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Chelsea Target Andre Villas-Boas Set to Become New Noss

Chelsea target Andre Villas-Boas is on the verge of becoming the club’s new manager, BBC Sport understands.

The 33-year-old resigned as Porto boss on Tuesday having guided the club to a domestic treble last season.

He has been linked with Chelsea in recent days following the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti in May.

Porto insisted on Monday that Villas-Boas could leave if a rival club paid £13.2m to activate a release clause in his contract.

“FC Porto was today notified of the intention of Andre Villas-Boas to resign from his contract with the club by triggering the release clause immediately,” read a Porto statement.

“The contract will be terminated once the required amount is paid.”

The Lusa news agency had reported earlier on Tuesday that Villas-Boas would pay the £13.2m himself.

Ancelotti was dismissed by Chelsea following a season without any silverware, with the London club finishing runners-up to Manchester United in the Premier League.

Several candidates have been touted as possible replacements for the Italian, among them Turkey boss Guus Hiddink, Villas-Boas and former Fulham, Manchester City and Blackburn boss Mark Hughes.

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS FACT FILE

  • Has an English grandmother and boasts a count and a baron among his relatives
  • Invited to work as a trainee with Porto’s youth-team coaches in 1994 by Sir Bobby Robson
  • Would become youngest current manager in Premier League at 33 if he ends up taking over at Chelsea

Former Chelsea boss John Hollins believes Villas-Boas could prove to be a shrewd acquisition for the west London club, who are yet to realise owner Roman Abramovich’s dream of winning the Champions League, and were beaten in the semi-finals by Manchester United last season.

“He could be fearless,” Hollins told BBC Sport. “It will be fresh for the players, they need a boost. I think it could be a breath of fresh air, bringing in a fresh approach to this maybe tired football team.

“This guy is as young as some of the players are so he will be on the same wavelength with them, but is it going to be a three or four year programme as opposed to having to win something in his first year? That is the one thing we don’t know yet, but he has won three competitions in Portugal just like that so he could be a whizzkid.

“It’s a gamble but I think it’s calculated gamble. I still don’t know if Mr Hiddink will be coming as an advisor to the young man, if he does that will only strengthen the position.”

Under Villas-Boas, Porto won both the Portuguese league and league cup last season, as well as the Europa League.

They were unbeaten in the league, with 27 wins in 30 matches, becoming only the second Portuguese club to complete a league campaign without losing a game, after Benfica in 1972-73.

A scout for compatriot Jose Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, Villas-Boas began his managerial career with Portuguese club Academica in October 2009.

Academica were winless and bottom of the first division at the time but finished the season in 11th place.

They also reached a Portuguese League Cup semi-final before Villas-Boas left to take over at Porto in June 2010.

Villas-Boas, who speaks fluent English, also worked with Sir Bobby Robson during the former England manager’s spell in charge of Porto.

BBC Sports

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Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas to Become New Chelsea Coach

Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas is to join Chelsea following the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti in May.

The 33-year-old Portuguese, who has worked with ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, guided Porto to the Europa League title last season.

The Portuguese club also clinched a domestic double, winning the league and the league cup.

Guus Hiddink has also been linked with a return to Chelsea, where he won the FA Cup as a caretaker manager in 2009.

Neither Chelsea nor Porto have made an official statement about the future of Villas-Boas.

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Ex-France Coach Raymond Domenech Keen on Algeria Post

Domenech says he wants to coach Algeria's national team

Ex-France coach Raymond Domenech says he is keen on coaching Algeria after being approached for the vacant post.

Former Ivory Coast boss Vahid Halilhozdic says he is also a candidate for the Desert Foxes post.

Local coach Abdelhak Benchikha quit the post earlier this month after their defeat to Morocco in Casablanca.

Domenech’s advisors, the Laminak Conseil agency, said in a statement that the coach has been approached Algeria’s football authorities.

“Domenech has indeed been approached over the possibility of his been taken on by the Algerian federation,” the statement read.

“He has not bid for the job. However, Raymond Domenech confirms his affection for Algeria.”

Meanwhile, Halilhozdic says he will meet with the president of the Algeria Football Federation Mohamed Raouraoua on Friday to discuss the vacant post.

“Yes I confirm my meeting with President Raouraoua next Friday in Paris,” Halilhozdic.

Domenech, who replaced Jacques Santini in 2004, stood down as France coach after a dismal World Cup, in which his side failed to make it out of their group.

He guided France to the 2006 World Cup final, where they lost to Italy on penalties after Zinedine Zidane was sent off in the second half of extra time.

However, the coach did not always enjoy the full support of fans, particularly during a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign where France picked up only one point and finished bottom of their group.

