FIFA rates Nigeria as third worst football Developing Country

Nigeria's self-proclaimed development in football has been slammed by FIFA which ranks the country as the third worst soccer developing nation in the world.

Panama spoils Uganda’s debut at Little League World Series

Win or lose, the little league world series team from Uganda has become a hometown favorite. Uganda, the first team from Africa to advance to South Williamsport, Pa., in the 66-year history of the Little League World Series, fell to Aguadulce, Panama, 9-3, on Friday, but that hardly mattered to the fans.

London 2012 football: Canada beats France to win bronze

Team Canada celebrates their 1-0 victory over France in the bronze medal soccer match at the London 2012 games.

It will be remembered as the greatest moment in Canadian women’s soccer history, an improbable goal in extra time that has given the country an Olympic bronze medal.

Diana Matheson scored in extra time to give Canada a 1-0 win over France here Thursday afternoon to set off a raucous celebration of a team a nation has grown to love.

After fighting off the physical and mental fatigue during a difficult week under intense pressure — to say nothing of a second half entirely dominated by the French — the women won Canada’s first medal in a traditional team sport since 1936.

Against the run of play, Canada launched a full-out attack into the French box in the 92nd minute. Sophie Schmidt’s shot hit a French leg and bounced back to Matheson who made no mistake on the shot.

It was an incredible end to an incredible week for the women, who lost a heart-breaking semi-final to the United States, 4-3 in extra time, marked by dubious officiating.

And then it was the French, who had soundly beaten Canada 4-0 at last year’s World Cup, who took over a listless game in the second half and had several chances to break through.

They had taken one shot off the post, one off the bar and one off, it appeared, the face of Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod in a desperate attempt to score.

But with extra time looming, and Canada obviously exhausted, Matheson and Schmidt combined for the historic goal.

“I feel amazing,” Matheson told CTV moments after her winning goal.

“We thought as a group we’d earn this medal and we did. Our goal coming in was to be on the podium and that’s what we were focusing on (not the U.S. result).”

Matheson also felt the bronze medal will boost interest in women’s soccer across Canada, and set up Canada’s role as host of the 2015 World Cup.

“We came in (to Olympics) wanting to leave a legacy for Canadian soccer and we did that.”

Arsenal first-team stars going to Nigeria

Arsenal Football Club has announced four first-team players are to travel to Nigeria to take part in activities with regional partners and engage with supporters in the region.

Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Per Mertesacker and new signing Lukas Podolski will be travelling to Lagos with Club officials for a flying visit the weekend after next. The players will take part in Club events and other activities organised by the Club’s partners, Malta Guinness and Airtel.


Source: Arsenal

Mario Balotelli's mum is a cleaner at car lease firm

He earns £120,000 a week, likes to drink vintage champagne straight from the bottle and once famously put hundreds of pounds on to a church collection plate. But Mario Balotelli's generosity doesn't appear to extend to his mother, who works as a cleaner in an office only a few miles from her son's £3million mansion.


While the Manchester City footballer glides around in his gleaming £120,000 Bentley Continental GT, Rose Barwuah has a more humble mode of transport – the number 11 bus. Five times a week, she catches the bus  to start her job as a cleaner at a car lease  firm on the outskirts of Cheadle, near Manchester, earning little more than the minimum wage of £6.08  an hour.



Home for her is a council home in Wythenshawe, the area used to  film Shameless, the Channel 4 comedy about feckless families living on benefits.


The 46-year-old gave Balotelli up for adoption when he was two, and she and her husband were living in poverty in a tiny flat in Brescia, Italy.


Last Christmas she moved to the Manchester area to be near her notoriously eccentric son, now 21.
A source said: 'When she came over from Italy with her daughter, Rose, she said she wanted to be close to her son and didn't want any of the huge wealth or luxury he now enjoys.

'And it appears she is staying true to her word, living within her limited means and working hard. It is hard work she is doing but she previously worked in a market so she is pretty tough.
'Mario doesn't live very far away in Alderley Edge but it is a world away as far as lifestyle.'

He added: 'His mother keeps a low profile – she doesn't want Mario to feel pressured by her being in the UK. She just wants to rebuild her relationship with her son as any mother would want.'
Balotelli has visited his mother on several occasions at her small semi-detached home, parking his white Bentley outside.


She and her husband Thomas, who are originally from Ghana, were advised to give him up when he was two because he had a life-threatening intestinal condition made worse by their cramped living quarters.


His mother later claimed the Balotelli family, who adopted Mario, had turned him against his birth relatives and she had to work hard to build a relationship with him.
She recently said: 'Mario has been over to see me a few times. We don't see each other all the time as he has his life and I have mine.'

Culled from Daily Mail UK