stars in Europe - Uche not angry at Nigeria World Cup snub

The Villarreal striker was not picked by Keshi, despite scoring 12 goals in the Spanish top flight this season. Uche has not played for his country since they won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa last year. The 30-year-old insists, however, that he holds no grudges against Keshi. "Of course as a professional footballer you'd love to represent your country, but I have never had bad words towards the national coach," Uche is widely regarded as one of Nigeria's most reliable strikers at international level and is one of his nation's all-time top scorers, with 18 goals in 45 appearances, behind Rashidi Yekini, Segun Odegbami and Yakubu Aiyegbeni. 

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2014 World Cup - squad - Shola Ameobi in provisional Nigeria squad

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stars in Europe - Wilfried Bony - Ivory Coast striker happy at Swansea City

The Ivorian has scored 24 goals in all competitions since joining the Swans from Vitesse Arnhem for a club-record fee of £12m last summer. Bony, 25, has been the bright spot in a disappointing Premier League season. 

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NATIONAL TEAM - MOROCCO - COACH - former player Badou Zaki confirmed as new coach

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club - coaches - Youssef resigns as Al Ahly coach

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2 May 2014
African Champions League 2014 - DR Congo rivals drawn together

TP Mazemebe, runners-up in last year's Confederation Cup, and AS Vita Club are fierce rivals

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African Confederation Cup 2014: play offs - 2nd leg - fixtures & results

Fixtures and results for the 2014 Confed Cup.
2013 champions: CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Winners advance to group stage

29 Apr 2014

AFRICAN CONFEDERATION CUP 2015 - FINAL - 2ND LEG - RESULT

AFRICAN CONFEDERATION CUP 2015 Etoile Du Sahel

 

Tunisia's Etoile Du Sahel beat South Africa's Orlando Pirates 1:0 in the second leg of the African Confederation Cup final in Sousse to triumph 2:1 on aggregate.

Captain Ammar Jemal scored the winner for the Tunisians to add to his late equaliser in the first leg, which had finished 1:1.

Sunday's game was played amid tight security, following Tuesday's bomb attack in Tunis, with a reduced crowd and an earlier kick-off time.

Jemal - the 28-year-old centre back, who previously played in the German Bundesliga with FC Cologne and Ajaccio in the French Ligue 1 - emerged as his team's star, as Etoile won Africa's second-biggest club competition.

His bundled finish in the 24th minute of Sunday's decider at the Olympic Stadium in Sousse added to his vital equaliser in the final minutes of last Saturday's first leg in Soweto, which cancelled out Thamsanqa Gabuza's strike.

Jemal's second goal of the tie came after Pirates defender Happy Jele miscued a cross and the ball spun viciously back towards goal, with the centre-half managing to bundle the ball over the line.

Originally scheduled for an 1830 GMT kick-off, the last major match of the 

African continental club season was brought forward by four-and-a-half hours.

Orlando Pirates host Etoile Du Sahel in first leg of 2015 Confederation Cup Final

And the initial crowd limit of 20,000 in the 25,000-seat stadium was halved to 10,000 on the orders of Tunisian authorities.

Pirates were already familiar with Tunisian teams, beating CS Sfaxien 1:0 in a Confederation Cup group game in Sfax four months ago.

But that did not help in the two-legged final, as Jemal - deputising as captain for injured goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi - inspired Etoile to claim a ninth African title.

It is also the fifth Tunisian success in 12 finals of the African equivalent of the Europa League, with Sfaxien having triumphed a record three times.

In addition, it marks Etoile's first continental title since the 2008 Super Cup as well as coach Faouzi Benzarti's third African club title.

Pirates were hoping to end a 14-year African trophy drought by South African clubs, but that wait goes on, with the 1995 African Cup of Champions Clubs (now African Champions League) and the 1996 Super Cup marking their last continental triumphs.

Etoile pocket $660,000 (625,000 euros) and secure a Super Cup date with Champions League title-holders TP Mazembe in Democratic Republic of Congo city Lubumbashi.

 

 

30 Nov 2015
(BBC Sport UK)

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