Cool Runnings 2? The Jamaican bobsledders are back

Cool Runnings is the title of a 1993 American sports film directed by Jon Turteltaub which starred Leon, Malik Yoba, John Candy, Rawle D, Lewis and Doug E. Doug released on October 1, 1993 in the United States. The movie was inspired by the true story of the Jamaica national bobsled team’s debut in the bobsled competition of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In the real scheme of things, the Jamaica national bobsled team featured a relatively unknown and unskilled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for the very first time in their history. They were clearly underdogs in that competition but their belief and aspiration was heralded, for a tropical nation taking part in a winter sport. They made similar forays in the Winter Olympic events of 1992 (Albertville-Savoie, France), 1994 (Lillehammer, Norway), 1998 (Nagano, Japan) and 2002 (Salt Lake City, United States).

This year, the two-man team comprising of Winston Watts (Driver) and Marvin Dixon (Brakeman) will hoist the Jamaican flag high at the XXII Winter Olympics, starting on Friday, February 7 and ending on Sunday, February 23 in Sochi, Russia and make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, ice tracks in a gravity-powered sled. Since the Jamaican bobsled team landed qualification for the winter Olympics, they immediately faced another stern qualification malaise: They needed to raise competition funds of over $80,000 in a few days if they are to realize the Sochi dream.

And in a travesty of fortunes, a team needing only $80,000 is heading to Sochi with over $120,000. After the qualifying weekend, Winston Watts, the major force behind the team quipped, “In truth, we still don’t really know at the moment if we’d even have enough funds or sponsorship to fly to Sochi itself for the games itself.” Watts stated that. The handwriting was almost on the wall again as it was in 2006 and 2010 when they missed out of the Winter Olympics in Turin and Vancouver respectively due to lack of funds. 

Watts, who had already financed the team’s qualification with more than £100,000 of his own money declared to BBC. “It’s not been cheap,” he said. “If we had been able to go over to Switzerland for the final qualification races, or some of the earlier ones, I’m convinced we could have confirmed this a lot sooner.” He suggested he and brakeman Marvin Dixon will need some funding if they qualify. “We need about $40,000 for travel and also to buy new runners for the sled because we can’t go to the Olympics with only one set.”

Today that dream is a reality thanks to the Dogecoin Foundation who has facilitated the team’s participation at the Olympics by creating a charity for fans of the cryptocurrency to make donations. More than 26.5 million Dogecoin worth around $33,000 have been donated by the community within two days. The team’s website and other social media sites were used to clamour for funds while a further $80,000 was raised through Crowdtilt.

Good luck to the Jamaican team in their quest to conquer Sochi. 

Stanislas Wawrinka slams Nadal in Melbourne to win first Grand Slam

Switzerland’s Stanislaus Wawrinka raised an extra notch in his tennis artistry by defeating world tennis no.1 Rafael Nadal to win his first ever Grand Slam title.

One of the highlights of the game was when Nadal took a medical time-out in the second set at 2-1 down and an initially irate Wawrinka being left in the dark concerning Nadal’s injury took his cool to return a perfect service game to go into a 3-1 lead. Nadal returned to serve subsequently and faulted twice after 15-15 to gift Wawrinka 15-30, which became 15-40 and Wawrinka took the last point by a deep slice into the base line to break Nadal and take a 4-1 lead.

Nadal was immediately stretched on the floor and got a quick back massage from the physio. Wawrinka continued to serve in the sixth game of the second set with two quick aces of serve with Nadal turning the third serve into the net. . Nadal showed some resurgence to try and turn things around by holding Wawrinka to deuce but a fired Wawrinka served an ace to get the advantage and played a backhand winner to go 5-1.

It was a topsy-turvy seventh game of the second set as Nadal showed a lot of difficulty traversing the court and it was evident his serve had departed from him, deucing twice but holding on to win. Wawrinka returned to serve and after double faulting in his first serve he stretched a disinterested Nadal to win the second set at 6-2.

