The troubled trio; Eto'o, Song and Assou-Akotto

Three players; Samuel Eto’o, Alex Song and Benoit Assou-Akotto face possible expulsion from the Cameroon national team after being charged with improper conduct.

The trio have been given three days to either appear or be represented at a disciplinary hearing to defend various acts indiscipline before and during Cameroon’s crucial 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Senegal in Yaounde last month.

Eto’o who is the captain of the Indomitable Lions is alleged to have had an altercation with Alex Song, not to have trained with the team and interfered with substitution in the disappointing draw with Senegal.

Song has been charged for same with the exception of the latter while Assou-Akotto has been charged for not notifying the Cameroon FA (FECAFOOT) in writing of his absence for the friendly match ahead of the Afcon tie.

A new disciplinary code was put in place by FECAFOOT after Cameroon’s poor performance at the 2010 World Cup of which the liable players have been arraigned.

It leaves FECAFOOT in a very dicey situation since the ultimate punishment of this code is expulsion and the three very key to Cameroon’s failing course of qualification for next year’s CAN.

Samson Siasia ably supported by NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has given its full backing to the camp choice of Samson Siasia for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Madagascar in September.

NFF technical committee chairman Chris Green explained that the Super Eagles head coach will be supported on his pre-game plan to ensure that the team beat their Madagascar counterparts in Antananarivo.

“He’s the coach and he knows what is best for the team and we will give him all the support to make sure that the team is comfortable for the game (Madagascar). The federation will back the coaching crew on their choice of camp site.

“Whether the coach decides to pick a camp venue in Nigeria or abroad the federation is ready to give the team the backing so that they succeed,” Green said.

Green made it clear that the NFF will not stand in the way of Siasia’s plans for the game against Madagascar.

“No the NFF cannot dictate to the coaching crew about their plan for the game against Madagascar. They know the team better and know what is best for the team. We want to make sure that they get the best of preparations for that game because it is a must-win one.

“The federation will be happy to see the team win their remaining games starting with that of Madagascar because Nigeria cannot afford to miss out on next year’s Nations Cup,” said the NFF executive committee member.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles are three points behind Guinea, with 10 points, in Group B in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.

GFA President Kwasi Nyantakyi

President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwasi Nyantakyi has pledged massive reforms when given the mandate for a second four-year term.

Nyantakyi is the only candidate vying for the presidency following the disqualifications of Neil Armstrong Mortagbe and Sowah Vincent Odotei ahead of Friday’s GFA Congress.

He however hinted that more emphasis would be placed on youth and womens football in light of the recent failures of both genres.

“We’ll come out with a blue print for football development,” Nyantakyi told Citi FM.

“We want to take football to a top a different level and we want to improve upon the modest level that we’ve chalked over the past five years.

“I believe with the rest of all of you we’ll be able to take Ghana to the bracket of the top leagues of nations in the world.

“The league, juvenile football, refereeing, coaching, women’s football, administration itself and even in areas that we think we’ve made some strides will still be reviewed with the view of moving forward.”

The learned lawyer has led Ghana’s senior team, the Black Stars to two back-to-back World Cups which hitherto, has never been achieved.

Striker Asamoah Gyan in action for Sunderland

Sunderland chairman, Niall Quinn rubbished all reports about intentions to sell off striker Asamoah Gyan apologising to the fans about the rumours.

The Ghana international have been linked with a possible move away from the Stadium of Light but the Black Cats have moved swiftly to cool the talk.

“I’m sorry that our fans have to read the endless speculation that appears in the press at this time of year,” Quinn was quoted as saying on the club’s official site.

The Shortlist Nominee of the 2010 FIFA Ballon d’Or, Gyan was included in list of available players circulated by an agent “close to the club” in a report by the Daily Mirror Wednesday morning.

“Normally we don’t comment on any of it as there’s so much – for instance we’ve been linked to over 40 players in the last month or so alone.

“I hope our fans would be smart enough to realise that this is probably some other club or outside agents’ way of attempting to destabilise our relationship with one of our players.”

