Paris Saint Germain striker Neymar, the world’s most expensive footballer, will not play for Brazil at the Tokyo Olympics, but veteran Daniel Alves did make the squad announced on Thursday (June 17).

Neymar’s PSG teammate Marquinhos, who also landed a gold medal in Rio five years ago, is another name not on coach Andre Jardine’s list.

Former Barcelona star Alves, now with Sao Paulo, missed the ongoing Copa America owing to a knee injury.

Jardine is hoping his experienced defender will be fit in time to take on 2016 beaten finalists Germany on July 22.

Two French-based players who will compete in Japan are Bruno Guimaraes of Lyon and Marseille new signing Gerson.

The Nigerian government  has appointed former Super Eagles skipper, John Mikel  Obi  as Youth Ambassador. He is saddled with a duty to inspire young  Nigerian  to strive  for excellence.

The event took place at  the Nigeria Olympic Committee secretariat, National Stadium, Surulere Lagos on Friday.

Speaking at the event, Minister of  Youth and  Sports  Development  Sunday  Dare  described the former Chelsea legend as a role model whose lasting legacies in football development has continued to have positive impact on youths in the country.

The Minister promised to support Mikel’s vision and vision for sports development in the country and assured the Stoke City midfielder of Federal Government unalloyed support whenever he chooses to invest in the country.

” Time will not permit me to say much about Mikel’s success as a footballer. He is our legend and a role model who has continued to impact the  lives of youth positively.

” It is it my pleasure to appoint you as Nigeria Youth Ambassador. It’s a new portfolio and your role as youth ambassador will be made known to Nigerians,”  the Minister asserted.

In his response, Mikel expressed delight with his new portfolio and promised to work with the sports Ministry to foster youth development in the country.

” I feel highly honored to be appointed as Youth Ambassador of this country, it is a great feeling. I am happy with this partnership and I promise to do my best to encourage and inspire the youths towards national development not just in football but in other sports like basketball, boxing among others”, said Mikel.

The event  was  followed by a  tour of the National Stadium,  Surulere which is under going rehabilitation.

The  Minister stated that a lot of efforts had been put into the   rehabilitation of the stadium with much emphasis on the pitch, scoreboard, tartan tracks and  the spectators’ stand.  He stressed that the  Ministry had also partnered with a private organization to change the seat  of  the 45, 000 capacity Stadium  to a standard  one

” A lot has been put in place to ensure that  the stadium returns to what it used to be. The seats are no longer in line with FIFA standard, but we have partnered a private organization to have modern seats in place,” he concluded. 

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has announced the state of emergency in Tokyo and eight prefectures will end as planned on June 20, nearly a month before the start of the Olympic Games.

Tokyo has been under state of emergency restrictions since April, which were introduced to help curb the spread of COVID-19

The measures were originally scheduled to expire at the end of May, but were extended until June 20 to help continue a downward trend of cases.

The Aichi, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Hokkaido, Hiroshima, Okayama, Osaka and Okinawa prefectures have also been under the restrictions.

The state of emergency measures will conclude as planned on Sunday (June 20) in all but one of the prefectures.

Okinawa will remain under tighter restrictions until July 11.

“The number of infected people nationwide has been declining since mid-May,” Suga said today.

“The number of seriously ill people nationwide has continued to decrease, and the condition of beds has been steadily improving.

“On the other hand, the number of infected people has increased in some areas.

“The decline has stopped, and the possibility of rebound has been pointed out.”

A series of measures will remain in place across the prefectures, which has been viewed as a “quasi-state of emergency”.

Suga said focus will be placed on measures around eating and drinking, with restaurants expected to close by 8pm.

Alcohol can be served until 7pm under the restrictions.

Local authorities are able to introduce stronger measures, should they be required.

These restrictions are due to be in place until at least July 11, less than two weeks before the Olympic Opening Ceremony on July 23.

“If the infection re-expands and there are signs of tight medical care, it is possible to flexibly include strengthening countermeasures,” Suga said.

“We will take measures to prevent such infections and promote vaccination.

“It is expected to exceed 40 million [vaccinations] at the end of this month, and in all cities, towns and villages, the desired elderly people at the end of July.

“We have received reports that it is expected that two doses of inoculation will be completed.

“We request that each Minister work with all possible efforts on infection control measures and vaccination in cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies.”

The number of new COVID-19 cases has steadily declined in Japan since a peak last month, with May 12 seeing over 7,500 reported.

By contrast, 1,717 new cases were reported yesterday across Japan, with the seven day average standing at 1,626.

Japan has administered 27.6 million vaccine doses to date, with 18 million given to the elderly and 9.5 million for medical personnel.

Over seven million people are fully vaccinated in Japan, representing less than six per cent of the population.

The country is hoping to achieve a target of administering over one million doses per day, with a record high of over 912,000 reportedly given on June 9.

