Kenya in sixth spot in the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series Rankings

Kenya on Saturday moved up to the sixth spot in the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series rankings at the end of the New Zealand International Sevens at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium.

After an inspired run on the opening day, Kenya edged out Wales 10-7 to reach their only third main cup semi final in the Serie’s 10-year history.

Kenya was outclassed 26-0 by the eventual NZ Sevens winners, England, but collected 12 points from the tournament.

On departure, Kenya had budgeted for 18 points in the two tournaments in New Zealand and USA and are well ahead of schedule going into San Diego.

The talking point of the two-day tournament which was marked by several surprise wins was Kenya’s 22-17 upset of the top seeds and Series leaders South Africa in a Pool A match on Friday.

Rugby fans from USA, among them former players Fred Absaloms, Ernest Waweru and Leslie Mango, said Kenya’s performance only whetted the appetites of their fans in the USA when San Diego hosts the fourth tournament on February 14 and 15 at PETCO Park.

Big day

In an interview with IRB Sevens Radio, captain Humphrey Kayange put the win over South Africa in perspective.

“It’s a very big day for us. Started well, went bad in the second game and the boys really raised it in the last game and look where it took us,” he said

“It’s a big victory for us, there were three teams that we hadn’t beaten and South Africa was one of them so it’s a milestone, something we’ve reached, achieved on this tour.”

Coach Benjamin Ayimba admitted having harsh words for the players after narrowly losing 14-19 to Scotland in a Pool A match.

Early pressure in the quarter-final against Wales saw Allan Onyango’s claim for a try denied in the second minute because the ball was held up. From the resultant scrumdown, Collins Injera stole on the blindside to score.

His brother, Kayange pounced on a lucky bounce to race over for the second try. Although Aled Thomas scored and converted a try for Wales, Kenya held on to win before crumbling 0-26 to England in the semis.

A dashing run by Isoa Damudamu which ended in a try saw England complete a remarkable comeback to beat hosts New Zealand 19-17 for their first ever NZI Sevens title.

SOURCE: DAILY NATION

World Cup 2010 - Let the Count Down Begin

Man pikin "had" funds set aside for this monumental event...but it get as it be.

For those going please update us O! Who knows with this $825B stimulus package, it might be a possibility after all.

In Terms of Soccer, Cameroon Dominates...

According to the latest FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking

Cameroon, The Indomitable Lions lie at the 14th spot while Egypt climbed one place up to the 15th position to be the first-runner up in Africa. Nigeria moved up two places to the 17th spot trailing Egypt as the third best.

Ranking / Team
1 Spain
2 Germany
3 Netherlands
4 Italy
5 Brazil
6 Argentina
7 Croatia
8 England
9 Russia
10 Turkey
11 France
11 Portugal
11 Czech Republic
14 Cameroon
15 Egypt
16 Ukraine
17 Nigeria
18 Paraguay
19 Israel
20 Greece

African Soccer Stars in the US

I watched the DC United team beat New England Revolution 2 - 0. Both goals were scored by an African star Francis Doe from Liberia.



There are quite a few African players in the Major League Soccer.

Here are a few

DC United goalkeeper save many goals. Louis Crayton (Liberia - DC United)



A couple of 19 year olds straight out of Gambia: Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi. The play for the New England Revolution



Patrick Nyarko (Ghana - Chicago Fire)



Emmanuel Ekpo (Nigeria - Columbus Crew)



Stanley Nyazamba (Zimbabwe - Columbus Crew)



Kheli Dube (Zimbabwe - New England Revolution)



Bakary Soumare (Mali - Chicago Fire)



Macoumba Kandji (Senegal - New York Red Bulls)



and there are a many more...

Will soccer ever become a hip sport here in yankee?

Nigerians Look to Purchase English Soccer Team

Nigerian consortium shows interest in Newcastle

A consortium of wealthy Nigerians are planning to take over Newcastle United, according to reports in Africa.

Current owner Mike Ashley is trying to find a buyer for the ailing Premier League club, after proving unsuccessful with his initial efforts to secure a sale and Ashley has announced he wants to sell his interest in Newcastle just 16 months after staging a £134.4million takeover.

However, a Nigerian company claim they have £350million behind them - and are bidding to secure the remaining funding which would improve their chances of a successful takeover.

Chief Executive Officer of the NVA Management, Chris Nathaniel, whose company are handling the deal, wants to make Nigeria the first African country to own a Premier League club.

He told the KickOffNigeria website: ''All along I have been working hard to get wealthy and football loving Nigerian entrepreneurs to buy the club since Mike Ashley indicated his willingness to sell the club to the person, people or entrepreneurs who can meet the £400million selling price of the club.

