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NIGERIA’S SUPER EAGLES TEAM WINS AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Nigeria Super Eagles Wins Africa Cup Of Nations

The curtain came down on the Orange Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at the National Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday evening when Nigeria and Burkina Faso dueled to decide the champion team of Africa. After 94 minutes of action, the Super Eagles had secured their third Afcon title by a 1-0 margin.

Vuvuzelas blared and South African President Jacob Zuma was on hand to wish the two teams well as a packed crowd of 85 000 took in the title-decider. For Nigeria, it was a first final since 2000. For Burkina Faso, it was uncharted territory.

Not only were there supporters of the finalists in the stadium, but also plenty of football fans in the colours of the host nation’s national football team, Bafana Bafana.

The big team news before the contest was the absence of star striker Emmanuel Emenike for the Super Eagles because of an injury and the inclusion of Jonathan Pitroipa for the Stallions after a red card he received in the semi-finals was rescinded.

Early touch

Daouda Diakité had an early touch of the ball for Burkina Faso when a cross come shot from Efe Ambrose flew neatly into his midriff. He easily caught the ball to end the first attack of the game.

Nigeria were making the early running and forced the first corner and free kick of the game, although Brown Ideye went down with little input from a Burkina Faso player.

Victor Moses got behind the defence on the right and it needed some good cover defence to snuff out the danger. Diakité spilt the resulting corner, but the snapshot from Ideye passed over the crossbar.

Nigeria were clearly dictating terms in the early going, forcing the Burkinabe back into their half. Whenever the Stallions managed to break out of defence, the Super Eagles were quick to get players back behind the ball and regain possession.

First decent attack

Burkina Faso’s first decent attack came after 15 minutes and it included a nice interchange of passes between Pitroipa and the big striker Aristide Bancé. The Super Eagles conceded a corner, but it came to nought for the Burkinabe. Ten minutes later, Bancé blasted a shot high over the Nigerian goal from outside the box after neatly chesting down a long pass.

The big, blonde-haired striker was then narrowly wide of Victor Enyeama’s right-hand post from a free kick.

Nigeria were almost rewarded for a patient build-up after half-an-hour when Uche played Ideye in, but the striker’s first touch let him down and Diakité, in the Burkina Faso goal, was able to gather the ball and stop the threat.

The Super Eagles were crowding the middle of the park, making it difficult for the Burkinabe to release any passes down the flanks from there, which had the effect of forcing the Stallions to try a good number of long balls out of defence.

In the 38th minute, the first yellow card of the game was shown to Ogenyi Onazi for a studs-up challenge and Burkina Faso’s free kick that followed came close to catching out the Nigerian defenders. The ball was delivered from the left to the far post where Bakary Koné met it, but his aim was off and Enyeama was not called on to make a save.

Goal

Five minutes from the break, Paul Koulibaly struggled to deal with a long, low pass from the back of the Nigerian defence. In trying to control the ball, he was robbed of possession and Ike Uche picked it up on the right, just outside the Burkina Faso box. He passed inside for Moses, whose shot was blocked. The ball, however, found Sunday Mba, who controlled it with his body before knocking it over a defender with his right foot. Before it hit the ground. he struck it with his left foot into the far corner to give Nigeria the lead with a goal befitting of the occasion of a final.

The Nigerian bench and fans leapt to their feat. Mba, surrounded by his team-mates, fell to his knees in celebration. It was his second goal of the tournament. His first, in a quarterfinal win over Côte d’Ivoire, was equally good.

Burkina Faso tried to find a quick reply. Préjuce Nakoulma came close to delivering an equaliser, but was ruled offside as he put Enyeama under pressure. Bancé, as he had done a little earlier, again shot high over the goal from range.

There was a heart-in-mouth moment for the Stallions just before the break when Mba intercepted a pass and snapped off a shot, but he was leaning back as he hit it and it flew high over the Burkina Faso goal.

The teams turned with Nigeria one goal to nil ahead.

Good chance

In the third minute of the second half, Nigeria had a good chance to double their lead when Victor Moses found Brown Ideye deep in the Burkinabe box, but Ideye’s aim wasn’t true and his shot passed across the face of Diakité’s goal.

