Why are the mighty falling: as Netherlands dismantle Spain in a thrilling 5-1 win

Netherlands rocked Spain in Salvador with a thumping comeback win, thrashing the World Cup holders 5-1.

The Dutch should have taken the lead after just eight minutes, but Wesley Sneijder botched a wonderful opening. Robben produced the pass that sent Sneijder bearing in on goal but he snatched at his lofted shot and allowed Iker Casillas to thrust his right glove up and make the save.

Spain rallied quickly from that scare and soon began to stamp themselves on the game. By 20 minutes the Dutch were being dictated to by Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva and Xabi Alonso, with Ron Vlaar producing at least two desperate blocks.

The controversial penalty followed in the 26th minute, starting with Xavi's beautifully weighted pass for Costa. He surged into the area and took two touches before turning De Vrij, who appeared in real time to trip him.

By the time Xabi Alonso had buried the spot-kick, replays showed Costa apparently initiating contact.

Netherlands responded positively but needed Jasper Cillessen to paw clear Silva's instinctive lob after a glorious pass from Iniesta in the 43rd minute.

That paved the way for Van Persie's leveller, the Manchester United man reading the space perfectly as he leapt to head Daley Blind's hanging cross high over the helpless Casillas.

The reation was rampant, not least from the high-fiving Louis van Gaal on the touchline.

The celebrations were even better eight minutes into the second half, when a piece of Robben magic gave them the lead.

Van Persie's chip picked out his teammate, but he had plenty still to do as he controlled the ball brilliantly with the outside of his boot before turning Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos, converting with a slight deflection off the latter.

There was no holding Netherlands back, though, Van Persie cracking a volley against the crossbar on the hour before De Vrij made it 3-1 from Sneijder's curling free-kick. Casillas came to claim but failed, with De Vrij on hand to bundle home at the far post.

The pace only increased from there, Silva's close-range finish chalked off for offside before Netherlands extended their lead to three in the 72nd minute. Casillas was wholly culpable this time, turning a harmless back pass into one dreadful touch and an open goal for the alert Van Persie.

Robben completed Spain's misery with 10 minutes left, collecting Sneijder's pass and then reducing Casillas and his defenders to a floundering mess as he made room for an emphatic finish.

Netherlands might have scored two more had they been more clinical, and Spain's Fernando Torres made a woeful blunder from close range, but their statement was already well made.

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University of Lagos Produces Africa’s youngest PhD holder- Age 24

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) that is well known has the Nigeria University of first choice and the Nation's pride yesterday the 12th of June, 2014 awarded a PhD to Mr. Olaoluwa Oluwadamilola (age 24), making him Africa’s youngest PhD holder. 

Olwadamilola had the best PhD thesis, titled: “Studies on Fixed Points of Contractive and Expanding Maps in Multi-Dimensional Spaces”. He scored 5.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

Bakre Oluwafemi Abubakar, a graduate of Electrical/Electronics, was the 2012/2013 Convocation Valedictorian, with a superlative CGPA of 4.86.

Olaoluwa obtained a B.SC in Mathematics and M.SC and Physics in African Central Republic before returning to Nigeria in October, 2009. He began his PhD in 2010, courtesy of a scholarship from the General Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Mission, Pastor Williams Kumuyi. Speaking with reporters at UNILAG Auditorium One, Oluwadamilola said:

“I used to come first in my secondary school days, but not always. My performances became better when I entered the university. As a Christian, my schedule is very tight. I am focused. There were times when I faced distractions from friends who wanted to take me out. There is nothing bad in it, but it can make you concentrate less. There were times when I had job offers and was tempted to take them.

I was discouraged at the beginning. One gets a feeling at the beginning of one’s doctorate programme that all the research topics had been considered by previous scholars and so there is nothing else to do, except for the most complicated ones that are most times beyond one’s ability. Sometimes when you send your papers to international journals, they return it for one reason or the other. That does not mean your work is not good enough, but it can be very discouraging. I want to take another doctoral programme, which will be in either Mathematics or Physics. I will think of what topic to choose before I eventually go ahead,” he said.

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The Nigerian Kokoroko Singer 'Kefee' is dead

Nigeria born entertainer, Kefee is dead. 

Latest updates show that Kefee, who went into coma on her way to Chicago,United states didn’t survive the ordeal. She was pregnant when she went into coma.

The plane in which Kefee was travelling made an emergency landing in Los Ageles so that she could get urgent medical attention.

The death of Kefee is coming days after her radio presenter husband,Teddy Esosa made a call to Nigerians to pray for her survival.Doctors said her chance of survival depends on a miracle.

Though, her management/family is yet to make any official statement but condolence messages have started pouring in.

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Injury scare: Ronaldo cuts training short

Cristiano Ronaldo cut short a training session with Portugal on Thursday, to add weight to the suggestion that he will not be fully fit ahead of their first game against Germany on Monday.

Ronaldo trained with the rest of the team for about 15-20 minutes doing physical exercises but then did not take part in the rest of the session with full ball drills.

Instead, he stretched on his own and signed a few shirts for fans before going to sit on the bench. When he left, he had an ice pack over his left knee -- indicating that his tendinosis is still bothering him.

However, Portugual midfielder Joao Moutinho said there was nothing to worry about concerning Ronaldo's health.

"Ever since he started to train with us he has been 100 percent like the rest of us," Moutinho said. "Everything is fine with him but there is some caution, not only with him. Today many other players were using ice as well. There is nothing to worry about. The ice is normal after training."

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Brazil-Croatia: The Controversial Penalty

Thursday's World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia had plenty of excitement, and it was also utterly scandalous.

With the match tied at one in the 72nd minute, Fred made a move for the ball in the Croatia penalty area. Dejan Lovren appeared to not make much contact with Fred, but Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura awarded Brazil a questionable penalty that Neymar converted in the 71st minute, giving the host nation 2-1 up in what turned into a 3-1 victory over Croatia in Group A play in the 2014 World Cup.

Referees make mistakes. Nobody should get too exercised about one bad decision, not even one as obviously wrong as the penalty.

What they should get worked up about was the obvious pattern. Let’s be generous and say Yuichi Nishimura, the Japanese referee, was overwhelmed by the occasion, but his was a performance so bad it made you believe in conspiracies, or at least that Nishimura was swayed by some sort of (misplaced) guilt, having sent off Felipe Melo for a stamp on Arjen Robben when Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinal four years ago.

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Photos: Brazil 2014 World Cup Kickoff with Protests still in the Air

The 2014 World cup kickoff yesterday June 13th with a colorful opening ceremony at the Arena de Sao Paulo in Brazil that reportedly cost around $4.5million to put together. 
International music stars, Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull were joined on stage by Brazilian pop-star Claudia Leitte to perform the official World Cup song 'We Are One (Ola Ola)'. 
Despite the ongoing celebration going on inside the arena hundreds of protesters also took to the streets in at least four cities, including São Paulo to show their grievance on the government. 
The protesters railed against the $14 billion that Brazil's government has spent to host the event, arguing the money could have been better spent on areas like education. 

See more photos.....

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