Sulley Muntari has joined Italian champions Inter Milan in a four-year deal.
The 23-year-old Ghana midfielder heads back to Italy after just one season with Pompey.
Blues boss Harry Redknapp bought Muntari from Udinese last summer and he made 33 appearances for the Blues, scoring five goals.
Second-half goals by Chris Eagles and Carlos Tevez downed Pompey at the Abuja Stadium in Nigeria.
Jermain Defoe’s last-minute strike proved just a consolation for the Blues in the first game between two Premier League teams in west Africa.
The Blues needed David James in form to stop Manchester United winning the pre-season friendly by a more comfortable margin.
Pompey were without Kanu, Sol Campbell and Ben Sahar, who all suffered minor injuries in the 5-0 win over Kano Pillars, while Lassana Diarra also missed out with a knock.
Pompey’s 11 travelling fans were finally rewarded for their support when DEFOE cut inside and beat substitute keeper Ben Amos with a powerful shot in the 90th minute.
But Harry Redknapp’s side were unable to find an equaliser.
Pompey: James; Johnson, Pamarot (Primus 40), Distin, Hreidarsson (Traore 46); Utaka (Little 44), Diop (Mvuemba 66), Mendes (Davis 46), Kranjcar (Lauren 46); Defoe, Crouch
Manchester United: Kuszczak (Amos 76); Neville, Evans (O’Shea 66), Vidic, Silvestre; Gibson, Carrick (Cathcart 66), Scholes, Eagles (Cleverley 79); Tevez (Giggs 66), Campbell
Peter Crouch scored twice as Pompey trounced Kano Pillars 5-0 at the Abuja Stadium.
John Utaka, Ben Sahar and Kanu added the others in a comfortable win over the Nigerian Premier League champions.
Pompey could have had plenty more with Pedro Mendes hitting the post and Jermain Defoe twice going close.
Pompey’s dominance was total and Mendes almost made it five, bending a shot against an upright, while Defoe and Kranjcar had efforts kept out.
And in the closing minutes Pompey’s fifth goal arrived when CROUCH volleyed home Cranie’s cross.
Pompey: Ashdown; Primus (Lauren 46), Campbell (Pamarot 46), Distin (Traore 46), Babayaro (Hreidarsson 46); Cranie, Davis (Mendes 46), Diop (Mvuemba 46), Utaka (Kranjcar 46); Sahar (Defoe 46), Kanu (Crouch 46)
Kano Pillars: Theophilius Afelo (Omoregie Uwigbe 60); Alhaji Mohammed, Balarabe Alaye, Bala Mohammed, Abdullahi Abubakar, Abdulwaisu Showemimo (Moses Ogago 60), Ahmed Garba (Sulisu Suleiman 60), Solomon Okpako (Munzali Yusuf 60), Hillary Chukwu (Aminu Tahir 64), Shagari Mohammed, Habibu Yunusa
Kano Pillars Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Kano. They play in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigerian Premier League. Their home stadium is Sani Abacha Stadium. Kano Pillars FC was founded in the year 1990, the year professional league was started in Nigeria. It was an amalgamation of three amateur clubs in Kano State which gave birth to Kano Pillars FC. The Clubs are WRECA FC, Kano Golden Stars, and Bank of the North FC.
The club was formed as Newton Heath L&YR F.C. in 1878 as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. The club's shirts were green and gold halves. They played on a small, dilapidated field on North Road, near the future site of the Manchester Piccadilly railway station for fifteen years, before moving to Bank Street in the nearby town of Clayton in 1893. The club had entered the Football League the previous year and began to sever its links with the rail depot, becoming an independent company, appointing a club secretary and dropping the "L&YR" from their name to become simply Newton Heath F.C.. Not long afterwards, in 1902, the club neared bankruptcy, with debts of over £2,500. At one point, their Bank Street ground was even closed by the bailiffs.
Pompey’s players had a dramatic arrival in Nigeria after their plane was forced to abort its landing in Abuja.
The Airbus 319 carrying the Pompey side and boss Harry Redknapp was just feet from touching down when the pilot abandoned the attempt.
To the shock of the 40-strong party on board – including England internationals Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell and David James - the private plane suddenly lurched back into the sky.
The Airbus then had to navigate around mountains in a lightning storm for more than half an hour.
