AFP
Ghana suffered a collossal blow to their hopes of qualifying for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals when their star player, Michael Essien, was ruled out of Tuesday’s game against Burkina Faso.
Chelsea’s star midfielder misses the final Group B game in Luanda after injuring his right knee in training on Saturday. Reports suggest he has torn the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and damage to his meniscus leaving him facing at least one month on the sidelines.
The 27-year-old is walking with the aid of crutches. FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers Ghana are one point behind Burkina Faso and the four-time champions need a win to avoid being eliminated after the first round of the biennial African football showpiece.
A fully fit Essien would have given Ghana strength and experience in midfield against a Burkina Faso side that was good enough to hold Côte d’Ivoire to a goalless draw in their opening Group C game.
Ghana striker Matthew Amoah told BBC Sport: “This is a big blow because Michael is so important to our team. We’ve lost the motor in our midfield, and this is very bad.”
Xinhua/Reuters Photo
Shooting incident carried out against a group of separatist Angola Togo national team bus before the African Cup seems to make the South Africans come to talk.
President Jacob Zuma to ensure that the country will host the 2010 World Cup is completely safe. He assured that the shooting incident would not affect Angola to South Africa.
From Angola’s tragedy, cause loss of life and a number of people injured from the Togo national team. They even threatened to resign from the African Cup.
He said sorry for the incident. He also expects Angola provide tight security for a similar incident does not happen again.
Diego Maradona has said that Carlos Tévez should leave Manchester United for Inter Milan when his loan expires at the end of the season. The Argentina coach said that the forward needs to be playing more regularly.
Tévez’s preference is to remain at Old Trafford and his agent has held talks with United about securing a permanent deal this summer. The player was an unused substitute for the 3-0 win at home to Chelsea on Sunday. Read the rest of this entry →
Some of the biggest stars of European soccer have agreed to participate in a charity match in June at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for the benefit of Mikael Silvestre’s charity, Schools for Hope.
Silvestre, a French international defender who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League, started the charity with the goal of building schools around the world and so far it has built several in Niger and Guinea. Schools for Hope is seeking financing for additional schools in Laos, in parts of South America and perhaps the United States. Read the rest of this entry →
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho insists his striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a better player than Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Ronaldo is a good player but he is certainly not the best,” said Mourinho.
“He deserved the Golden Ball award because his team won the Champions League and the Premier League. But, for me, Ibrahimovic is the best.” Read the rest of this entry →
