Germany's Simone Laudehr scores on Nigeria goalkeeper Precious Dede

Nigeria have crushed out of this year’s Fifa Womens World Cup following their 1-0 loss at the hands of hosts Germany in Frankfurt on Thursday evening.

The Super Falcons put up another brave performance and kept the reigning champions goalless for over 50 minutes, but Germany eventually edged ahead and the African champions were unable to come up with a reply.

Simone Laudehr scored the game’s only goal nine minutes into the second half, rifling home a shot after Nigeria were unable to clear their lines from a Celia Mbabi free kick.

Germany and France (who thrashed Canada 4-0 earlier in the day) have secured their progression into the quarterfinals, while Nigeria and Canada will have nothing more than pride to play for when they meet next Tuesday.

Coulibally races to jubilate goal

Coach of Cote d’Ivoire’s U-17 team Alain Gouamene has told his boys not to solely depend on top scorer Souleymane Coulibaly.

The Young Elephants battle France on Friday in the round of 16 in the ongoing Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

With his popularity soaring having scored each and every single goal for the Ivorians, many believe the 16-year-old is reaching the status of an indispensable player – a notion the coach would quickly want to correct.

“If a team wants to win matches it has to count on all its players and not just one of them,” Gouamene told Fifa.com.

“That was the message I told my players before the encounter against France on Thursday. We can’t wholly depend on Coulibaly to move on. It’s impossible. Don’t forget the kid is just 16 and the tournament is yet to conclude,” he explained.

Coulibaly, who plays at Italy’s A.C. Siena youth team, is the author of all eight of Cote D’Ivoire’s  goals at Mexico 2011, prompting local fans to dub him the “New Drogba”, with reports suggesting Real Madrid have set their eyes on him.

Nigeria coach Eucharia Uche

Fifa has criticized Nigeria coach Eucharia Uche for speaking against homosexuality and revealing she forced lesbians out of her team.

The governing body says its against all forms of discrimination and would not tolerate such a behaviour.

“FIFA is against all forms of discrimination,” Tatjana Haenni, FIFA’s head of women’s competitions, told German television channel ARD.

Haenni said FIFA will be talking to Uche about her comments and reminding the coach of the governing bodies statutes.

In a mission statement, FIFA says it wants to use the sport in ‘overcoming social and cultural obstacles for women with the ultimate aim of improving women?s standing in society’.

“We are here at a FIFA event and will point out that it would be best to express oneself neutrally,” said Haenni.

Uche sparked controversy in a New York Times interview ahead of the women’s World Cup, which started last Sunday, in which she called homosexuality ‘dirty’ and insisted it was ‘spiritually and morally very wrong’.

After Nigeria lost their opening Group A game 1-0 to France on Sunday, Uche said she has acted to remove any lesbians from the Super Eagles.

“Yes, the lesbians in our team were really a big problem,” she said having taken over as Nigeria’s coach in 2009.

“But since I’m coach of the Super Falcons, that has been cleared up.

“There are no more lesbian players on my team.

“I can not tolerate this dirty life.”

Defending champions and hosts Germany play Nigeria on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main and have declined to comment in Uche’s remarks.

Germany reserve goalkeeper Ursula Holl is married to a woman and first-choice shot-stopper Nadine Angerer is openly bisexual.

Congolese goalkeeper rushes out to clear danger

Congo’s run at the Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico was halted with a 2-1 defeat at the hands 0f Uruguay on Thursday.

The South American side will now move on to the quarter-final stages of the tournament, where they will take on Asian first-timers Uzbekistan, who routed Australia earlier in the day.

Uruguay began the game pushing four players up into the Congo half in the hopes of keeping the Africans from creating and building chances with the ball.

The plan worked for a time, and the Congolese patiently waited in hopes of hitting out on the counter-attack. They managed the first chance of any note after five minutes, when Bel Epako fired in a shot from distance that was well handled by Jonathan Cubero.

Just four minutes later, Congo had a let-off as Cisse Bassoumba’s defensive header very nearly went into his own goal. Shortly after, Uruguay almost got a goal of their own creating, but Rodrigo Aguirre’s wicked shot in from the left side was saved by Chill Ngakosso.

As the half wore on, Uruguay began to resort to hitting long balls out of the back. The new tactic gave an advantage to Congo, who began to take the initiative through Hardy Binguila and Justalain Kounkou.

