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sports<br />
Four young Thai footballers<br />
rescued from cave<br />
The operation to rescue<br />
12 boys and their<br />
football coach trapped<br />
in a cave in Thailand is<br />
progressing more quickly<br />
than expected, the man<br />
overseeing it has said.<br />
The boys, aged between 11<br />
and 16, and their 25-yearold<br />
coach were found by<br />
search teams earlier this<br />
month.<br />
On Sunday, rescuers said<br />
at least four of the boys had<br />
been brought to the surface,<br />
with some local reports<br />
suggesting that six had so<br />
far been rescued.<br />
The four have been safely<br />
Porto’s Agu rules out loan move<br />
Nigerian midfielder,<br />
Mikel Agu, has resolved<br />
to stay and fight for his spot<br />
at Portuguese giants FC<br />
Porto in the new season,<br />
Completesportsnigeria.<br />
com reports.<br />
The combative player,<br />
who has played away on loan<br />
in the last three seasons,<br />
insists that he wants to stay<br />
with his parent club and<br />
seize the opportunity when<br />
presented with one.<br />
“I don’t want to go on loan<br />
again. I’m staying at Porto<br />
•Agu<br />
Jurgen Klopp says he<br />
was impressed with Naby<br />
Keita’s Liverpool debut at<br />
Chester FC on Saturday,<br />
while he admitted Fabinho<br />
will need a bit more time to<br />
adjust to the team’s playing<br />
style.<br />
The midfield pair both<br />
played 45 minutes of<br />
Liverpool’s first preseason<br />
friendly of the summer –<br />
a 7-0 victory away at the<br />
National League North side.<br />
Fabinho, the €50m<br />
summer signing from<br />
Monaco, started the match<br />
before former RB Leipzig<br />
man Keita was introduced<br />
after half-time with the<br />
scoreline at 2-0.<br />
“It’s hard for them,”<br />
Klopp said of his two new<br />
admitted to hospital, with<br />
the first of them brought<br />
from the cave complex at<br />
17:40 local time.<br />
Teams of divers are<br />
helping the boys to navigate<br />
submerged passageways<br />
in the Tham Luang cave<br />
system.<br />
Reports said 90 divers, 40<br />
from Thailand helped by 50<br />
from other countries, were<br />
involved in the operation.<br />
The rescue operation has<br />
been paused because of<br />
diminishing oxygen levels<br />
in the cave, and its next<br />
stage will begin on <strong>Monday</strong><br />
morning<br />
and, so far, I’ve resumed for<br />
pre-season and everything<br />
is going on fine. I will work<br />
very hard and take my<br />
chance when I get it,” Agu<br />
told CSN.<br />
Agu had previously played<br />
at Belgium’s Club Brugge,<br />
where he won the league<br />
title. He also had a stint<br />
at Rashidi Yekini’s former<br />
club, Vitoria Setubal, whom<br />
he helped to the semi-finals<br />
of the Taca da Liga before<br />
spending last season with<br />
Turkish Super Lig side<br />
Bursaspor where he played<br />
alongside Super Eagles<br />
teammates William Troost-<br />
Ekong and Shehu Abdullahi.<br />
The 25-year old is<br />
confident of his ability<br />
to fit in with the current<br />
Portuguese champions.<br />
He said: “I know I can<br />
make the grades and play<br />
with the team. I’ve been here<br />
before and I’ve also been<br />
training with the team since<br />
we resumed for pre-season,<br />
so I have an idea of what I<br />
need to do.<br />
If I continue to work as<br />
hard as I’m doing and I stay<br />
injury-free, I’m sure I have<br />
the quality to play here.”<br />
Klopp impressed with Keita debut<br />
midfielders. “You can see.<br />
We always measure the<br />
heart rates and if you don’t<br />
speak the language then you<br />
already have 100 when you<br />
only listen to me. So that’s<br />
how the first week is. But<br />
it’s all good.<br />
“(For) Fabinho today<br />
(Saturday) it was not too<br />
easy. How I said, it was not<br />
a good half and then it’s<br />
difficult to find him in the<br />
game. Naby felt much better<br />
in the second half. That’s<br />
how it is.<br />
“We know about the<br />
quality. We don’t test these<br />
boys. A few others have tests<br />
– the young lads need to<br />