Coach Stephen Keshi made his first change after eight minutes of the second haf, bringing on Ahmed Musa for Uche, who had been a little off song and had failed to make an impact.

Moses had a good opportunity to increase Nigeria’s lead when the Super Eagles out-manned the Stallions as they broke away from defending a corner. He was a litte undecided whether or not to pass or shoot and in the end his shot was partially blocked and rolled gently into the hands of Diakité.

Kenneth Omeruo was shown the game’s second yellow card when he fouled Pitroipa with a knee to knee tackle. John Obi Mikel, well known for having a short fuse, had words with the referee and was also shown a yellow. Pitroipa left the field on a stretcher but returned a short while later from the sideline.

Bancé managed a flick-on from the free kick, but Enyeama was well positioned and caught the ball comfortably against his chest.

Midfield control

Burkina Faso were no doubt committing more to attack than they had in the first half, but Nigeria still controlled the midfield and the Burkinabe were finding it a tough job to break down the Nigerians in that area.

In the 65th minute Nigeria lost Elderson Echiejile to an injury. As he went off, Wildred Sanou came on for Florent Rouamba, as coach Paul Put made the first change for Burkina Faso. Juwon Oshaniwa came on for Echiejile. His first contribution was to stop Charles Kabore illegally and earn himself a yellow card.

Sanou got onto the end of a corner unchallenged, but his header back into the middle was knocked behind by the Nigerian defenders for another corner.

Nigeria countered with a swift break out of defence and Victor Moses set up Musa for a shot from inside the Burkina Faso box, but the substitute slipped on a sandy part of the field and went down, which allowed the Stallions time to turn over possession and clear the danger.

Not far wide

By now the game head really opened up and Burkina Faso swung back onto the attack. Sanou found Nakoulma down the right and then received the ball back. His first time shot was not far wide of Enyeama’s right-hand post. The crowd oohed and aahed.

With less than 15 minutes remaining, the Nigerian fans could be heard singing “All we are saying is give us a goal” to the tune of the famous John Lennon song, “All we are saying is give peace a chance”.

With time running down, Moumouni Dagano came on for Paul Koulibaly as coach Put replaced a defender with a striker.

Peculiar defending

Burkina Faso were taking the game to Nigeria, but were almost caught on the break. Some peculiar defending saw the Stallions’ central defenders exchanging a short pass across goal right on the edge of the six-yard box and Ideye picked up the ball, but couldn’t get a shot away.

Musa then put in a super cross, low across goal from the left. Diakité missed the ball, but so too did Ideye and the Stallions breathed a sigh of relief.

Abdou Traore came on for Djakaridja Kone as Put rolled the dice for a final time. Less than a minute remained in regulation time.

When time expired, four minutes of additional time was added on.

Last chance

In the time added on, Ideye was shown a yellow card when he stopped a Burkina Faso attack with his right hand, but the shot was a disappointing one and didn’t force Enyeama into a save. Burkina Faso’s last chance had gone.

The final whistle sounded. Enyeama, curiously, tried to lift the referee in celebration. Nigeria and their fans celebrated and coach Stephen Keshi became only the second man after Egyptian Mahmoud Al Gohari to win the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and a coach.

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From Guardian.com

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TIGER WOODS WINS 74th PGA TOURNAMENT, PASSES JACK NICHLAUS

July 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Almost everything has changed in the life of Tiger Woods over the last three years, but that was hard to keep in mind as Woods held off a pesky Bo Van Pelt at the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

For Woods and golf in general, everything is starting to look very 2009.

Woods, who shot a two-under-par 69 to beat Van Pelt by two shots, notched his 74th career victory to surpass Jack Nicklaus’s career total and take over second place alone, eight wins behind all-time victories leader Sam Snead. Woods’s victory at Congressional marked his third of the year — he is the Tour’s first three-time winner this season — and his first at Congressional since the 2009 AT&T.

“Yeah, pretty much everything,” Woods said, when asked which part of his game has come around the most this year. “I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again. That was, I think, what, six months ago?  Here we are.”