Former Manchester United defender Laurent Blanc replaced Domenech in July and led the side to the top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group four games.

Benchikha resigned following the team’s crushing 4-0 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Morocco in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

The defeat leaves Algeria bottom of Group D with Morocco leading the Central African Republic and Tanzania.

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People that Make it in Life Operate within their Passion

(Isaac submitted this article which seems to continue from exactly where I ended in my last post. Enjoy. I’ll be back with the next in the series)

By Isaac Oluyi

Knowledge acquisition is good, but it is much better when you put the knowledge you have acquired to judicious use. It is only proper application of knowledge that gives you power. You may have all the degrees in the world without being fulfilled in life. Degrees do not bring fulfilment. It is only when you do what you have passion for that fun and fulfilment become your lot.

When Phillips Emegwali, Africa’s version of Bill Gates in terms of computer wizardry, said “knowledge is the currency of the world, while the rest is capital”, he failed to add that knowledge only becomes the currency of the world if it is in your area of passion. No matter the knowledge you have, once it is devoid of passion, it may be hard to make the most of it. As an individual, I love writing and public speaking. The two are like second nature to me. I can put words together within a twinkle of an eye to form beautiful expressions. I know this is where my passion lies. So my studying Literature-in-English in the university was not a happenstance. It was a carefully thought out plan. Despite the fact that I work as an administrator today I still write and speak professionally.

Another striking illustration is my love for animals. I have always loved rearing animals from childhood. I remember Continue reading “People that Make it in Life Operate within their Passion”

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Going Under the Knife to Cut HIV Chances

Kenya has managed to bring down the high rate of HIV through a campaign promoting male circumcision but a funding crisis is preventing the effective measure from being rolled out on a wider scale.

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30 Years of HIV

Where we are after 30 years

  • 5 June 1981: Center for Disease Control mentions a new virus in its weekly mortality report
  • 1982: The term Aids (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) first used
  • 1984: Virus identified and named HIV
  • 1985: Rock Hudson dies of Aids, teenage haemophiliac Ryan White expelled from school because infected through treatment
  • 1987: First showing of Aids Memorial Quilt on National Mall in Washington DC
  • 1991: Jeremy Irons wears red ribbon and basketball’s Magic Johnson has the virus
  • 1993: Philadelphia film wins two Oscars
  • 2000: Infection rate in US among African Americans overtakes that in gay men
  • 2011: Global death toll 22m, infections 60m
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Newly Identified Chemicals Fool Mosquitoes

Researchers have identified a low-cost chemical that interferes with a mosquito’s ability to detect humans, a study which offers a striking breakthrough in the battle against malaria.

Mosquitoes have carbon dioxide sensors with which they are able to smell the presence of humans in their neighborhood. The newly identified chemicals consist of odor molecules that disrupt these carbon-dioxide sensors located in small, antennae-like appendages close to the mosquito’s mouth, thereby disrupting the mechanism that alert mosquitoes to exhaled human breath. The study is presented in the journal Nature.

It is hoped that the findings could help develop the next generation of mosquito repellents, which could work by confusing the insects.

DEET are the gold standard insect repellants but they are costly and requires repeat applications and therefore beyond the means of many in the developing countries. This discovery could prove invaluable to poor tropical countries by providing an alternative to DEET.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria kills between 800,000 to 1 million people each year, most of who are in Sub-Saharan African. Children and pregnant mothers are the most vulnerable.

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What the Successful Have in Common: Passion

Earlier in the Series

Passion is defined as an intense emotion that compels feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. My own definition for the purpose of this chapter is the ‘type of feeling you feel about something that makes you feel like you’re really feeling some feeling’.

Passion is the single most important quality shared by all successful people in life or if you like, people who are making real significant impact in some areas in life. Everybody can be okay in something; we can all be average in one thing or the other, but crossing the line of just average to genius doesn’t just take everybody anyhow, it takes individuals with this intense feeling about what they set themselves to do.

My big brother won National Best Teacher Award in 2010. When my sister called to inform me, I wasn’t shocked at all because when I dug deep into his award and considered the way he handles his profession, I could see it happening several years back. His passion for teaching is intense.

With a degree in accounting and commerce, he could strive to secure a high-paying job with a financial institution but he rather chose to teach in elementary school. Surely, that is not what I would choose. To him, there’s not a single day he regrets what he does. He’s not the type of teacher who pupils sleep in class because of the level of enthusiasm with which he executes his duty. Some may envy the physical award that was given him, but I know that what he cherishes most is the pride of living as a National Best Teacher for the rest of this life. That is passion.

If you’re passionate about what you do, it should show in every aspect of your life, not life at the Continue reading “What the Successful Have in Common: Passion”

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