show up in games like this,<br />
100 percent. They, for sure,<br />
have another two, three<br />
MONDAY, JULY 9, <strong>2018</strong><br />
•Rescue workers pump water out of the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand as they search for the missing football<br />
team... on Sunday. Photo: Getty Images<br />
CAF ban Kenyan ref for life over bribery<br />
A<br />
Kenyan referee who<br />
had been chosen for<br />
the <strong>2018</strong> World Cup in<br />
Russia has been banned<br />
for life after accepting a<br />
•CAF boss, Ahmad Ahmad<br />
games to do so and then we<br />
will see.”<br />
Asked what he thought<br />
Fabinho and Keita would<br />
bring to Liverpool, Klopp<br />
continued, “You saw<br />
Naby comes from Leipzig<br />
and knows the football<br />
philosophy that’s a similar<br />
•Keita<br />
bribe, an African Football<br />
Confederation statement<br />
said Sunday.<br />
Marwa Range was<br />
dropped from the World<br />
Cup list after a media sting<br />
exposed him accepting a<br />
$6,000 (about 5,100 euros)<br />
bribe from a journalist<br />
posing as a Ghanaian<br />
football official.<br />
A terse CAF statement<br />
gave no details about what<br />
Range was expected to do<br />
in return for the cash.<br />
Range is the second<br />
major casualty of a series<br />
of stings by Ghanaian<br />
journalists, which led to<br />
one.<br />
“(He’s) very sharp in the<br />
challenges, very quick in<br />
mind in these situations<br />
of counter-pressing, [his]<br />
impulses look kind of<br />
natural, which is good.<br />
“Monaco played a<br />
completely different style,<br />
so Fabinho probably needs<br />
a few more days. That’s<br />
how it is.<br />
“But he’s a fantastic<br />
football player, a good<br />
passer, his challenges are<br />
good – a proper defensive<br />
midfielder with the option<br />
of being a No. 8 as well, his<br />
heading is good.<br />
“So if you want to be a<br />
part of our squad then you<br />
need to be good and these<br />
two boys are.”<br />
follow countryman Kwesi<br />
Nyantakyi resigning as CAF<br />
first vice-president over<br />
corruption.<br />
A total of 22 referees<br />
are affected by the CAF<br />
crackdown with Togolese<br />
Yanissou Bebou and<br />
Gambian Jallow Ebrima<br />
banned for 10 years each.<br />
Ivory Coast referee Denis<br />
Dembele, a regular on the<br />
African national team and<br />
FIFA Technical Study<br />
Group member,<br />
Emmanuel Amuneke, has<br />
urged Super Eagles coach<br />
Gernot Rohr to inject more<br />
creative midfielders in<br />
the team ahead of their<br />
2019 Africa Cup of Nations<br />
qualifier against Seychelles.<br />
The Eagles failed to make<br />
it out of the group stages of<br />
the World Cup for the third<br />
time in six appearances at<br />
the FIFA World Cup and<br />
Amuneke who is in the<br />
five-man FIFA Technical<br />
Study group revealed that<br />
the team missed out due to<br />
little details.<br />
Nigeria lost 2-0 to<br />
Croatia in their opening<br />
game but bounced back to<br />
beat Iceland to boost their<br />
chances of qualifying for<br />
the next round, that was<br />
truncated by their 2-1 loss<br />
to Argentina.<br />
“It was a good try. We<br />
were close, yet still far off,”<br />
61<br />
club fixtures circuit, got a<br />
six-year ban.<br />
A further seven<br />
match officials received<br />
suspensions ranging<br />
between two and five years,<br />
according to the statement.<br />
Another 11 referees – 10<br />
Ghanaians and one Liberian<br />
– have been provisionally<br />
banned pending appearances<br />
before a CAF disciplinary<br />
board on August 5.<br />
AFCON: Amuneke urges<br />
Rohr to use creative players<br />
•Rohr<br />
Amuneke told CSN.<br />
“We have seen some<br />
lapses and must correct<br />
them and inject fresh ideas<br />
to compete well against<br />
other teams that set up their<br />
team to nullify our threats.<br />
“There were lots<br />
of positives from the<br />
tournament on the part<br />
of the Super Eagles which<br />
they must build on just like<br />
the creative aspect and the<br />
attack.”
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