The Portuguese forward is on the track to become the all-time international goalscorer

The Portugal international recently moved close to Ferenc Puskas on the list of the highest goalscorers on the international scene. He scored two in the last minutes against Egypt last weekend before succumbing to a 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands on Monday. This means that he is 3 goals shy of Puskas’ 84 who is in second behind Iranian Ali Daei at 109. Not many expected the winger to reach these heights when he was starting out his career at United when he was more of a creative player. Cristiano Ronaldo does not look like he is stopping anytime soon with his eyes set on the FIFA World Cup tournament hosted by Russia in June this year. The odds are against his team to pull another shocker after winning the Euros in 2016. Do you think he will go on to win the World Cup and smash the goalscoring record in the process?

International Friendlies Round-Up: Ronaldo, Coutinho and Lingard amongst the goals

World Cup hosts Russia succumbed to a 3-0 defeat to a Neymar-less Brazil. Barcelona players Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho stepped up in the absence of their main man and scored one each. Miranda scored the other in the thrilling match which is a test for the teams that want to challenge in FIFA’s biggest tournament in less than 2 months.

In other news, France lost 2-3 to Colombia on the same night. The result is quite surprising considering the fact that France had an early 2 goal advantage as Giroud and Lemar both scored a goal each. Muriel scored for Colombia to make it 2-1 before the break. Falcao and Quintero’s penalty completed the comeback and downed Deschamps’ side.

Germany and Spain’s clash ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw. Rodrigo scored at the 6th minute for Spain before Muller leveled the matters on the 9th minute.

England won 1-0 against the Netherlands thanks to a Jesse Lingard goal in the 59th minute.

De Bruyne praises Messi and Ronaldo

Belgian sensation talks about the comparisons between him and the very best i.e. Messi and Ronaldo. Kevin De Bruyne could not deny the fact that he is tired of being compared to the duo because they play different roles for their respective teams. This is a bit unfair to the player who does not play as much further on the pitch as the aforementioned Barcelona and Real Madrid players. De Bruyne’s coach Pep Guardiola has suggested that the player is scaling his heights to that of Ronaldo who has consistently delivered for the biggest club in the world. What do you think about this comparison? Is it fair? Should his name be mentioned among the greatest-in-making?

Pique talks about his rocky relationship with Pep

Gerard Pique enjoyed a successful period under the management of Pep Guardiola during his early years at Barcelona. The Spanish defender won a treble in his first season with Pep and saw the birth of a new era which was dominated by the Catalans both domestically and in Europe. The defender, however, fell out of favor from Guardiola because he lost his obsession of football. The 31-year old could not understand why their coach wanted the players to be obsessed with football 24/7 even after being with the players for so many years and knowing that they already understand his concepts. The defender was eventually benched in the El Clasico (Barcelona vs Real Madrid) match that followed and he was angry. He started thinking if it was the end of his playing career and these thoughts crushed him.

The player returned to scene in a big match against Chelsea in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League only to be replaced on the 20th minute after suffering an injury. Barcelona was eliminated and Guardiola announced his departure shortly after that. What he cannot process to this day is how things would have turned out if he had stayed at Barcelona. Pique was given a wakeup call by that experience and has not looked back. He has proved to be reliable whenever he is called upon since then and does not look like he will be replaced anytime soon. Do you think Pique’s attitude was justified? Tell us why in the comments below?

Egypt: Striker surplus to South Africa’s Bidvest Wits, finds favor in Europe

Egyptian forward Amr Gamal who was on loan from Al Ahly was released last week by Bidvest Wits. Gamal has joined the Finnish champions, HJK Helsinki, who have described his arrival as welcome development.

“Amr Gamal is a clever striker. The competition is becoming very tough and is developing. We want to have a competitive, energetic and offensive squad through the spring and summer.” - Juho Rantala, Helsinki’s Director of Football

Gamal will be keen to use this loan spell as a pedestal to bounce back and make it to the Pharaohs’ squad for Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. It is not every day when you get to hear about a player not winging it in Africa, getting warm welcomes in Europe. It’s perhaps a sign that the quality of football in the continent’s domestic leagues may be improving at a rate faster than we realize.

Ghana: Essien may be reaching the end of his international career

If you are wondering, yes, he has been playing football but maybe not for long. The Ghanaian midfield maestro is falling of favor at Indonesia’s Persib Bandung. A rule that forbids Indonesian football clubs from having more than three foreign players has seen Michael Essien being moved to the sidelines. A 26-year-old Argentine, Jonathan Bauman has been picked ahead of 35-year-old who was one of the best midfielders in the world in his prime.

The acclaimed midfielder is known for his “no nonsense” midfield approach and charming smiles enjoyed an illustrious career where he featured for Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Olympique Lyonnais winning several league titles and most notably a champions league trophy with North Londoners (Chelsea).

