Peter Rufai slumps in his office

Ex Nigerian goalkeeper Peter Rufai, on Tuesday night slumped in his office in Lagos.
According to local media reports,  the retired goalkeeper was rushed to Toki Hospital, off Adeniran Ogunsanya, after he suddenly collapsed.
“I just got a call now from Bruce who is the younger brother of soccer icon Peter Rufai,”
He further quoted Bruce as saying, “Kayode, just to let you know we have a situation on our hands. Your friend, my brother Peter Rufai yesterday night just suddenly slumped at the office.
“We rushed him to Toki Hospital off Adeniran Ogunsanya where he is now. The doctors are doing everything possible although they don’t know yet what the real cause of the slump is.”
Peter Rufai, 49, who played for Nigeria between 1983 and 1998, returned to the country from his base in Europe to start a youth sports development programme. He had 65 international caps for the Eagles, according to his Wikipedia entry.

Neymar inspires Brazil’s victory against Japan

Brazil’s new football sensation Neymar was on call twice for his home country as Brazil showed what it has always been known for against Japan to ensure Mano Meneze’s side ended their brief European tour with two wins from two encounters.
Last week, it was a serious demolishing for Iraq as Brazil pounded the Arabian side 6-0 in Sweden thanks the young lad Neymar. And today, he proved unstoppable as he became a threat in the defence of the Japanese side while Real Madrid star Kaka also got his name on the score sheet.
Going into statistics of Brazil’s opponents Japan was a better side as they proved to be another tough side but the Samba boys happen to be tougher and this can be deduced from Japan’s impressive win over France even Brazil became a very hard nut for the Japanese side to crack.
Paulinho gave the Brazilians the lead in the 12th minute with a strike from outside the area before Neymar, who also scored against Iraq, doubled the advantage from the penalty spot.
Neymar was fortunate to record his second goal of the afternoon after the ball deflected in off Atsuto Uchida, but the 20-year-old Santos star was credited with his 16th strike in 25 Brazil appearances.
Kaka, who had not scored for Brazil since 2010, added his second goal in five days to complete the scoring with 14 minutes left, but Neymar took the headlines once again.

Mata vows to get back Spanish squad shirt

Juan Mata one of the new signings of newly crowned Champions League winner London club Chelsea has reiterated that he will do all he can get back on board the Spanish squad to take back his spot and this is following his recent relegation by Spain during the recent World Cup qualifiers.
The Chelsea Midfielder though not happy about the recent snub by Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque for games with Belarus and France said with his recent form he is meant to get a national call-up as he is bee in spectacular form for his new club.
And with this recent disappointment, Mata promised to go the extra mile in terms of improvement in his game henceforth and he won’t allow his non-call up to dampen his moral which is the only way earn a respectable call-up for national duties which is to work harder on himself.
Mata’s Chelsea team-mate, Fernando Torres, is in the squad and expressed sympathy for his plight last week, revealing the 24-year-old was feeling understandably “sad”, especially since he was a part of the history-making Euro 2012 squad.
There can be little argument with Mata’s assertion that there are plenty of top class players for Spain to choose from, as they have the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Busquets, Xabi Alonso & Santi Cazorla lining up to get the midfield spots.

Manchester City on Fabregas’ track

Current English Premier League Champions Manchester City is said to be on the trail of Spain and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas possibly to launch an eye-popping bid for his signature.
This is coming after the English enquired about the player’s availability to know if it is possible to whisk the Spaniard to England.
It will be recalled the Spanish international has been a shadow of himself since joining Barcelona in 2011 compared to his days at the Emirates where day in day out he is sure of a starting shirt but it’s now the reverse at Nou Camp which in clear term Fabregas is not happy about.
As a fresh 16 year old, Fabregas moved from Barcelona’s La Masia academy to Gunners’ club Arsenal where he spent eight years.
The attacking midfielder has maintained his connection with the Gunners despite eventually returning home last year and today he revealed he would have happily stayed at Arsenal for the rest of his career had Barca not come calling.
Now though Manchester City are seemingly interested in testing his loyalty to Arsenal by approaching Barcelona over his availability according to reports, Barcelona boss Tito Vilanova is growing increasingly angry at Manchester City’s approaches for his players, and is not willing to sell anyone he considers as ‘essential’ anytime soon.

Super Eagles recall not my focus right now – Victor Anichebe

Everton striker and Nigerian International Victor Anichebe has been in fine form for his English club and has opened up that to keep this recent form which he has found is his priority and Super Eagles recall as many may be thinking.
Known to be going in and out of the injury list in club football, Anichebe has confirmed his high fitness this season, proving his worth to his Toffees team as he has already bagged three goal this season for the club.
As at last week before the Super Eagles victory against Liberia in the AFCON 2013 qualifiers, Coach Stephen Keshi said for Anichebe he is in the cooler that he’s got plans for the striker ahead of African Nations Cup.
And in response to this statement the Nigerian international insists that he owes his allegiance right now to his Everton manager David Moyes has he has stood by him and had a lot of faith in his game so he wants to repay that back first.
Anichebe said the National team aspect of football has not struck him right now as he prays for them to do well because there are a bunch of very talented players ready to move the Super Eagles forward.
He said further on his decision that he owes Everton so much for the team actually stuck by him during his trying times which made him get back on his present fitness level so he needs to claim a permanent spot on the squad this time.
Everton face struggling QPR at the weekend and Anichebe has warned about a possible backlash from the bottom-placed Londoners.