''Right now I am happy to tell you that well meaning Nigerians have responded and the consortium of Nigerian entrepreneurs has so far contributed £350million to buy the club.

''Ashley has stood his ground that he won't sell the club until the money is raised to the asking price of £400million.

''So what that means is that we need to raise another £50million or £100million to shut the door behind the other top Arab companies who are also interested in the club.

''The Arab companies have also indicated interest and made offers - but they haven't met the asking price too.''

NVA handle Rio Ferdinand's PR and commercial interests and also arranged the pre-World Cup friendly between England and Croatia at Old Trafford in 2006. They further name Premier League wingers Wayne Routledge and Julian Gray amongst their other clients.

SOURCE: ESPN

Olympic Medal Count for the Motherland

Kenya: 5 Gold medals; 5 Silver medals and 4 Bronze medals for a total of 14
Ethiopia: 4 Gold medals; 1 Silver medal and 2 Bronze medals for a total of 7
Zimbabwe: 1 Gold medal; and 3 Silver medals for a total of 4
Nigeria: 1 Silver medal and 3 Bronze medals for a total of 4
Morocco: 1 Silver medal and 1 Bronze medal for a total of 2
Cameroon: 1 Gold medal
South Africa: 1 Silver medal
Sudan: 1 Silver medal
Egypt: 1 Bronze medal
Mauritius: 1 Bronze medal
Togo: 1 Bronze medal


There you have it...now back to our regular feature presentation

Nigeria Wins Silver Medal for Olympic Soccer

...don't weep for me...just a couple of goals away from a lucrative shoe contract. The Nigerian team played, they were a bit off of their usual game, there is no point in coulda, shoulda, woulda. I know a lot of couch coaches have stacks of notes to give to the players and coaching staff but such is life, particularly in sports.

I hope all the athletes have a hearty welcome upon returning to their home countries.

Cheers!

Showdown for the Gold: Olympic Soccer

Oya O!!! It's on like popcorn. At midnight...Naija vs. Argentina, last chance for Nigeria to repeat what they did in Olympic 1996 in Atlanta.
I've already started discussions with a major athletic shoe company...Naija wins we're gonna be launching the green white green soccer cleats.
I can't watch the game...too much anxiety mehn!
From day one I've been positioning myself to ride this gold wave yo...

PECKHAM FOR LIFE!

First Kenyan woman to win an Olympic title

Pamela, Anythin' for me...?
See the intensity in this sista's eyes, 18 years old...na wa O!



Pamela Jelimo powered to a brilliant 800m victory to become the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic title.

The 18-year-old, who only began running the event in April, set a devastating pace to win in one minute 54.87 seconds at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing.

Full story

SOURCE: BBC

Ol' Boy Do You Want the Gold or Should I Take It

Kenya athletes chatting on their way to the finish line


Kenyan middle distance runner Brimin Kiprop Kipruto added Olympic gold to his world championship title by winning the men's 3000m steeplechase.

The 23-year-old held off a late charge from Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of win in eight minutes 10.34 seconds.

Full story

SOURCE: BBC

Nigeria thump Belgium to reach Olympic final

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Nigeria thumped surprise package Belgium 4-1 on Tuesday to reach the Olympic soccer final for the first time since winning the tournament 12 years ago.

Striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi scored twice in the second half after Olubayo Adefemi had given the exuberant but erratic Africans an early lead.

Full story

SOURCE: Reuters

Tirunesh Dibaba wins women's 10,000m

As I predicted in my earlier posting, Tirunesh of Ethopia has won a gold medal for the 10,000 meters race.


BEIJING (Reuters) - Ethiopia's world champion Tirunesh Dibaba won the first track gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the women's 10,000 metres final on Friday.

From when the 23-year-old hit the front with 300 metres to go, her victory was never in doubt and she crossed the line in 29 minutes 54.66 seconds, an Olympic record.

Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse, who had led for much of the latter part of the race, ran home in second to claim a first Olympic medal in athletics for a Turkish woman in 29.56.34. American Shalane Flanagan took bronze in 30.22.22.

Dibaba and Abeylegesse were only the second and third women to run under 30 minutes for the 10,000 after Chinese world record holder Wang Junxia, who set her mark in Beijing in 1993.)

SOURCE: Reuters

African Soccer Trio Reach Quarter-finals

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nigeria reached the Olympic quarter-finals with a controversial 2-1 win over the United States on Wednesday and fellow Africans Ivory Coast and Cameroon also qualified.

