Carlos Takam has replaced Kubrat Pulev as the IBF mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua’s world title  at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on October 28, it was announced late on Monday night.

Frenchman Takam, rated at No3 with the IBF  governing body has been on the hunt for a showdown with the champion, and gets his golden chance at ripping away Joshua’s titles after Pulev picked up a shoulder injury in sparring.

“I received a call from Kalle Sauerland late afternoon to inform me that Pulev had injured his shoulder and may be ruled out of the fight – this was later confirmed by his doctor,” said promoter Eddie Hearn. “IBF rules state that the mandatory will go to the next fighter in line which is Carlos Takam.”

Takam is a Cameroonian-French professional boxer and former WBC silver heavyweight champion. As an amateur he represented Cameroon in the super heavyweight division at the 2004 Olympics. He is 36 and has a record of 35 wins, three defeats and one draw, and this will be his first full heavyweight title fight.

“When the Pulev fight was announced I made a deal with Takam’s team to begin camp and be on standby for this fight,” sais Hearn. “When I called them this evening they were overjoyed and good to go.

“It’s a difficult position for AJ having prepared meticulously for the style and height of Pulev, he now faces a completely different style and challenge in Takam – this hasn’t happened in his career before but he is ready for all comers on October 28.”

Joshua’s bout with Takam is part of a huge night of action in Cardiff where the 2012 London Olympic gold medal winner’s bitter foe Dillian Whyte aims to take a giant step to his first world title shot by facing Robert Helenius for the WBC silver strap.

Kal Yafai defends his WBA world super-flyweight title against Japanese mandatory challenger Sho Ishida and Irish sensation Katie Taylor challenges for her first world title as she takes on two-weight world champion Anahi Esther Sanchez for the WBA lightweight crown.

There’s a mouth-watering British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight battle between Frank Buglioni and Callum Johnson, Lenroy Thomas and Dave Allen rematch for the Commonwealth heavyweight title and Team GB Olympian and Welsh talent Joe Cordina appears in his fifth pro outing.

Source: The Telegraph

US President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of NFL players who took a knee during renditions of the national anthem.

American football players across the US and in London, including members of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Baltimore Ravens, knelt in a powerful display of unity during games on Sunday.

Trump called the protesters “disgraceful” and claimed they blatantly disrespected veterans who fought for the flag and country.

“I don’t think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our national anthem,” Trump said at a Rose Garden press conference on Tuesday.

“They were fighting for our country, they were fighting for our flag, they were fighting for our national anthem,” he said, referring to injured soldiers he visited at Walter Reed. “For people to disrespect that by kneeling during the playing of our national anthem I think is disgraceful.”

Meanwhile, Richard Allen Smith, an Afghanistan war veteran, told MSNBC in an interview, “I didn’t fight for any flag or anthem and I don’t know anybody that did fight for a flag or anthem.”

Trump “is a man who has no capacity for shame, he’s a serial sexual predator and a bigot,” he said, adding,  he was “just ashamed that this is our president.”

Trump has called on NFL owners to sack the mostly black players who staged the protest. He also asked fans to boycott NFL games to increase pressure on the league to fire or suspend those players.

“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast,” Trump wrote. “Fire or suspend!”

NFL teams whose owners or CEOs have voiced their support of players’ free expression included the New England Patriots, New York Giants, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.

The row began on Friday at a Republican political rally in Alabama when Trump described activist NFL players — mostly African Americans — as “sons of b****es” who should lose their job for not standing during renditions of the national anthem.

The protests are aimed at drawing more attention to police violence against minorities in America following a spate of deadly police shootings of black men.

They began last year when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem to protest racial injustice.

Source: Presstv

Liverpool need to build their defence around Joel Matip, Garth Crooks has claimed. The Reds have made a mixed start to the Premier League season in Jurgen Klopp’s second full campaign in charge of the Merseyside outfit.

Liverpool missed out on the signing of Southampton captain Virgil van Dijk in the summer transfer window to leave Klopp with the same options at centre-half. Klopp has stuck with Matip for all of Liverpool’s Premier League games so far but has alternated between Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan to partner the Cameroon international.

And the Estonia international partnered the African centre-half for Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday to extend their winless run to three games. The Reds have already conceded 14 goals in eight games in all competitions to raise serious questions about Liverpool’s ability to defend.

Klopp has failed to address Liverpool’s defensive issues which continue to undermine their progress in other areas of the pitch under the former Borussia Dortmund coach. Former Spurs legend Crooks believes Liverpool should build their back four around Matip if Klopp wants to improve his team’s defensive performances.