However, it was the Celeste who finished the period with the two best chances. Maximiliano Moreira and Aguirre both rattled the crossbar with excellent opportunities to open the scoring.

Congo came out like a house on fire early in the second half, and they took the lead in the 53rd minute. Epako raced down the left and crossed dangerously into the area.

Gianni Rodriguez side-footed the ball out of the danger zone, or so he thought. Binguila came racing up through midfield and pounded the ball on the volley past Cubero, who had no chance.

Uruguay, though, were not to be outfoxed so easily and they drew level just 12 minutes later when Aguirre crossed into the penalty area. Moreira made no mistake with his finish and Uruguay nearly took the lead a minute later only for Elbio Anvarez’s shot to rebound off the post.

The South Americans persevered and eventually got their winner four minutes from time. Gaston Silva’s free-kick took a wicked deflection and left the despairing Ngakosso with no hope.

Congo walked off to a standing ovation from the fans, but it is Uruguay who move on to the quarter-finals, where they will meet Uzbekistan in Torreon on 3 July.

Equatorial Guinea succumbs to late strike to Norway

Equatorial Guinea surrendered a late goal to lose to Norway in their opening Group D game at the ongoing Fifa Womens World Cup in Germany on Wednesday.

The 2008 African champions finally broke down to an 84th minute striker from Emelie Haavi after Norway had hit the wood work thrice in the game.

The Nzalang Nacional had a fare share of their own chances but failed to capitalise with captain Anonman being the main culprit.

In front of almost 13,000 fans, the Norwegians’ first chance came in the second minute as Haavi shot wide.

Equatorial Guinea needed some time to get into the match and relied on long-range efforts, like Anonman’s 40-yard blast and Jurama’s attempt from a bit closer after 17 minutes.

The Africans then began to dominate and on 20 minutes, Dulcia was through on goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth but Haavi made a vital last-gasp interception.

Hjelmseth faced a barrage of shots – most of them from long range – and successfully cleared them all away.

Equatorial Guinea had one final chance before the break as Anonman got past Nora Holstad Berge for a dash at Hjelmseth, but the keeper won the encounter.

After the break, Anonman continued her excellent match, breezing past four women before chipping a shot that went just wide of the post after 53 minutes.

The back-and-forth went on as Norway’s Mykjaland hit the outside of the right post in the 55th minute.

The Norwegians found the framework again just two minutes later with Herlovsen hitting the left post before the ball was pushed out in a scramble.

Anonman broke through again in the 71st minute but again shot wide of the far right post and then she wasted another one-on-one situation with Hjelmseth just seconds later.

Norway finally broke through when Leni Larsen Kaurin crossed from the right side to Haavi, who shot into an empty net after the Africans failed to clear.

Defender Nicolas Nkoulou in action for Indomitable Lions

Defender Nicolas Nkoulou has joined Olympique Marseille from relegated French club Monaco on a four-year deal.

As part of the deal which reportedly cost US$5m, Marseille will loan their Togolese international defender Senah Mango to Monaco with an option to buy.

The 21-year-old will now join compatriot Stephane Mbia at Marseille, who he partners in central defence for Cameroon.

“It’s great to meet up again with a brother!” said Nkoulou, who was also the subject of a reported approach from Lyon.

Nkoulou will compete for a place alongside Mbia with Senegal international Souleymane Diawara but said he had no qualms about the competition for a starting berth at France’s most popular club.

“Competition is a part of our job,” he said.

“I’m a competitor. It’s up to me to be ready mentally.”

Marseille coach Didier Deschamps heralded Nkoulou’s qualities, which he said had been “demonstrated very early on at Monaco, as well as for the national team,” and said he had “the potential” to be a first-team player.

Marseille, French champions in 2010, are revamping their squad after losing out to Lille in the Ligue 1 title race last season.

As well as Mbia and Diawara, the French side have Ghana’s Ayew brothers, Jordan and Andre, and Burkina Faso’s Charles Kabore on their books.

Source: BBC

Drogba has only a year to run on his existing Chelsea deal

Chelsea intends extending the contract of striker Didier Drogba with news of Olympique Marseille lurking to return the huge target man back to France.

The Ivory Coast international have been an integral part of the club through the reign of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovic.

