World Cup Rush: Kenya Power Company urged not to interrupt broadcasts

Perhaps no region might be preparing as much as Africa, for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals kicking off on the 14th of June and specifically, Kenya. The chairman of Gor Mahia, the most successful team in the Kenyan Premier League history, has challenged the Kenya Power Company to be at their consistent best from 14th June to 15th July so as to avoid interruption in viewing the world’s greatest soccer showcase. Ambrose Rachier spoke from his club in Upper Hill, Nairobi after the Pay-TV channel, StarTimes, confirmed live broadcasting of all the 64 matches.

"StarTimes have done well to offer football fans a cheaper and quality option to watch football on TV and mobile phones. The remaining part is for Kenya Power to do their best and ensure fans watch these games without interruption." - Ambrose Rachier, Gor Mahia Chairman

It is actually a common phenomenon in some African countries, that blackouts occur during periods of the most anticipated football tournaments. At times the reason is beyond power authorities’ assumed maliciousness. This time, Kenya is not taking any chances. They are getting ready!

Although the Harambee stars failed to qualify, the CECAFA affiliated nation will be hoping that the likes of Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, and Morocco will make the continent proud.

No going back as the VAR will be showing replays at the World Cup in 2018

Former President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter recently shared his thoughts on the introduction of the VAR at this year’s World Cup. He was not in favor of the implementation of VAR and feels that it came too soon especially considering the results of how it has worked so far in domestic competitions in Italy, England, and Germany. “Comical” and “embarrassing” are some of the words used to describe it after some controversial decisions were made in the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rochdale. VAR disallowed a goal and also overturned a converted penalty. On Monday, Mainz were facing Freiburg in the German Bundesliga before VAR awarded a penalty after the players had already left the field for half-time. The decisions seem to be taking too long which slows the tempo and atmosphere in the stadium. FIFA have now come out with a proposed solution to all these problems and be a little bit transparent on how the decisions are made. They announced that replays will be shown on the screen for everyone to see incidents which keeps everyone engaged while the analyses of the incident and the decision is eventually made.

FIFA’s referee chief, Pierluigi Collina said, “the system is about avoiding clear and obvious major errors.”

This means that every decision will not be heavily reliant on the technology because the referees will continue to check over the minor errors. The former World Cup final referee assures us that it would not be a problem if VAR were to be implemented in this year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia. Do you think this system has been tested enough and is ready to be tried out at the biggest individual sporting event in the world?

World Cup Rush: Nigerian Football body wants $2m from FIFA

Reports suggest that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) wrote a letter to FIFA, dated 9 April, requesting for $2 of their 2018 World Cup finals qualification bonus. All that countries that qualify for the world cup finals are awarded bonuses by the world’s football governing body.

In hopes to prevent any future protest by the national team as was the case in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the NFF and Super Eagles have already agreed on the salaries and match bonuses. The Super Eagles will also get 30% of the total prize money, should their walk away with the world cup gold.

Nigeria have been pitted against Messi’s Argentina, Croatia and the European surprise package, Iceland. Their opening match is on the 16th of June against Croatia.

World Cup Rush: Boost for Nigeria as Onyekuru returns from injury

The Super Eagles’ attacking bluntness was exposed in their 2-0 loss to Serbia over the International break. The return of Everton’s Henry Onyekuru after a long spell on the sidelines, dating back to December 2017, will give Gernot Rohr a much needed headache in choosing who to put in his final 23 man squad for the FIFA world cup finals in June.

Onyekuru, 20, who is currently on loan at Belgian side, Anderlecht scored nine goals in 19 matches this season, making four appearances in the Uefa Champions League before his knee injury. In the prior to this one, Onyekuru found the back of the net, 22 times for Belgian side, Eupen which allowed for him to feature for the Super Eagles in their final world cup qualifying match against Algeria.

The young forward is ready to put shoulder to the wheel in the next two months for a place in Rohr’s charges.

“I have to prove that I’m able and worthy to go and play - once I do that - it’s up to the manager to select the team.”

— Henry Onyekuru with BBC Sport

Coach Rohr has also made it clear that the door is still open for any player to impress and earn their stripes.

“Coach Rohr says the World Cup door has not been shut against any player and is happy that Onyekuru is back.”

