Amajimbos get set for India
DORTMUND, Germany – Disgruntled Cristiano Ronaldo could make more Champions League history tonight as his Real Madrid side look to end their losing streak at high-flying Borussia Dortmund.
A hat-trick for Ronaldo in Dortmund, who was left fuming after being substituted on Saturday, would see him become the first player to score a century of European goals.
Ahead of the flight to Dortmund, Real coach Zinedine Zidane subbed Ronaldo for the final 20 minutes of Saturday’s 2-2 Spanish league draw at Las Palmas.
The Portuguese superstar was furious with the decision, storming off the field without acknowledging Zidane.
It did nothing to help his mood when Las Palmas equalised five minutes from the end.
Madrid fans have backed Zidane over his handling of the club’s alltime top scorer with 83% supporting his decision.
Ronaldo’s free-kick equaliser in Real’s 2-1 comeback win against Sporting Lisbon in their first Group F, the same night Dortmund won 6-0 at Legia Warsaw, left him on 97 goals in European club competition.
His main rival in the race to 100 goals is Barcelona’s star Lionel Messi, who has 89. But Borussia want to maintain their unbeaten
home record against Real, who have won just four times in 29 away games against German clubs.
Signal Iduna Park stadium has particularly bad memories for Madrid, who have lost their last three visits to the Bundesliga giants. TONIGHT’S FIXTURES (all 8.45pm) Dortmund v Real Madrid; Sporting v Legia Warsaw; Sevilla v Lyon; CSKA Moscow v Tottenham; Monaco v Bayer Leverkusen; FC Copenhagen v Club Brugge; Leicester v Porto;
Zagreb v Juventus. Reuters THE SA under-17, Amajimbos, has been invited to take part in the inaugural BRICS U-17 Football Cup in India next month.
The tournament, which runs from October 5 to 15 in Goa, will feature the five BRICS countries the economic block formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and will be played annually. Each edition will be hosted by one of the five nations.
The tournament aims to facilitate an environment for building stronger bonds of friendship and strengthening the relationship amongst the BRICS nations.
Amajimbos coach Molefi Ntseki has selected a squad of 22 players for the tournament.
“This is a good platform for our players and the country as a whole because playing in such competitions you find too many pluses. There will be international scouts who will be watching, players will face teams from different parts of the world with different playing styles from South America (Brazil), Europe (Russia), Asia (China and India),” said Ntseki.
“Not forgetting the technical team being exposed to different philosophies to help them prepare for future tournaments.
“We did not do well at the Fifa U-17 World Cup in Chile because we did not have these type of tournaments leading to the World Cup – if we had such an exercise it would have helped the coaches and the players to grow in the game.”
Amajimbos go into camp on Thursday and will depart for India on Monday. –