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Exploring new opportunities

Let me begin by joining my editor in apologising for not making my weekly presence on this slot in the last edition of Weekend Nation. This is hardly a situation I am happy to be in, but there are times when you simply find yourself raising your hands in defeat. I am, therefore, relieved to be back as promised to share my thoughts on emerging issues in the sporting world both here at home and on the international scene.

With the Fifa World Cup in Brazil won and gone, the focus of the football world is now shifting to the impending start of the new season in major leagues of Europe in the coming month. The transfer window is now in full swing as teams seek to bolster their squads and pre-season friendly matches are taking place all over the world to build fitness, attain team bonding and make that extra buck.

America is obviously the place to be this Western summer as several big teams find themselves engaged in pre-season tournaments that are achieving several objectives. The US is increasingly warming up to the game and that is giving rise to various commercial opportunities that teams are fully taking advantage of. If it were not for the different time zones, the US game would have been more popular now.

Because of this growing interest, we have seen more Americans owning football teams all over the world, more American players playing in European leagues, more European players making the opposite journey and new MLS teams coming up. We have heard of English football celebrity David Beckham starting a team in Miami and the likes of Spanish striker David Villa and English midfielder Frank Lampard signing for another new team in New York City.

Back home, it was unfortunate that we lost away to Benin last week in the qualifiers for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, but I am not too downbeat because I was expecting worse. This is a defeat we can reverse if we have the right approach which can be helped by home-ground advantage. What is clear, however, is that we should avoid conceding any more goals because that will make our task of proceeding all the much harder.

There was much better news on the netball front on Thursday, however, when our most cherished Queens made a winning start to their quest for Commonwealth Games honours when they impressively beat Northern Ireland. They are likely going to meet sterner tests at the Games, such a dominant performance is going to raise the ladies’ levels of confidence and send shivers to their prospective opponents.

Watching the opening ceremony of the Games on Wednesday night, it was clear that we have very few sporting disciplines in this country. Some games have died a natural death, but some are yet to be introduced. I am not sure what role such bodies as Sports Council in introducing and sustaining new and struggling sports disciplines. With such massive unemployment in the country, this could be an answer, you know!

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