Sports Briefs
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SUPER Falcons, Nigerian female football players, have been assured a sort of dollars rain if they advanced beyond group level. Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, assured the players and officials of the female team of the NFF’s commitment to provide everything necessary to make them excel at the FIFA Women’s World Cup which gets underway in Canada next month.
Speaking inside the Abuja National Stadium where the team was training on Wednesday, May 13, Pinnick promised that the team would be paid $300,000 if it reached the finals of the tournament. “You will get $50,000 if you qualify for the quarter finals, $100,000 for semi finals, and $150,000 for playing in the finals,” he said.
The NFF boss further disclosed that the federation had arranged quality friendly matches for the team in Canada for their training tour
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Barcelona Faces Juventus in CL Final
JUVENTUS football club of Italy proved bookmakers wrong when it defeated Real Madrid of Spain, to reach this year’s final of the Champions League against Barcelona. Alvaro Morata, a former Real Madrid player, scored all the important goals needed on the night to knock defending champion Real Madrid out.
Real trailed 2-1 from the first leg but levelled on aggregate through Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty after James Rodriguez was caught by Giorgio Chiellini. If the result had stayed that way, it would have provided an avenue for a first ‘El Clasico’ final in Berlin on June 6. But Morata perished the thought when fired into the ground and past Iker Casillas, Real Madrid goalie.
Although Gareth Bale and Rodriguez went close later on to win the match for the home team, but Juventus held on.
By the result, it would be the first time since 2003 that Juventus would be appearing at the Champions League final.
Barcelona had booked its own final earlier on Tuesday, when it won its semi-final against Bayern Munich by 5-3. The Spanish team had done the job at the first meet when it scored three un-replied goals. But Barcelona lost to Bayern at its home ground, by two goals to three.
It would be the fourth time the Spanish team would be appearing at the Champions League final in nine years.
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Keshi to Call Up 26 Home-Based Players
STEPHEN Keshi, coach of Super Eagles, is set to name 26 domestic players for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, qualifying game against Chad. Out of the 26 players, the successful ones among them will battle for inclusion in the final squad with the overseas-based players that will be called up.
In an interview, Keshi said: “We have to return to basics and do the things we did that helped us win the 2013 AFCON in South Africa. I want to start from scratch to build a solid squad that will make Nigerians happy again.
“It is important to give players in the local league a chance to show us what they can do and that is why I am inviting 26 of them to prove themselves.”
The coach also disclosed that only foreign-based players who “play regularly for their clubs” would be invited.
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Murray, Williams Withdraw From Italian Open
ANDY Murray, world number three and Serena Williams, female world number one, have both pulled out of the Italian Open in Rome. Murray, 27, who cited fatigue for his action, was due to play David Goffin in the third round on Thursday, May 14, after a run of 10 successive victories on clay.
The Briton, who had earlier announced that he would not be participating in the tournament in order to rest for the French Open, beat Jeremy Chardy 6-4 6-3 in the previous round.
“I’ve played so much over the past 14 days. I’ve played 10 matches with some extremely late finishes and my body needs to rest,” Murray told the BBC Sport.
But Williams, on her part, pulled out of the tournament because of an elbow injury.
The 33-year-old withdrew shortly before she was due to face Christina McHale, a fellow American, in round three.
However, the 19-time Grand Slam champion believes the injury would not prevent her from participating at the French Open, which begins on Sunday, May 24.
Williams was the defending champion at the Italian Open.
— May 25, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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Tags: 26 players Abuja National Stadium AFCON Africa Cup of Nations Alvaro Morata Amaju Pinnick Andy Murray Barcelona Bayern Munich BBC Sport Briton Canada Chad Champions League Christina McHale Cristiano Ronaldo David Goffin El Clasico elbow injury FIFA Women’s World Cup final French Open Gareth Bale Giorgio Chiellini Grand Slam Iker Casillas Italian Open James Rodriguez Jeremy Chardy Jumbo Rewards Juventus NFF Nigeria Football Federation Real Madrid Rome Serena Williams South Africa Spain Stephen Keshi Super Eagles Super Falcons tournament
