African Soccer Stars

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Nigeria in AYC Finals

Defending champions Nigeria reached the final of the African Youth Championship in Congo with a 1-0 victory over Gambia.
Both sides had men sent off with straight red cards during the game in Brazzaville.
Uwa Echiejile proved to be the hero and the villain for Nigeria as he scored the only goal of the game before being dismissed in the second-half.
Echiejile's scored the first goal on 19 minutes with a free-kick from just outside the area.
The wall was poorly positioned to give Echiejile a clear shot at goal and his softly-taken kick hit the post before bouncing in.
The Gambia, who had won all their group games at the tournament, responded well, hitting the crossbar close-range on 30 minutes after some neat passing on the right. However they made things difficult for themselves on 38 minutes when defender Alagie Amadou Ngum was shown the red card after a Nigerian player went down in the box clutching his face.

January 2007 Transfers

Charlton's fourth January signing is Arsenal midfielder Alexandre Song, who stays on loan until the end of the season.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Diop for Wigan?

Senegal midfielder Papa Bouba Diop is famous for his goal against France in the 2002 world cup in Korea/Japan which summarily eliminated defending champions France from the competition.
Diop, 29, is expected to decide whether he wants to leave Fulham for Wigan. Wigan has just concluded tranfer talks with Julius Ahahowa from Shakter Donesk.

Drogba and Mikel Helps Chelsea Advance in FA Cup

Chelsea cruised to victory over League One side Nottingham Forest to book their place in the FA Cup fifth round.
The Blues opened the scoring when Andriy Shevchenko's close-range volley deflected off Forest's John Curtis. Didier Drogba added another goal with a curling 25-yard free-kick and Mikel Jon Obi then poked the ball home just before half-time.

Final Score:

Chelsea 3 Forest 0

Kolo Toure Saves Arsenal

Kolo Toure's diving header cancelled out Kevin Nolan's opener and denied Bolton progress in the FA Cup. Nolan struck in the 50th minute when he collected Kevin Davies' cross-cum-shot and clipped the ball into the net.

Final score:

Arsenal 1 Bolton 1

Julius Aghahowa for Wigan

Nigeria's Julius Aghahowa is set to join Wigan for an undisclosed fee
Shakhtar Donetsk have agreed to sell the Nigerian striker to English Premier League strugglers Wigan Athletic .
Aghahowa's move is subject to the 24-year-old international being granted a work permit in England. Aghahowa has been the Ukrainean club for seven years. Famous for his back flips he was bought by the Donetsk side from Tunisia's Esperance for nearly US$4m in 2000.