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I don’t know how to watch games this year. There’s an app to stream games for free if you’re a Telstra customer, which I am, that looks like my only way. It’ll be on my phone but I’ll try find a way to put it on the tv.... hmmmm 

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Keogh isn't happy with the prospect of Bolt in the A-League...

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Usain Bolt's first touch is "like a trampoline" and he will never make it as a footballer, says former Republic of Ireland striker Andy Keogh.

Eight-time Olympic champion Bolt, 32, has been on trial with Australian side Central Coast Mariners since August.

The Australian FA said it is working with the A-League club to help fund a deal for the Jamaican, who retired from athletics last year.

"He's not going to be able to make it," said Perth Glory forward Keogh.

"It's nice to have the attention on the A-League but him playing here, that's not for me," the former Wolves and Millwall player told Off the Ball.

"He's shown a bit of potential but it's a little bit of a kick in the teeth to the professionals that are in the league."

Keogh, who won 30 caps for the Republic, added a potential professional contract for Bolt was "fine from a marketing point of view" but was "farcical" from a football perspective.

"If there's someone who genuinely thinks he'd be a good football addition, I don't think they should be in a position to make those calls," he said.

The Mariners have said it is "unlikely" Bolt would sign a deal without a financial contribution from a "third party".

A Football Federation Australia (FFA) spokesperson told BBC Sport on Wednesday it had now stepped in to try to help.

Mariners boss Mike Mulvey said there was "no update" at a press conference on Friday.

"He's not at training and I'm just concentrating on the lads I have here," he said.

When asked if Bolt had the ability to play professional football, Mulvey replied: "I'll say this one more time - my focus is on the game on Saturday and on the players contracted for the Central Coast Mariners and that is how it should be."

Bolt turned down a two-year deal with Maltese champions Valletta FC this month.

 

 

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Not sure I'll be able to watch Perth today. Not tired at all to go to bed now and I doubt I'll stay up all night. Hope they do the job against the Roar though, I was quite impressed last week I have to say.

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Been ill today so didn’t head to the game. We’ve started very well. 1-0 up at half time thanks to another goal to Keogh. 

Our second halves this season have been poor so let’s see how we go... 

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3 minutes ago, Toinho said:

Been ill today so didn’t head to the game. We’ve started very well. 1-0 up at half time thanks to another goal to Keogh. 

Our second halves this season have been poor so let’s see how we go... 

Could have 3 but for a good double-save from Jamie Young.

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Been watching it while multitasking. Currently doing some work at the moment and I haven't slept at all. Second half I'll have more focus now that I've finished.

The full back work has been tremendous so far this year. Also a really good double save from Young earlier on in the game.

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45412331_10156834811192855_1652639948769

45304543_10156834811482855_1187367348479

Awer Mabil's journey from life as a refugee in a hut built out of mud to scoring on his international debut is the stuff dreams are made of.

The 23-year-old grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where hunger and cramped conditions were everyday problems for his family.

After moving to Australia as part of a humanitarian programme, he was subjected to racism as he tried to make it as a footballer.

But he has come through it all and scored on his debut for his adopted nation in a 4-0 win in Kuwait in October.

Mabil was born in a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kakuma after his parents fled the civil war in Sudan.

Hunger and cramped conditions were just two of the daily challenges faced by his family.

"We built a hut out of mud," he tells the BBC's World Football programme."Probably the size of one bedroom in a normal house in the Western world, as you would call it.

"But you know it's not your home. There were four of us living in it - me, my mum, my brother and sister. We got food from the UN once a month.

"Each person would get 1kg of rice, so we had 4kg in our family, and 3kg of beans. It got tricky because we had to ration it.

"We had one meal a day, which was dinner. There was no such thing as breakfast or lunch. You just had to find your way through the day and the little dinner that you had, you really had to appreciate it."

Two-hour walk to watch football

Mabil, a winger, started playing football in the refugee camp from the age of five, kicking a ball around with his friends "because there was little else to do".

But the Manchester United-mad youngster had a long walk if he wanted to watch a football match on television.

"I loved playing football. It was the only thing that kept me out of trouble," he says. "I followed Manchester United a lot, but there was only one TV, two hours away, and you had to pay $1 to watch.

"If you couldn't go, you just had to make sure that one of your friends who went told you the result."

His life changed in 2006 when he and his family were resettled in Australia.

"I thought, 'yeah, my chance is now - if I work hard, everything can happen and I can chase my dreams.' That's when it really began.

"Thanks to football, I began to speak English and express my feelings. That's when it started to kick in."

He was signed by Adelaide United at the age of 16 and had two seasons in the A-League, which included an FFA Cup win in 2014.

Racist comments 'normal'

The changes in Mabil's life were not all good, though. For the first time, he experienced racism - but he says he does not see Australia as a "racist place".

"I've faced it a lot," he says. "Once, when I was 16, I came home and one of my neighbours attacked me," he says.

"The first thing I did was shut the front door and hide my siblings. I was talking to these guys while the door was shut. I said: 'Go away.' They kept saying: 'Go back to your own country.'

"Apart from that, you experience day-to-day things like when you're walking along the road there are people in cars beeping you and saying things. That's normal."

Despite that, he says he's proud to represent the country.

"I represent Australia because it's given me and my family the opportunity in life to have a second chance," he says.

"I don't judge Australia as a racist place. There are certain people who are racist, but it's a country that belongs to everybody.

"It's part of me because I've lived half of my life there. I call it home, so I'm proud to represent Australia."

In 2015, he moved to FC Midtjylland in Denmark.

Three years later he is still there, and now an Australia international - his debut, on 16 October, capped by an 88th-minute goal.

"The reaction has been amazing," says Mabil, who even received a message of congratulations from one of his idols - former Manchester United, Juventus and West Ham defender Patrice Evra.

"I grew up watching Evra playing for Manchester United," he says. "To get feedback from these big, big guys means the hard work continues and that I'm on the right path."

Giving something back

Mabil now has his own foundation - Barefoot to Boots - and regularly returns to Kakuma.

"I take boots, football equipment and hospital equipment and donate them to the refugees there," he says. "If I have two weeks' holiday, I'll spend one week there and a week with my family.

"It was really tough [living there] but it's something I'm really grateful for and will be grateful for the rest of my life.

"It's built some mentality into my head to appreciate the good times and to not give up on my dreams."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46016449

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