Nadal subjected his lower back (left side) to the physio again at the interval reeling in agony as the physio worked away to prepare him for the third set which looked like his last for the night. He took the first two sets right under Wawrinka’s nose, serving the first and breaking Wawrinka subsequently in the second. In a quick change of fortune Nadal rose to a 3-love lead even when it was obvious he could hardly move around the court. A dejected Wawrinka barely did anything special and Nadal looked like he was going to run away with the set at 5-2 but Wawrinka pulled a perfect service gave to restore some hope and reducing the deficit to 5-3 after which Nadal survived a deuce to win the third set at 6-3.

The fourth set was all about a nervy Wawrinka and how he would cope mentally judging from the fact that it seemed he had pressed a self-destruct button, empathizing with his injured opponent. Things continued to go down well with Nadal as he even boldly stopped the match to review a call on Wawrinka’s stroke after the umpire had erroneously called it in, and eventually levelling the fourth set at 2-2. Wawrinka took his serve to lead at 3-2 and returned to his resolute self to break Nadal and lead 4-2, but Nadal broke right back with a glimmer of hope at 4-3. And when you thought Wawrinka was slipping through it, he broke Nadal’s serve and served for the match at 5-3 quickly racing to a 40-0 lead before playing a forehand winner on Nadal’s return of his second serve to become the 2014 Australian Open winner; winning in 6-3; 6-2; 3-6; 6-3

Enroute to the finals, Wawrinka dislodged favourite and defending champion Novak Djokovic becoming the third man since 1993 at the French Open to defeat both first and second seeds in a Grand Slam. He was a champion in the making as was evident after enduring a gruelling semi-final loss to Djokovic this time last year. He also becomes the third Swiss to have won a Grand Slam title after Roger Federer and Martina Hingis. He will also rise from his no. 8 ranking to be no. 3 in the world tomorrow morning. He goes home with $2,650,000 (Australian Dollars). Congrats Stan.

Pantera Negra "Black Panther" Eusébio dies at 71

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, born 25 January 1942 has died on Sunday 5 January 2014 aged 71 years.  The Mozambican-born Portuguese football forward, simply known as Eusébio, is considered as one of the greatest footballers of all time. He was born in Lourenҫo Marques to an Angolan father, Eusébio and Played for the Portuguese team since his home country was an oversea territory and their inhabitants were considered Portuguese.

He was such a gifted footballer that the sobriquets O Rei (The King), the Black Panther, the Black Pearl were part of the many trappings of his legend. He scored 733 goals in 745 matches of his professional career. He possessed a thunderbolt of a shot in his right foot making him a prolific goal scorer and adept at taking free-kicks.   

He was mainly associated with the Portuguese club, Benfica and played 15 years of his 22 as a footballer scoring 638 goals in 614 official games to become the team’s all-time top scorer. He helped the Portuguese national team secure third place at the 1966 World Cup, starring as the top goal scorer of the tournament with 9 goals and receiving the Bronze Ball award. He won the Ballon d’Or (top footballing accolade in European football for a player) award in 1965 and was runner-up in 1962 and 1966.

His footballing career was that outstanding and worthy of accolades that he was regularly listed in best player football lists and polls. This led to his election as the 9th best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, IFFHS and the 10th best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the World Soccer magazine. Even the great Pelé, in his 2004 FIFA 100 list, named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers. He was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years during the celebration of UEFA’s Jubilee in 2004 and he has been ascribed as Africa’s greatest-ever player. He was the 7th in the online poll for the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll.

Eusébio receiving the prestigious UEFA President's award from Michel Platini

The UEFA President, Michel Platini, paid tribute after learning of the death of Eusébio at the age of 71. “Today football has lost one of the greatest players ever. On the field, Eusébio was a true legend, both in the colours of Portugal and Benfica. But also off it, he was a true ambassador for Portuguese football on the international stage. He was more than a footballer. A good and charming man, Eusébio will be sadly missed.”