Woods spent 2010 and 2011 trying to rebound from personal upheaval, injury and a major swing change. He looked like a very old 36 as this season began, but over the last four months he’s won tournaments hosted by Arnold Palmer (Bay Hill) and Nicklaus (Memorial), and now Woods has again won the AT&T, the tournament that he hosts and brought to D.C. He’s healthy; he’s practicing; he’s winning.

“Give me a little bit of time,” Woods said, “and I feel like this is what I can do.”

“Feels almost like old times,” CBS’s David Feherty said after Woods’s birdie putt dropped over the front edge of the cup on the 15th green.

Van Pelt answered with a much shorter birdie putt.

Both players made a mess of the par-5 16th hole, making bogeys to go into the final two holes tied at eight under par. After airmailing the 17th green with his second shot out of the left rough, Van Pelt bogeyed, while Woods drained a six-footer for par. Woods also made par on 18, while Van Pelt (71) bogeyed again.

Adam Scott (67) finished alone in third place, three back.

They are almost the same age and regularly find their lockers near each other, but Woods and Van Pelt came into the week with little in common. Woods had 73 victories; Van Pelt one. Still, Van Pelt was tough, at times recalling the gritty Bob May, who pushed Woods to the brink at the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

“I’ve known Bo a long time,” said Woods, who donated his winnings of $1.17 million to his foundation, as he always has at this tournament, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and gives 30,000 tickets to active military.

“We’ve gone at it since junior golf and college golf,” Woods added. “I’ve known him for a very long time — one of the greatest guys out here. It was a pleasure to play with him the last two days. We grinded, we competed, and it was just a matter of making the key putt or a key up and down and not making too many mistakes. This golf course was playing like a major championship.”

In fact, Van Pelt stuck with Woods for the final 36 holes at Congressional, which included one of the strangest third rounds of the year. After a second round in which players and caddies sought medical attention in the heat, a storm ripped through Congressional on Friday night, toppling trees and shredding tents. Citing dangerous conditions, Tour officials closed the course to spectators Saturday.

With a following estimated at fewer than 100 people — media, essential tournament workers, and a few others — Van Pelt and Woods matched third-round 67s, trading great shots that drew little applause. Van Pelt called it a typical “Bo Van Pelt crowd,” joking that he was used to playing for such a sparse gallery.

But even when the crowds returned Sunday, Van Pelt, gunning for his first official Tour victory since the ’09 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (which no longer exists), continued to match Woods almost shot for shot.

“He’s an amazing player,” Van Pelt said of Woods. “We’ve known each other a long time, probably 20 years. He’s fun to play with. That’s why you travel 30 weeks a year, why you get up in the morning and you make the sacrifices that you do, to have the opportunity to play the best player in the world in the final round with a chance to win a tournament. I was looking forward to it.”

Van Pelt’s sixth top-10 finish in 2012 tied him with Jason Dufner and Matt Kuchar for most on Tour. That may be cold comfort, though. Since 2010, Van Pelt has more top-10 finishes without a victory (19) than any other player on Tour.

For his part, Woods continues to inch closer to the player who dominated golf from 1997 until his life began to unravel at the end of ’09. He has not won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and remains stuck at 14 in his bid to catch Nicklaus’s 18 – golf’s most famous statistic — but recent form suggests his 15th major championship win may be close at hand. (The British Open starts July 19 in England.)

Congressional played tougher and more major-like for the AT&T National than it did for the 2011 U.S. Open. It was at that tournament that golf was busy anointing Rory McIlroy as Woods’s successor; Woods, meanwhile, was out with a leg injury that delayed the full flowering of his swing under coach Sean Foley. In winning the AT&T National, Woods hit 48 of 72 greens in regulation (tied for 17th in the field), including an improbable 9-iron shot in which he nearly broke his club on a tree on the 12th hole. He averaged 28 putts per round (T9).

“His rhythm stayed the same for 36 holes under the heat,” Van Pelt said. “I think he’s got to be pleased with that.”

So much has happened in 30-plus months, but for Woods, the landscape is looking pleasantly familiar. Two and a half years after his life fell apart, and a year after McIlroy-mania, it’s looking like the next Tiger Woods may just be Tiger Woods.

