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News_Naija

Martins Reveals Pressure Wearing Shearers No.9 Jersey

Former Nigeria international Obafemi Martins has revealed the immense pressure he felt after inheriting Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer’s iconic No.9 jersey during his time at St James’ Park, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. In an emotional interview with Football Fans Tribe, the now 40-year-old striker reflected on the weight of expectations following his £10m transfer from Inter Milan in 2006, when he was tasked with filling the void left by the Magpies’ all-time record goalscorer. “It wasn’t easy at all playing as the No.9. I took Shearer’s No.9 shirt, so the pressure alone is high. They wanted me to be the next Shearer, to score more goals. But I did my part and I moved on. You are the one wearing the jersey, the shirt doesn’t wear you,” Martins said. The Nigerian forward, who became a fan favourite for his acrobatic goal celebrations, electric pace and powerful left foot, scored 35 goals in 104 appearances across all competitions during his three-year stint with the Tyneside club. Martins also faced the challenge of leading Newcastle’s attack following Michael Owen’s ACL injury at the 2006 World Cup, adding to the pressure on his shoulders when he arrived in England. “Leaving Inter Milan to go to Newcastle United, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task and I remember my first game I got injured,” he stated. “Back then, as a striker, if you didn’t score in two or three games, you already start feeling sad.” Despite the difficulties, Martins still holds Newcastle’s supporters in high regard, becoming visibly emotional while praising them as the best fans he encountered during his career. “Newcastle, first of all, they have the best fans ever, out of all the teams that I played for in the world,” he told the podcast. “Out of those who I played for, Newcastle have the best fans. (They get) 52,000 fans are always there at the stadium supporting. Win or lose, they’re there. I’m very happy for them that they won (the Carabao Cup). They didn’t win for 70 years. It’s a great honour for the new owners, the coach of course and the players. Seeing these players, you can tell they wanted to win. Congratulations to them.” Martins left Newcastle in 2009 following their relegation to the Championship, with the club recouping most of his initial transfer fee when he moved to Wolfsburg. However, he is still remembered fondly by the Toon Army for memorable moments, including his spectacular strike from outside the box in a 3–2 victory over Tottenham at St. James’ Park on January 14, 2007.

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Worldnews

Spain Halts Controversial $7.5m Deal To Buy Ammunition From Israeli Company

PM Pedro Sanchez intervened to avoid a damaging political fallout with far-left allies in Spain’s coalition government. Madrid, Spain – Spain’s government halted a controversial $7.5m deal to buy ammunition from Israel on Thursday, following criticism of it from far-left allies within the governing minority coalition. The country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, intervened to cancel the deal after Sumar, a group of left-wing parties, threatened to pull out of the governing coalition. “After exhausting all routes for negotiation, the prime minister, deputy prime minister and ministries involved have decided to rescind this contract with the Israeli company IMI Systems,” a government source, who did not want to be named according to Spanish government practice, told Al Jazeera on Thursday. Spain has been critical of Israel’s war on Gaza, and in October 2023, pledged to stop selling weapons to Israel. In February 2024, it said it also would not buy weapons from Israel. However, in the same month, the Spanish Ministry of Interior signed a deal with IMI Solutions to purchase 15 million rounds of ammunition. The ammunition was destined for the Civil Guard, Spain’s semi-military police force. However, after protests from five ministers from Sumar, the Spanish government began a study to determine whether it was feasible to cancel the order. “In October 2024, a study was started into the possible ending of the contract. After the study, the ministry decided to follow the recommendation from the state attorney, who advised against the ending of the contract at that stage, so the contract was honoured,” a spokesperson for the Spanish Interior Ministry told Al Jazeera, adding that ending “the contract would have involved paying … [IMI Solutions] without receiving the material.” On Wednesday, April 23, the Interior Ministry said it would go ahead with the arms deal, six months after seeking to cancelling it, to avoid paying compensation to the Israeli company. In response, Yolanda Díaz, deputy prime minister and leader of Sumar, told reporters in Barcelona, “This deal must be rectified. I insist, it is a flagrant violation of the agreements when we are witnessing the live genocide of the Palestinian people.” Analysts said the row could further damage already tense relations between the Socialists and Sumar in Spain’s fragile government, especially after Sanchez announced on Tuesday that his government would raise defence spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to hit NATO targets, a move which angered Sumar. Under pressure from US President Donald Trump, Spain, which has the lowest NATO budget among its 32 members, rolled out a 10.5-billion-euro ($12bn) plan to meet the 2-percent goal this year. Spaniards were divided over the ammunition deal, with a poll for online newspaper 20minutos.es showing that 48.46 percent of the 7,871 people surveyed opposed it, while 46.94 percent backed the deal and 4.58 percent did not know how they felt. “Buying this ammunition would have shown that Spain is not supporting Palestine. It would have been a betrayal of the [more than] 50,000 people who have died in Gaza in the genocide there,” Igor Otxoa, of the Guernica Palestine organisation, a civic organisation, told Al Jazeera. In the wake of the dispute, Veronica Martinez Barbero, Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, told Al Jazeera Spain should not go ahead with the contract. “There is a question of not completing promises. The defence minister said Spain would not buy these weapons. We want this to be rectified, and this contract not be completed,” she said. But not everybody has supported the decision to cancel the contract. Astrid Barrio Lopez, a political analyst at the University of Valencia, told Al Jazeera the decision “shows that there is little judicial security for companies dealing with the Spanish government and little leadership within the government”. The Israeli embassy in Madrid could not be reached for comment. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