Four Nations Tournament: Zambia book a date with Bafana Bafana in the final

The four Southern African titans are so competitive up to a point that both semi-finals had to be decided on penalty shoot-outs. On Wednesday, the hosts, Zambia had to come from behind twice to force a draw with neighbors Zimbabwe. Chipolopolo eventually overcame their long-standing rivals 5-4 on penalties to set up a meeting with South Africa who also beat Angola on penalties after a hard fought 1-1 draw.

The final matches will be on Saturday when Zimbabwe will face Angola for the bronze medal with the finale kicking off three hours later.

CAF Champions League Draw: The battle lines have been drawn

With the second round matches scheduled for as early as 6-8 May 2018, the match-ups for the final 16 teams have been decided in a draw conducted in Cairo, Egypt.

The stand out fixture has to be between the 2017 and 2016 Champions. Wydad Casablanca(Morocco) and Mamelodi Sundowns(South Africa) are in Group C together with AS Port of Togo and Horoya of Guinea. Masandawana will be keen to settle a score with Wydad after the former was knocked out last year on penalties with the latter eventually claiming the prize. With several debutants like Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland), AS Port of Togo and seasoned competitors such as the eight-time champions, Al Ahly (Egypt) in the mix for the title hunt - the final stages of the tournament promises to be full of thrills and spills. In fact, reacting to the draw, Sundowns gaffer Pitso Mosimane highlighted how ready they are to take on any challenge but admitted that fresh boys like AS Port of Togo are closed books which will need to be studied.

““Horoya plays good football with great passing technique. They are a good team, tactical and have some good individual players. The team we don’t know much is AS Port (Togo), and we will have to conduct a research on them” ”

— - Pitso Mosimane

Here is the complete list of the groups....

2018 Champions League groups:

Group A: Al Ahly (Egypt), Township Rollers (Botswana), KCCA (Uganda), Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia)

Group B: TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Mouloudia Alger (Algeria), Difaa El Jadidi (Morocco), Entente Setif (Algeria)

Group C: AS Port of Togo (Togo), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Horoya (Guinea)

Group D: Zesco United (Zambia), Primeiro de Agosto (Angola), Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia), Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland)

Morocco: Real Madrid defender pulls out of squad

The Lions of the Atlas will be without breakout teen, Achraf Hakimi for this months’ friendlies as result of the injury he picked out on his first day of training. The 19 year old suffered the injury in Turin ahead of Morocco’s match against Serbia in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in June. Hakimi came to the spotlight after being deployed by Zinedine Zidane on the right back position of the Los Blancos set up in the absence of injured Dani Carvajal. Since then, he has appeared 14 times for Real Madrid this season scoring once and was handed his Moroccan debut by Herve Renard also scoring in his four international caps so far.

Achraf Hakimi was born in Spain and has always represented Morocco at youth level even though he had an option to play for the European giants.

Are we seeing a wave of many teams starting to take Women’s football as seriously as they should?

This report might come off as a surprise to many that Manchester United, one of the biggest football clubs, had not registered a Women’s team up to this point after scraping it altogether in 2005. However, that is out of the way now as the club have decided to register to join the Women’s League 2 in the upcoming season. This decision has probably resulted from continuous criticism from respected people in the footballing world with Former United player and current Lioness’ boss Phil Neville stating that he would have a conversation with them about it. Manchester United chairman Ed Woodward has said that “The Women’s side should be built with the same image as the male’s team.” If their application is successful, the women’s side will be based at the Cliff training ground in Salford. Besides this decision being long overdue, what are your thoughts?

The French forward acknowledges the possibility of a move

Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has given a deadline about his future. He talked about how is ambitious and wants to focus on winning major trophies as one of his goals. The player has been linked to a move to Manchester United before and has stated that he wants his future to be resolved before he goes for the World Cup in June. Griezmann does not want any distractions during the tournament that comes with being asked whether or not he is staying in Spain. The 27 year old dreams of being a Ballon d’Or winner but only when it is accompanied by winning trophies like the UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, Euros among others. That is all we have heard from the striker about his future now we want to hear from you about what you think will happen. Is Griezmann going to stay if Atletico offer him the rumored bumper contract? Will he go to Manchester United who seem to already have a good strike force? Where else could he go? Drop your comments below.

The player’s agent challenges the decision to omit Super Mario

Mino Raiola is one of the biggest player agents in world football. He represents players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Mkhitaryan and the controversial forward Mario Balotelli. Balotelli has had a history of causing havoc in the team’s that he has represented before with his temper issues and arrogance. This led to a clash between him and his old national team coach Ventura which ended up in him being dropped out of the squad. Ventura has since left the post but the problem seems to persist. The player has once again been omitted from the Italy squad that will play against England and Argentina although he has been in fine form having scored 21 goals in 33 matches this season. His agent Raiola is angry at this decision and wants to understand why he has been snubbed ahead of other strikers who have less production than Balotelli. Raiola calls for a different management at national level which supports players that are the best. Caretaker boss Di Biagio has disappointed many by this decision. Do you think he was justified and that Italy don’t need the polarizing vibes brought by the talented forward? Have your say in the comment section.