The end of the official state of emergency could boost the chance of domestic spectators being permitted to attend Tokyo 2020 competitions, with the Japanese Government introducing a cap of 10,000 or half the capacity for sporting events.

A decision on whether domestic spectators could be able to attend Tokyo 2020 is due to be made at the end of the month.

Foreign fans have already been banned.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are due to take place until August 8, with the Paralympics following from August 24 to September 5.

Germany got their Euro 2020 campaign back on track – and blew Group F wide open – with a 4-2 romp against Portugal in Munich on Saturday (June 19).

France’s 1-1 draw with Hungary earlier in Budapest and Germany’s win mean there is all to play for in Wednesday’s final group games when the Germans host Hungary and the French meet holders Portugal.

“Overall, it was a great performance: great attitude and great morale,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “We rightly won by that amount and created many chances.”

After Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his 107th international goal, leaving him two short of Ali Daei’s all-time record, to give Portugal an early lead, the Germans roared back with four unanswered goals.

German pressure forced own goals by Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro to put the hosts 2-1 up at half-time.

A Kai Havertz goal underlined Germany’s dominance before left-back Robin Gosens capped his man-of-the-match display by heading in Germany’s fourth to add to his two assists.

Portugal hit back when Diogo Jota tapped in Ronaldo’s hooked volley to make it 4-2 with 23 minutes left.

Germany continued their domination of Portugal, who they have now beaten five consecutive times at World Cup or European Championship finals since Euro 2000.

“Germany were the better team and I take responsibility for this (defeat), but whether we progress now is up to us and how we respond,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.

Germany created a huge amount of chances compared to Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat by France, while Portugal lacked the composure of their 3-0 win over Hungary the same day.

The match began at a frantic pace amid sweltering conditions in the Bavarian capital.

The Germans had a goal disallowed after five minutes when VAR spotted Serge Gnabry was offside as Gosens hit a spectacular volley.

However, sloppy Germany defending saw Portugal take the lead.

With only Gosens and Havertz defending at a German corner, Bernardo Silva started a counter-attack, then picked out Jota in the area with a world-class pass.

The Liverpool forward squared to Ronaldo, who sprinted into the box to slot the ball past Germany captain Manuel Neuer with less than 15 minutes gone.

It was Ronaldo’s first goal against Germany to extend his record tally to 12 goals at five European Championship finals.

However, two own goals inside four minutes turned the game.

Germany drew level when another Gosens volley was flicked towards the net by Havertz, with Dias getting the final touch as the ball flew past Rui Patricio on 35 minutes.

The second goal soon followed when Guerreiro turned Kimmich’s cross into his own net while trying to stop the ball reaching the on-rushing German forwards.

Gosens caused Portugal problems all afternoon on the left flank.

His low cross was tapped in by Havertz six minutes after the break.

The Atalanta player then capped a superb display by powering in a close-range header from Kimmich’s cross on the hour mark.

German fans sang their approval, with “Oh, wie ist das schoen” (oh, is that beautiful) echoing around the Allianz Arena.

Gosens was substituted soon after with his name being chanted.

Portugal pulled a goal back when Guerreiro’s free-kick was hooked back by Ronaldo and turned in by Jota.

Germany nearly claimed a late fifth goal when Havertz’s replacement Leon Goretzka fired over after another surging attack by the hosts.

This is the first time Portugal have conceded four goals since losing 4-0 to Germany at the 2014 World Cup.

Africa continues to wield tremendous influence in the on-going Euro 2020, a continental championship wildly believed to be the greatest.

While last Tuesday’s encounter of France and Germany featured 10 players of African origin, the Thursday’s Group C’s clash of Austria and the Netherlands further raised the Africa at Euro 2020. Three players of African origin featured. Two of them are Nigerians by birth.

The Austrian side that lost 2-0 was captained by David Alaba, whose father is a Nigerian.

The Netherlands had Georginio Wijnaldum, whose former surname is Boateng, although in recent media comments, he played down on his Ghanaian origin.

The PSV Einhoven attacking midfielder claimed that he dropped Boateng because that was the name of his former step-father.  

In a media report, he remarked: “I want to put on record that I am now Georginio Wijnaldum not Georginio Boateng, in fact I have been known as George Wijnaldum for four years now.”

As for Alaba, his identity has never been in doubt. His father is George Alaba from Ogere in Ogun State, South West Nigeria

 His mother, Gina, is from Philippines.  He was born in Vienna, Austria making him eligible to play for three countries  spread across three continents – Nigeria (Africa), Austria (Europe) and Philippines (Asia).

A third Nigerian,Karim Onisiwo came into the Thursday night match as a 84^th minute substitute for Xaver Schlager in the Austrian side. His father and that of David Alaba are reported to be very close.