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Futbol

Leaky Spurs Leave Postecoglou Facing Date With Destiny

If Ange Postecoglou is on the hunt for leaks at Tottenham Hotspur, his search should start with those running through his midfield and defence that have been left unattended to place his job in jeopardy. Postecoglou revealed on Friday that there was a mole inside his club filtering out classified information into the public domain. But what is no secret is Spurs are a soft touch for opponents with even the slightest hint of threat. It was proved again in a 4-2 defeat by Wolves at Molineux - a masterclass in every reason why Postecoglou's side have lost 17 Premier League games out of 32, more than in any other season, and why they languish down in 15th place. Their afternoon was encapsulated by Djed Spence's farcical own goal, as keeper Guglielmo Vicario palmed the ball against the backtracking full-back and into the net, to give Wolves a two-goal lead in a dispiriting first half. Postecoglou's expression of thunder turned to one of complete disbelief when he went back to the bench to review the moment on a monitor. It was an X-rated horror show. It is a flaw the Australian has simply been unable to cure, undermining all his fine attacking principles that prompted such optimism and hope in the early months of his reign. Since Postecoglou took over before the 2023-24 campaign, only West Ham and Sheffield United (seven each) have scored more Premier League own goals than the six by Spurs. And only the current bottom three clubs – Southampton (26), Leicester (22) and Ipswich (19) – have lost more league games than their 17 this season. It is the most defeats Spurs have suffered in a league campaign since 2003-04 (19) when they finished 14th. There does have to be some context applied to this defeat, though. Postecoglou's priorities, perfectly understandably, lie with the Europa League quarter-final second leg away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday after a 1-1 draw in the first meeting at home. It explained the six changes that saw Son Heung-min, Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie kept back, while Rodrigo Bentancur came on as substitute. The big bonus was the return of Dejan Kulusevski after injury for a 15-minute run-out. There is also a worrying downside to that context too. If there is any repeat of the carelessness and general incompetence that scarred this display, then Spurs' trophy hopes will be over for another season and so, in all probability, will be Postecoglou's spell in charge. What cannot be explained away is the slapdash manner and lack of basic organisation that allowed rejuvenated Wolves to record a fourth straight top-flight success for the first time since January 1972. It started inside two minutes, when keeper Vicario's tame punch from a corner found Wolves defender Rayan Ait-Nouri unmarked from the set-piece on the edge of the area. He accepted the invitation to score. The second was another calamity, Vicario again culpable when he turned home striker Marshall Munetsi's tame header on to Spence when he could have held on, the ball rebounded back into his own goal. And even when Mathys Tel offered hope just before the hour with his second league goal in successive games, Cristian Romero flouted his status as a World Cup winner with a shocking piece of defending. The Argentina centre-back was robbed and beaten by Ait-Nouri, who crossed for Jorgen Strand Larsen to score with ease, and for a fourth successive game. It went on. Spurs inflicted more of their own wounds after Richarlison thought he had set up a tense finale with five minutes left. Lucas Bergvall, instrumental in Spurs' first goal, then coughed up possession too easily in an instant, leaving Matheus Cunha to race clear and score just a minute later. There has to be a measure of sympathy for Postecoglou, who looked a disconsolate figure as he made his way across towards those Spurs supporters who were left after the final whistle, because some of these errors were the sort for which no manager can legislate. Postecoglou defended his players saying: "The goals weren't lapses or anything, they were individual errors, which is unusual for us to give goals away like that. But that's what happens and we got punished and makes it difficult for us to get an outcome." It was a very generous interpretation from a manager who has taken so much heat himself – but the volume of these mistakes, and the regularity with which they have happened in this dismal season, point to a deeper problem. On the individual errors by Romero and Bergvall, he added: "It's not like they're doing it on purpose. Those two are pretty reliable in those situations. Today was a collection of events that were unusual and that makes it difficult to get anything out of the game." Those who sit in judgement on Postecoglou's future, and in the stands at Molineux, may beg to differ given the number of times Spurs have been similarly exposed this season. And, with his usual honesty, Postecoglou added: "Mistakes are part of football, I'm not going to be holding anyone to account, the only person who gets held to account is me. "I thought we played pretty well but conceded some pretty poor goals. Individual errors cost us. It's disappointing to lose." The backdrop to it all was the sight of thousands of discontented Spurs fans stretched along one side of Molineux. They did not aim their ire in the direction of Postecoglou, but chairman Daniel Levy, with loud chants of "We Want Levy Out" after only eight minutes, while holding up banners emblazoned with the message "Time For Change". The status quo remains for now but it all comes down, as it has for some time, to the Europa League as Postecoglou's final chance to fulfil his promise of winning a trophy in his second season. It may be his final chance. Full stop. There is much to admire about Postecoglou and his purist footballing principles, but in reality it has all come down to events in Frankfurt this Thursday night. It is now or never for Postecoglou and Spurs.