Egypt: Could Salah bankrupt Vodafone Egypt?

The man of the moment, Mohamed will possibly make the mobile telecoms giant regret riding on the Salah wave. They have recently released a memorable advert announcing that every time the Liverpool speedster scores a goal, Vodafone subscribers will get 11 extra minutes of free airtime/credit.

On a scale of 10-10, how confident are you of the EPL leading goal scorer bankrupting Vodafone?

International break: Four nations tournament in the spotlight, Nigeria-Poland friendly sold out

All eyes on Zambia’s Levy Mwanawasa stadium from 22-25 March as Zimbabwe and Angola will battle for a place in the final against Zambia or South Africa in a mini-tournament pitting the Southern African top teams. The losing teams will have to play for a third-place finish. All coaches have picked relatively strong and youthful squads for the friendly tournament as they prepare for AFCON qualifiers in September.

Elsewhere, all the 42 000 matches for the match featuring Nigerian and Wroclaw in Poland, have been sold out. The two teams will clash on Friday, 23rd of March and the fans are expected to be in full voice cheering their world cup bound heroes.

Kenya: Tough times ahead for KFF

The Harambee stars recently released their head coach, Paul Put, three months in his contract over possible challenges in meeting his salary. This came after the government’s decision to increase the tax on gaming revenues which saw SportPesa withdrawing their sponsorship of the Kenyan Football Federation (FKF) in January. Now, the country’s two CAF approved stadiums which are currently under renovations might not be ready for the FIFA World Cup and AFCON qualifiers in September as a result of extended politics, short rains, and payment delays. To add insult to injury, China-based, Ayub Timbe will likely miss the Morocco friendly after arriving late in Marrakech and Maritzburg United’s Brian Mandela is a doubt after picking an injury in PSL action in South Africa.

Perhaps the possible matchup of Tottenham’s Victor Wanyama and his returning elder brother, McDonald Mariga will be the silver lining in Kenya’s dark clouds.

Future Champions Tournament: Pirates defeated, Wits triumphant and Sundows held

The much anticipated under-17s football tournament hosted by South Africa kicked off in Soweto and has been nothing short of fireworks. Most notably, local favorites Orlando Pirates succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Russia side, FC Spartak in a breathtaking encounter while Mamelodi fought hard to earn a 1-1 draw against Netherlands’ ADO Den Haag. The Clever Boys, Bidvest Wits, recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Spain’s RCD Espanyol to move to the top of Group D. Zambian side Nkana FC were also winners on the day, inflicting a second defeat on Jomo Cosmos.

The 12-team Future Champions Gauteng International tournament is celebrating 10 years of giving top junior players a chance to share the pitch and learn from each other. Past winners’ include Spain’s Atletico Madrid, Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro, Shandong Luneng from China amongst many others.

Legends: Returning Yaya Toure misses training and Demba Ba eyes Senegal return

Just a few hours after the announcement of Yaya Toure’s return to the ailing Elephants’ national team, the midfielder did not show up for training in France ahead of the Togo and Moldova friendlies. The football motherbody in Ivory Coast (FIF) confirmed that they were in the dark over Toure’s whereabouts. The four-time African player of the year recently came out of retirement on the backdrop of falling out of favor at Manchester City to join an Ivory Coast team who missed on going to world cup finals in Russia 2018 and failed to reach the knockout stages of last year’s AFCON finals in Gabon.

Meanwhile, the Turkish based striker, Demba Ba has revealed his hope in receiving a call to join the Senegalese camp for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The 32-year-old has been in fine form, scoring 5 times in 7 matches for Goztepe and believes his experience can be an asset for the Lions of Teranga in June. The former Newcastle and Chelsea striker last played an international match in 2015.

Central African Republic: Coach describes football as the country’s bearer of good news

The Wild Beasts’ boss, Raoul Savoy has expressed delight over his team’s ability to bring people together in the country. CAR has been hit with religious and ethnic conflicts since 2013 claiming thousands of lives. At times, football matches had to be postponed or played in other countries because of the unrest.

““The national team are unifying the country. When the Wild Beasts play, people think of something else. If we have good results, then we bring positive news.”- Savoy told BBC”

— http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43473972

CAR is currently going through an internationally supervised transition and the games will be played in the Capital Bangui, once again. The Wild Beasts will play a friendly with the Scorpions of Gambia on 23 March in preparation for the resumption of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers where they were pitted in the same group with Guinea, Ivory Coast and Rwanda. A group they currently lead.