Sports
IGSDA Strikes Partnership With LA Galaxy
The Independent
Grassroots Sports Development Association, IGSDA, Nigeria, has formed an alliance with America’s Major League’s, MLS, Football Club, LA Galaxy through an Abeokuta based football management and sponsorship organisation, Churchill Oliseh Agency.
According to the president and founder of IGSDA, Ambassador Miebi Ogunu in a chat on Monday, the partnership will see the grassroots association source for young talents for the feeders team of the Amercia clubside.
He lauded the new relationship and described it as a veritable platform for talented players from Nigeria to play in the United States and other countries across the globe. The President stated that IGSDA’s coaches also stand to exploit the platform by discovering new talents and traning them in line with international best practices in football.
Ogunu said, “In tandem with our vision to discover, develop and distribute talented young players for local and international consumption, IGSDA is calling for partnership with clubs and coaches within the country to extract maximum benefit from the platform”.
“So far, he continued, a handful of players discovered by IGSDA, who have fulfilled the required conditions for the LA Galaxy FC would be arriving the agency’s transitional camp in Lagos soon, where they would be given proper orientation and counselling before moving to foreign clubs.
On the association’s readiness to feeding the foreign team with talents, Ogunu said, “we have been organising local friendly matches within the 23 local government areas in Rivers State to select good players that would meet the standards of the Churchwill Oliseh Agency.
‘Our nucleus team in the state is named the Dream Team, and they have played several matches in which they posted brilliant performaces. Our last match was against scored giant FC of Rumuokwurusi which we won by a lone goal scored by Golden Eaglets invitee, Anselm Igbo”.
The president disclosed that the dream team will play Sharks FC’s Feeder Team on Friday and called on interested youngsters eager to make a career in the game to explore opportunities available within the association.
Pep Guardiola has denied that Manchester City spent big in January in case the club are hit with a transfer embargo for alleged Premier League financial rule breaches.
City splashed out around £170 million ($211 million) on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez before Monday’s transfer deadline.
They are much-needed reinforcements for a side who are well off the pace in the Premier League and who just scraped into the Champions League play-offs.
Guardiola, whose side edged third-tier Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, was asked whether the club’s striking outlay was triggered by the possibility they would be hit by a transfer ban.
Brighton came from behind to beat Chelsea and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Blues took a fortunate lead early on when Cole Palmer’s volleyed cross from the left was fumbled into his own net by Bart Verbruggen.
But Albion came back and Georginio Rutter headed in from Joel Veltman’s cross.
And they took the lead when Rutter picked out Kaoru Mitoma, the subject of a rejected £54m bid from Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr before the transfer deadline, who dinked the ball over Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea felt the goal should have been disallowed, as the ball struck Tariq Lamptey’s arm in the build-up, though there are no video assistant referees in the FA Cup fourth round.
Those goals came from Albion’s only shots in the first 60 minutes.
Plymouth Argyle produced a classic FA Cup giant-killing as the Championship’s bottom club stunned Premier League leaders Liverpool at a raucous Home Park.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot made 10 changes from the side that swept Tottenham aside to reach the Carabao Cup final and paid the price as Plymouth made the most of the opportunity to secure a place in the fifth round.
A scrappy tie came to life eight minutes after the interval when Plymouth were awarded a penalty after Harvey Elliott’s handball, Ryan Hardie drilling home the spot-kick in emphatic fashion.
Hardie almost added a second shortly afterwards when his shot was turned on to the post by Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Liverpool applied some pressure in the closing stages, keeper Conor Hazard saving superbly from Diogo Jota then miraculously from substitute Darwin Nunez’s header, but Plymouth closed out a landmark win under new manager Miron Muslic.
Plymouth’s atmospheric Home Park erupted with a deafening roar as the final whistle sounded on a victory they will recall forever in Devon.
The sinking of Liverpool was a triumph for Plymouth’s charismatic manager Muslic, who has won the hearts of the ‘Green Army’ since succeeding the sacked Wayne Rooney.
In a stunning atmosphere, Plymouth sensed their chance when Liverpool’s teamsheet landed, with stellar names such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk not even on the bench.
Plymouth, as they had to, made the tie a scrap and then the decisive moment came when Elliott needlessly handled, allowing Hardie to assume the role of match-winner.
And they found a hero in keeper Hazard in those closing moments as he saved from Jota, then miraculously from Nunez’s header.
The main priority remains survival in the Championship, but the FA Cup demonstrated its enduring magic by producing a result that Plymouth hope will help their fight to stay up
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