In February 2010 at the UEFA President’s award; the incumbent president, Franz Beckenbauer, spoke of Eusébio early career: “That fine Benfica team was the only team that could measure up to the great Real Madrid in the early 60s. That team had a hero – his name was Eusébio, he came from Mozambique and he became famous as the Pantera Negra (or Back Panther). Eusébio’s worldwide reputation began in May 1962 in the European Champions Clubs’ Cup final against Real Madrid. Eusébio scored two goals and gave a superb exhibition, showing all the skills which made him popular – astonishing speed and a powerful shot.”

2020 Summer Olympics: Destination Tokyo

The International Olympic Committee sitting in its 125th session running from September 7 to September 10, 2013 on Saturday at the Buenos Aires Hilton elected Tokyo as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympic games.

Three cities namely Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid put forward bids to host the world's greatest sporting spectacle.

Six IOC members were exempted from voting as a result of the rule that prevents the president and members from countries with candidate cities in host selections. In the first round of elections Tokyo ran away with 42 votes while Istanbul and Madrid were tied at 26 votes apiece which called for a runoff in which Istanbul pipped Madrid by 49 votes to 45. In the second round of voting and following Madrid's elimination, the three earlier exempted Spanish IOC members were able to vote to return 60 votes in favour of Tokyo and 36 in favour of Istanbul.

For the people of Japan, especially the Tokyoites, it was a lot of frenzy and fanfare. About 2,000 supporters assembled at a gymnasium near the Komazawa stadium used for the 1964 edition to greet the news as it was announced by the IOC president, Jacques Rogge at 5:20 am local time. In many clusters of supporters across the city, the victory cry of "banzai" , a Japanese cheer of enthusiasm or triumph serenaded the Tokyo morning skyline. 

The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, gave the IOC assurances that the Fukushima leak will in no way jeopardize health and safety during the games. He said, "Let me assure you the situation is under control, it has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo."

The IOC also selected wrestling to be included in the Olympic program for the 2020 and 2024 games.

Record breaking Bayern Munich wins Bundesliga title

Bayern Munich otherwise known as FC Bayern München on Saturday beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 away to win their 23rd title in their Bundesliga history. The only goal of the game which saw four penalty appeals and a penalty miss by David Alaba was scored in the fifty second minute by home grown talent Bastian Schweinsteiger.

The Jupp Heynckes tutored side becomes the first German club side to achieve this feat in the history of the league with six matches to play in the campaign.

The last time Bayern won the league shield was in the 2009-10 season and their fans will be relieved to finally win some silverware after coming 3rd and 2nd consecutively in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 editions which Borussia Dortmund won.

The win will act as the right tonic for Bayern as they travel to Turin on Wednesday to defend a 1st leg 2-0 lead over Juventus in the Champions League quarterfinal 2nd leg; a competition which they lost narrowly to Chelsea FC by penalties in last year’s finals.

Vettel beats Webber to win Malaysia Grand Prix

Three – time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, smarting from a third place finish last weekend in Melbourne behind the duo of Kimi Räikkönen of Lotus and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari respectively, held off Red Bull teammate Mark Weber in the second race of the season to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Just like the Red Bull pair finished first and second, the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg came in third and fourth respectively for the British driver to edge his German teammate to the third spot on the podium.

Ferrari’s Fenanado Alonso retired on the second lap after his Ferrari made contact with the back of Vettel’s ‘Hungry Heidi’ car, and held on in second place until his front wing failed.

Vettel had earlier on earned a steely rebuke from team principal Christian Horner as the world champion went wheel-to-wheel with Webber before overtaking him late-on in a grueling battle for the finish line in the Malaysian rain at Sepang to claim his 27^th career victory.

The third race of the 19-race season, the Chinese GrandPrix, comes up in Shanghai on April 14.

