Sports
B’ball League: Islanders Continue Winning Streak, Top Table
Lagos Islanders Basket
ball Club has so far continued its winning streak in the ongoing 2014/2015 Dstv Men’s Basketball League
The team walloped Oluyole Warriors of Ibadan, 86-62 in the week seven encounter of the Atlantic Conference.
The match played at the weekend at the famous Adamasingba Stadium, in Ibadan saw the star studded Islanders showing class in every department of the game.
Islanders’ victory put an end to the Oluyole Warriors clean slate at home since the 2013/2014 season.
The victory also kept Islanders on top of the Atlantic Conference table having recorded six straight victories, losing only to Kwara Falcons in week one of the league.
Coach Lateef Erinfolami of Islanders told newsmen on Monday in Lagos that the team was beginning to attain its potential.
‘’We are looking good after every match, and most importantly, the team is turning out the good results. However, going by the calibre of players in the squad, this shouldn’t be a surprise.
‘’We have the quality that can deliver, but we must continue to work hard on building a stronger team chemistry.
“Certainly, there will be tougher matches as the season progresses,” Erinfolami said.
In another match played in Lagos, Union Bank of Lagos beat Police Batons, 68-52.
The police batons continue at the bottom of the Atlantic Conference league.
The Batons have only won one match in the season so far, losing six and this has kept the police team in relegation zone.
Eight teams in the conference will scale through after the final season match which is just seven games away.
Coach Mark Balogun of the Batons team said that he was very optimistic of his team swimming out of relegation waters.
He said that poor officiating contributed to his team’s losses.
‘’We were robbed on many occasions by bad officiating on the part of the match referees and this is affecting most of our results.
“However, we are positive of escaping relegation at the end,” Balogun said.
With seven rounds of matches remaining in the league, Islanders top the Atlantic Conference table with 13 points, having won six games and lost one.
Dodan Warriors of Lagos is second with 12 points, winning five matches and losing two.
Customs of Lagos, Oluyole Warriors and Union Bank are placed third, fourth and fifth respectively.
The teams are on 11 points; they all recorded four wins and lost three matches each.
The sixth place team is Kwara Falcons of Ilorin, which has three wins from seven matches, earning 10 points.
Delta Force of Asaba and the Police Batons are at the bottom of the table, having lost six games from seven matches, with eight points each to their credit.
Both teams are on seventh and eighth positions on the league table.
Coach Benson Aikoroje of the Delta Force team said that his team would survive the relegation.
He said that though it would take a lot of hard work, they were capable of achieving the feat.
‘’We are new in the league and playing against teams that have been there for several years is very challenging.
‘’However, we are learning very fast from our mistakes and we hope to get it right soon,’’ Aikoroje said
The round of eight matches will commence in a fortnight due to scheduled All Stars Game of the DStv League which comes up May 23.
Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no gentleman’s agreement for him to leave for £59million, says club president Frederico Varandas.
Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.
It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.
However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season.”
Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.
Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.
“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.
“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m euros or 80m euros. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million euros.’”
Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has criticised a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams.
The plans, put forward by South American governing body Conmebol, have also drawn opposition from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But Conmebol said it wanted to add more participants to mark the competition’s 100-year anniversary.
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told Tidesports source
“We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.”
Concacaf is the governing body of football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was taken in 2017 following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress.
Fifa’s 75th congress will be held in Paraguay on 15 May, when Conmebol’s proposal could be discussed.
If the proposal is accepted, the 2030 edition would consist of 128 matches, double the number played under the 64-game format used from 1998 and 2022.
In March, Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said it would cause “chaos”.
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,” said Salman.
“But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”
Brazil qualified for the 2026 World Cup this week with a 1-0 win against Paraguay in South American qualifying to give Carlo Ancelotti his first win as manager.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr scored from close range in the second half, finishing after fine work from Manchester United-bound playmaker Matheus Cunha.
The victory, Ancelotti’s first after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador on his debut last week, means Brazil has now qualified for every edition of the World Cup.
“We needed to win and qualify for the World Cup,” said Vinicius Jr.
“Now the coach will have more time to work. Of course today wasn’t one of our best performances, but the important thing is always to win.
“Now it’s time to celebrate qualifying.”
Elsewhere, World Cup holders Argentina played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Colombia in Buenos Aires.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a fine individual goal, dancing through three defenders before finishing past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina was reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a high-boot challenge on Colombia’s Kevin Castano.
But Lionel Messi’s side found an equaliser nine minutes from the end through Lyon’s Thiago Almada, leaving Colombia four points clear of seventh-placed Venezuela.
Ecuador, Argentina’s nearest challengers, booked their spot at next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after a 0-0 draw away at Peru.