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‘Fitness, Key For Senegal’s World Cup Hopes’

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Stoke City’s Senegalese midfielder, Papa Alioune Ndiaye says it is vital his fellow international team-mates stay injury-free ahead of the World Cup.
Senegal has been drawn in Group H in Russia, alongside Poland, Columbia and Japan, and Ndiaye says the fitness of players will be key.
“We are not there yet, we have to focus on our clubs first but I hope no one gets injured so that we all go to represent our country and play our best,” Ndiaye told Tidesports source.
Russia will mark Senegal’s return to the World Cup for the first time since 2002.
At their last appearance, Senegal reached the quarter-finals, beating France along the way and Ndiaye admitted that the Senegalese players have started discussing Russia 2018.
“We are talking about it (World Cup) and it’s a great opportunity for our generation to play at the World Cup.
“We just have to be focused. If you think too much about it then injury will happen. We just have to play our game not to think so much about getting injured.
“With the help of God everything will be ok,” said the midfielder adding that being fit is “not only about the World Cup but as a professional you always have to look after yourself.”
Also known as Badou Ndiaye, the 27-year-old joined Premier League side Stoke City in January from Turkish giants Galatasaray.
A graduate of Senegal’s famous Diambars football academy, he has been capped eight times by the Teranga Lions and was part of their Nations Cup squad in Gabon last year.
He has become a regular in a Senegal side that boasts other Premier League stars including his Stoke City team-mate Mame Biram Diouf, Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, Everton’s Idrissa Gana Gueye and West Ham and Senegal captain Cheikhou Kouyate.
Meanwhile, Ndiaye says he is settling in well at his new English club and hopes Stoke can survive relegation.
Stoke City lie second from bottom in the English Premier League with ten games to go.
“We have a quality team with good players and we are working hard in training.
“We just have to keep working like this to take more points and I am positive that we will be safe,” said Ndiaye.

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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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