Vettel hits the track with Hungry Heidi

“Overall it was a good day for us. It was pretty seamless and there was no 

trouble with the car. After all the mileage of testing, it was fun to be out there – this circuit doesn’t get easier, it’s a good challenge. The soft tyre doesn’t last too long, but the harder tyre is a decent race tyre. The weather should be quite changeable tomorrow and, as we can’t predict how much that will impact the tyres and car balance, we need to be ready for what’s coming up.” These were the words of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel after he dominated both practice sessions at the 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne on Friday, returning P1 – 1:27.211|1^st; P2 – 1:25.908|1^st.

Vettel is hoping Hungry Heidi, the name of his current machine, will bring him a fourth successive Formula One crown.

Other racers returned as follows:

Mark Webber, P1 - 1:27.668|5^th; P2 - 1:26.172|2^nd

Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:28.013|7^th; P2 - 1:26.322|3^rd

Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:27.552|4^th; P2 - 1:26.772|7^th

Kimi Raikkonen, P1 - 1:27.877|6^th; P2 - 1:26.361|4^th

Romain Grosjean, P1 - 1:28.520|10^th; P2 - 1:26.680|5^th

Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:27.547|3^rd; P2 - 1:26.748|6^th

Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:27.289|2^nd; P2 - 1:26.855|8^th

Adrian Sutil, P1 - 1:28.426|8^th; P2 - 1:27.435|9^th

Paul di Resta, P1 - 1:28.910|13^th; P2 - 1:28.311|12^th

Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:28.786|12^th; P2 - 1:28.187|10^th

Esteban Gutierrez, P1 - 1:30.203|16^th; P2 - 1:28.772|15^th

Jenson Button, P1 - 1:28.440|9^th; P2 - 1:28.294|11^th

Sergio Perez, P1 - 1:28.597|11^th; P2 - 1:28.566|13^th

Daniel Ricciardo, P1 - 1:30.969|18^th; P2 - 1:28.627|14^th

Jean-Eric Vergne, P1 - 1:30.729|17^th; P2 - 1:28.968|17^th

Pastor Maldonado, P1 - 1:29.443|14^th; P2 - 1:28.852|16^th

Valtteri Bottas, P1 - 1:29.928|14^th; P2 - 1:29.386|18^th

Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:31.263|19^th; P2 - 1:29.696|19^th

Max Chilton, P1 - 1:32.176|20^th; P2 - 1:30.600|21^st

Charles Pic, P1 - 1:32.274|21^st; P2 - 1:30.165|20^th

Giedo van der Garde, P1 - 1:32.388|22^nd; P2 - 1:32.450|22^nd

Champions League Draw

The Champions league quarterfinal draws have been held on Friday and the fate of the remaining 8 teams have been decided. Heavyweights Barcelona and Real Madrid have avoided each other. 3 Spanish, 2 German, 1 French, 1 Italian and 1 Turkish team were drawn to complete the lot.

Ibrahimovic's PSG will host Lionel Messi's Barcelona at the French capital in the first leg of the quarterfinals while surprise team Galatasaray comprising of champion league winners Wesley Schieder and Didier Drogba will travel to Madrid to play Real Madrid. In the remaining fixtures Juventus, the Old Lady of Turin, will face last years finalist Bayern Munich while Malaga take on German champions Borussia Dortmund.

The draw for the semifinals will come up on April 12 and the finals at the Wembley Stadium on May 25.

Real Madrid	vs	Galatasaray
Bayern Munich	vs	Juventus
Paris Saint-Germain	vs	Barcelona
Malaga	vs	Borussia Dortmund

Andy Murray buys £1.8M Cromlix House Hotel

2012 US Open and Olympic champion, Andy Murray  has set his eyes beyond tennis to grow his million dollar fortune by buying a hotel near his hometown in Scotland. The acquisition will see the 3^rd ranked Scott remodel the Cromlix House Hotel near Dunblane into a 15-room five-star edifice in time for next year’s Ryder Cup, taking place at Gleneagles, 13 miles away.

The British no.1 and the first British man since 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament says he is ‘pleased to give something back to the community I grew up in.’ He added, “By re-establishing Cromlix as a leading luxury hotel at the heart of the Dunblane community we will be able to attract new visitors to the area, create a number of new jobs and focus on supporting other local businesses.”

Hotel's chapel where Murray's brother got married in 2010

Murray has a great deal of sentimental attachment to the hotel as his brother Jamie Murray got married to Venezuelan actress and model Alejandra Gutierrez at the hotel in 2010 of which Andy was the best man.

Cromlix House is a Victorian Mansion near Kinbuck, Pentshire. It was built in 1874 and initially used as a family residence before it operated as a hotel and later closed to the public and put up for sale in 2011.

The Eden family who are the previous owners of the property are delighted that the hotel which sits on 50 acres of woodland is retaining local ownership.

Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI) will manage Cromlix House on Murray’s behalf.

"Big Boss" dumps Nigeria?

Keshi carried shoulder high after guiding Nigeria to the 2013 AFCON title 

Nations Cup winner Stephen Okechukwu Keshi has reportedly resigned his post of Head Coach of the Nigerian national football team barely 24 hours after he guided the team to win the 29^th edition of the biennial African football competition.

Keshi, who was a guest on the radio show of South African journalist and sports presenter, Robert Marawa, announced he had dropped his resignation.

Keshi, 51, is unlikely to change his mind although the resignation is yet to be accepted by the Nigerian Football Federation.

Keshi’s decision might not be unconnected with an inkling that his employers were not confident in his ability to progress the team beyond the quarterfinal stage of the just concluded AFCON in South Africa.  He claimed he had been sacked before the quarterfinal match against Cote d’Ivoire.

Rumours were rife Sunday afternoon that Keshi would resign his post even though it seemed likely that Nigeria would win the championship.

The "Big Boss" as he is often called took over the reigns as head coach from Samson Siasia in 2011.

Nigeria wins 3rd AFCON title

2013 AFCON Champions: Nigeria

The Super Eagles of Nigeria on Sunday at the FNB stadium, Soccer City in Soweto beat the Stallions of Burkina Faso to become the 2013 African Champions. Nigeria had last won the trophy in 1994 while Burkina Faso who entered into the match as underdogs has never won the continent’s highest football laurel. Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi was also hoping to be only the second man in history to have won the trophy both as a player and as a coach after Egyptian Mahmoud El-Gohary.

The match started with great panache and Nigeria took the game directly to their opponents early on. In the 7^th minute Nigeria showed intent when Abrose rose highest in the box but his header went wide. Ideye had a chance to put Nigeria in the lead on 10 minutes after the Burkinabe keeper spilled the ball from a cross but his marksmanship let him down and he finished wide.

As the first half started winding down and looking like both teams will settle for a barren draw, quarter final hero Sunday Mba raced into the box turned a Stallions defender with his right instep before showing some quick feet and connecting home into the lower left corner of the Burkina Faso goal for Nigeria’s only goal.

Mba almost went close for a second with 30 seconds of the first half to play but his shot was way over the post. The first half ended without the Burkinabes recording a shot on goal.

The second half started with heightened expectations and the Nigerians again took the initiative to the Burkinabe goal on 47 minutes. Victor Moses raced toward the Stallion’s 18 yard box and released Ideye in the penalty box but his shot at goal missed the upright by whiskers.

The Stallions of Burkina Faso however were not going down without a fight and gave everything they had in search of the equalizer with Jonathan Pitroipa and Aristide Bancé piling pressure on the Super Eagles defence.  Sanou broke free in the Nigerian box on 73 minutes with only the keeper to beat but his shot was saved from close range by Enyeama to prevent a Burkinabe equalizer.

The Nigerians defended with their lives at times as Burkina Faso became more and more desperate trying to restore parity. Late flurries of attacking play in the last 5 minutes saw Nigeria squander a couple of chances that required  mere tap ins but the Super Eagles could not increase the tally and held on to the only goal of the match.

As African champion Nigeria will represent Africa in the Confederations Cup in Brazil later in the year.

