Enrique Extends Barcelona Contract

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, who led the Catalan giants to the treble in his first campaign in charge, has agreed to extend his contract with the Spanish side until June 2017.

"We have sealed the renewal of Luis Enrique's contract until 2017, so we will have Luis Enrique for two more years," Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu told a news conference.

Enrique capped his first season as Barcelona's head coach by matching Pep Guardiola's feat from the 2008/09 season when the Catalans captured the European, Spanish league and Cup titles.

"We are very happy, it could not be any other way. After a year in which we faced many difficulties but also had great results , we are more than excited and hope to win new titles," he said in a statement.

Despite being under contract with Barcelona until June 2016, Enrique had consistently refused to tie his future to the club.

"The truth is I don't know if I will continue (next season). The season isn't over yet, we have a long night ahead of us," he said on Saturday before Barcelona's 3-1 Champions League final win over Juventus in Berlin.

After the final Enrique said Barcelona's hunger for silverware is insatiable and they want to make more history by becoming the first team to win back-to-back Champions League titles.

Cedric Paquette's Late Goal Buries Blackhawks, Gives Lightning 2-1 Series Lead

The Tampa Bay Lightning have held an answer to all the tests the Chicago Blackhawks have thrown their way in the Stanley Cup Final.

Most goals have been met with a response. Chicago’s championship mettle has been countered by Tampa’s own steely-like persona.

The Lightning quickly overcame a Chicago third period lead and poured it on to pick up a 3-2 Game 3 win at United Center.

The victory put Tampa up 2-1 in their best-of-7 series with the Blackhawks. Game 4 is Wednesday evening at United Center.

Tampa forward Cedric Paquette fired the game-winner with 3:11 left in the third period, deflecting a pass by defenseman Victor Hedman.

Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop started after some coy mind games by Tampa as to who would play in the contest. He exited Game 2 in the third period, re-entered and left again. No explanation was given why.

"We're not going to put anybody in a game that is going to be in harm's way of hurting himself," Tampa coach Jon Cooper said. "We talked long and hard if he could play tonight. There wasn't a doubt in his eyes. You can read when guys are sitting there saying, 'Coach, I'll go for you'. Or you can say, give me the net. That kid said, give me the net. I knew we were going to be okay."

The third period saw two quick goals by both teams. At the 4:14 mark of the frame, Brandon Saad put the game at 2-1 in favor of Chicago. Then 13 seconds later the Lightning responded when Ondrej Palat knotted it at 2-2.

"It's a great play, a great goal," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "All of a sudden you get momentum. Two games we had the lead, but short-lived both times. Two tough losses in a row

Oh, The Triplets -- You can’t keep them down for too long.

The second period was tilted toward Tampa with the shots on goal at 17-7 in favor of the Lightning.

In that frame, Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford stopped a Nikita Kucherov breakaway and a protracted Tampa 5-on-3 that lasted 1:26.

Chicago outshot Tampa 19-7 in the first period.

At the 14:22 mark of the first period Brad Richards fired a shot that Bishop just flubbed with his glove. It was one of those 'sure he'd love to have that one back' type plays. Still, it was the only mis-step for Bishop, who stopped 36 of 38 Chicago shots on goal.

"I felt good. The first period, probably a few too many rebounds there. As the game went on, the guys did a great job of clearing those out," Bishop said. "As the game went on, I felt better, more comfortable. Some big blocked shots there at the end. Just a good team win all around. Obviously probably wasn't our best first, but I thought we got better as the game went on."

Lightning forward Ryan Callahan opened the scoring 5:09 into the game after pumping a blast past Crawford:

Callahan was led perfectly by a Hedman pass and fired the puck over Crawford’s glove.

Hedman was absolutely electric in the contest, notching two assists in over 26 minutes of action. His last two games he has four points and is a plus-2 for Tampa.

"Victor Hedman, what he's doing, I mean, this is clearly his coming-out party," Cooper said. "He sets that one up and then makes a big-time play on the winner."

Hope Solo's Heroics Show Why U.S. Soccer Decided To Stick With her

A day before the United States women's national team was to kick off its World Cup on Monday, hoping to end a drought at that tournament dating back to the last millennium, the talk was back to star goalkeeper and controversy-monopolist Hope Solo. And as is usual, in her case, it wasn't exactly a positive discourse.

An ESPN report dug deeper into Solo's June 2014 arrest on domestic violence charges. The case had been dropped – because of the witnesses' failure to show up to give depositions – and Solo had since then portrayed herself as the victim of the incident. However, according to ESPN, which reconstructed that night and fateful fight through conversations with the accusers, 911 calls and police reports, Solo very much appeared to be the aggressor.

As Solo was set to backstop the Americans in yet another campaign to conquer the women's soccer world, we were talking about an ugly incident that was rearing its head yet again. We were talking about domestic violence and the place of its alleged perpetrators in our sports. And then, like so very often, Solo walked onto the Winnipeg Stadium pitch and demonstrated why she gets away with things few others could.

Because she is a magnet for shots from opposing forwards as much as she is for drama.

Without Solo, it's doubtful that the USA would have walked away from its Group of Death opener against Australia with a 3-1 win. The Matildas, so nicknamed, a team that had never once beaten the Americans in 24 attempts, made an aggressive start, clearly unsettling their favored opponents. But just five minutes in, Solo parried an Emily van Egmond shot off her own crossbar. Then, after Megan Rapinoe's deflected effort through traffic had sailed past Melissa Barbieri to put the Americans ahead, Solo denied Sam Kerr on a volley from close range.

Enyeama To Retire From Super Eagles After AFCON 2017

Super Eagles Goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, has said he would retire from super eagles after AFCON 2017. According to the goalkeeper, he had wanted to retire after the team failed to qualify for 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), but the then Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio, his wife and Pastor all discouraged him from retiring. Below is what Enyema said about his planned 2017 retirement. Continue…


 “I actually wanted to stop, it wasn’t a rumour. Nigeria is blessed with great goalkeepers, just that we need to give them confidence.

“Nobody gave me a chance when I started, I was a rookie also; I belt it up, I worked hard for it and became the big person that nobody wants to lose.

“What changed my mind was the passion of Nigerians; I had a lot of calls, my governor, Akpabio.

“A lot of people talked with me. These things, you don’t just ignore and my wife also talked with me.

“My wife didn’t want me to leave yet. I talked to my pastor and he said if everybody said stay, why not; so I decided to continue, but then, there is going to be a time to call it quit.”

“I can’t keep doing the same thing forever; there is going to be a time I have to stop and give it up to some other person.


“I am the only face here since 2002, but 2017 Nations Cup finals will be my last game; I just said my target, anything can happen after.”

I’m Also Studing Law - Super Eagles Player, Ukoh

Super Eagles player, Steven Ukoh has said aside playing football for the National team and playing in Switzerland he is also studying law at one of the universities in the country. According to him, footballers get a lot of free time so he has decided to use his to study law at a university which he has already started. Ukoh who is presently in Abuja, Nigeria said;


“Actually beside football which is my number one priority I’m studying Law at the university. I saw that as a footballer you have a lot of leisure time and I just wanted to use it wisely. So, I took up study. But I’m not quite sure if I will be a lawyer after my (football) career who knows,” he said.