— Toyin Ibitoye, Nigerian Team Spokesperson

World Cup Rush: El Said joins Finnish side to increase world cup appearance chances

Another Pharaohs striker has joined a Finnish in bid to get some time so they could be available for selection into Hector Cuper’s World Cup squad. Al Ahly forward, Abdallah El-Said has joined Kuopion Palloseura on a two-month loan before his permanent move to Saudi club Al Ahly Jeddah on a two-year deal, come next season.

A Red Devils official, Adly Al Qaie confirmed that the 32-year-old has been allowed to go so as to prove his fitness for World Cup finals commencing on the 14th of June this year. El-Said joins Al Ahly teammate  Amr Gamal who recently left the South African side, Bidvest Wits to complete his loan spell at Helsinki in Finland with the bid to impress for a spot in the Pharaohs World Cup squad.

“Abdallah is a big name and very high-level player, we are happy to have him here. We wish Abdallah good luck and wait for him on the field and believe he will be a key player at the World Cup.”

— KuPS Sporting Director, Konstantin Shipulin

Will your favorite players make it to the World Cup?

There is a little less than 2 months left to go to the World Cup and the national team coaches have already started testing out the players that they think could make the final squad that will compete against the world’s best. An international break is right ahead of us and we have seen some familiar faces face the ax as some inexperienced players have been called up and trusted more than the experienced. For England, Gary Cahill who was tipped to become the captain of the team has been left out and has been replaced by players like Tarkowski. David Luiz has not been playing much of late this season and many expect him to be one of the biggest omissions from Brazil’s World Cup squad. What about Mario Goetze?

Russia 2018: Egypt target Portugal scalp, Lions of Teranga face South Korea

In preparation for the 2018 FIFA World cup finals, the Pharaohs of Egypt will face up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal while Aliou Cisse and his lions will battle South Korea. Egypt’s head coach, Hector Cuper is confident that their recent studies on the European champions and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has prepared them to be unrelenting in expressing themselves in the friendly clash between the two.

“We have studied Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo like we studied Uruguay and its stars Cavani and Suarez. We will see in the game how we will do.

We will try to play well at the World cup and we will try many things against Portugal and Ronaldo.” - Hector Cuper

The former Inter Milan coach also added the Egyptian Football Association is untiringly working with the team to ensure that players’ world cup preparations will not be adversely affected by Islam’s holy month of fasting in May (Ramadan).

Meanwhile, Senegal’s Lions of Teranga will face fellow world cup finalists, South Korea in a friendly match on 11th June in preparation to face another Asian opponent, Japan in their Group H alongside Poland and Colombia.

Russia 2018 : EPL Based Players Dominate Egypt’s Squad For Friendlies

The Pharaohs’ coach has picked West Brom duo Ali Gabr and Ahmed Hegazi, Ramadan Sobhi (Stoke City), Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal) and of course Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) for the friendlies against Portugal and Greece in preparation for Russia. Other players who made the squad are from other European leagues such as Belgium and Turkey. The coach is expected to add more Egyptian based players in the coming few days

The world cup finals are less than a hundred days away and any crop of players picked for friendlies would probably, more or less, resemble the actual team to compete in the June finals.

Read more on the team selections here.

Countdown to Russia 2018

The buzz of the World’s most popular soccer tournament has already started with only a century of sleeps left before the tournament commences as the hosts, Russia face Saudi Arabia in a match from Group A. Talk has already begun on who looks set to get a call up to the squads. Fringe players have started to mount pressure on their managers and those that were not happy with their clubs have already pushed for moves in the January transfer window. England fans are already dreaming of winning the tournament which has evaded them for the longest time. About 16 teams from the 32 that are competing in this year’s World Cup have already released their kits. What about the famous VAR? Is this technology ready to be implemented in such a tournament?

Africans Dismiss Racism Fears in Russia Ahead of the 2018 World Cup Finals

Africans currently residing in Russia have brushed aside racism prevalence in Russia in an interview with BBC. As racism in Russia has been a seemingly consistent issue in the football, we commend these Africans for pioneering a new country for their families and following their dreams and goals. For more, watch this short video about African excitement for The 2018 World Cup in Russia.