From Golf.com

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ALLYSON FELIX BLOWS AWAY THE TRACK IN OLYMPIC TRIALS 200M WIN

July 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Allyson Felix ran a lifetime-best 21.69 seconds in the 200-meter final on a rain-soaked track Saturday night in the U.S. Olympic trials. She easily pulled away, no signs of the stress from the last week weighing her down.

Still to be determined is whether she’ll be competing in the 100 after finishing in a third-place tie with training partner Jeneba Tarmoh last Saturday. They might have a runoff – a winner-take-all race – or flip a coin to decide the final spot for the London Games in the event.

Another option is Felix simply surrendering her spot to Tarmoh, because she’s already going in the 200 and Tarmoh isn’t after finishing a distant fifth.

A resolution is likely to come Sunday.

On this night, the Felix had the stage to herself.

Wearing neon yellow compression sleeves on her legs, Felix was easy to spot as she settled into the blocks. She was even easier to detect once she flew off the starting line, jumping out to a commanding lead. Felix smiled as she crossed the finish line and clapped her hands before raising them high over her head.

Whew. She was in.

”I knew she was going to be fast,” her coach Bobby Kersee said. ”But I didn’t know she was going to roll out like this. That was very, very impressive.”

Carmelita Jeter finished 0.42 seconds behind and Sanya Richards-Ross even farther back in third to round out the London-bound team. No matter, it’s still a double for both of them as Jeter also won the 100 and Richards-Ross captured the 400.

”My coach really didn’t want me to run, because I caught a little cramp after the100,” Jeter said. ”I’m sure everybody is a little relaxed now.”

Kersee told The Associated Press that Sunday morning he and his two athletes, Felix and Tarmoh, will sit down for breakfast and reach a decision.

Felix’s run was one for the ages as she turned in the fourth-fastest time ever by an American and best since Marion Jones nearly 14 years ago. The late Florence Griffith-Joyner had the other two, including the world record of 21.34.

”I just tried to keep digging and keep going,” said Felix, whose previous best time was 21.81. ”It’s all a blur now.”

She was every bit a blur on the track – unlike the decision process for the 100.

In a race that’s usually over in 11 seconds, the outcome has lingered on for more than 168 hours.

It’s become the cloud over the trials – even more than the constant rain – because USA Track and Field had no protocol in place to deal with this sort of dead heat. USATF officials quickly scrambled to adopt a tiebreaking procedure.

The organization has been criticized for not having something in place long before the trials. Every other sport has some sort of carefully worked-out plan. In swimming, there’s swim-offs to break a deadlock.

After six taxing rounds, Felix and Tarmoh will now turn their attention to breaking this tie. They have until the end of trials Sunday to officially make a decision, but there may be some wiggle room. The United States Olympic Committee doesn’t officially need the list of names for the squad until Tuesday.

That’s why Kersee, has been pushing for a Tuesday runoff race, if that’s how Felix and Tarmoh want to settle things.

This way, when they step back on the track, they’ll at least have fresh legs.

As it is, both are eligible to be selected to the Olympic 400 relay team.

The magnitude of the controversy has spread far beyond traditional sports circles, with the topic being discussed on ”CNN” and even National Public Radio.

Former sprinter Jon Drummond thinks the attention is fantastic.

”You’ve got two great athletes at the Olympic trials, dead-heated, both pictures showing the same thing and now you have to decide a selection?” said Drummond, who coaches the men’s and women’s relay teams. ”This is like a reality show you couldn’t script. This is great for TV, made for TV.”

Especially if they decide to participate in a runoff. Drummond would.

”I’m a junkyard dog. We’re going to the line,” he said.

Because of all the attention, these two sprinters will forever have a place in track lore. Felix is a familiar name to even average fans.

On the track, Felix runs so effortlessly – her head hardly moving and her hands in perfect rhythm.

She’s a 200-meter specialist, winning silver medals in the last two Olympics. She wants gold, though, and her entire training routine is built around making that happen.

”I’ve had eight years to think about being a silver medalist. This time I want to win,” she recently said in an interview.

Fans are quickly learning about the 22-year-old Tarmoh, who burst on the scene last season when she finished third in the 200 at U.S. championships to earn a spot on the team bound for South Korea.

