“Grassroot Soccer, the nonprofit organization that uses “the power of soccer” in the fight against HIV / AIDS has announced that it is teaming up with PUMA to introduce a line of custom soccer gear. The line is available for purchase at Grassroots Soccer United. The created merchandise – jerseys, soccer balls, drawstring gear bags – are branded with the Grassroot Soccer UNITED insignia and is affordably priced, at up to $25 – the exact cost of putting one at-risk youth through the Grassroot Soccer HIV / AIDS education curriculum.”

This British school teacher, Kate Drew decided to live a little dangerously on a Zimbabwean game reserve and as you can see, it quickly got out of control.  Amazingly the 28 year old made it out alive with only 13 stitches and a few stains on her tank top from the 400lb lion.

image via DailyMail

image via Wikipedia

The latest Fifa rankings have confirmed what we thought all along, donkeys run the show.  After winning the African Nations Cup for the second time (back to back), Egypt is ranked 4th coming out of Africa while Ghana takes the top spot with Cameroon and the Ivory Coast following.  The exact quote from a Fifa rep is “rankings are not a reflection of a teams present performance, but a reflect of the past for years.”  Cough-bullshiz-cough.

There has been all kinds of talk about whether or not South Africa will be ready to host the 2010 World cup. The tournament is only two years away, and apparently they have a very long way to go to be ready. With all that needs to be done, it has come out that South African Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi has proposed that prostitution be legalized for the World Cup. The argument being that this would not only free up police and security officers, but also make it the “best world Cup possible.” Now I want to see South Africa succeed and host an incredible tournament, but I’m not so sure that legalized prostitution should be your game plan for making it great. The next couple of years are going to be interesting. I hope South Africa can pull this one off, but there is lots of chatter about FIFA moving the World Cup if South Africa doesn’t get their ish together. Stay tuned for this one…

image via Acad

Egypt topped Cameroon (for the second time, the first being a 4-2 win in the opening match of the tournament) 1-nil Sunday afternoon to take the African Nations Cup for the sixth time. With Cameroonian captain Rigobert Song’s error with 14 minutes left, Egyptian midfielder Mohammed Aboutrika slotted home past the diving Carlos Kameni and propelled the North Africans to the title.

While captain Rigobert Song was on the ground receiving medical attention in stoppage time of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over host Ghana in Accra, Reading and fellow Camroonian defender Andre Bikey shoved over a medical assistan, forcing the referee to give him a red card, suspending him for the final Sunday against Egypt, who walloped Drogba’s Ivory Coast 4-1 in the other semi-final.

image via DailyMail

Anytime you go on International Duty for your country, you’ve been given a specific time and date that you have to be back by.  In this case it’s Nigerian striker Yakubu, who’s two day late arrival from the African Nations Cup was made even worse by countryman/teammate  Joseph Yobo arrival on time (talk about getting thrown under the bus).  Although manager David Moyes initial statement to the press is that it’s “an internal matter”, Yakubu will not be dressing for Everton’s Saturday match against Reading and a minimum two week fine (40,000 pound) has been levied.

image via SkySports

For the last four days everyone in the Barclay’s Premiership has been waiting to hear what the hell went on in the transfer of Portsmouth’s Benjani to Manchester City. The truth behind the mess started with Benjani falling asleep at the airport and then the next flight being canceled and the following delayed. Yeah, this was some crazy shit and actually forced the transfer fee down, but if Benjani hits 75 starts in his Man City tenure, Portsmouth would receive a total of 7.5 million pound.

image via CNN

This has got to be bullshit, but here it is anyways. Drogba has always been a master of making questionable statements to the press, but this comes from the Ivory Coast press officer regarding the African Player of the Year Award which was won by Frederic Kanoute.

Mali and Sevilla forward Frederic Kanoute was today named Africa’s Player of the Year for 2007, beating out Chelsea’s Michael Essien and Didier Drogba (the 2006 winner). The 30 year old Kanoute was also the 1st European born African to win the award, born in France to Malian parents.