The three-goal scorer at 2010 FIFA World Cup, Gyan signed a four-year contract with the Black Cats last August for approximately £13 million wearing 33 shirts with them scoring 10 goals.

He is a teammate of Egyptian winger Ahmed Elmohamady, who signed a three-year contract with the team last week.

Mehdi Mostefa joins Ajaccio

Midfielder Mehdi Mostefa has signed a two-year deal with promoted French first division side Ajaccio from second division Nimes, the Corsican club said on Wednesday.

It will be the first time that the 28-year-old has played in the top flight after more than 100 second division games.

The Algeria international, who had been at Nimes since 2006, had one year remaining on his contract but no fee has yet been revealed by the clubs.

Meanwhile, Ajaccio is also hoping to recruit another eight players for the new season.

Tsepo Masilela

Defender Tsepo Masilela is on the verge of sealing a move to one of Europe’s elites clubs after impressing scouts following his return from a long-term injury lay-off.

The 26-year-old South Africa international recently helped Israeli side Maccabi Haifa win their first league title for two years after recovering from a knee injury that kept him out of action for nearly four months.

Masilela featured in the final seven matches of the season for his club, plus South Africa’s 0-0 draw away to Egypt earlier this month.

But having already played in the UEFA Champions League group stages for two successive seasons with Haifa, Masilela’s agent Mike Makaab admitted he is hoping to confirm a transfer in the immediate future – with the Premier League, Eredivisie and La Liga all potential destinations.

“There is no doubt he is going to move and my guess is that it will be England, Holland or Spain,” Makaab said.

“There is serious, serious interest in Tsepo and we’re hoping to finalise a deal in the next week for him. I can’t say any more than that at the moment.”

Makaab’s ProSport International agency also represents several of Masilela’s Bafana Bafana team-mates, including Bernard Parker and Kagisho Dikgacoi, as well as Ghanaian international Jonathan Mensah of Udinese.

But despite the resources at his disposal and the big-money moves in England that have kicked off the off-season transfer window, former Bafana coach Makaab believes the majority of clubs in Europe still do not have money to burn on new signings.

He added: “The market isn’t as buoyant as everybody thinks it is.

“It’s still very tough for teams in general to spend big money and most are being pretty circumspect about the deals they do.

“I’m interested to see what happens in the next few weeks.”

Freddie Ladapo

Colchester striker Freddie Ladapo has been invited to join a provisional young Nigeria squad for the Under-20s World Cup.

Nigeria are holding a two-day training camp at Bisham Abbey this week and Ladapo will be hoping to be included in the final squad for the tournament to be staged in Colombia during July and August.

Us’ youth-team manager Tony Humes told the club’s official website: “It’s a great opportunity for Freddie and having spoken to him, I know he is looking forward to it.

“Hopefully he will enjoy it and perform well enough to be selected for the World Cup squad.

“Even if he’s not selected for the final squad, it’s a good opportunity for him to be involved in an international get together and add to his football education.”

Raymond Domenech

Raymond Domenech has confirmed he has been approached by the Algeria Football Federation to become the new coach of the senior national team.

The job became vacant after the resignation of Abdelhak Benchikha following the team’s crushing 4-0 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Morocco in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier earlier this month.

“Domenech has indeed been approached over the possibility of his been taken on by the Algerian federation,” the Frenchman’s advisors, the Laminak.Conseil agency, said in a statement.

“He has not bid for the job. However, Raymond Domenech confirms his affection for Algeria.”

Domenech’s last job ended in a disaster as he led the French team to a disappointing world cup in 2010 where players rioted against him.

Algeria on the other hand are in dire need of salvation in their bid to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Joseph Bell

Ex Cameroon goalie Joseph-Antoine Bell has confidently come out to say his country will not qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Qualification for next year’s finals is now completely out of the hands of the four-time African champions who now lie a staggering five-point adrift group leaders Senegal with two games to go.

Bell, 56, claims Cameroon players are too often pampered and not told the truth, even when things are going wrong, and that the entire set up needs to be overhauled to guarantee some progress and good results.

“Euphemisms are often used to address the players. They are not told what is happening to them and the team,” Bell said.