Pitroipa cleared to play in Sunday's final

Jonathan Pitroipa shocked to be booked for diving

Burkina Faso winger Jonathan Pitroipa has been cleared to play in the AFCON 2013 finals on Sunday against the Super Eagles of Nigeria after he had his red card rescinded. 

Pitroipa was hard done by Tunisian referee Slim Jedidi in the 116^th minute of the semifinal clash against the Black Stars of Ghana after he was adjudged to have gone down in the penalty box by simulation.

Slim had afterwards apologized for making a mistake in booking the winger a second time for diving. In a reaction to the public clamour for justice to be served by allowing Petriopa to take part in Sunday's final, CAF President Issa Hayatou commented, “Everyone realized that this referee did not officiate well.”

“ They've told me the referee has sent a letter saying he got it wrong. The referee admitted his error in his report given to the CAF secretary general; he recognized that he had got it wrong.”

With the ‘all-clear’ for Pitroipa to feature on Sunday, it will serve as a relief for Burkina Faso having adequate arsenal to stage an upset against favourites Nigeria after losing influential striker Alain Traore earlier in the competition to injury.

Mali put Ghana to the sword for bronze

Mali: AFCON 2013 Bronze medalists 

Lightning struck twice on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa when the Eagles of Mali trounced the Black Stars of Ghana on Saturday to claim bronze in the AFCON 2013 third place match.

The Ghanaians were hoping to avenge last year’s third place defeat in the hands of the Malians at the 2012 AFCON edition in Equitorial Guinea and Gabon but again allowed history to repeat itself by losing out 3-1.

Mali drew an early double through Mahamadou Samassa and Seydou Keita in the 21^st and 48^th minutes respectively and was almost running away home and dry when Mubarak Wakaso had a chance to reduce the deficit in the 57^th minute from the penalty spot, and in turn lay his stake on the tournament’s highest scorer award, but blasted his power spot kick over the bar.

Ghana eventually pulled a goal back on the 82^nd minute through Kwadwo Asamoah from a 30 yard strike. Ghana thrust more bodies forward in the late stages of the match looking for the elusive equalizer only for Mali to break free on a counter with Sigamary Diarra slotting home for the 3^rd goal from the center of the penalty area with three minutes of extra time played.

The Eagles will take the bronze medal back home as a means of succor to a war ravaged country.

Burkina Faso beats Ghana on Penalties (3)1-1(2) to play Nigeria in the AFCON 2013 finals

The Stallions of Burkina Faso on Wednesday in Nelspruit beat the Black Stars of Ghana 3-2 on penalties after a pulsating 120 minutes of high octane football wrought with drama, intrigue and controversy.

Ghana had earlier gone ahead 1-0 in the 13^th minute when Kaboré was harshly adjudged by the Tunisian referee, Slim Jedidi to have pulled back Christian Atsu in the 18 yard box and Mubarak Wakaso slotted in from the penalty spot.

Ghana could have doubled the lead shortly afterwards when Asamoah Gyan was free on goal but his effort was turned around the post by Daouda Diakite in goal for Burkina Faso.

The second half saw a more spirited and energetic Burkinabe team with the duo of Aristide Bancé and Jonathan Pitroipa tormenting the Ghanaian defence. In the 60^th minute of play Bancé restored the game to parity from the edge of the 18 yard box after being fed with the ball by Kaboré. 

In the final 10 minutes of regulation time the referee became the center of attention again when he failed to dismiss Paul Koulibaly for lunging with his studs into Gyan’s groin.

The game was deadlocked at 1-1 after 90 minutes resulting in additional 30 minutes of extra time to determine a winner. 

Burkina Faso had a genuine goal disallowed on the death of the first half of extra time by the center referee in what looked like a good goal, yet Bancé looked very enterprising and almost stole the show in the 111^th minute when he drove in a half volley that was cleared off the Ghanaian goal line. 

Slim’s decision making ability was called into question yet again when Pitroipa was harshly adjudged in the 115^th minutes to have simulated a dive after rounding off Boye in the Ghanian penalty box, and was given the matching order after being shown his second yellow of the night. 

