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  • UCL: Final match-day, fixtures, predictions

    UCL: Final match-day, fixtures, predictions

    Tonight, fans across the globe will witness football at its peak as 36 of the world’s most elite teams clash in a thrilling battle for a coveted spot in the knockout stages of the 2024/2025 season. With only the strongest surviving, most of the games will be season defining moments packed with tension, drama, and unforgettable moments. The stakes are higher than ever, as these teams representing the pinnacle of footballing excellence go head-to-head in a final push to secure their place in the tournament’s next phase.

    Nine teams are already eliminated and have nothing to play for having failed to secure good points from their previous matches. In what would have been a walk-over for 6-time Premier League winners, Manchester City, their glimpse of European glory will be decided tonight as they take on Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium.

    Below are the fixtures, table break down, percentage of qualification for each team by supercomputer’s simulations

    Fixtures (Table Positions)

    Aston Villa (9th) vs Celtic (18th)

    Barcelona (2nd) vs Atalanta (7th)

    Bayer Leverkusen (8th) vs Sparta Prague (29th)

    Bayern Munich (15th) vs Slovan Bratislava (35th)

    Borussia Dortmund (14th) vs Shakhtar Donetsk (27th)

    Brest (13th)  vs Real Madrid (16th)

    Dinamo Zagreb (26th) vs Milan (6th)

    Girona (31st) vs Arsenal (3rd)

    Internazionale (4th) vs Monaco (10th)

    Juventus (17th) vs Benfica (21st)

    Lille (12th) vs Feyenoord (11th)

    Manchester City (25th) vs Club Brugge (20th)

    PSV (19th) vs Liverpool (1st)

    Red Bull Salzburg (34th) vs Atlético Madrid (5th)

    Sturm Graz (33rd) vs RB Leipzig (30th)

    Sporting CP (23rd) vs Bologna (28th)

    VfB Stuttgart (24th) vs Paris Saint-Germain (22nd)

    Young Boys (36th) vs Crvena zvezda (32nd)

    Percentage Of Qualification

    Already Qualified Teams

    Liverpool and Barcelona are the only two teams automatically assured of a spot in the top eight. Arne Slot’s side boasts a perfect record, though they have yet to secure first place after Raphinha’s dramatic late winner at Benfica last Tuesday. Meanwhile, Liverpool are guaranteed a top-two finish, while Barcelona can confirm their place in the top two with a positive result against Atalanta on the final match day.

    Arsenal’s Fate

    Arsenal are sure of a top eight finish if they secure maximum points against Gerona, however, It is mathematically possible for Arsenal to finish outside the top eight.

    To finish outside of the top-eight, they must lose to Girona and five of the six following results need to happen:

    Inter win or draw OR Monaco win and make up a goal difference of nine to Arsenal

    Atlético Madrid win (vs Salzburg)

    Milan win (vs Dinamo Zagreb)

    Atalanta win (vs Barcelona)

    Bayer Leverkusen win and make up six goal difference to Arsenal (vs Sparta Prague)

    One of Aston Villa/Feyenoord/Lille/Brest win and make up a goal difference of seven to 10 dependent on the team winning.

    The Rest of the Top Eight

    Inter (97.7%), Atlético Madrid (81.5%), Bayer Leverkusen (75.5%), and Milan (73.6%) all have a strong chance of finishing in the top eight, consistently occupying those positions in the majority of the Opta supercomputer’s simulations.

    At the very least, they are all set to make the play-off round, but the supercomputer predicts they will hold onto their current top-eight spots. With favorable fixtures to close out the league phase, each team has a solid path ahead.

    Read Also: Dortmund dismiss  Sahin after UCL  setback

    Inter only need a point to guarantee their place in the top eight, while Atlético and Milan, with teams as low as 18th just three points behind, must secure a win to secure their spots.

    Leverkusen, currently in the top eight on goal difference, need a victory at home against the already-eliminated Sparta Prague to solidify their position—something the supercomputer believes they are capable of achieving.

    Top Eight Outsiders

    Lille (33.1%) are the only other team with a reasonable shot at sneaking into the automatic qualification spots. However, they must first beat Feyenoord (13.1%) and then hope for favorable results elsewhere.

    Borussia Dortmund (11.8%), Bayern Munich (7.9%), Brest (7.3%), Monaco (7.0%), Real Madrid (2.9%), and Juventus (0.8%) are the only other teams that have made it into the top eight in any of the supercomputer’s simulations. For these teams to jump into the top eight, they would need to win and rely on a series of other results to go their way. Regardless, all of them are guaranteed at least a spot in the play-off round. Celtic, meanwhile, are assured of finishing in the top 24.

    Although Celtic, along with PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge, still have a mathematical chance of making the top eight, their odds are so slim that they didn’t feature in the automatic qualification spots in any of the supercomputer’s simulations. These three are all but certain to finish in the play-off spots.

    Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Sporting CP, and VfB Stuttgart each sit on 10 points, just three behind the top eight. However, none can break into the top eight due to the matchups above them—such as Lille vs Feyenoord—ensuring that the team finishing in eighth will have at least 14 points.

    Predictions

    Lots of goals are expected to flow being the final game of the group stage, your best bet will be on team goals.

    0ver 1.5goals for stronger teams (Bet responsively)

  • Cleric slams colleagues making predictions for politicians

    •Urges them to quit pulpit for politics

    A Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) pastor, Dr. Sunday Ilori, has

    criticised some clerics for “turning themselves to slaves of politicians.”

    Ilori, who is the District Superintendent, CAC Wonders Chapel, Ikotun, Lagos, condemned the penchant of some clergymen to release predictions about politicians at the beginning of each year.

    The Ilupeju Ekiti-born man of God who spoke with our reporter earlier in the week said a good number of clerics have lost the vision for serious task of evangelism, soul-winning and preparing their members for heaven in favour of chasing politicians for filthy lucre.

    Expressing regrets that many Christian ministers have turned their pupils to political soap box, Ilori advised those not interested in working in God’s vineyard to resign and face politics squarely.

    Ilori, who is also the Chairman of Ekiti Unity Forum (EUF), expressed concern about the high rate of poverty and youth unemployment in his home state of Ekiti.

    He promised to organise a public lecture and empowerment programme in his hometown, Ilupeju Ekiti, on February 10 to contribute his own quota to the development of his place of birth.

    Ilori also called for peace among the people of Ekiti State as the July 14 governorship election draws nearer. He urged the people to pray for the emergence of a good leader out of the contenders for the governorship seat.

    He said: “I have a message for 2018; the prophets of doom in Nigeria should go and join the political parties of their choice.

    “Many men of God have turned themselves to slaves of politicians in a bid to gain cheap popularity and attention and fill their pockets with money.

    “I am over 30 years in the ministry and 60 years of age; in Nigeria, we have taken the gospel like a business and see it as a war.

    “Can you imagine that these prophets don’t even prophesy about the needy in their churches. Their targets are the rich, moneybags and politicians.

    “They no longer preach about salvation, repentance again and they have turned their altars to political campaign grounds.

    “They always say this person will die this year and that person will die next year. This is highly unfortunate.”

     

  • Our 2018 predictions, by Adeboye, Olukoya

    Our 2018 predictions, by Adeboye, Olukoya

    General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has predicted a ray of hope for Nigerians.

    In his New Year message and predictions delivered during the Crossover Service at the RCCG camp on the Lagos –Ibdan Expressway, Adeboye said: “Many Nigerians will wake up in 2018 to realise that their future is not in the hands of any government and as a result, a lot of lost grounds will be reclaimed.

    “Some significant Goliaths will fall, just as before the end of 2018, there will be rays of hope that all will still be well in Nigeria.”

    He also announced that God told him that the countdown to the overthrow had begun in earnest, adding that the approval of sodomy in some countries and the perennial climate change were instruments to hasten the apocalypse.

    His specific predictions are:

    • Erstwhile stubborn mountains will move.
    • Many people will wake up to realise that their future is not in the hand of any government and as a result a lot of lost ground will be reclaimed.
    • Saboteurs will be disgraced and displaced.
    • Significant Goliaths will fall.
    • Before the end of the year, there will be rays of hope that all will still be well.

    On the international level, he said:

    • This year there will be less fire outbreaks but there will be more floods.
    • There will be misunderstandings amongst nation but no major wars.
    • Pray against assassination attempts globally.
    • There will record-breaking temperatures both high and low.
    • There will be a handful of breakthroughs both scientific and medical.
    • The count down to the end has started.”

  • 2017: Prophecies, predictions and policies

    “The best way to predict the future is to create it”
    – Peter Drucker

    To start with, let me be upfront in declaring my lack of qualification for the elevated title of a prophet. I am not a prophet and I very much doubt if I can ever make one by any stretch of imagination.
    Just as I am not prophetic, I also cannot make any pretensions to being clairvoyant. Indeed, I have no orbuculum and can therefore not be involved in the act of scrying.
    However, in spite of these seeming shortcomings, I dare say that I can see the future. Without the aid of crystal balls, I can see a future where Ogun State grows its Gross Domestic Product, GDP, from its current position of $20bn annually to $100bn within the next 10 years.
    That is not all. I can also see a future where someone resident in Ogun State can arrive Lagos for work, business or any other purposes, after a 20mins train ride.
    I can see a future where an international airport in Ogun State becomes a major hub for the movement of goods, machineries, people and services in and out of Nigeria thereby completing the meaning of the state’s appellation as the gateway to not just the rest of Nigeria but also the West African sub region.
    Now, since I am neither a prophet nor a fortune-teller, how did I see this future that I have so painted? Well, Peter Drucker, the Austrian-born American management guru already took care of that when he said, “the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
    And that is exactly what Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, is doing in Ogun State at the moment. He is busy creating the desired future of the Gateway state.
    “One of the strategies towards achieving this aim is to attract investments into the state,” he recently said.
    To make this happen, the state government however realizes the need to first put infrastructure in place. “This is why we have embarked on massive infrastructural development. At the commencement of our massive road construction and redesign across the state, even some of our steadfast supporters never believed we could achieve what we have achieved.
    “Today, these projects have opened up Ogun State as the investment destination of choice in the country. Indeed, Ogun State has emerged the fastest growing state economy and is now the industrial capital of Nigeria by all indices, giving further proof of our actions. We have been able to attract 543 new industries in the five years of our administration, all of which have invested not less than $50 million each. Of these industries, 110 have invested between $200 million and $2 billion,” Governor Amosun said.
    Realising that in order to achieve massive industrialisation, there is the need to support road transportation with rail transportation, the state government has concluded plans to have the ground-breaking ceremony for its proposed light-rail project within the first quarter of 2017.
    The first phase of the proposed Ogun Light Rail Network is approximately 102.3km and consists of two lines namely: Abeokuta (Panseke) – Sagamu Interchange – Sagamu Town (49.8 km) and Ogere Town – Sagamu Interchange – Berger (52.5km).
    This first phase of the rail line was selected to take advantage of the existing traffic on the Lagos to Sagamu section of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, which is the busiest road in Nigeria with an Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) of over 40,000.
    This phase also connects Abeokuta, the State Capital to the rapidly growing industrial zone of Sagamu and commercial zone of Ogere.
    As part of efforts to create the desired future, the Ogun State government is also keying in to the potentials provided by agriculture and agri-business. “We are exploring an Agro-Politan development strategy which emphasises the localisation of the entire value chain that agriculture provides: Grow-Process-Store–Package–Market-Sell. This will ensure that millions of our citizens, especially youth, will be engaged in the agricultural value chain and will be able to prosper wherever they are,” Governor Amosun said.
    Closely related to this, is the reforestation project of the state government. For this, Ogun State already has two sites at Aworo and Imeko. Apart from the fact that the projects will go a long way in improving the quality of the environment, it will also boost forestry development plan and promote investment in the timber industry.
    “Since most of the people who will drive the agriculture and forestry sectors are mostly rural dwellers, the year 2017 will witness huge rural road construction.
    “We will take advantage of the opportunities provided by the World Bank through the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) to ensure easy access to farm produce and mobility of dwellers to modern facilities such as pipe borne water, electricity and qualitative health care delivery,” Governor Amosun said.
    Of course when you attract investments and investors, you then also have to make provisions for their housing needs. In this respect, the Ogun State government is making efforts to create the desired future by continuing with the development of the New Makun City; MITROS City in Isheri; New Government City in Kobape; New Cities in Ota and Agbara; New GRA in Ijebu-Ode, and the President Muhammadu Buhari Housing Estate, Kobape, among others.
    So, won’t these new projects affect the completion of ongoing ones? The governor’s answer is an emphatic no. “Let me again re-assure you that the commencement of new projects will not in any way affect the completion of on-going projects spread across the three senatorial districts. By the grace of God, I assure you that we will not leave any project uncompleted,” he said recently.
    Indeed, in the present day Ogun State, nearly anyone can claim to be a prophet or seer and this is because the state government is clearly creating the future.
    •Soyinka, is Senior Special Assistant (Media) and spokesman for Governor Amosun.