“Joel Matip is a very willing defender and without the Cameroon centre-back’s exploits against Burnley, Liverpool would almost certainly have lost,” Crooks told BBC Sport. “His header off the line from a Ben Mee effort was priceless for the Reds and the Burnley defender nearly gave the Kop another heart attack when Simon Mignolet just about managed to stop the ball crossing the line after another free header at the far post.

“However, it was Matip, acting as his goalkeeper’s insurance policy, who saved the day. I’ve expressed my views about Liverpool’s defence on a number of occasions and they were desperately lucky to survive this fixture.”
Crooks added: “I will say this: Matip is an honest competitor capable of producing excellent performances on his day. But for goodness sake, he needs a defence around him.” Matip moved to Liverpool in a free transfer from Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04 in the 2016 summer transfer window.

Source: The Sports Review

Officials of the world football governing body, FIFA and the Confederation of African Football, CAF are in La Republique du Cameroun. Their main mission is to put in place a Normalisation Committee to replace the former FECAFOOT Executive after the elections were declared null.

According to a brief programme published, the officials entered the French speaking country on Wednesday 6th of September 2017. Today, Thursday 7th of September, the team will consult with stakeholders in the domain of football in the country and eventually appoint members of the Normalisation Committee.

On Friday 8th the Committee shall be officially installed before the delegation leaves Cameroon on Friday 9th September. Football fans are very excited to see the faces that will be assigned the onerous task of organising fresh elections in FECAFOOT within the six month.

Since Wednesday the 23rd of August when FIFA Executive board decided to appoint a Normalisation Committee to manage FECAFOOT, Blaise Moussa the Secretary General has been handling the daily affairs of the Francophone dominated FA.

The Franccophone puzzle is not only centred around those to be appointed within the Normalisation Committee but most especially those who will eventually be voted into a new FECAFOOT executive bureau on the 28th of February 2018.

Source: CRTV

Veteran Gianluigi Buffon has confessed his own inspirations behind him being a goalkeeper, beginning with Cameroon goalie Thomas N’Kono. The goalkeeping talisman for both Juventus as well as the Italian national side has had a footballing career that has spanned four decades, and he has revealed how watching the 1990 World Cup at aged 12 moulded his dreams of his professional goalkeeping career.

It was not by watching the Italian team at the tournament that made him want to pursue a career with football – it came, instead, by watching goalkeeper N’Kono play for the Cameroon national team. Defending In Numbers is a new Deezer Originals football podcast, created by Squawka. Listen to the latest episode and subscribe to the podcast on Deezer and iTunes.

“When I was little, there was someone mythical in my life: Thomas N’Kono, the Cameroon goalkeeper,” said Buffon to Marca. “I saw him play at the 1990 World Cup and, after Italy, Cameroon were the team of my heart. It was at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. I remember the day of the first match, it was Argentina-Cameroon.

“Cameroon won and, at that moment, I decided to become a goalkeeper.” N’Kono is widely believed to be the greatest goalkeeper Africa has ever produced and similar narratives have surrounded Buffon for years. The 39-year-old veteran often being lauded as the best goalkeeper his international side has seen.

Last year, he established a record for most consecutive unbeaten minutes in the Italian league. This calendar year, he was the goalkeeper who drove Juventus from the group stages to place in the final of the Champions League, amassing 600 unbroken minutes of clean-sheet football.

The Italian shot-stopper, however, was met with harsh criticism following his side’s 3-0 defeat to Spain in a World Cup qualifying match last weekend. Ever since turning 35, Buffon has had varying levels of consistency, with critics debating whether or not he was already in the twilight years of his career – looking a bit sluggish when Isco’s free-kick had flew past him on the night.

“If you aren’t attentive against Spain, they’ll hurt you a lot. Spain’s players change but not the philosophy,” said Buffon about the match. These World Cup qualifying matches could be Buffon’s last-ever on the international scene, as he has already announced his decision to retire from national team duty following the 2018 finals.

Source: Squawka.com

African champions La Republique du Cameroun cannot qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia after a 1-1 draw with Nigeria in Yaounde on Monday. The result means La Republique have just three points from four matches and can no longer finish top of Group B.

“There’s no-one in life who achieves all his goals [but] it’s a disappointment,” Indomitable Lions coach Hugo Broos said after the game. In Monday’s other match, Libya earned a 1-0 win over Guinea in Group A. Nigeria took the lead in Yaounde after 30 minutes through Moses Simon but their hosts equalised with 15 minutes to go through a Vincent Aboubakar penalty.

