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Nigerians In South Africa Wear Super Eagles Jersey2010 W/Cup

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Officials of the Nigerian Consulate and Nigerians living in South Africa wore the Super Eagles colours, as the country celebrated its last “Football Friday’’ before the World Cup.

Tidesports South African source reports that the world’s most spectacular sporting event will start on June 11 and end on July 11.

Some of the Nigerians also hoisted the country’s flag on their cars as they drove around the city of Johannesburg.

The Nigerian Consulate officials in Johannesburg donned the Super Eagles colours for the day’s duties in solidarity with the team.

The Consul-General, Mr Okey Emuchay, said the Eagles would make Nigeria proud during the football tournament, adding that the consulate’s mission was to make the atmosphere conducive for the Eagles to perform well.

“We are all donning the Eagles colours to mobilise support for the team,” Emuchay said, promising that Nigerians in South Africa were ready to give support to the team.

The Super Eagles played a friendly match against North Korea in Johannesburg on Sunday (June 6) and they were also be hosted by the Nigerian mission in the country.

The team will begin their World Cup campaign with a match against Argentina at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on June 12.

“Football Friday” is a programme in South Africa whereby South Africans don the Bafana Bafana colours every Friday.

As the last one was celebrated on Friday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter officially handed over the World Cup trophy to South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in Pretoria.

Blatter lauded South Africans for the interest they had shown in hosting the first World Cup tournament on African soil.

He noted that the preparations for the competition were in order, while the teams coming in to South Africa were happy.

Blatter lauded former President Nelson Mandela’s role in securing the hosting rights for South Africa and said that from his interaction with Mandela, the icon wanted to be at the opening ceremony.

Motlanthe said that South Africa had worked hard to ensure that it fulfilled all the FIFA requirements in hosting the World Cup.

He thanked Blatter for believing in South Africa’s competence to host the football tournament amid the pessimism in some quarters.

By FIFA protocol, a Head of State is expected to receive the World Cup trophy before the onset of the football tournament and Motlanthe, in his capacity as Acting President, accepted the cup on behalf of the South African government.

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New Coach Promises Trophies At Barça

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Hansi Flick has said that Barcelona’s desire to always win trophies is why he is at the cub during his official unveiling as the club’s new head coach.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany coach signed a two-year deal with the LaLiga giants and said: “Before signing my contract I had a dinner with the president and I felt from the first second that I was arriving at an impressive club.”
“The squad has worked very hard from the first day in training. Each player wants to give 100% to show that they can play. The quality of the 16 or 17 year olds from La Masia is incredible.”
Two of the most recent standout products from Barça’s fabled academy are Lamine Yamal and Ansu Fati, two players who find themselves in very different situations.
On his 17-year-old star man, Flick was complimentary but also had words of warning.
“In the last year he has improved a lot. What he did in the Euros was incredible,” he added.

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Chelsea Will Concede Goals This Season – Coach

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Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca says his side “are going to concede goals this season playing out from the back” after two defensive errors in a 2-2 draw with Wrexham in his first game in charge.
Midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu scored an 82nd-minute equaliser in Santa Clara, California, cancelling out two second-half strikes by the League One side.
A sharp finish in the penalty box from Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring in the 35th minute of Chelsea’s opening friendly on their pre-season tour of the United States.
But Wrexham took a surprise lead after both teams made wholesale changes at half-time with Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott scoring following mistakes.
The defensive errors were part of a weak second-half performance as Chelsea adapt to Maresca’s possession-based approach.
Wrexham impressed – adding to their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Saturday in a half-empty Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
It is the Welsh club’s second consecutive US pre-season tour, capitalising on their popularity under co-owners, Hollywood actors, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, with Phil Parkinson’s side preparing for third tier football for the first time since 2005.
Maresca was asked about conceding goals through his playing philosophy, which included more patient build-up from back to front.

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France’s Olympics Come Alive With Les Bleus Victory

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The French starting 11 was worth more than $250 million. Their home crowd was stirring, waving flags, chanting “Allez Les Bleus.” Their fearsome front three alone had played more than 300 games in the English Premier League. They entered these 2024 Olympics as the men’s soccer gold medal favourite, and an early candidate to bring the Games to life.
And on Wednesday in Marseille, they did just that, beating the United States 3-0.
For an hour in Marseille, on opening night, a feisty American team stood up to them.
But in the 61st minute of Paris 2024’s first prime-time headliner, Alexandre Lacazette struck, and the Stade Vélodrome erupted. Kids kissed the French Football Federation badges on their shirts. Thousands of blue, white and red flags twirled.
Until that moment, the game had been somewhat dormant. And the Games, more broadly, were still waiting to awake. In Paris, many locals have escaped the craziness of the Olympics. Areas around the River Seine are all but locked down to prepare for today’s opening ceremony. Tuesday and Wednesday, in some ways, felt like normal Parisian nights, sans buzz.
The best cure for all of that was France’s most popular sport, the one that led the media’s front pages on Tuesday in a non-Olympic context, just three days before the official start of the Olympics.
This, of course, was not a full French soccer team. The Games are a mostly under-23 tournament. But it was still a French soccer team. And it was, by Olympic men’s soccer’s JV standards, stacked.
It came from Bayern Munich and Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Crystal Palace, in the German Bundesliga and throughout France’s Ligue 1. There were players valued at 25 million euros stuck on the bench. There were athletes all over the field whom, unlike many Olympians, the French public knows.
And the two biggest stars among them ignited the public. Lacazette, a veteran striker, one of three over-age picks, broke through the United States resistance.
Michael Olise, a 22-year-old creator who recently signed with Bayern, scored the second.

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