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Worldnews

Iran Signals Willingness To Hold Nuclear Talks With Europeans

France has indicated that European powers are also ready for dialogue if Tehran shows it is seriously engaged Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he is ready to travel to Europe for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, and France has indicated that European powers are also ready for dialogue if Tehran shows it is seriously engaged. Iran is looking to build on the momentum of nuclear negotiations with the United States, which will resume in Oman on Saturday, and after talks with Russia and China this week. Its message to the European powers that were party to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal suggests Tehran is keeping its options open. Since September, Tehran and the three European powers known as the E3 – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – have already held several rounds of discussions over their ties and the nuclear issue. The most recent in March was held at the technical level and looked at the parameters of a future deal to secure a rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme in return for lifting sanctions against it. European diplomats had said they were seeking a new meeting with Iran although the momentum towards talks appeared to stall when Tehran began indirect negotiations on its nuclear programme with US President Donald Trump’s administration this month. Trump, who abandoned the landmark 2015 pact between Tehran and world powers in 2018 during his first term, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly and the agreement prevents it from developing a nuclear weapon. “Iran’s relations with the E3 … have experienced ups and downs in recent history. Like it or not, they are currently down,” Araghchi wrote on X. “I once again propose diplomacy. After my recent consultations in Moscow & Beijing, I am ready to take the first step with visits to Paris, Berlin & London. … The ball is now in the E3’s court.” The European powers have seen their ties with Iran worsen over other issues, including its ballistic missile programme, detention of foreign citizens and support for Russia in its war in Ukraine. When asked about Araghchi’s comments, France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs spokesman Christophe Lemoine said the E3 favoured dialogue but wanted to see how serious Iran was. “The only solution is a diplomatic solution, and Iran must resolutely engage in this path, and it’s a proposal the E3 have put forward many times, so we will continue dialogue with the Iranians,” he said at a news conference. Germany and Britain did not immediately comment on the matter. The US did not tell European countries about the nuclear talks in Oman before Trump announced them, even though they hold a key card on the possible reimposition of UN sanctions on Tehran. However, the US lead technical negotiator, Michael Anton, briefed E3 diplomats in Paris on April 17, according to two European diplomats, suggesting that coordination has improved. Expert-level Iran-US talks will take place on Saturday, Tehran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said, with a third round of high-level nuclear talks due on the same day in Oman. Anton, who was a spokesman for the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, will lead a team of about a dozen US government officials to negotiate. Western countries have long suspected Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, which it has consistently denied. The threat of renewed sanctions is intended to pressure Tehran into concessions, making detailed discussions on strategy between the Americans and Europeans vital, the Reuters news agency quoted diplomats as saying. Because the US quit the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, it cannot initiate its mechanism for reimposing sanctions, called snapback, at the United Nations Security Council. That makes the E3, the only other participants in the 2015 deal capable of and interested in pursuing snapback. According to diplomats quoted by Reuters, the E3 diplomats are looking to trigger snapback by August as opposed to an earlier June timeframe if no substantial deal can be found by then. That opportunity expires on October 18 when the 2015 accord ends. Follow Al Jazeera English:...