Sports
Rooney Inspires Man Utd Steamroll Over Leverkusen …As Day 1 Records 30 Goals
David Moyes began his Champions League campaign as Manchester United manager with victory against Bayer Leverkusen on a night Wayne Rooney scored his 200th goal for the club.
Rooney’s early volley opened the scoring but Simon Holfes levelled via a Michael Carrick deflection.
Robin van Persie restored United’s lead before Rooney pounced on a defensive lapse to coolly finish for his brace.
Antonio Valencia added the fourth but then Omer Toprak halved the deficit.
Bayern Munich also got their European title defence off to a winning start as they recorded a straightforward 3-0 victory at home to CSKA Moscow.
A win for the hosts never looked in doubt and they found themselves ahead within the opening five minutes as the talented David Alaba fired a free-kick in from a central position, while Mario Mandzukic added a second with a header just before half-time.
Arjen Robben wrapped up the three points 22 minutes from time after a lovely assist by Alaba, thus securing a win in Pep Guardiola’s first UEFA Champions League outing in charge of the German club.
Guardiola’s men strolled to a similarly comfortable 2-0 win over Hannover at the weekend and the coach made only one change to that team as Dante replaced Daniel Van Buyten at centre-back.
The Russians also came into the game fresh from a domestic victory over Rostov, but the win came at a cost as Alan Dzagoev and Zoran Tosic both picked up injuries, meaning Aleksandrs Cauna and Steven Zuber took their respective places.
Manchester City got their Champions League campaign off to a confident start as they beat Czech side Viktoria Plzen 3-0 thanks to strikes by Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero.
After a nervous first half, Manuel Pellegrini’s side went ahead when Dzeko finished a break after 48 minutes.
Within 10 minutes City were 3-0 up as Toure curled in from 25 yards and then Aguero fired in after a smart turn.
Plzen came closest when Tomas Horava hit the post from a corner.
Aguero also hit the post in the first half, while Dzeko and Toure should both have headed in, but it was a welcome victory for City who recorded their first win in seven Champions League games.
In Greece, Thiago Motta’s second-half brace helped Paris Saint-Germain to an impressive 4-1 win away to Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
Vladimir Weiss cancelled out Edinson Cavani’s opener with a fine individual effort in the first half, before Motta headed home from two Ezequiel Lavezzi corners to put the visitors in control.
Young debutant Marquinhos added a fourth in the remaining few minutes, in what was eventually a convincing win for Laurent Blanc’s side in their UEFA Champions League opener.
Olympiacos made three changes from the side that beat Xanthi at the weekend, with Javier Saviola, Kostas Manolas and Leandro Salino making way for Giannis Maniatis, Alejandro Dominguez and Dimitrios Siovas.
The Ligue 1 outfit handed a debut to 19-year-old Marquinhos, who was drafted in for the injured Alex.
Javier Pastore was ruled out with a foot injury, while Cavani was welcomed back to the starting line-up having been named on the bench for the weekend win over Bordeaux.
Jorge Jesus’ UEFA Champions League dream got off to a solid start as Benfica beat Anderlecht 2-0 in Group C on Tuesday.
First-half goals from Filip Djuricic and Luisao gave the home side an early advantage that they were not prepared to relinquish, and they now find themselves comfortably off the mark in a tough group.
With Paris-Saint Germain and Olympiacos still to come, Anderlecht now face a tough task to bounce back after struggling against their hosts.
For Jesus, who watched his men fall to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2012, the result represented an ideal home start.
Despite a number of injuries, the 59-year-old named a strong line-up, with 19-year-old Lazar Markovic, who was heavily linked with Chelsea in the close-season, leading their attack.
Meanwhile, Anderlecht manager John van den Brom also opted to showcase youth in his side, with 16-year-old Youri Tielemans named on the bench.
Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to an opening-day UEFA Champions League triumph as they beat Galatasaray 6-1 in Istanbul.
The Portugal international scored a second-half hat-trick to seal an emphatic win, with Isco and a Karim Benzema double completing the three points.
Isco opened the scoring after controlling a perfect pass from Angel di Maria before netting his fourth goal in nine Champions League starts.
Benzema added a second early in the second half after more good work from Di Maria, the France international emphatically firing past Fernando Muslera to end the game as a contest.
Ronaldo’s quick double came just before Benzema added his second from close range, while Umut Bulut added a late consolation for the visitors before Ronaldo sealed the win following a mazy run.
Five players – including Wesley Sneijder and Muslera – returned to the Galatasaray starting line-up having been rested for the draw with Antalyaspor on Friday, with Fatih Terim partnering Burak Yilmaz and Didier Drogba in attack.
Carlo Ancelotti also made changes to his side from the 2-2 draw with Villarreal, recalling experienced goalkeeper Iker Casillas while Di Maria replaced Gareth Bale.
Unfortunately for Casillas, his game came to a premature end when he clashed with Sergio Ramos. The Spain goalkeeper tried to carry on but had to be replaced by Diego Lopez in the 14th minute with a back injury.
Lopez was called upon just before the half-hour mark as Melo got to a left-wing cross in front of his marker. His header looked destined for the bottom corner, only for Lopez to dive to his left to keep it out.
Juventus had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Copenhagen after dominating much of their opening UEFA Champions League encounter in Denmark.
Nicolai Jorgensen gave the hosts the lead in the 15th minute in the Group B clash before Fabio Quagliarella levelled the scores 10 minutes into the second half.
It was scant reward for a Juventus side that enjoyed much more of the ball and created far better chances, only for wasteful finishing to deny Antonio Conte’s side.
Stale Solbakken made one change from the side that drew 1-1 with Esbjerg at the weekend, Igor Vetokele making way for Daniel Braaten.
Conte made three changes from Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Inter, with Angelo Ogbonna, Federico Peluso and Quagliarella coming in for Andrea Barzagli, Kwadwo Asamoah and Mirko Vucinic.
The Italian champions had the first effort of note in the fifth minute, Carlos Tevez meeting Andrea Pirlo’s cleverly-taken corner but firing wide of the right-hand post from an angle.
Sports
African Games: Nigerian Women Athletes Make Country Proud Again
Before, the saying that ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better’ is usually met with resistance.
In sports, that saying has been validated over and over again with the performances of female athletes in comparison to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to quantifying their contributions to their country’s success at multi-sports events like the Olympic, Commonwealth and African Games.
For Nigeria, the women have once again proven to be the most consistent and reliable by winning the most medals for the country at the just-concluded 13th African Games in Ghana. Nigeria finished second behind Egypt in the overall medals table with a total of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze.
The women’s contribution to Team Nigeria’s haul is 71 compared to the male athletes’ 47, while three were won in mixed events. That number makes up 58.67 per cent of Nigeria’s total medals.
Significantly, the women also won 35 out of Team Nigeria’s 47 gold, leaving 11 to the male, while the other one was won in the mixed 4x400m relay, which was inspired by one of the two women in the quartet, Omolara Ogunmakinju.
The women’s gold medal haul is a whopping 74 per cent of Nigeria’s total gold.
Interestingly, the women’s 35 gold would have been enough to see Nigeria top the overall medals table, if it was an all-female affair as Egypt, who won the Games recorded 33 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze medals from their female athletes.
On the other hand, the men’s 11 gold would mean Nigeria would finish joint third with Tunisia, who’s men also won 11 gold medals while Egypt will retain their number one spot with 66 gold from their men and Algeria second with 19.
There were also 18 silver medals from the women, two more than the 16 won by the men. In terms of bronze medals, the men had the upper hand with 20 medals, two more than the women’s 18 while two medals were won in mixed games for a total of 40.
Notably, there were stellar performances from Nigeria’s female wrestlers at the Games as the six of them (Blessing Oborududu, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Hannah Reuben, Christiana Ogunsanya, Mercy Genesis and Esther Kolawole) had a clean sweep of the wrestling event.
Also, four among the five weightlifters who won three gold medals each are women (Eze Joy, Ayodele Ruth, Lawal Rafiatu, and Olarinoye Adijat).