But with the appointment of Andres Villas-Boas as manager coupled with reports of players he wants to bring in, speculations are rife the 32-year-old could be heading for Stamford Bridges’ exit.

However regardless of Chelsea’s success in the transfer market, Drogba is still considered a mainstay at Stamford Bridge and, as he enters the final 12 months of his contract, the club intend to offer him a one-year extension.

Preparatory talks have already been held Drogba’s representatives and formal negotiations are expected to commence ahead of the player’s return for pre-season training next week, aimed at deflecting interest from Galatasaray and, in particular, Marseille.

Drogba has consistently stated desire to leave Chelsea in favour of a return to the Stade Vélodrome, where he enjoyed a successful single campaign in 2003-04 and was welcomed back as a returning hero for a Champions League group game last December.

The French club’s president, Vincent Labrune, suggested on Tuesday that Marseille would be capable of funding his purchase and wages, albeit only after instigating their own player sales.

“The question would be whether in terms of salary – not a transfer fee – Marseille have the means to pay Didier Drogba for four years and the answer is ‘yes’,” he said.

“Though only if we had some departures [from the squad].”

Yet Chelsea will apparently resist that interest, effectively meaning it would take Drogba requesting to leave Stamford Bridge for his departure to be smoothed.

Ivory Coast national team in celebratory lap

Cote d’Ivoire has knocked Ghana of the perch as the topmost ranked team on the African continent in the latest Fifa/Coca Cola rankings released on Wednesday.

Amassing 922 points, the west African state is now ranked 14th on the world rankings – bettering last month’s 21.

Victory over Benin in the 2012 Africa Nations Cup qualifier played a significant role in the leap as they recorded an impressive 774.00 in the month under review.

Ghana, the previous occupants of topspot in Africa on the other hand, dropped a massive 18 places and are now ranked 33rd in the world.

Tunisia broke into the top 1o, sending Libya to 13th while Cameroon dropped just one place.

Top 10 African rankings (Fifa rankings)

1. Cote d’Ivoire (14)

2. Ghana (33)

3. Egypt (34)

4. Burkina Faso (37)

5. Nigeria (41)

6. Senegal (43)

7. Cameroon (47)

8. South Africa (48)

9. Algeria (51)

10. Tunisia (57)

Song out to prove innocence

Mifielder Alex Song has instructed his lawyers to challenge the verdict of the Cameroon Football Federation which placed a fine on him on disciplinary grounds.

The Arsenal player was fined €1.500 for failing to exchange pleasantries with captain Samuel Eto’o ahead of the crucial 2012 Nations Cup qualifier with Senegal.

Speaking to Xinhua on Tuesday in Yaounde, Song’s lawyer Sebastien Song argued that his client’s refusal to take a handshake from Eto’o was not an infraction of the Fecafoot rules.

“The fact that you refuse to shake hands with a team-mate does not constitute a breach of the body’s rules and regulations,” the lawyer said.

“The incident took place in a private gathering and can’t be blamed on my client (Alex Song). More to that, the coach who was present at the scene did to include the incident in his report to the FA because he felt Alex didn’t break any rules.”

Alex Song had been summoned for an “attitude of contempt” towards Samuel Eto’o, after he avoided the Inter forward’s handshake in a Yaounde hotel the group was staying at ahead of the Senegal face-off.

The fine was however converted to a three-day community service of sporting interest where Song will be asked to carry out training sessions with youths from a football academy to be designated by the Fecafoot, but of which the player’s lawyer vows to contest.

“It is a stupefying verdict that we’ll not sit back and accept. It is totally unjust and we’ll use all available means to appeal and overturn it,” the lawyer said.

Eto’o was cleared while Tottenhem’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto was reprimanded for an unauthorised absence in camp ahead of an important match.

Adebayor wants club with trophy credentials

Emmanuel Adebayor has ruled out a summer move to French club Paris Saint Germain.

The 27-year-old Togolese is on the look out for the new club after being declared surplus to requirements at Manchester City.

The lanky striker spent the last half of the last campaign on loan at Spanish giants Real Madrid where he helped Los Blancos win the Spanish Cup.

The appetite to win more trophies will inform his choice of club according to the ex Arsenal man.

“I say thank you to PSG for thinking of me. But, for all the respect I owe them, I will not go there,” Adebayor said.

“At Real, I got a taste for what it’s like winning a trophy. I can only go where we play to win trophies.”