2013 African Cup of Nations: Nigeria grouped with Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia

The 16 qualified teams for the 2013 African Cup of Nations were today drawn into four groups of four teams each and the Super Eagles of Nigeria are placed in Group C to slug it out with the defending champions, Zambia. 

Others in group are Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.
Group A sees hosts South Africa go up against Angola, Morocco and Cape Verde, while Ghana are the top seeds in Group B, where they are drawn against Mali, Niger and DR Congo.
Group D emerges as the Group of Death with Cote d’Ivoire Tunisia, Algeria and Togo.
Below are the groups and the South African cities where they will play the first round of 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
GROUP A (Durban)
A1 – South Africa
A2 – Angola
A3 – Morocco
A4 – Cape Verde
GROUP B (Port Elizabeth)
B1 – Ghana
B2 – Mali
B3 – Niger
B4 – DR Congo
GROUP C (Mbombela)
C1 – Zambia
C2 – Nigeria
C3 – Burkina Faso
C4 – Ethiopia
GROUP D (Rustenburg)
D1 – Cote d’Ivoire
D2 – Tunisia
D3 – Algeria
D4 – Togo

Juventus D.G. says club is not interested in Drogba

Giuseppe Marotta the Director General of Italian giants Juventus has declared that the club does not have any interest whatsoever in signing former Chelsea forward now plying his trade for Shanghai Shenhua Didier Drogba.
Juventus we hear is said to be monitoring Roma’s Pablo Osvaldo and Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente.
Didier Drogba we hear is not happy in his new club and because of this the Ivory Coast international has been linked to Turin to probably join Juventus so as to strengthen the squad with some firepower which the Ivorian is known for during his day at the London club.
This information prompted the reaction of the Juventus Director General saying the former Chelsea striker is not one of the candidates to strengthen the Serie A leaders’ attack in the January transfer window.
He said further that Juventus has never considered making a move for Drogba, that it is just a rumour and speculation.

UCL: Shakhtar topples Chelsea in group E with 2-1 win

Ahead of the clash with another English club with Manchester United in the English Premier League, Chelsea got a wake-up call last night in the UEFA champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk as the European champion suffered their first defeat of the season.
With the return of John Terry to the squad, the ought was that it would be a win-win situation for Chelsea in the away game but reverse was the case as the London club fell 2-1 as the player got off to the worst possible start as he unwittingly set up Shakhtar’s opener inside three minutes. this is Terry’s first appearance since accepting his racism ban.
But he was arguably the least culpable Chelsea player on a night which cost the Barclays Premier League leaders dearly and a risible performance from Fernando Torres scuppered their hopes of a comeback.
Shakhtar Donetsk will be grateful to the duo of Alex texeira and Fernandinho as their goals ensured victory for Shakhtar last night but Chelsea responded late as they couldn’t wake-up from their slumber in good time and were only able to secure a consolation goal thanks to Oscar.
Now on the Group E table, Shakhtar are leaders in the first of what could be a crucial double-header.
Chelsea were spared dropping out of the qualification places by Juventus’ shock draw at Nordsjaelland, but they will need to do much better at Stamford Bridge in two weeks to avoid doing so.
The defeat was their first since their UEFA Super Cup thrashing by Atletico Madrid and the performance was almost as alarming at times as they were carved open by an outstanding Shakhtar side.
The build-up to the game was predictably dominated by Terry’s return, the timing of which was quite extraordinary.
In what was a fiercely-contested game in a fizzing atmosphere, Oscar tried to respond with a tame low drive before Willian almost lived up to his manager’s promise to make Chelsea pay for not signing him by drilling wide.
That was in the 15th minute and it got worse for the visitors when Frank Lampard went down injured, forcing an early end to his record 100th Euro appearance for the club and the introduction of Eden Hazard.
John Terry could not stop Willian brilliantly setting up Henrik Mkhitaryan, Cole doing enough to force Shakhtar’s goal machine to shoot too close to Cech.
That sparked a flurry of chaotic corners, which Chelsea defended frantically and saw Cech produce a wonder-save to deny Tomas Hubschman from point-blank range after Oscar set up the midfielder.
Torres’ weak hooked volley from Branislav Ivanovic’s cross summed up a half in which he proved a real liability, a theme that continued after the restart.
Hazard produced a horrendous gaffe to gift Shakhtar their second goal in the 52nd minute.
He was pickpocketed in the centre-circle by Fernandinho, who fed Adriano and both raced goal wards for the former to slot past Cech.

Mikel Obi set to sign new 4 year contract with Chelsea

Chelsea and Nigerian midfield kingpin, John Obi Mikel, is set to sign an improved four year contract with the reigning European champions.
The players agent, John Ola Shittu, said “Mikel will soon sign a new five year deal with Chelsea, with an improved salary”
“We are just about finalizing the details of the deal and it can be announced anytime soon by the club.
“He has a year left on his contract and Chelsea has decided to add four more years to it.”
However, Shittu didn’t disclose the financial aspects of the new deal for his player, who is reportedly on about 80,000 pounds a week.
In 2006, Mikel opted for Chelsea ahead of Manchester United in a long-drawn transfer saga.
Shittu said the player is now been rewarded for his consistency.
“He is one of the most consistent performers and the club management agree with us that he deserves a new and improved contract,” he said in an interview published by daily sports paper Complete Sports.
The Nigeria international has won several major trophies with ‘The Blues’ including a historic UEFA Champions League last season as well as a league and cup double in 2010.

FIFA signs goal-line technology deals with GoalRef and Hawk-Eye

Finally, the resolve on seeking solutions from the goal-line technology is beginning to take proper shape as the World football governing body; FIFA took a positive step towards it as it signed licence agreements with two goal-line technology providers; GoalRef and Hawk-Eye.
The two technology providers were authorised to install their systems around the world after negotiations and final agreements towards the deal was over and according information the goal-linetechnology will be introduced in the English Premier League 2013-14 seasons.
It would be recalled that sometime in October 2011, the World football governing body began looking into the reliability of this goal-line technology systems due to series of high-profile controversies about whether or not shots had crossed the line.
And after these tests were done it came about that the two goal-line technology providers came out tops in that their systems were reliable in detecting whether the whole of a football had crossed a goal-line.
But some leading figures in football, including UEFA president Michel Platini, remain opposed to technology.
Platini is refusing to allow its use in UEFA competitions, instead preferring additional assistant referees, such as those seen at Euro 2012 and in the Europa League.
Platini said he will never be convinced on the goal-line technology as he will also not change his views on the matter saying that his idea is to help referees by putting up more referees.
FIFA in a statement released towards the deals signed said “Between October 2011 and June 2012, both companies passed a series of extensive laboratory and field tests, tests in simulated match situations, as well as tests in live matches.
“This milestone in the goal-line technology process, which began in 2011, means that the two companies now have official authorisation to install their respective goal-line technology systems worldwide.”
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which makes the game’s rules, gave the go-ahead to the use of technology as calls for its introduction increased around the world.
The debate was intensified by incidents such as the goal scored by Frank Lampard for England against Germany in the last World Cup, when the referee failed to award a goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line.
But hurdles remain before the systems are in full use, and FIFA explained: “Once a system has been installed in a stadium, it undergoes a final inspection to check its functionality.
“This is carried out by an independent test institute and the results of this so-called ‘final installation test’ must be successful. Only a positive final installation test qualifies a system to be used in official matches.”
Both systems are due to be used in competitive games for the first time at the Club World Cup in Japan in December, with GoalRef installed at one of the tournament’s two venues and Hawk-Eye at the other.