Sunday September 28, 2008
Football: Axe to fall on five
By ERIC SAMUEL
PETALING JAYA: At least five players will be axed following the national football team's dismal outing in the playing tour of Slovakia recently.
Malaysia lost three matches and drew one in the tour.
National material: Kedah striker Mohd Khyril Muhymeen (right) has been picked by national coach B. Click to continue reading...

Next month sees the Merdeka Cup kick off in Malaysia with eight countries bidding to win the trophy won by Malaysia last year.

Seven of the countries have been confirmed while Kazakhstan have yet to confirm their attendance.

Despite Indonesia having postponed the ISL for a month so they could compete in this competition the Star doesn't include them! Click to continue reading...

The Merdeka Cup in Malaysia is an annual event which was won last year by the hosts who beat Myanmar 3-1 in the final.

This time around it is being played in October and will feature eight nations. According to the Star these are the confirmed participants:

Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Click to continue reading...

Say hello to the newest members of D.C. United - Ibrahim "Marcel" Koroma, Thabiso "Boyzzz" Khumalo and Greg "working on nickname" Janicki. We'll shortly announce that all three players have been signed to represent the Black-and-Red.

Marcel comes to the team from Sierra Leone Premier League, where he spent the last three seasons playing with Kallon FC.

Click to continue reading...

Steve had the scoop. As we suspected yesterday, D.C. United is looking to Africa to bolster its roster. Club officials are confirming this report from Africa that they are about to acquire Sierra Leone defender Ibrahim Koroma as a developmental player. Koroma, 18, started for his country in Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Equatorial Guinea. Click to continue reading...

Sierra Leone's kalleonnews.com (http://www.kalleonenews.com/2208085.htm) is reporting that DC United has signed FC Kallon's 18 year old central defender, Ibrahim ''Marcel'' Koroma, on a three month loan deal with an option to buy. Koroma is a Sierra Leone full international and particpated in his countries most recent World Cup qualifier. Click to continue reading...

Now that South Africa has been eliminated from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, will South Africa coach Joel Santana get the boot?

A South African newspaper editorial from the Cape Times doesn't seem to think so.

The South African Football Association must stay calm and resist the urge to fire coach Joel Santana after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Angola in 2010.

Click to continue reading...

UEFA
Sweden 0-0 Albania; Portugal 4-0 Malta; Hungary 0-0 Denmark; Latvia 2-1 Moldova; Israel 2-2 Switzerland; Greece 3-0 Luxembourg; Poland 1-1 Slovenia; Slovakia 2-1 No. Ireland; Wales 1-0 Azerbaijan; Germany 6-0 Liechtenstein; Turkey 2-0 Armenia; Spain 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina; Belgium 3-2 Estonia; Ukraine 1-0 Belarus; Croatia 3-0 Kazakhstan; England 2-0 Andorra; Lithuania 3-0 Romania; Austria 3-1 France; Serbia 2-0 Faroe Islands; Ireland 2-1 Georgia; Italy 2-1 Cyprus; Montenegro 2-2 Bulgaria; Macedonia 1-0 Scotland; Norway 2-2 Iceland. Click to continue reading...

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, 'FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal' with their qualifier rules.

Basically, there's a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Click to continue reading...

Well, business is back to normal after the Kandji disaster last week. Weeks of good news and achievement took a backseat to the alleged communist behavior of the MLS. But people do forget rather quickly, especially after the team has performed so damn well in a historically disasterous period for previous Metro/Bull squads.

Click to continue reading...

Sierra Leone striker Sahr Senesie is currently on trial with the New York Red Bulls. The 23 year old striker began his career in the Borussia Dortmund youth ranks and has appeared in 24 Bundesliga matches with Dortmund. He was most recently on trial with English side Nottingham Forrest, prior to that he had a brief spell with Swiss club Grasshoppers. Click to continue reading...

We know that Craig Bellamy is not all bad. While the Welshman has an unbelievably fiery temper and a propensity to swing a golf club in the direction of a team-mate, it should also be considered that he has set up a foundation in Sierra Leone to help disadvantaged children. ... Click to continue reading...

Very simply, and I'm looking through the precise blog-writer's phraseology book right now to express my emotions on this point...

Uh, OH, here it is.

Yes.

No, wait a minute:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

OK, that's right.

Fallas' story here. Click to continue reading...

Anyone who follows the Premiership or any other top domestic league in Europe, especially Ligue 1 in France, knows the talent level and importance of African players. They're coming to Europe in greater numbers than ever before and are making huge impacts with their clubs. I could name an all-African XI right now that I'd be willing to take over any other collection of players in the world for one game. Click to continue reading...

FIFA have just released their new world ranking table and there are some surprises.

Coming in at first place is newly crowned Euro 2008 champions Spain, who knocked former #1 Argentina off the top with their exceptional performance in Austria/Switzerland.

Argentina had held the top spot since October 2007. Click to continue reading...

Craig Bellamy is not a particularly nice man. In the last six years, he has hit team-mates with steel chairs and golf clubs, been acquitted of racially abusing a night club bouncer, and even been cleared of assaulting women in two separate incidents. This small melting-pot of Welsh rage now faces his latest shame having being accused of attacking a charity worker in Africa this past weekend.

Click to continue reading...

More class from Craig...

SOCCER bad boy Craig Bellamy faces fresh shame after it was claimed he attacked a charity worker in Africa.

Shocked witnesses said the striker went into a rage after losing money in a casino following an all-day drinking session.

Click to continue reading...

West Ham and Wales striker Craig Bellamy has had an interesting career.
From spats with teammates to public wrangling with coaches and trainers, Bellamy has never been far from the spotlight.

It's with interest I saw the story of Bellamy planning to build a football academy in Sierra Leone to try to help develop the country's young talent. Click to continue reading...

Mohamed Kallon, a striker from Sierra Leone. Tall, fast, not too old at 28, with a natural knack for scoring goals. He was just a few months ago being linked to Portsmouth of the English Premier League. This is really good stuff. Imagine this guy up top with Blanco. As you can see here, he hasn't [. Click to continue reading...

The 19-year old Sierra Leone midfielder arrived in the UK in 2005, bright-eyed at the prospect of being scouted by a soccer team, let alone one the size of Watford. Now, almost three years later, and with a fiance as well as a son and a steady job, the British Asylum and Immigration Authorities have denied him [. Click to continue reading...

This is it!

We wind down qualification for the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana this weekend with the final games in Groups Two and Nine.

Reigning champions Egypt are favorites for one of the places, as they need only to avoid defeat at home to Botswana on Saturday.

Egypt will be without injured duo Mido and Mohamed Barakat for the match against Botswana but have Hamburg striker Mohamed Zidan back after he missed their last match in Burundi. Click to continue reading...