Sports
Buffon, Messi, Ronaldo Make UEFA Player Shortlist
Gianluigi Buffon, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been named on the shortlist for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award.
The prize, formerly called the Best Player in Europe Award, was won by Real Madrid star Ronaldo last year and has twice been given to Barcelona forward Messi.
Andres Iniesta and Franck Ribery are the only other players to have lifted the trophy.
The prize recognises the best players, regardless of nationality, playing for clubs in UEFA territories and is judged on their performances in domestic, continental and international competition.
“The shortlist of three players was selected by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs which participated in the group stage of the 2016-17 Champions League and Europa League, along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA’s member associations,” according to UEFA’s guidelines. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams.
Ronaldo fired Madrid to a league and Champions League double last season, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, while Messi won the Copa del Rey with Barca and finished as top scorer in La Liga.
Buffon won a Serie A and Coppa Italia double for the third time in three years and reached the final of the Champions League with Juventus, where they lost 4-1 to Madrid.
Luka Modric came fourth in the voting, ahead of Madrid team-mate Toni Kroos and Juve star Paulo Dybala.
Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was seventh, Monaco sensation Kylian Mbappe eighth and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski ninth. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who left Manchester United at the end of his contract, completes the top 10.
The award will be presented along with the four positional prizes for the Champions League for 2016-17 at the group-stage draw for this season’s competition on August 24.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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