“Look, we are going from bad to worse. This is a team that reached the Fifa World Cup quarter-finals before.

“We were absent from Germany 2006, we were the first to be kicked out of South Africa 2010, and now we are not qualifying to the finals of an Afcon coming to our backyard. We can’t build on these setbacks; we need to do some deep analysis to see where the problem lies and reconstruct the team,” he said.

Even while some hope of Cameroon making it through to the Gabon/Equatorial Guinea 2012 still exists, the former Saint Etienne shot-stopper, who participated at three World Cup finals with the Lions, feels the four-time African champions are already out of the race.

“Cameroon are currently locked at 5 points. There are two groups whose second finishers have 10 points (Sudan – Group I and Tunisia – Group K).

“So if we want to hope for a spot as best losers, we are already out. We are not even best third or fourth losers. Anything can happen though, we might win our remaining two games, but don’t think those teams are not bracing to win or at least draw theirs too,” he added.

“I think it’s time to tell them the truth, Cameroon will not qualify, we need to learn from this, unlike the failure from the 2010 World Cup. Nobody learned from it.”

Players in pre-match pose of Kanu testimonial

In excess of 15,000 fans poured into the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos to witness Nwankwo Kanu’s testimonial game that officially brought to an end his international career.

A galaxy of stars from around the world came out to honour the two-time African Footballer of the Year whose career spanned a staggering 17-year period.

Lining up on the side of ‘Kanu Friends’ were Samuel Eto’o, Rigobert Song, Stephane Mbia, Jean Makoun (Cameroon), Benjani (Zimbabwe), Kalilou Fadiga (Senegal), Sulley Muntari, Samuel Kuffour (Ghana), Emmanuel Eboue (Côte D’Ivoire), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo) and George Boateng (Netherlands) as well as fellow Nigerians Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha and Taye Taiwo. Chelsea and Ghana star Michael Essien was also on the sidelines.

On the other side, the ‘Super Eagles Stars’ were made up of past and present Nigerians: Finidi George, Uche Okechukwu, Mutiu Adepoju, Ike Shorunmu, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Peter Rufai, Danny Shittu, Daniel Amokachi and Joseph Yobo among others. And they outscored the ‘Friends’ 3-1, with Kanu fittingly opening the scoring, before Ikechukwu Uche doubled the lead for the ‘Super Eagles Stars’ just before the interval.

Self-confessed Kanu fan Emmanuel Adebayor reduced the tally late in the second half, and Real Zaragoza striker Uche got his brace at the tail end of this entertaining match, in which the likes of retired Rufai and Okocha again showed glimpses of their skills.

Afterwards various luminaries were full of praise for the ex-Ajax, Inter Milan and Arsenal player.

“I played against Kanu several times. He was a very skilful player despite his height. It’s an honour to have known such a great talent,” said former Ghanaian great Samuel Kuffour.

Real Madrid striker Adebayor said Kanu was a role model for him: “I moulded my career in his image, and he is still my inspiration and hero as a footballer.”

“He’s one of the most intelligent players on the pitch and very skilful. He had a great sense of timing and superb last pass. World football is losing another living legend,” added Ghanaian icon Anthony Baffoe, while Cameroon legend Eto’o praised the Nigerian’s inspiration, saying: “Kanu is without a doubt the most successful and talented footballer I have ever seen on the field.”

Kanu himself reflected on the occasion with his usual grace and humility, while looking back over such a full career.

“Players will come and go. I’m out and others will come after me,” said the man known as Papilo, who is now the joint-record capped Nigeria player with 86 appearances.

“But they will have to work hard for everything because nobody can be on top of the world as the world is too big.”

Kanu was the key figure for Nigeria when they won the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Japan, scoring five goals in six victories. The bean-pole forward made his a full international debut in May 1994 against Sweden and is best remembered for leading his country to a first-ever Olympic gold for an African team at Atlanta 1996.

“Winning Olympic gold at Atlanta ’96 was the highlight of my international career. No African team had won gold before then and we were not favourites to win, but we went on to beat favourites Argentina and Brazil with all their top stars to become champions,” said Kanu, who also featured at the 1998, 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups.