Sports
Angels Back To Winning Ways
Rivers Angels of Port
Harcourt got back to winning ways with a 1-2 victory over COD Ladies of Lagos in a week 7 encounter of the Nigeria Women Football League played at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos. It was a game that produced two red cards.
COD Ladies had the first shot on target but Adeshola Opeyemi’s goal inside the first minute was ruled offside almost immediately after kick off.
A match well dominated by the Edwin Okon tutored side saw Mabel Effiom volley in an Ngozi Ebere’s corner kick in the 10th minute to give the visitors a 0-1 lead.
In the 29th minute, Ayila Loveth came close to sending in a second from an Ebere’s cross but her shot went off target.
Then in the 39th minute, right back defender, Ugo Njoku sent in the second goal with Amarachi Ojinma assisting
Few minutes before half, the home team came close to putting one in through Okpe Blessing but Uju Joseph rushed to clear from goal line after goalkeeper Christy Ohiaeriaku missed her touch.
In the 66th minute Rivers Angels were reduced to ten players as Ayila Loveth was shown a straight red after she brought down Agams Nkechi.
Four minutes later, Dike Patience got a second yellow after she elbowed Juliet Bassey and was sent off to reduce the home team to 10 players as well.
However a goal scramble in the 86th minute made it 1-2 as Ikechukwu Vivian slotted in a set piece cross from Okpe Blessing.
Despite the 2-1 victory, head coach of Rivers Angels Edwin Okon said his team conceded a cheap goal
“Well I thank the players from Rivers Angels and I think it is a very good fight, very serious fight but at that level we just want to go back home and then see how we can correct some of the mistakes, you can as well see the goal we conceded, too cheap for a team like Rivers Angels and my take is just to go back to the drawing board and see how to correct those mistakes so that we can as well go back to where we supposed to be” said Okon.
On his part, head coach of COD Ladies, Alabi Kazeem said his side played against a national team.
“If you look at ball possession, in times of ball possession we’re better than them, keep our balls on the ground and that is what we’re teaching them and look at my players they’re very young, we’re playing against the national team, we have about ten of them from the Falcons, so if my girls can hold them like this it means their future is so so bright so am okay with the performance, I think they will do better in their next match” Kazeem said.
“We had an appeal for penalty more than three occasions which you can see so she never gave it, so me I don’t take my blame or fault to referee” he added.
Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has said that criticism that he and other players chased money by moving to Saudi Arabia is wide of the mark.
The 33-year-old left Chelsea for Al-Ahli in a £16m ($21.4m) deal in 2023, and in May the Africa Cup of Nations winner helped his Saudi club win the Asian Champions League, making him one of the few players to win both that competition and its European equivalent.
But, like many others, Mendy has been criticised for playing for money rather than prestige in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
When asked about such criticism, Mendy told a Tidesports source, “Al-Ahli’s project came along and they made me feel I had a big role to play.
“Two years later, we won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. So yes, that validates my choice. And I hope the coming years will validate it even more.”
He added: “Some people will quickly jump to conclusions and say the only reason is money. From the start, I always said that when I left Chelsea, I knew I was joining another team where I could win everything , which was no longer the case at Chelsea.”
The Blues have since won the Conference League, Europe’s third-tier club competition, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
But it comes after the regime’s trophyless first two years, a period which has frustrated some supporters after the success enjoyed under Roman Abramovich’s stewardship in the previous 19 years.
Mendy has also been celebrating what he describes as a historical win with Senegal against England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, but days earlier he had been in Dakar delivering a different kind of win.
He is the sponsor of Yakaar, a school in Keur Massar, which seeks to improve funding and access to digital learning tools for local children from underprivileged backgrounds.
Famously, as Mendy grew up in France, he was unemployed, aged 22, while struggling to find a club, with members of his family still living on the outskirts of Dakar.
That is why Yakaar, a word meaning “hope”, was chosen, a word Mendy has carried with him in his career.
“Hope is what kept me going. When I was without a club, it was the hope of getting that first professional contract.
“Then the hope of playing for the national team. The hope of making my family proud by doing the job I had always dreamed of.
“Indeed, hope is the best word to describe my career.”
Mendy was also asked whether the responsibility of being an African goalkeeper had weighed heavily on him.
“Of course. When I was in England, there weren’t many African goalkeepers in top clubs,” he admitted.
“Whether nationally or internationally, I had that responsibility. It’s the same for other African goalkeepers like Andre Onana [Manchester United] or Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal).”
The entire refereeing committee has been fired by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with structural reforms soon set to follow.
According to sources, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has dismissed the entire refereeing committee in response to mounting pressure from clubs demanding structural reform. A major shake-up aimed at modernising Spanish refereeing from top to bottom has now been set in motion.
Head of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo and Head of VAR, Carlos Clos Gomez, have been removed from their positions. They are joined by several senior officials, including Antonio Rubinos Perez and three vice presidents, who are also stepping down. A new leadership model will be introduced, led by a CEO and a sporting director, aiming to overhaul how refereeing is managed covering assessments, promotions, and daily operations. While the leadership changes are sweeping, the current pool of referees in La Liga and the second tier will remain, ensuring continuity on the field during the transition.
Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday.
The Portugal captain, 40, joined the Riyadh-based team in December 2022 after leaving Manchester United in acrimonious circumstances, having criticised the club and said he had no respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed.
In a post on X, Ronaldo wrote: “A new chapter begins. Same passion, same dream. Let’s make history together.”
Although Al-Nassr have not added to their nine domestic titles during Ronaldo’s time at the club, they have benefited from a flood of goals from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Ronaldo scored 35 times in 41 matches across all competitions last term and was the league’s top scorer for a second consecutive season.
He has managed 99 goals in appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country.
Having helped Portugal win the Uefa Nations League a little over two weeks ago, the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Sporting and Juventus forward will almost certainly now be targeting a sixth World Cup appearance next summer.
Only a month ago, Ronaldo posted on social media to say “the chapter is over”.
That came after the Saudi Pro League wrapped up with Al-Nassr finishing third and trophyless once again.
The comment fuelled rumours that Ronaldo was ready to leave the league where he reportedly became the best-paid player in football history with an annual salary of £177m when he joined.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino raised the prospect of Ronaldo joining a team involved in the Club World Cup after Al-Nassr failed to qualify for the extended tournament which is being held in the United States.
Ronaldo said he had received offers from participating teams but had turned them down.
The decision to stay until at least 2027, which is certain to be highly lucrative, appears to rule out any future prospect of Ronaldo returning to play at the highest level in Europe.