The Super Eagles’ goal came after La Republique failed to clear and Simon profited after touches from Odion Ighalo and Victor Moses. On the hour, Cameroon coach Hugo Broos made two changes as Vincent Aboubakar and Christian Bassagog came on to replace Benjamin Moukandjo and Jean-Pierre Nsame.

The changes had the desired affect as the Indomitable Lions pushed forward and forced Nigeria’s third choice keeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa into a foul in the area. Aboubakar stepped up to score the penalty in the 75th minute firing the ball straight down the middle. But Ezenwa made amends for the penalty error with two saves in quick succession to deny first Nicolas Moumi and moments later Collins Fai.

The other match in Group B sees Algeria host Zambia in Constantine later on Tuesday. A win for Zambia will take them to seven points, just three behind Nigeria with two games to play – while Algeria must win to keep alive any slim hopes they still have of going to Russia.

In Monastir, Libya got their first points of this stage of the campaign despite being down to 10 men for the last quarter of their match against Guinea. Hamdou Mohamed scored the only goal of the game towards the end of the first half. Should Tunisia get a point against DR Congo on Tuesday, then both Libya and Guinea will be formally ruled out of contention for Russia 2018.

Source: BBC

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has been withdrawn from Cameroon’s World Cup qualifier against Nigeria after suffering a hamstring injury. The Stoke City forward hobbled out of a 4-0 defeat to Nigeria in Uyo on Friday that all-but ended Cameroon’s hopes of making it to Russia next year. He lasted 13 minutes after being brought on at half-time with the score at 2-0.

Cameroon are winless after three of six games, seven points behind Group B leaders Nigeria, who will be defending a 100 per cent record when the reverse fixture takes place in Yaoundé tomorrow (6pm). Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has played for Cameroon at two World Cup finals.

Choupo-Moting will now be hoping to be back available for Stoke’s next match in the Premier League, against Manchester United in front of the television cameras at the bet365 Stadium next Saturday evening (5.30pm).
Cameroon boss Hugo Broos said this afternoon: “Choupo is out for tomorrow. This is the second time this has happened. It’s a shame because every time he’s here he gets hurt and when he’s not here it’s because he got hurt with his club.

“He is suffering a little too much with this injury. It’s not pleasant for him or for us.” Choupo-Moting, aged 28, has started Stoke’s last two games as centre forward having joined as a free agent in the summer after leaving Schalke.

Source: Stokesentinel

Nigeria made it three wins from three in 2018 World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 thrashing of African champions Cameroon in Uyo. Earlier on Friday, Ghana scored in the 85th minute to earn a 1-1 draw against visiting Congo in Group E.

Odion Ighalo, John Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Kelechi Iheanacho were all on target for Nigeria in their victory. The win means the Super Eagles top Group B on nine points while Cameroon have just two after three matches.

Zambia and Algeria both have a point each and they play their third match, against one another, on Saturday in Lusaka. Nigeria took the lead on 29 minutes when Ighalo latched onto a ball over the top from captain John Mikel Obi before drilling home.

Ighalo was then booked for revealing a T-shirt in support of his international colleague Carl Ikeme, who is suffering from leukaemia. Just before half-time, a corner from Moses was turned in by his former Chelsea team-mate Mikel Obi as he stabbed into the roof of the net from close range.

Moses scored the third in the 55th minute after an exchange of passes with Moses Simon. The rout for Cameroon, who won the Africa Cup of Nations in February, was completed when Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho stooped to head home a cross from Ogenyi Onazi with 14 minutes left.

Culled from the BBC

The coach of the Indomitable Lions, Hugo Broos started preparations for the double confrontation against the Super Eagles of Nigeria today Monday, August 28, 2017 on the grounds of the military stadium in Yaoundé counting for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers with only 10 players.

Cameroon Concord News understands that of the 23 pre-selected players, only ten have so far responded and they include Georges Mandjeck, Adolphe Teikeu, Jules Goda, Castelleto Jean Charles, Fabrice Olinga, Arnaud Djoum, Benjamin Moukandjo, Christian Bassogog, Georges Bokwe and Frantz Pangop- the only local player among the troops.

With this reduced staff, the technical crew carried out a minor training session today Monday pending the arrival tomorrow Tuesday of a large wave of players. Captain Benjamin Moukandjo and his team-mates will hold an intensive practice session tomorrow at the Mont Febe hotel and then to the military stadium.

Our senior football correspondent say the African champions will leave for Nigeria on Thursday, 31 August, 24 hours before the first leg of the double confrontation against the Super Eagles of Nigeria. The return leg is scheduled to take place in Yaoundé on Monday the 4th of September from 18:30 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium.

By Sonne Peter
Cameroon Concord News