Hazard Headline Belgium EURO 2016 Squad

Chelsea attacker Eden Hazard headlines Marc Wilmots’ 24-man Belgium squad for Euro 2016, with Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany missing out due to injury.

Nacer Chadli, Kevin Mirallas and Thorgan Hazard have to settle for a place on the standby list, while Steven Defour and Adnan Januzaj miss out altogether.

Wilmots has opted to include one extra defender in his provisional squad due to a number of minor injury problems at the back, with one of the nine defenders called up expected to miss out on the final squad.

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Jean-Francois Gillet (Mechelen)

Defenders: Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit st Petersburg), Jason Denayer (Manchester City, on loan at Galatasaray), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Bjorn Engels (Club Brugge), Jordan Lukaku (Oostende), Thomas Meunier (Club Brugge), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona)

Midfielders: Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg), Marouane Fellaini (Liverpool), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham), Radja Nainggolan (Roma)

Attackers: Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Michy Batshuayi (Marseille), Christian Benteke, Divock Origi (Liverpool), Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco (Atletico Madrid)

Standby: Nacer Chadli (Tottenham), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Laurens De Bock (Club Brugge), Guillaume Gillet (Nantes), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Matz Sels (Gent)

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Hazard Headline Belgium EURO 2016 Squad

Brazil Name Copa America Squad, Kaka And Oscar Out

Santos starlet Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa and Liverpool’s Coutinho were among those named in Brazil coach Dunga’s final 23-man squad for June’s Copa America Centenario.

Orlando City’s Kaka, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, PSG’s Lucas Moura and Cheslea’s Oscar were were among 17 players to be cut from the preliminary 40-man squad announced last week.

The others were Marcelo Grohe, Fagner, Alex Sandro, Jemerson, Gabriel Paulista, Wallace, Fernandinho, Ganso, Felipe Anderson, Luan, Jonas, Alex Teixeira and Gabriel Jesus.

Captain Neymar will be absent after an agreement was reached with Barcelona that will see the forward play the Rio Olympic games instead.

Inter defender Miranda and Chelsea midfielder Willian, Dunga’s first choices for his remaining two overage slots at the games, were named in the final 23 which appears to have ruled them out of the Olympics.

Real Madrid’s Casemiro returns to the squad following an impressive season with Spanish giants, as does Barcelona’s Rafinha who had been missing since suffering a serious knee injury in September.

Elias of Corinthians, Dunga’s most-capped midfielder after Willian, also returns after overcoming injury problems.

Any late replacements to the squad must be selected from the remaining 17 from Dunga’s preliminary squad.

Brazil have been drawn in Group B of the centenary version of the competition, set to be played in USA, alongside Ecuador, Haiti and Peru.

The Copa America Centenario has been organized to celebrate 100-years of the South American football championships. It will be played outside of the continent for the first time and feature six teams from North American Confederation CONCACAF

Brazil’s Copa America Centenario squad

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Internacional), Diego Alves (Valencia), Ederson (Benfica)

Defenders: Miranda (Inter), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Rodrigo Caio (Sao Paulo), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Fabinho (Monaco), Douglas Santos (Atletico Mineiro)

Midfielders: Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Elias (Corinthians), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Coutinho (Liverpool), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Barcelona)

Forwards: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich), Hulk (Zenit), Gabigol (Santos), Ricardo Oliveira (Santos)

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Brazil Name Copa America Squad, Kaka And Oscar Out

David Luiz and Thiago Silva Out Of Brazil Copa América Squad

Brazil Coach Dunga has announced a preliminary squad for the Copa América with the Paris Saint-Germain duo of David Luiz and Thiago Silva being left out.

The good performances of Paulo Henrique Ganso in recent games for São Paulo seems to have convinced Dunga to include him.

In the preliminary list of 40 players released for the Copa América Centenário, the coach included the number 10 of São Paulo, who’s been absent from the national team since 2012.

Other new names on the list by Dunga are Fágner [Corinthians], Rodrigo Caio [São Paulo], Casemiro [Real Madrid] and Walace [Grêmio].

The squad also includes Gabigol, Gabriel Jesus and Grêmio attacker Luan. As expected, Neymar was left out, as Barcelona would only release the player for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The final list of 23 players for the tournament will be released on Thursday.

Goalkeepers: Álisson (Inter), Diego Alves (Valencia), Marcelo Gröhe (Grêmio) and Éderson (Benfica).

Full-backs: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Fagner (Corinthians), Fabinho (Monaco), Luis Filipe (Atletico Madrid), Alex Sandro (Juventus) and Douglas Santos (Atlético-MG).

Defenders: Miranda (Inter Milan), Gil (Shandong Luneng), Marquinhos (PSG), Jemerson (Monaco) and Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal).

Defensive-midfielders: Rodrigo Caio (São Paulo), Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Walace (Grêmio), Elias (Corinthians) and Fernandinho (Machester City).

Attacking-midfielders: Ganso (São Paulo), Rafinha (Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Kaká (Orlando City), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Oscar (Chelsea), Lucas Lima (Santos), Willian (Chelsea) and Felipe Anderson (Lazio).

