The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mexico

  • NFF reportedly got N6.4m for Mexico game

    NFF reportedly got N6.4m for Mexico game

    Reports reaching futaa.com from Houston has suggested that the Nigeria Football Federation were paid a paltry $40,000 (N6.4m) as appearance fees for the international friendly against Mexico.

    The amount, which was whispered to futaa.com by one of those who work with the organisers, represents what the NFF will receive after all the other expenses relating to the trip, including hotel and transport have been settled.

    However, observers are arguing that the amount is too small for a country that has just been crowned Champions of Africa. They also argue that the said amount will not cover the other expenses the team would have incurred, including the match bonus of the players, and the allowances of the accompanying officials.

    The NFF have never willfully disclosed the financial details of any contract entered into, whether it involves friendly matches, or sponsorship deals.

  • Super Eagles draw 2-2 with Mexico

    Super Eagles draw 2-2 with Mexico

    Super Eagles early Saturday morning played a 2-2 draw with the Mexican national team at Reliant Stadium in Houston at an international friendly match .

    El Tri started off hot in the contest, but an early straight red card evened out the match.

    To start the scoring, it was an early goal by Manchester United striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who was able to put away a cross from Pablo Barrera.

    Unfortunately for the Mexicans, it was just a little time later that Barrera was shown the red card, which resulted in an equalizing goal from the Super Eagles. It was Ideye Brown who was able to sneak the ball past Jose de Jesus Corona on the penalty.

    Just before the half, Nigeria was able to charge after a big save from keeper Austin Ejide, which led to John Ogu scoring and putting Nigeria ahead 2-1.

    In the second-half, it was Chicharito’s heroics that evened up the game for Mexico just twenty minutes before the final whistle. In a stunning state, four of the five goals Mexico has scored in 2013 have come from the foot of Hernandez. The Mexican offense will need to find more attackers in order to stand out during World Cup qualifiers.

    Mexico and Nigeria will now prepare for some tough upcoming matches next week in World Cup qualifying. Mexico will take on Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica next month, while Nigeria has a match against Kenya.

  • Echiejile set for Mexico test

    Echiejile set for Mexico test

    NIGERIAN left-back, Elderson Echiejile has voiced his readiness to face Mexico’s national football team, El Tricolor on Friday.

    Nigeria and Mexico go head-to-head in a glamour friendly at the Reliant Stadium, Houston on May 31. Echiejile, who has been training with the African champions in Germany, has now spoken about the upcoming game against the six-time Concacaf Gold Cup champions.

    The SC Braga left back took to Twitter via his account, @EldersonEch to speak about the mood in the team’s training camp in Germany. “Done with training in Germany looking forward to the trip tomorrow for the game against Mexico in USA!,” he tweeted.

    Echiejile’s compatriots, Ogenyi Onazi and Efe Ambrose on Sunday won Cup competitions in Italy and Scotland with SS Lazio and Celtic respectively and the 25-year-old was quick to salute the exploits of the duo. “Congratulation to my national team mate! Onazi and Ambrose for their cup winning,” he further tweeted.

  • U.S. Senate to tighten immigration law

    An immigration bill being written in the Senate in United States aims to wipe out nearly all illegal crossings along the southwestern border with Mexico while maintaining a 13-year timetable for existing illegal residents to win citizenship, sources said on Wednesday.

    The carefully crafted language is intended to attract support from Republican in Congress for comprehensive immigration legislation this year, while accommodating Democrats’ desire to help the estimated 11 million foreigners living in the U.S. illegally.

    The idea is to create tough law-and-order provisions that backers could argue would finally fix a porous U.S. border, as well as keeping foreigners who have obtained visas from overstaying them.

    A bipartisan group of eight Democratic and Republican senators writing the bill is hoping to sign off on the measure in coming days.

    Under the tentative deal worked out by the group, the Department of Homeland Security would be tasked with developing plans to stop nearly all illegal border crossings, two sources familiar with the plan said.

    Border security would be linked to the path to citizenship and the standards would be set by Congress.

    Once DES submitted the plan, the government would be allowed to start providing initial provisional legal status to the illegal immigrants who qualify, one source said.

    The agency would be given three billion dollars to immediately implement the plan, according to one Senate aide familiar with the legislation.