All the seven female boxers for Nigeria also won medals – five gold (Joy Ojo, Patricia Mbata, Cynthia Ogunsemilore, Blessing Oraekwe, Jacinta Umunnakwe) and two silver (Zainab Adeshina, Kareem Shukura).
In athletics, world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, retained her African Games title by winning a third consecutive crown while long jumper Ese Brume also successfully defended her title by winning a second African Games gold in the event.
According to the 2023 African Games website, in terms of representation, Nigeria’s 437 contingent also had more women (221) than the men (216).
Beyond the 2023 African Games, female Nigeria athletes have shown greater prospects than their male counterparts.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the women won all the gold for Team Nigeria as the country put up their best outing ever, snatching a record 12 gold, nine silver and 14 bronze medals to erase their previous best performance at the Games, 11 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals in 1994 in Victoria, Canada.
The men took the back seat, managing just three silver and six bronze medals out of a total haul of 35 medals.
At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Nigeria’s only two medals were won by two female athletes, Blessing Oborududu (silver in wrestling) while Brume won bronze in long jump.
Amusan (gold) and Brume (silver) were also the only two medallists for Nigeria at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, USA, where the former stormed to the current women’s 100m hurdles record (12.12s) and also became the first ever world champion from Nigeria.
Sports
African Games: Minister Promises Swift Preparation For Egypt 2027
Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has declared that the preparations for the 2027 African Games which will be held in Egypt will begin immediately, as the contingent to the just concluded 13th edition of the Games in Ghana arrived on Sunday.
Team Nigeria arrived in the country’s capital Abuja and Lagos in batches on Sunday via chartered flights provided by the Ministry of Sports Development.
In Ghana, Team Nigeria had an impressive outing and finished second in the overall medals table with a total number of 121 medals comprising 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze medals.
Although the foreign-based athletes who were part of Nigeria’s success at the Games have also returned directly to their bases, Enoh believes a head start ahead of the 2027 Games will give the country an edge in their quest to claim top spot for the first time since hosting the Games in 2003.
“On behalf of His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, I welcome you back to our dear country. I congratulate you for your outstanding performance in the just concluded 13th African Games that held in the Ghana,” the minister said in a statement obtained by our correspondent last Sunday.
“While you bask in the euphoria of your exploits and worthy sense of achievement, let me quickly remind you that preparations for the 14th African Games built to hold in Egypt starts now. As your Sports development minister, dubbed Nigeria’s Games Master General, I sure will be with you all the way.
“Without prejudice to the comprehensive audit and thorough evaluation of our overall performance at the games which will soon be carried out under my guidance and leadership, the time has come for our country to spend as much, if not more, as it does for competitions in development and preparation, if we ever hope to get atop the medals table which we have only achieved once in 2003 when the country hosted the Games.”
Sports
NWFL: Rivers Angels Striker Targets Women CAF Champions League
Rivers Angels FC of Port Harcourt striker, Blessing Okpe has said that her target was to keep working hard and ensure her team seals the CAF Women’s champion’s league ticket this season.
According to her, no game comes easy but what is important is the approach towards each of the games, adding that she is playing for Rivers Angels to give her best in the round leather game.
Okpe said this recently in a chat with the team media officer, Faith Meremegbunam and made available to Tidesports even as she expressed happiness for scoring her first goal against FC Robo that gave her team a draw.
The stand-in captain also expressed joy as she captained the team to an impressive performance, saying that she would do her best to ensure the team move forward.
“I feel so great and so happy to lead the team and scoring the first goal against our opponents.
“After the 1 -1 in Ikenne, we came back home and gave ourselves the target of beating them here in Port Harcourt.”
“We never wanted to lose two straight home matches because the two home matches are an advantage to us.
“After we drew with Robo, we had to fight hard to win matches.”
“We will keep working hard, my target this season is to qualify for CAF women’s Champions’ League,” Okpe said.
Rivers Angels’ next game is against Edo Queens in Benin on February 28.
By: Kiadum Edookor
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