lose what I have built up.”

There have been reports Bougherra was ready to buy out the remaining year of his deal with Glasgow giants Rangers if it would help speed up a return to top-flight football south of the border.

But he insisted: “I don’t want there to be any trouble between me and the club. I want any move to be easy, not to be wrong.”

Cameroon vs Senegal

Four people have been confirmed dead in riots following Cameroon’s disappointing barren draw at home to Senegal.

A nasty confrontation ensued between the angered home fans and the stadium’s security apparatus which also saw many others severely injured.

The failure of the Indomitable Lions to win Saturday’s game especially after they were awarded a late penalty which was squandered by captain Samuel Eto’o has dimmed the team’s chances of qualifying for next year’s tournament.

Witnesses said several people were injured in the fracas, and that angry football fans smashed car windscreens and tore T-shirts bearing Eto’o’s name off the backs of people wearing them.

The Inter Milan striker has since asked fans to forgive him.

Angelo Ogbonna

Torino defender Angelo Ogbonna has defended his decision to snub Nigeria in favour of the Italian national team.

According to the 21-year-old who has just won a call-up to the senior Itay squad, committing to Nigeria was never an option.

He said: “I never waited for a call from Nigeria. Having been born here and growing up in Italy, I always considered myself to be Italian.

“Thankfully I have never been subjected to racist and ignorant attitudes.”

The youngster is the second African in to opt for the Italian national team with the fierst being Mario Balotelli who was courted by Ghana.

2012 CAF Nations Cup logo

Afrikansoccer.com takes an in-depth look at the fate and fortunes of teams hoping to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations to be jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. 

Even after loosing their weekend’s away game to Liberia, Cape Verde still managed to hold on to top spot with just one point more than closest rival Mali who failed to capitalise after their own loss away to Zimbabwe.

Group B
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Guinea	4	3	1	0	10	3	+7	10
2		Nigeria	4	2	1	1	8	3	+5	7
3		Ethiopia	4	1	1	2	4	10	-6	4
4		Madagascar	4	0	1	3	2	8	-6	1

Guinea’s impressive 4-1 win over Madagascar strengthened their grip on top spot as the chasing party flounder.  Nigeria on the other hand could only manage a 2-2 draw away to Ethiopia.

Group C
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Zambia	4	3	0	1	9	1	+8	9
2		Libya	4	2	2	0	5	1	+4	8
3		Mozambique	4	1	1	2	1	5	-4	4
4		Comoros	4	0	1	3	1	9	-8	1

 Zambia took control of the group with a fine 3-0 win over Mozambique as Libya also kept the chase with a hard fought one-all draw away to the Comoros Islands. It seems automatic qualification for this group will straight go down the wire.

Group D
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Morocco	4	2	1	1	5	1	+4	7
2		Central Africa…	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2	7
3		Tanzania	4	1	1	2	4	5	-1	4
4		Algeria	4	1	1	2	2	7	-5	4

Morocco’s 4-0 thumping of north African rivals Algeria sends them straight to the top of Group D and deservedly so. The Central African Republic are however keeping close chase as they now trail the Atlas Lions only on goal difference with thier own 2-1 win over Tanzania.

Group E
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Senegal	4	3	1	0	12	2	+10	10
2		Congo DR	4	2	1	1	8	6	+2	7
3		Cameroon	4	1	2	1	4	3	+1	5
4		Mauritius	4	0	0	4	2	15	-13	0

 Senegal’s precuious point earned away to Cameroon puts them firnly in the driving seat for the automatic group slot as it leaves their host in a very dicey situation. DR Congo capitalised on Cameroon’s flop with a 2-1 away win over bottom side Mauritius to move second – three points behind Senegal.

Group F
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Burkina Faso	3	3	0	0	11	2	+9	9
2		Gambia	2	1	0	1	4	4	+0	3
3		Namibia	3	0	0	3	2	11	-9	0

   

  Burkina Faso seems to be running away with this group’s slot with an impressive 4-1 win away to Namibia but then have played a game more than second-placed Gambia who are on three points.