”We have a great relationship and I’m so proud of her,” Felix said. ”She came out of college and I really wanted her to come and train with us.

”The way she performed at this championship is just phenomenal.”

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ALLYSON FELIX, JENEBA TARMOH, DEAD HEAT AT OLYMPIC TRIALS: COIN TOSS MAY DECIDE WINNER

June 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bobby Kersee is struggling to make heads or tails of USA Track and Field’s new procedures designed to help break the third-place tie between Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh in the women’s 100 meters at the Olympic trials.

Heads or tails just might be what decides it.

The scenarios involve either a coin toss or a runoff to determine the third and final spot on the team for the London Games.

If both athletes choose the same option, it will determine the tiebreaker. If the athletes disagree, the tiebreaker will be a runoff. If both athletes decline a preference, the tiebreaker will be a coin toss.

Confusing? Kersee certainly thinks so.

The coach told The Associated Press the sprinters won’t make any kind of decision until after they complete the 200 later this week. The final is Saturday.

Kersee wants them to fully focus on the task at hand and not worry about a possible runoff — or a coin flip.

“Nine times out of 10, most athletes aren’t going to want to flip a coin,” Kersee said. “Would you go to the Super Bowl and after two overtimes or what have you, have the referees take both coaches to the middle of the field and say, ‘We’re going to flip to see who wins the Super Bowl?’ I don’t see that.”

The national track governing body said they want the matter decided by next Sunday when the trials end. Kersee said he will wait until 11:59 p.m. if he has to, just to ensure more rest for the sprinters.

He’s fearful of a quick turnaround between the 200 final — should both make it — and another round of the 100. That could be a lot to ask of his athletes.

“I’m asking them to focus on the 200 meters, go through drug testing and hopefully they’ll both make the team in the 200 meters,” Kersee said. “Then we’ll meet as a group, we’ll meet with USA Track and Field. I will be in the room on the meeting, but I will have no decision-making power. I’m going to be listening, but let the athletes decide. Let the managers decide what they want to do — I want the best for the athletes.”

Kersee said earlier in the day he’s in favor a runoff to break the tie. Only, he wanted the race held later, maybe even a few weeks later, on a track somewhere to be determined.

To decide anything right now, the coach said, isn’t fair to Felix and Tarmoh, especially because they are both running the 200 that begins Thursday.

Felix and Tarmoh finished in a dead heat in the 100 on Sunday, each leaning across the finish line in 11.068 seconds. They’re looking to join Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison on the team.

With no protocol in place at the time of the tie, the organization had to meet to come up with a plan, which was approved by the United States Olympic Committee.

And one of the options was a coin flip, with the rules as to how the coin will be tossed explicitly spelled out. For instance, it says, “the USATF representative shall bend his or her index finger at a 90-degree angle to his or her thumb, allowing the coin to rest on his or her thumb.”

Being the coach of both, Kersee knows he has a conflict of interest in this situation. But he insisted he’s only concerned with one thing: Doing right by his runners.

“You don’t have to bother us about this now,” he said. “You can wait until later.”

Originally, Tarmoh was declared the third-place finisher and the official scoring said she had edged training partner Felix by 0.0001 seconds. But the results were reviewed, and after a lengthy delay, the dead heat was announced.

In swimming, ties are settled with swim-offs between the two deadlocked opponents. Track has tiebreaking procedures for many of its events, as well, but this is a special case for which there is no written solution — a tie for the last spot on the Olympic team.

The USATF said in a release that two cameras are used to determine photo-finishes, one on the outside of the track and another on the inside.

In Saturday’s race, the image from the outside camera was inconclusive for determining the finish because both runners’ arms obscured their torsos.

The torso position is used to determine the finish.

The image from the inside camera, shot at 3,000 frames per second, was analyzed by timers and referees, who declared the tie.

Should the sprinters settle the matter with a runoff, Kersee said he won’t be at the track for the race.

Sure, he will warm up Felix and Tarmoh. And yes, he will give them some last-minute advice.

But then he will head for the exit.

“I’ll go on a long walk,” Kersee said. “When I come back, I’ll get the news on who did what.”

From ESPN

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