Forwards: Lucas (PSG), Douglas Costa (Bayern), Luan (Grêmio), Hulk (Zenit), Firmino (Liverpool), Jonas (Benfica), Alex Teixeira (Jiangsu Suning) Gabigol (Santos), Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras) and Ricardo Oliveira (Santos).

David Luiz and Thiago Silva Out Of Brazil Copa América Squad

Yaya Toure Returns To Ivorian Squad

Ivorian International Yaya Toure will return to action for the first time in more than a year after being named by the Ivory Coast in their squad for the African Nations Cup qualifiers against Sudan this month.

The 32-year-old Manchester City midfielder has not played for his country since captaining the Ivorians to Nations Cup success in February last year, missing several qualifiers for the next Nations Cup finals in Gabon in 2017 plus the start of the preliminaries for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Coach Michel Dussuyer in an interview with the Ivorian Football Federation website said, “Yaya Toure had requested a break, which was understandable. He had given much to the selection and wished to catch his breath”.

“I think he put that time to good use to relax and set new goals, such as winning a second straight African title and looking to play at the World Cup for a fourth time, which would be exceptional and enrich his already magnificent record,” the coach added.

The Ivorian team has been boosted by Bournemouth’s  Max Gradel who recently returned from injury and Paris St Germain fullback Serge Aurier, who was suspended by the French champions last month for insulting coach Laurent Blanc; both are included in the 24-man squad for the two games in Abidjan on March 25 and Khartoum four days later.

Yaya Toure Returns To Ivorian Squad

Techiman City Beefs Up Squad With Stephen Manu

Potential Premier league newbies Techiman City have sealed a year old deal with striker Stephen Manu ahead of the new season.

The former Kotoko goal poacher heads to the Brong Ahafo based side on a year deal subjected to renewal.

Techiman City topped the GN Bank Division Zone I but has yet to get the green light for premiership football amidst legal tussles in the football Association.

The lanky forward made a name for himself whilst with Kumasi Asante Kotoko before joining the exodus bus out of the country.

The 30 year won the domestic top scoring accolade before his acrimonious departure from the camp of the reds.

The forward however returned home after a spell outside the country as he look to rejuvenate his attacking instincts.

Manu featured for SHB Vietnam in the Lao Premier League as they missed out on the ultimate trophy.

His arrival at the potential premier league new comers will come as good news for the followers of the side after their rather dormant transfer programme ahead of the new domestic football calendar.

Techiman City Beefs Up Squad With Stephen Manu

Kwadwo Asamoah named in Juventus squad at home to Hellas Verona.

Italy based Black Stars wing back Kwadkwo Asamoah has been named in the Juventus squad for the Wednesday afternoon clash at home to Hellas Verona.

The Turin based utility defender has been ravaged by series of injuries in the course of the season with just three appearances all season.

The former Udinese defender however overcame his turbulent time on the treatment table to make the grade for the Old Ladies in the Serie A.

The 27 year old Black Stars last featured for the Beinconeri on December 4 as a 20 minutes substitute for Patrice Evra before picking another setback in his quest to put aside a career threatening injury.

Juventus halted a run of one win in the opening six matches to muster an impressive eight consecutive victories including a last 16 knockout fixture against Bayern Munich in the European Champions league.

His timely return to form will boost any chance of joining Max Allegri’s European side after missing out on the gruop stages.

Kwadwo Asamoah named in Juventus squad at home to Hellas Verona.

Enock Atta Agyei excited at making Medeama SC CAF Squad

Enock Atta Agyei has expressed his excitement at making the grade for Medeama SC continental squad after his arrival from the Division One League.

The ex-Windy Professional trickery wing wizard racked in 17 strikes in the GN Bank division One league to earn a dream move to Tarkwa ahead of the 2016 domestic football calendar.

The teen sensation reveals his admiration for the platform accorded him by his new masters though not surprised

The sensational winger expressed his readiness to feast on the confidence harboured in him by his new manager with dazzling outing for the Mauves and Yellows.

The Division one Most Promising Player of the season billed himself to draw enough motivation ahead of his much expected breakthrough season in Ghana football.

Speaking to www.sportscrusader.com, on his inclusion in the CAF confederation Cup squad for Medeama SC, the excited Agyei expressed his readiness to pay back the confidence with classy football.

He said, “I am very excited because it is not easy to make the grade for a CAF squad in any side. I was however not surprised at all because that was the reason why they bought me from my former side.

“This is going to motivate me as a player to work extra harder for people to see the real Enock. I was born to play football and this the time to show the world what I have to offer as a player”. Agyei noted.

Enock Atta Agyei impressed heavily in the second tier league during the 2014/15 football season to land himself the most

promising player(MPP )at the maiden edition of the award.

Medeama SC held off competition from a host of domestic rivals to secure his signature ahead of their CAF confederation campaign in 2016.

Enock Atta Agyei excited at making Medeama SC CAF Squad