Both teams settled for the lottery of penalty kicks with Burkina Faso converting three while Ghana only converted two. Jonathan Pitroipa will miss the final against Nigeria unless a successful appeal is made to the CAF disciplinary committee. 

Super Eagles trash Mali 4-1 to go into Sunday's finals

Nigeria’s national team the Super Eagles on Thursday at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban trashed their West African neighbours the Eagles of Mali 4-1

The match started with great expectations and was touted to be keenly contested. The first chance of the game fell to Victor Moses in the first minute of the game but his lame shot went into touch for a goal kick. Mali came nearest to breaking the deadlock on the 11^th minute through their talismanic captain Seydou Keita but his header off a corner kick went a yard off the goal.

The Malian’s continued to show their strengths in the middle of the pack as the game progressed. The tide changed when Mikel collected the ball and with an eagle’s vision floated a long pass into the Malian box to place Emenike on goal but his shot was saved by the keeper's trailing leg in the 15^th minute.

Moses rose up to the occasion for Nigeria and displayed virtuoso skills that mesmerized the Malian right back before coolly crossing the ball into the box for Elderson Echiejile to convert with a low header for the opener on 25 minutes.

Nigeria continued to press for goals and controlled the game with great confidence. Moses again broke clear through the middle with frenetic pace locating Emenike on the right, who sent a low cross into the box for Ideye to slot home on 29 minutes. Nigeria could have gone 3-0 up in the 34^th minute when Ogenyi Onazi broke free on goal but his delicate chip was well claimed by the Malian goalkeeper.

From then all it was Nigeria all through. The sustained pressure resulted in Ideye being fouled outside the Malian box on 43 minutes and the resultant free kick taken by Emenike was deflected low into the Malian post for the third goal.

The second half was no different from the first as the Super Eagles quickly settled down to business, enforcing their hold on the match. Mali tried to change the complexion of the game by making two changes at the beginning of the second half but it was Nigeria's substitution that made the immediate impact. In the 59^th minute substitute, Ahmed Musa, latched on to a Mikel pass in the heart of the middle, burst down the center towards the Malian goal and calmly slotted home through the legs of Samassa for the fourth.

In a travesty of fortunes, Mali broke on goal and could have pulled one back but for the experienced Enyeama who made a fantastic save on 72 minutes to deny Mali a goal. Mali continued to probe for respite and got a consolation through Diara In the 74th minute.

Nigeria will now wait for the winner of the second semifinal between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Stallions of Burkina Faso for Sunday’s finals.

Which Eagles will soar higher today?

Nigerian coach - Stephen Okechukwu Keshi

Nigerian coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi looks forward to the enviable achievement of being the second man in history to win the Nations Cup both as a player and then as a coach after Egyptian Mahmoud El-Gohary. This historic feat will be partly achieved if the Super Eagles of Nigeria beat The Eagles of Mali today in Durban at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in the first semifinal of the 2013 AFCON taking place at 4:00pm Nigerian time (GMT+1).

Keshi knows the importance of this and has implored his charges to go all out and ensure victory today. He quipped, “Records are to be broken.” And trying not to get carried away by the task at hand, he said “It will be a great achievement. But, I prefer to take it one game at a time because no one gave us a chance to be here in the first place. Every professional wants to have his name written in gold and I would love that, but we must work hard at every step to achieve that.”

The Malian national football team should not be new to Keshi since he worked with the team as manager between April 2008 and January 2010 when the country’s FA sacked him for failure to tinker the team beyond the group stages of the Nations Cup.

Though Nigeria has a fearful pedigree in the Nations Cup, the last time Nigeria was at this stage of the competition was in the 2010 edition in Angola, and has played a record 13 semifinals and 6 finals in the history of the Nations Cup while Mali played in the finals once, losing to Congo 3-2.

The Black Stars of Ghana lock horns with The Stallions of Burkina Faso today in the other semifinal match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit at 7:30 pm (GMT+1).