Cameroonian teenager Wilfrid Kaptoum scored a late equaliser to give Barcelona a 1-1 draw at Valencia that wrapped up an 8-1 aggregate success in their King's Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Cameroonian teenager Wilfrid Kaptoum scored a late equaliser to give Barcelona a 1-1 draw at Valencia that wrapped up an 8-1 aggregate success in their King's Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

The second-leg result, which denied home coach Gary Neville a much-needed first win in four matches, was academic after Barcelona had crushed Valencia 7-0 in the first leg at the Nou Camp.

Barca, who went through to their sixth final in eight seasons, will face Celta Vigo or Sevilla in the showpiece match. 

"I'm very happy to play another final... It's one of the nicest matches of the season," Barca coach Luis Enrique told reporters.

The draw was Barcelona's 29th match unbeaten and Luis Enrique's side surpassed the previous best mark set by former boss Pep Guardiola in the 2010-11 season.

Alvaro Negredo put Valencia in front in the 39th minute after goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen had parried his first effort but the ball fell nicely back to the striker to tap home.

It was Valencia’s first goal in four games since Rodrigo scored in the second leg of their Cup quarter-final win over Las Palmas on Jan. 28.

Kaptoum found the net two minutes after coming on as a substitute eight minutes from time.

Luis Enrique rested nearly all his first-choice players, making eight changes from the first leg with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar, Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique all missing the game.

"This club has a capacity for reinventing itself, a clear footballing idea, a profile of unique players who stand out and enjoy what they do," said Luis Enrique of the young players he drafted seamlessly into Barcelona's typical passing game.

He commented on the lack of atmosphere in the half-empty Mestalla stadium.

"It was a bit strange due to the (7-0) result we brought here," he said.

Neville, his eye on Saturday’s critical La Liga match at home to Espanyol when he will be looking for a first win in 10 league games in charge, also rested a number of first-choice players.

The former England defender will have been pleased, however, with his team’s attitude and commitment with many fans staying away or outside the ground voicing their disappointment and anger with their struggling team.

"The positive thing from this game has been the performance of some of the younger players. I think that we deserved to win, and they played with dignity," Neville said.

"Mestalla will be full on Saturday, and the atmosphere will be electric. We need the fans more than ever on Saturday."

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Ngwa Bertrand

11.Feb.2016

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Cameroon's Football Federation (Fecafoot) have appointed former Belgium international, Hugo Broos, as the Indomitable Lions' new head coach.

Broos, 63, takes over from Volker Finke who was sacked in October.

Alexandre Belinga, the team's interim coach for the past three months, will remain as an assistant to the Belgian along with another former Belgian player, Sven Vandenbroeck.

Broos, who has coached extensively across Europe, was a surprise choice. 

He was not on Fecafoot's shortlist of five, which included three Frenchmen, a Serbian and a Cameroonian.

Broos has vast experience as a manager, having won the Belgian Championship twice with Brugge in 1992 and 1996. He has also enjoyed spells in Greece, Turkey and Algeria in recent years.

His first task with Cameroon will be to keep them top of their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group M, when they face qualifiers - home and away - against South Africa next month.

He will also take charge of the Indomitable Lions when they take on France in a friendly in May.

Whos is Hugo Bross?

Coaching career

From 1991 to 1998 he coached Club Brugge, winning the championship twice in 1992 an 1996. In 1991, 1995 and 1996 his team also won the Belgian Cup. From 2002 until 2005 he coached RSC Anderlecht. Again he managed to get his team into the Champions League and his team won the 2003–2004 season championship. Season 2004–2005 was a turning point however. His team was kicked out of the Champions League and they blew their chances for the Belgian Cup too. After a 0–0 outcome against AA Ghent the verdict fell; on 7 February, Broos got fired for the first time in his career. Later that year in June he became coach for KRC Genk and got back at his former team on 30 September by beating them with 1–4. During the 2007–08 season he was fired again. In the summer of 2008, some sources first reported him signing a coaching contract at Romanian club Vaslui, however he denied their offer "because of a combination of personal and sport-related reasons"^[2]

Broos won the prestigious Coach of the Year award 4 times in his career. Twice coaching Club Brugge in both 1992 and 1996, once with Anderlecht in 2004 and finally(?) in 2007 with KRC Genk. On 15 December 2008, Broos accepted the proposal of Greek club, Panserraikos, and for the first time in his career left his country. Panserraikos had a great campaign in Greek Cup, eliminate Panathinaikos in quarterfinals but lost against AEK Athens in the semis. Later in season Panserraikos couldn't avoid relegation. Broos left from Panserraikos and became new coach of Trabzonspor, on 22 June 2009 and was released on 22 November 2009. After that he was head coach of Zulte Waregem for half a season, before becoming assistant coach of Al Jazira Club. After being sacked in 2012 he was   unemployed until his appointment today by FACAFOOT.

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Ngwa Bertrand

11.Feb.2016

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Players of Democratic Republic of Congo national team have been awarded prestigious cars after winning African Cup of Nations for home-based players (Chan).

According to BBC online, President Joseph Kabila has honored every player, who featured in the tournament, to drive the luxury Prado car worth 50.597.535,89 FCFA.

A brace by Mechak Elia and another goal from Jonathan Bolingi was enough to crown the Democratic Republic of Congo champions of the 2016 tournament in, Kigali, Rwanda.

DRC Congo eliminated Rwanda’s Amavubi in the quarter-finals 2-1 in extra time before defeating Guinea 5-4 on penalties in the semi-finals. 

Kenya will host the next event of this tournament in 2018 having been formally handed the rights by the Confederation of African Football last weekend.

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Ngwa Bertrand

09.Feb.2016

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The executive committee of the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF has decided to back Sheikh Salman. CAF's position was made public in Rwanda were the African football governing recently held an enlarged exco meeting. A lot of tongues have been waging on why CAF had to abandoned their own, South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale. 

The South African Tokyo Sexwale, the French Jérôme Champagne, Prince Ali of Jordan, Sheikh Salman of Bahrain and the Italo-Swiss Gianni Infantino are the main contenders fighting to replace the Great Sepp Blatter. CAF and UEFA are the two confederations that have the greatest associations. Each one has 54 members. The FIFA elections by secret ballot will take place on the 26th of February in Zurich.

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Ngwa Bertrand

08.Feb.2016

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