The pilot told passengers he had been forced to abort the landing because he had not had clearance from the air traffic control tower.
Applause broke out from the players as the pilot finally made a perfect second landing at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Blues defender Linvoy Primus said: “It was a great flight and we were just above the runway when the pilot suddenly pulled the plane out of the landing and back up into the sky.
“We were all shocked. No-one knew what was happening. There had been no warning that there was a problem.
“But credit to the pilot who soon told us that he had been unable to establish contact with the tower and had decided not to land.
“After circling for half an hour in lightning he then managed to get us down safely at the second attempt.”
The flight had started routinely enough from Bournemouth Airport seven hours earlier, passing over the Sahara Desert before beginning its descent into Abuja.
After landing safely, Pompey’s players and staff were led single-file through the airport under armed guard.
They then boarded a coach for a police-escorted trip in a rainstorm to the club’s hotel in Abuja.
The Blues play two games in two days in Abuja: against Nigerian Premier League Champions Kano Pillars on Saturday and Manchester United on Sunday.
David Nugent and Marc Wilson, both nursing mild groin injuries, did not travel to Nigeria.
Dorchester Town were established in 1880, making them one of the oldest teams in the South West of England. They first played regular, competitive football in the Western League Second Division in the 1947–1948 season, spending three seasons there before winning promotion to the First Division. The First Division later became known simply as the 'Western Football League' with the dissolution of the Second Division. Dorchester won this league in 1954, but had to wait until 1972 to gain promotion to the Southern League. This was based upon gaining 'membership' of the league as opposed to actually finishing in a predetermined position.
So we get Crouch in a Pompey shirt for the second time now all we need is Prosineki back for the corners I'm not joking!
Goals from Hermann Hreidarsson, Jermain Defoe and Danijel Subotic saw Pompey come from behind to beat Swindon at the County Ground.
Harry Redknapp made three changes from the side that started the 1-1 draw at Exeter on Wednesday, with Hreidarsson, Papa Bouba Diop and Richard Hughes replacing Martin Cranie, Sean Davis and Glen Little.
Pompey had the first chance of the match on three minutes when OJ Korma played through Defoe but his shot was well saved by Peter Brezovan.
But it was the League One side who took the lead soon after when Simon Cox netted from the spot after being bundled over in the box by Noe Pamarot.
The Blues almost drew level immediately but Hreidarsson’s ferociously-struck 30-yard effort was tipped over the bar by Brezovan.
Only a fine stop from David James prevented Swindon from extending their advantage on 15 minutes, the keeper flinging up a hand to clear Anthony McNamee’s shot.
Cox put the ball in the back of the net for a second time on 23 minutes after being played through by McNamee but the Swindon striker had strayed offside and the strike was ruled out.
Billy Paynter was next to go close for the hosts. After skipping past Pamarot’s challenge his low shot was blocked by Hreidarsson.
HREIDARSSON was then Pompey’s hero at the other end of the pitch, stabbing the ball past Brezovan after latching onto Koroma’s neat back-heel on 36 minutes.
The Blues then took the lead moments later when Koroma’s tricky feet drew a foul from Brezovan. The referee pointed to the spot and DEFOE stepped up to coolly dispatch the penalty.
Half Time: Swindon 1 Pompey 2
Redknapp made eight changes at the interval with Peter Crouch replacing Defoe to make his second Blues debut.
Swindon came close to levelling the scores six minutes into the second half when Paynter just failed to connect with McNamee’s low cross, before Asmir Begovic saved from Mark Marshall at the far post.
Pompey’s Canadian keeper was then forced to make a superb save to stop Sylvain Distin from heading the ball into his own net.
At the other end, Martin Cranie’s was well kept out by Phil Smith after the Blues defender met Arnold Mvuemba’s cross from wide on the right.
Crouch’s first chance arrived on 67 minutes but he headed just wide after connecting with another decent cross from Mvuemba.
Paynter should have scored at the other end when McNamee’s cross found him unmarked in the area but the Swindon striker headed well wide.
There was the usual flood of substitutions throughout the second half which resulted in an absence of any flowing football.
Two of those subs – Sean Davis and Jean Francois Christophe – had half chances although neither goalkeeper looked troubled in the closing stages.
But right at the death, SUBOTIC sealed Pompey’s victory with a glancing header from Ben Sahar’s left-sided cross.
