Chelsea duo Michael Essien and Didier Drogba face competition from Arsenal s Emmanuel Adebayor and a pair of Egyptians in the race to be named African Player of 2008.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed that Egypt s Mohamed Aboutrika and Amr Zaki, who play for Al-Ahly and Wigan respectively, Togo s Adebayor, Ghanian Essien and Ivorian Drogba were the five players nominated for the annual individual award.
France-born Mali international Frederic Kanoute won the 2007 African Player Award.
According to CAF spokesman Suleimanu Habuba, the awards ceremony earlier slated for January 23 in Senegal will now take place in Nigeria on February 10, the same time as the CAF General Assembly.
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The Los Angeles Rams travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings on Sunday with both teams still yet to confirm their spots in the playoffs. The Rams are all but in, with a 99% chance of making it but for the Vikings, who only have a 35% chance, it’s essential that they win out.
Can Kirk Cousins’ Vikings keep their hopes alive or will Matthew Stafford put them to the sword? Be sure to read our NFL picks and predictions for the Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings.
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The Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots will kick off Week 13 at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night.
Bettors are wondering if Josh Allen is 100% as his passing yard total is dropping, while the backfield in New England could be all Rhamondre Stevenson’s..
Find out my best NFL player prop bets for Thursday Night Football’s divisional battle between the Bills and Patriots. Be sure to also check out Jason Logan’s TNF full-game betting preview!
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Christmas is nearly here, and so are the NFL playoffs. You’ll often find juiced prices on teams that “want it more” at this time of year, but I think there are some postseason hopefuls being dangled at playable odds.
I’m mixing a fairly low-risk moneyline parlay with a more aggressive same-game parlay as I look to secure a winning holiday weekend in Week 16, so please join me as I discuss the NFL odds and share my free NFL picks for Sunday, December 24.
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A betting line and what it represents is rather mundane and straightforward to most bettors: they log onto their book, take a glance at the lines, and make their bets. But the reality is that those lines actually represent an evolving and nuanced market deserving of more attention from bettors.
This is especially true for the NFL, as the lifetime of a line for any given game spans nearly two weeks whereas in other sports a line may be on the board for 24 hours at most.
In the NFL, the chronology of a line usually looks something like this:
• Lookahead lines open two Tuesdays or Wednesdays before they kick-off• Lookahead lines close as that week’s Sunday games kick off• Lines reopen as the Sunday afte…
It was not that Arsenal did not tell Emile Smith Rowe to eat properly, to hydrate correctly, to be professional at all times. It was just that, in his words, he “didn’t really listen … I was a bit too lazy”.
To chart Smith Rowe’s rise to the point where he has received his first England call-up for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania on Friday and San Marino next Monday, it is easy to zero in on the electric progress he has made since Boxing Day.
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder was not supposed to start against Chelsea that day but the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, contending with illness in his squad, turned to him a couple of hours before kick-off. Arsenal had taken five points from their prev…
Theo Michael Owen was celebrating his 21st birthday in May when he was involved in a life-changing car accident. With his neck broken in five places, the lifelong Manchester City fan spent four weeks in a coma in the Royal Preston hospital. Whiling away the hours in his hospital room while watching him slip in and out of consciousness, his family spoke to him about football and what would be the upcoming final of the Champions League.
They were worried that his injuries were so severe, he would never have the capacity to talk again. But on Sunday morning his lips moved, for the first time since the crash, and slowly he mouthed: “MCFC the treble”.
Manchester City scrap their way to a first Champions League winRead more
It seemed that PSG had taken its final L for the season in its embarrassing collapse against Manchester United, but someone at the French club decided to add one last self-own to the tally. Former United defender and poultry lover Patrice Evra was at the Parc Des Princes to watch his old club become the first in Champions League history to claw back from a 2-0 home loss in the first leg. Because he’s the most excitable person in world soccer this side of Andrés Cantor, he celebrated in typical Evra form: by going bananas on Instagram.
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College football begins a new era today. After years of frustration with the Bowl Championship Series, there's finally a playoff to crown a national champion. If you haven't followed the season closely to this point but want to follow along, here's a quick rundown of what you should know about each team, and their chances to win the playoff. Ohio State will play Alabama in one semi-final game while Florida State battles Oregon in the other. Four teams might seem like too few, especially for the Big 12 conference, but the new playoff is much better than its predecessor. We'll take a look at these four teams and their paths to the first college football playoff. A few numbers will guide us on this journey. Rank in preseason AP poll. The higher ranked team in the p…