  •  Obamacare not spurring early retirements yet despite predictions

    The Affordable Care Act is doing plenty of good for older Americans, but one thing it is not doing is convincing them to retire early.

    One prediction of the impact of the healthcare law, commonly known as Obamacare, was that the ACA would end “job lock” – the phenomenon of workers hanging onto jobs just for the health insurance while waiting to become eligible for Medicare at age 65.

    Instead, the ACA’s guaranteed issue of insurance would let them leave the world of full-time work for more flexible self-employment, start businesses or launch encore careers – or just retire.

    A 2013 study by the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center and Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, for instance, forecast that health reform would boost the number of self-employed people by 1.5 million.

    But new research shows the ACA has not turned the job-lock key – at least not yet. A team of University of Michigan researchers studied Census Bureau employment data for 2014 – the first full year of the law’s implementation – and found no evidence of a higher rate of retirement, or a shift to part-time work, for Americans age 55 to 64.

    “We looked for it. In fact we really looked hard for it,” said Helen Levy, a research associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. “This just hasn’t been the labor supply Armageddon some were predicting.”

    Still, the ACA has had an enormous, positive impact on older Americans.

     

    • Culled from Reuters

  • ‘Accurate weather predictions boom to private firms’

    Demand for accurate weather predictions by  farmers could  enable  private forecasting  firms  to enter the industry, the President, Lagos  State Apex Fadama Community Association, Alhaji Mufutau Abiodun Oyelekan,  has said.

    According to him, there is increased demand for agro-meteorological information and services from the farmers.

    This, he noted,  imposes the need to reduce the role of  agro-meteorological stations, which should not only be “centres for collecting data and information”, but also something like a local referral and consultation centre.

    He said an improved weather  service  would result into increases in food and income.

    Such service, he added, would  help farmers not only in increasing  their production but also reducing their losses due to changing weather patterns and other problems.

    Despite advances made in weather forecasting, he maintained that the real value is in terms of offering the right advice at right time to the farmers, noting that this is lacking.

    Oyelekan said farmers need      agro-meteorological services to   meet essential needs in agro-meteorological information in both operational and climatological, adding that  the  economy is  open  to new and promising technologies and techniques that acommodate  microclimate relationships and  crop development models.

    At the moment, he noted, agro meteorological services are not rich enough to attract the attention  of farmers, adding that the sector needs  more  accurate agro-meteorological information, to think and take  decisions.

    Experts said the data provided by the national weather service is more generic, and that this  has  reduced the dependency on the government weather service provider.

    According to him, there was a need to create an alternative, although one cannot rule out the forecasts by the National Meteorological Service.

    He said the companies will  provide weather services for corporate, industrial, media and consumer markets, including key sectors, such as transport, marine and energy.

    According to him, such  companies  will be permitted to sell data to insurance firms and those in the private sector.

    To succeed,  he  said,  such  firms  would establish  highest density of private weather stations, consisting of proprietary weather stations across the country and  opening up opportunities for developing high resolution forecasting technologies.