    The two sources, who asked not to be identified, said the DHS border plan would have a goal of stopping 90 per cent of illegal border crossings at “high risk’’ areas.

    If the agency failed to meet the goal in any of the first five years after the immigration law was enacted, a newly created commission would come up with additional steps to stop visa overstays and illegal border crossings, the sources said.

    The federal government would dedicate another two billion dollars to achieve these security steps, the Senate aide said.

     

  • Mexico’s most powerful women arrested

    Union head Elba Esther Gordillo, known as Mexico’s most powerful woman, has been arrested on corruption charges.

    Ms Gordillo, who runs the 1.5 million-member Mexican teachers’ union, is alleged to have embezzled more than $156m from union funds.

    No-one from her legal team has responded to the allegations, but in the past she has denied any wrongdoing.

    Her arrest came a day after the government enacted major reforms to the education system.

    President Enrique Pena Nieto signed the sweeping reforms, which seek to change a system dominated by Ms Gordillo’s union in which teaching positions could be sold or inherited.

    “We are looking at a case in which the funds of education workers have been illegally misused, for the benefit of several people, among them Elba Esther Gordillo,” Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.

    His office alleges Ms Gordillo, 68, used the money on property, including in the United States, private airplanes and plastic surgery.

    The BBC says that Ms Gordillo is one of the highest profile figures in Mexican political life, known simply as “la maestra” or “the teacher.”

    For more than 20 years she has led the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE).

    With an estimated 1.5 million members, the SNTE is considered Latin America’s most powerful union.

    Ms Gordillo has held real influence over governments and individual presidents by persuading her union members to vote as a single bloc, the report says.

    The teachers were also responsible for manning polling stations on election day.

    Her union is very wealthy, and can count on an annual budget of tens of millions of dollars.

     

  • Frenchwoman released in Mexico

    Frenchwoman released in Mexico

    A Frenchwoman jailed in Mexico in 2007 for 60 years for kidnapping has been freed, after the Supreme Court ruled her rights were violated.

    Florence Cassez had denied the charges and many irregularities were found in the case, including a staged televised police raid.

    BBC says three judges on a panel of five voted to have Ms Cassez released immediately.

    The case provoked tensions between Mexico and France, where news of her release was widely welcomed.

    Ms Cassez was driven to Mexico City’s international airport, where she boarded an overnight Air France flight to Paris.

    Ms Cassez’s mother, Charlotte, told French television the case had been full of suspense right to the end. “It’s an explosion of joy. I can’t quite believe it,” she said.

    In a statement, President Francois Hollande said the decision marked the end of a “particularly painful period.”

    “France thanks all those who, in Mexico as well as here at home, have fought so that truth and justice prevail.”

    Mr. Hollande spoke to Ms Cassez by phone on Wednesday evening. Details of the conversation have not been revealed.

    “This is a historic day for Mexican justice,” said her lawyer Frank Berton.

     

  • Mexico’s new president prepares for power

    Mexico’s new president prepares for power

    Mexico’s incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has named a 20-member cabinet hours before his inauguration.

    BBC says only three women will be in government as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) returns to power after a 12-year absence.

    Mr. Pena Nieto wants to boost economic growth and cut drug-related violence.

    Mexico’s foreign minister will be Jose Antonio Meade, who was treasury minister in President Felipe Calderon’s outgoing government.

    The PRI governed without interruption for 71 years until 2000, and its opponents often accused it of being authoritarian and corrupt, and of having links to the drug cartels.

    But during his election campaign Mr. Pena Nieto, 46, was adamant that the PRI had evolved.

    “I can say categorically that in my government, there won’t be any form of pact or agreement with organised crime,” he told the BBC.

    “It’s not the path nor the route to greater security for the Mexican people.”

    The new cabinet was presented by the man selected as interior minister, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, a close friend of the president-elect and former Hidalgo state governor.

    He will have what is likely to be one of the most difficult jobs, as Mr. Pena Nieto wants to transfer responsibility for co-ordinating the drugs war from the public security ministry to the interior ministry.

    One of Mr. Osorio Chong’s main tasks will be to reduce the country’s murder rate. More than 50,000 people have died in Mexico in the fight against drug trafficking in the past six years.

    A general, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, will head the defence ministry.