Sports
Serena Criticises Performance In US Open Final
Serena Williams branded her performance in the US Open final “inexcusable” and said it was the “worst match” she played during the tournament.
Williams, who turns 38 later this month, was beaten 6-3 7-5 by Canadian 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu, whose win marked her first Grand Slam title.
Defeat means American Williams is still chasing a record-equalling 24th major.
“I believe I could have just been more Serena today,” said Williams, a six-time champion at Flushing Meadows.
“I honestly don’t think Serena showed up. I have to kind of figure out how to get her to show up in Grand Slam finals.
“It’s inexcusable for me to play at that level,” she said.
Andreescu, in the main draw in New York for the first time, dominated a 43-minute opening set to stun a partisan Arthur Ashe Stadium, going a break up in the very first game.
The 15th seed held match point at 5-2 in the second set before Williams staged an attempted comeback, winning five successive games.
“I was just thinking, honestly at that point, wow, this is terrible,” said Williams. “Like you got to play better. I have to do better.
“I just couldn’t go down like that, so I just wanted to play a little bit better.”
Andreescu broke Williams’ serve for the fourth time of the set to wrap up the win, making her the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title and the first teenager to do so since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open.
Williams remains on 23 Grand Slam titles, one short of Australian Margaret Court’s all-time record.
“I’m not necessarily chasing a record. I’m just trying to win Grand Slams,” Williams said.
She said “It’s definitely frustrating. But for the most part I just am still here. I’m still doing what I can do.”
Williams has now lost her last four Grand Slam finals, last winning in Australia in 2017 before the difficult birth of her daughter later that year.
In 2018, she lost the Wimbledon final to Angelique Kerber before a controversial US Open final defeat by Naomi Osaka, and was beaten in this year’s final at the All England Club by Simona Halep.
Williams said her successive falls at the final hurdle were “truly frustrating” but vowed to keep going.
“Kerber doesn’t count because I was exhausted,” she said. “My baby was eight months, and that’s tough.
“But all of it honestly, truly is super frustrating. I’m so close, so close, so close, yet so far away.
“I guess I’ve got to keep going if I want to be a professional tennis player. And I’ve just got to just keep fighting through it.
“I definitely did better than I did against Halep,” she said.
Sports
CAA Wants Ghana To Host 2026 Athletics Champions
The Confederation of African Athletics has invited Ghana to bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 African Athletics Championships, following a successful athletics event at the just concluded 2023 African Games.
President of Ghana Athletics, Bawa Fuseini, stated this and expressed confidence in the transformative potential of the Legon Stadium for athletes and Ghana’s bid to host international competitions.
With a capacity of 11,000, the Legon Stadium played a pivotal role in the recent African Games, hosting both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as various sporting events including athletics, football, and rugby.
Fuseini highlighted the success of the athletics events held at the stadium, which contributed to Ghana winning six medals.
“We have already started getting requests from the Confederation of African Athletics to bid for the 2026 African Athletics Championships.
“When they came and saw what we have put in place and the level of organisation, they told me that for the last 20 years, they’ve never seen any organisation like this before. We did three official courses. And the last one, we had 110, all of them passed. We had a lot of officials and equipment.”
Since its establishment in 1979, Ghana has never hosted the African Athletics Championships, with Nigeria being the host country twice, in 1989 and 2018.
This year, Cameroon will take the reins as the host nation, with the event set to be held at the Olembe Stadium.
Sports
‘I’m Not Under Pressure To Coach Eagles’
Finidi George, head coach of the Nigeria Premier Football Leagues side, Enyimba, has stated that he is not losing any sleep over getting the Super Eagles job on a permanent basis.
Early this month, the Nigeria Football Federation declared the position of the Super Eagles’ head coach vacant, following the exit of Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who led the side to a second-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup Nations in Ivory Coast in February.
In an advertisement on its website calling for applications with a March 13 deadline, the football governing body stated that the prospective Eagles coach “must have proven experience at the elite level of football.”
The former Ajax man, who also applied for the job, was appointed Eagles interim coach for the international window with the former winger picking a win and suffering a defeat.
In an interview with Tidesports source, the 52-year-old tactician said he was not desperate for the job permanently.
“I felt really good when I was told to take charge of the team. I have been with the team for almost two years, I know all the players, their strengths, and their weaknesses but I am only here to serve Nigeria the way I know how to do stuff.
“I will just take these two games and go back to my club. Whatever the decision is taken after, so be it. I’m not under pressure to say I must get the role permanently.”
Sports
‘Reasons Why Eagles Lost To Mali’
The friendly games against Ghana and Mali were to serve as an audition for George Finidi, who was in charge of the team on an interim basis, but the Eagles’ lacklustre display in those friendlies has called for his further evaluation.
Finidi kept faith with ex-coach Jose Peseiro’s defensive formation against Mali on the back of his first win (against Ghana) in charge of the team four days earlier.
But this time, his defence was punished following a combination of defensive errors and poor passes.
The Eagles struggled to play out of defence due to the high pressing of the Malians and it was no surprise that the first goal by Les Aigles was a direct result of their aggression.
Chidozie Awaziem, who started on the right of the back three alongside Kenneth Omeruo and Semi Ajayi, lacked composure and was pressured into making a pass across his box straight at Bilal Toure, who made no mistake in getting the ball past Stanley Nwabali. They missed the calming presence of injured William Troost-Ekong.
Vice captain, Kenneth Omeruo, was also culpable of misplaced passes and was beaten for pace when Kamory Doumbia ran past him to seal Mali’s first win in over four decades, firing his shot past a helpless Nwabali, who stood no chance.
Eagles wing backs, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Jamilu Collins also did not do enough to support the team in attack when they had the chance to.
Lack of creativity
Finidi paired Raphael Onyedika and Wilfred Ndidi in a double pivot in midfield. Both players are naturally anchor men and neither is a box-to-box midfielder.
They both do not possess the offensive capability to drive the team’s attack forward, which left the Eagles once again craving for a natural creative midfielder.
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