Mascherano Retires After Argentina World Cup Exit
The 34-year-old made 145 appearances for Argentina, including their dramatic 4-3 defeat by France in the last 16 on Saturday.
Mascherano played every minute of Argentina's games at this year's World Cup - his fourth successive tournament.
He told DeportTV: "Personally, for me now it's over. From now on I'm just one more Argentina fan."
The double Olympic champion made his senior debut in 2003 and began his career at Argentine club River Plate.
He played for West Ham from 2006 to 2007, leaving to join Liverpool where he featured in the 2007 Champions League final defeat by AC Milan.
Mascherano played for Barcelona from 2010 to this January, winning the Champions League twice and being part of squads that won La Liga on five occasions.
He is currently with Chinese club Hebei China Fortune.
Africa Suffers Worst Tournament Since 1982 - Drogba
Senegal became the first team in World Cup history to go out on the fair play rule after losing to Colombia.
Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia had already fallen at the group stage.
"Africa is going to be successful one day but we need to think again how we approach these big competitions," said former Ivory Coast striker Drogba.
No team from Africa has advanced beyond the quarter-finals at a World Cup.
However, since 1982 - when Algeria and Cameroon went out at the group stage - at least one country from the continent has made it to the knockout stage. Until now.
In Russia, African teams have managed just three wins and lost 10 in 15 attempts.
"It's a big step back."
"I also think it is a chance for all the African teams and for the African Confederation maybe to reconsider the strategy and how we want to go forward.
"What do we want to do in the next World Cup? We have the potential, we have the money to develop, but we need more than that.
"We need to have the consistency and the structure of the European teams and the South American teams.
"We are going to be successful one day but we need to think again how we approach these big competitions." said Drogba, who scored 65 times in 104 appearances for Ivory Coast.
D’Tigers Crush Uganda In Opening Game
The competition which started on June 29 will end on July 1, at the Indoor Sports Hall in Surulere, Lagos.
All the D’Tigers needed was back to back three pointers from captain, Diogu to settle their nerves in front of a boisterous home crowd.
Diogu’s three points shots kept home fans in ecstasy all through the final buzzer to coast home with the win.
He led the floor with 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the team’s quest to make the FIBA Basketball World championship coming up in China in 2019.
Apart from bench points, Nigeria outscored Uganda 16-10 on fast break points, 15-9 on second chance points and 19-10 on points turnovers.
Obi Emegano added 15 points and another 12 points each from debutants, Tosin Mehinti and Jordan Nwora helped Nigeria to a comfortable sail through.
Head Coach, Alex Nwora told newsmen after the victory that he had eight debutantes that gave good account of themselves and was switching players based on what Uganda had on the floor.
Verstappen Wins As Furious Hamilton Retires In Austria
Having lost the lead of the race after Mercedes mistakenly failed to pit their lead driver under a Virtual Safety Car deployed for Bottas' retirement, Hamilton was overtaken by title rival Sebastian Vettel and then suffered his first DNF in 34 races to lose the lead of the world championship as well.
Vettel, having started sixth following a controversial grid demotion, finished third behind Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to move a point ahead of Hamilton in the title race.
Mercedes' double mechanical retirement is believed to be their first since 1955, while Vettel's return to the summit was the third change in leader in as many races.
To add to Mercedes' misery, Ferrari's double-podium finish has propelled the Scuderia to the top of the Constructors' Championship as well.
Verstappen shows his maturity for victory
With an estimated 20,000 Dutch fans providing a sea of orange around the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen shrugged off the complaints of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo after qualifying to deliver a faultless performance for his fourth F1 victory.
from Bola Esho's Blog
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