Saturday 20 July 2013
Club president Sandro Rosell confirmed on Friday that the 44-year-old will undergo further cancer treatment, making it "impossible for him to continue as coach"
Club president Sandro Rosell and director of football Andoni Zubizarreta called a press conference at Camp Nou on Friday evening, where they confirmed Vilanova must undergo further cancer treatment which would make it "impossible" for him to continue in his role.
"After looking at routine tests, there is [now] an option to continue treating his disease which means it will be impossible for him to continue as first-team coach of FC Barcelona," Rosell told reporters. "I want to ask for the maximum respect for him and his family.
"We have got together with all of the players and the coaching staff and we have decided not to play tomorrow in Poland [in a friendly against Lechia Gdansk].
"It is a very big blow, a huge blow. But Barcelona has overcome many obstacles in its history and this will be no exception."
The Barcelona squad, including Lionel Messi, were present in the front two rows of seats of the press conference as Rosell delivered the news.
Barca won 32 out of 38 league games under Vilanova in 2012-13, lifting the Primera Division title with a record-equalling points tally of 100, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League for a record sixth consecutive season.
Rosell also confirmed the club expect to announce his successor in the coming days.
Golden Eaglets Head to Calabar For Closed-Camping
Senator Liyel Imoke, the Executive Governor of Cross River State, last week sanctioned the return of the Golden Eaglets to Calabar to fine tune their preparations for the forthcoming 2013 FIFA World Cup in the United Arab Emirates as the NFF is leaving no stone unturned in the quest for the team’s successful outing.
Eaglets vs Ivory Coast during the group matches
Tayo Egbaiyelo, the Golden Eaglets’ Team Secretary, informed that a pool of players from the squad that nearly conquered the continent at the 10th African Under-17 Champion-ship in April with their counterparts picked from the screening exercise and officials are due in Calabar on Monday, July 22 to continue their build-up for the championship to be held between October 17 to November 8.
In a related development, members of the Golden Eaglets’ crew are enthusiastic about building a formidable squad that would make Nigerians proud at the 2013 World Cup following a well successful screening exercise.
Coach Siji Lagungu, Technical Officer at the NFF who is charged with the responsibility of organizing the screening, said he was happy with the quality of players spotted since it would boost competition for shirts amongst the players.
“ I’m happy with what we have been able to do within the last few days since the coaches were able to pick some players that are capable of adding values to the team we already have on ground,” said the former Nigerian international who was famous for his dazzling wing play in his heydays. “At this level, there is no limit to the amount of players you can have a look at until the final team is picked and this would help the coaches to have a strong pool of players for the task ahead.”
Assistant Coach Nduka Ugbade equally expressed the same opinion, saying the screening exercise has been a huge success: “I’m really impressed with what have seen so far at the screening and there is no doubt that some of these players can help the cause of our team at the World Cup,” added the Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach who incidentally captained Nigeria to win the maiden edition of the FIFA Under-16 World Cup in 1985 in China.
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