Group G
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		South Africa	4	2	2	0	3	0	+3	8
2		Niger	4	2	0	2	4	4	+0	6
3		Sierra Leone	4	1	2	1	3	4	-1	5
4		Egypt	4	0	2	2	1	3	-2	2

Bafana Bafana are in pole position to grab the group’s automatic slot but then their hard-fought draw away to Egypt has plunged the seven-time African champions in dire need of a miracle to qualify for nest year’s finals. Second placed Sierra Leone kept up the pace with a 1-0 win over Niger.

Group H
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Côte d’Ivoire	4	4	0	0	12	3	+9	12
2		Burundi	4	1	1	2	5	6	-1	4
3		Benin	4	1	1	2	7	9	-2	4
4		Rwanda	4	1	0	3	4	10	-6	3

With an unassailable 12 points, Cote d”Ivoire have already qualified for the finals. It is now left to Burundi and Benin to amass as much points as possible to qualify as one of the second best placed teams. Qualification for Rwanda is very much unlikely at this point.

It is definitely a straight fight  between Ghana and Sudan for the automatic spot. However with the impressive number of points build-up of the two teams, it is very likely both will qualiofy for next year’s finals.

Group J
		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Uganda	4	3	1	0	6	0	+6	10
2		Angola	4	2	0	2	3	5	-2	6
3		Kenya	4	1	1	2	2	3	-1	4
4		Guinea-Bissau	4	1	0	3	1	4	-3	3

Uganda appears to be tearing away from the park aftter their 2-1 win over Guinea-Bissau but Angola is making a late surge for the automatic slot with a lone victory over Kenya. Ginuea-Bissau are still inwith a shout.

With Botswana already clinching top spot, the race for the other slot is now down to two teams; Tunisia and Malawi. Both are on ten points with only goal difference seperating the two. Togo and Chad are completely out of the running.

Bafana Bafana battles Egypt to a gruelling draw

A 0-0 draw with South Africa on Sunday now means Egypt’s dream of a fourth consecutive continental crown is now completely out of their hands

.

The Pharaohs failed to make home advantage count on the night they needed the win most and are now deeply rooted at the foot of 2012 Afcon qualifying Group G with just two-points from four games.

In sharp contrast, the result now places Bafana Bafana on the brink of an automatic qualification having amassed eight points, two more than closest rival Niger and a further three points off third placed Sierra Leone.

In theory Egypt can still qualify for the AFCON finals as one of two best runners-up, but it is highly unlikely considering they can only possibly amass seven points and might not be good enough when compared to other gtroups.

Gervinho in action for Lille

Arsenal will have to spend €17m to fend off interests in their quest to sign Lille forward Gervinho.

The Ivorian international’s prospects in helping Lille to secure the French league title has alerted several of Europe’s elite clubs who are all reportedly interested in snapping him up.

One of such clubs, Liverpool have reportedly tabled 12.5 million euros offer which falls short of Lille’s asking price of 17m to sell off their star player.

Reports in the English press suggests Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been impressed by Gervinho and will offer him the chance to play in the coveted Champions League after the striker declared that he would favor a club which will be a contender in Europe when making his choice.

Gervinho is expected to decide whether to stay with the new Ligue 1 champions next season or join one of the teams racing to sign him after the Ivory Coast’s African Nations Cup qualifier against Benin on Sunday.

Eto'o wants positive attitude for remaining games

Samuel Eto’o has taken full responsibility for Cameroon’s inability to win their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at home to Senegal on Saturday.

The Inter Milan striker was presented with a golden opportunity to snatch the much-needed three points when the Indomitable Lions were awarded a late penalty but the captain could only find the cross bar to the dismay of a packed Yaounde crowd.

The draw now leaves the four-time African champions in a very dicey situation as they lie third in Group E with just five points from four games.

“I accept responsibility for this defeat. When I score goals often, you hoist me to the top, but today I missed the penalty which would have given us victory and I take full responsibility for this underperformance. I want to protect the group of young players who played today,” a gutted Eto’o said.

“This is the only penalty that I missed this season. But I take everything. I know that the Cameroonian public wants us to win to make them happy. But I missed the penalty and I ask forgiveness.”

However, the three-time African player of the year believes his team has what it takes to turn it around by adopting a positive attitude for the remaining two games.

“Today’s game is a new beginning for our national team. Because we wet the shirt but we lost and that’s football. I believe that despite this unfortunate draw at home, we remain positive. We can win in Lubumbashi, in the next game against DR Congo. For today, we played well but we could not win.”