Ivory Coast went through when Salomon Kalou gave them a 1-0 win over Australia and a 0-0 draw with Italy was enough for Cameroon.

Brazil and Argentina, who like Italy had qualified already, completed the group stage with 100 percent records by beating hosts China and Serbia respectively.

Thiago Neves scored twice in four minutes in the second half for Brazil after Diego had given them the lead in the 18th minute in Brazil's 3-0 win.

An Ezequiel Lavezzi penalty and free kick from Diego Buonanotte, the smallest player in the tournament at 1.60 metres, gave Argentina a 2-0 win over Serbia, whose goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic saved an Angel Di Maria penalty.

Belgium and their neighbours the Netherlands took the other two places with 1-0 wins over New Zealand and Japan respectively.

Nigeria's match swung their way in the third minute when U.S. defender Michael Orozco was sent off for elbowing Solomon Okoronkwo, who tumbled over despite only minimal contact.

Already struggling with the stifling humidity, the U.S. went behind when Chinedu Obasi skipped down the left and laid the ball off for Promise Isaac to score in the 39th minute.

Substitute Victor Obinna fired in the second in the 79th minute before the U.S., needing a draw to go through, came to life.

Sacha Kljestan pulled one back with a penalty before Charlie Davies headed against the crossbar, then had another effort saved by Ambruse Vanzekin

Source: Reuters


African man...

USA Olympic Soccer Team Represents

...not exactly. Awon Naija boyz. You could hear the Nigerians shouting from stands saying..."Oga America this no be basketball O!"

Final scores 2-1. Nigeria victorious...eliminating the USA Men soccer team from the Olympics. Well, there is still the MLS.

Here are play backs of the Nigerian goals courtesy of our Francophone crew.



2nd Goal

Red White and Blue Representing at the Olympics

I heard the Olympic opening ceremony were fantastic. If your country could only partake in a handful of events...you'll always have the opening ceremony

BEIJING - AUGUST 08: Jangy Addy of Liberia carries his country's flag during the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium on August 8, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

African Athletes at the Beijing Olympics

Let's not deceive ourselves, we already know either the Kenyan or Ethiopian athletes are gonna get all the gold medals for long distance running.

Now for Soccer...It remains to be seen, but African nations should be poised to grab at least one medal. Nigeria usually makes a good run at it. Ghana represented in one Olympic in the past. Can they duplicate and/or even improve on that success?

Now the real koko of the whole Olympic events, swimming. Everybody is focused on USA's Phelps. Aight we give them the men's category, but as far as the women's own O...Toyin Tomato is a shoe in for the gold.



The Olympics kicks off tomorrow...stay tuned, we've been promised a lot of drama

African Muscle Men

Ok...ok...don't ask how I came across this web site. The mainstream media would have you believe everyone is either starving or battling HIV/AIDS in Africa. Well, some guys must have access to prime steak abi na eba?


For more picks of African Muscle Men log on to AfricanMuscle.com

Ghanaian Wins Boxing Title

Representing his homeland,Ghana, Clottey beats Judah, wins IBF title




Joshua Clottey, of Ghana, celebrates his newly acquired IBF welterweight championship. Clottey, who tore his bicep in the early rounds, hung on to defeat Zab Judah by unanimous decision Saturday night at the Palms. The fight was stopped in the ninth round because of a large cut over Judah’s right eye.

For the full story click here

Redskins Rookie Travels to Liberia To Help Global Charity

Say what you may about the Washington Dedskins...I mean Redskins but at least...


MALCOLM KELLY LEADS CHARITY TRIP TO LIBERIA

Malcolm Kelly, former standout receiver at the University of Oklahoma and 2nd Round draft pick of the Washington Redskins, will lead a group of private citizens to the African Nation of Liberia, from July 5th through the 10th on behalf of the global charity, Mercy Ships. The "Vision Trip" is designed to shed light on the medical relief effort Mercy Ships is providing for the people of Liberia, as they continue to improve their health and well-being standards within the country.
During the weeklong trip, the group will visit with staff on the Mercy Ships' flagship, Africa Mercy, the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship, which is docked in the port city of Monrovia - the capitol of Liberia. The group will view surgeries in one of Africa Mercy's six state-of-the-art surgical suites, and tour parts of the country, now recovering from more than a decade of civil war. Malcolm will also meet with Liberian officials and hold an international press conference before leaving Liberia.

To read the full story click here

25th Annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament

Some of the many festivities for this upcoming 3-Day weekend...

For more information log on to http://www.esfna.net/esfna/