Pompey: James (Begovic 46); Lauren (Cranie 46), Campbell (c) (Distin 46), Pamarot, Hreidarsson (Traore 46); Mvuemba (Subotic 83), Diop (Davis 46), Mendes (Muntari 46), Hughes (Christophe 83); Defoe (Crouch 46), Koroma (Sahar 46)
Goals: Hreidarsson 36, Defoe (pen) 41, Subotic 90
Swindon: Brezovan (P Smith 46); Amankwaah (J Smith 63), Kanyuka (Ifil 63), Aljofree (c) (Morrison 83), Vincent; McGovern, Timlin, McNamee (Joyce 88), Allen (Marshall 46); Paynter, Cox (Sturrock 74)
Goals: Cox (pen) 9
Sub not used: Pook
Referee: R East
Pompey: James (Trialist 46); Lauren (Duffy 46), Campbell (c) (Primus 46), Pamarot (Distin 46), Cranie (Traore 46); Mvuemba (Subotic 80), Davis (Hughes 46), Mendes (Mendes 46), Little (Nugent 46); Trialist (Christophe 69), Defoe (Sahar 46)
Goals: Defoe (pen) 9
Subs not used: Ashdown, Begovic, Crouch
Exeter: Jones (Marriott 46); Tully (Sercombe 77), Taylor (Bishop 77), Seaborne (c) (Bennett 87), Friend (Martin 87); Basham (Green 87), Harley (Tasker 87), Gill (Panther 66), Edwards (Cozic 66), Logan (Stewart 55); Stansfield (McAllister 77)
Goals: Edwards 47
Sub not used: Bassett
Referee: P Gibbs
Attendance: 5,359
Pompey have been granted planning permission for their new training ground at Lee-on-the-Solent.
Gosport Borough Council’s planning committee unanimously approved the proposals for the state-of-the-art facility on 35 acres of land in the Alver Valley.
Pompey hope to have the training ground open in time for the start of pre-season training in July next year.
Blues chief executive Peter Storrie heralded Tuesday night's landmark decision which means the club will at last have a training ground of its own.
Storrie said: “This is a training ground any Premier League club would be proud of.
“It’s the next big step for the club – fantastic facilities in a lovely location.
“We’ve been improving the team no end as well as the facilities around the ground, with the new megastore and offices.
“But this training ground is one of the two final pieces in the jigsaw – the other is the new stadium.
“After the disappointment of the previous application at Fareham it’s been nice to have been involved with such a superb council like Gosport.
“They wanted us to be involved in their future and have given us nothing but support.
“It’s great that the training ground is in Gosport with a PO postcode – it keeps everything where we want it to be.”
Manager Harry Redknapp said: "This is fantastic news. The club desperately needed its own training ground to continue the progress we have made on the pitch over the last couple of seasons.
"The plans for the pitches and the overall facilities look very impressive. It will make a great deal of difference to the players and to our ability to keep attracting the very best to the club."
The site will house 10 full-size pitches, two mini soccer pitches, a three-quarter-size pitch and a dedicated goalkeeping area.
The club's main building has been designed by Richard Marshall, the architect behind Arsenal's London Colney training base.
The 18,000 sq ft building will accommodate changing rooms, medical and rehabilitation facilities, a gymnasium, administration offices, a media and presentation area and a refectory.
There will also be a three-quarter-size indoor pitch for the club's Academy, who will have their own separate building.
The club will continue to use the Wellington Sports Ground at Eastleigh, where they currently train.
As part of the scheme, Portsmouth FC will dedicate two full-size pitches for community use and open up the indoor facility for local schools in the borough of Gosport.
The club plans to work with Gosport Borough Council to enable development and sustainability of the neighbouring Alver Valley Country Park.
It's good to see Pompey training in the PO post code again I look forward to seeing it. Play Up Pompey!!
Pompey have established an historic link with top Belgian side Zulte-Waregem.
Director of Youth Operations Paul Hart travelled to the West Flanders region of the country to officially cement the alliance between the two clubs.
In doing so, Pompey follow in the footsteps of their Premier League colleagues Manchester United and Arsenal, who both have Belgian feeder clubs: Royal Antwerp and Beveren.
As a result Pompey’s academy stars may well prosper from a spell in the Jupiler League, the Belgian equivalent of the English Premier League.
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