Sports
Super Falcons Qualify For AWCON In Style
Nigeria has qualified for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations after defeating Ivory Coast 1-0 in the second leg of the final qualifying fixture on Wednesday.
Randy Waldrum’s ladies advanced with a 3-0 aggregate result after a 2-0 win at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium last week, thanks to Ifeoma Onumonu’s brace.
It was a cagey outing at the Stade Robert Champroux but the Super Falcons waited until the 87th minute to break the deadlock and goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie stood out for the visitors with her brilliant saves to keep another clean sheet.
Just before half-time in Abidjan, the 21-year-old saved a penalty to keep both teams level and she was called to action later in the second 45 minutes.
The Lady Elephants, on the other hand, were solid in the defence but lacked the finishing touch to beat Nnadozie.
The Super Falcons kept pushing for a goal and they finally got the breakthrough with three minutes left on the clock via Esther Okoronkwo’s strike.
Nigeria now has the chance to extend their dominance as the most successful country in the women’s showpiece when they join 11 other countries in Morocco later in July.
Earlier on their road to Morocco, the Super Falcons defeated Ghana 2-1 on aggregate before they faced the Ivorians who thrashed Niger Republic 20-0 on aggregate.
Also, Shepolopolo Zambia on Tuesday secured their qualification for the 2022 Women’s AFCON on away goals rule after drawing 1-1 away to Namibia at Dobsonville Stadium in Johannesburg.
Zambia sailed through by the same aggregate scoreline after drawing 0-0 in the first leg played at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka on February 16.
Just like in the first leg, Zambia showed very little initiative in attack and it was Namibia took the lead in the 10th minute through Emma Narris.
From then on, it was an evenly balanced contest but Zambia continued to exhibit very little creativity going forward well into hour-mark.
The best Shepolopolo could produce was through the wing play of Martha Tembo but her long balls into the box did not match the quality with which they were delivered.
Relief for Zambia came in the 70th minute when Under-20 striker Xiomara Mapepa fired in the ball from close-range.
Shepolopolo then had goalkeeper Hazel Nali to thank in the 75th minute when she denied Memory Ngonda from close-range as Zambia toiled until the final whistle to book their ticket to Morocco.
Meanwhile, Shepolopolo also made history on Tuesday when they secured back-to-back Women’s AFCON qualification for the first time-ever.
Furthermore, this is coach Bruce Mwape’s third straight tournament qualification success after the 2018 Women’s AFCON and the 2020 Olympics.
Other countries that have qualified for the tournament so far include host nation Morocco, Uganda, Burundi, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Cameroon.
Thierry Henry has called for the return of the away goals rule in the aftermath of the bombastic Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona.
The visitors at the Estadio Olimpic Lluis Companys came within milimeters of clinching the first leg of the final-four clash after former Arsenal star Henrikh Mkhitaryan netted late in the second-half.
But the linesman was quick to raise his flag, and semi-automated offside ruled out what would have been a thrilling conclusion to the high-octane 3-3 draw.
The hosts came from behind twice to share the spoils, chasing Inter Milan from the first minute of the game after Marcus Thuram stunned the Barcelona faithful into silence with his neatly flicked goal.
Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead 20 minutes later, but it took just three more for the Blaugrana to finally get on the scoresheet courtesy of a moment of magic from teenage starlet Lamine Yamal.
Ferran Torres drew Barcelona level ahead of the break, but Lamal was forced to play catch-up again in the second-half after Dumfries scored his second.
In light of the impressive effort from Inter, Henry wondered if the team should have got more from the fixture ahead of the second-leg at the San Siro.
‘I know it’s been like that for a very time, and we have to accept it,’ Henry said of the removal of the away goals rule, ‘But off air I was talking to Jamie (Carragher), and I was like, “how can you score three goals away from home and you don’t have an advantage?”
‘Away goals for me were massive, you score three goals away and you still don’t have an advantage 0-0 at home,’ Henry shrugged.
UEFA took the decision to scrap the rule which gave goals scored away from home the ability to act as a tiebreaker in the case of level scorelines ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Current FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger claimed during his time as Arsenal manager in 2015 that the away goals rule ‘encouraged the team at home not to attack’ and that ‘the weight of the away goal (was) too big today’.
Without the rules, the tie at San Siro will go to extra time and penalties to decide which teams books their spot in the Champions League final.
But based on Wednesday evening’s performance, Henry seemed to give Inter a fighting chance against the newly minted Copa del Rey champions.
The 2025 London Marathon set a new world record for the number of finishers despite hot conditions on Sunday for its 45th edition.
A total of 56,640 runners crossed the finish line at the end of the 26.2-mile route, Guinness World Records has confirmed.
The number surpassed the previous record of 55,646 set by the New York Marathon in November.
Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, said he hoped the high number of finishers inspired people to apply for the 2026 race ballot.
“The London Marathon was already the most popular in terms of ballot entries, with 840,318 people applying for the 2025 race,” he said.
“It is also the world’s largest annual one-day fundraising event with more than £1.3bn raised for charity since 1981.”
The number of people applying for the ballot to enter this year’s race broke the world record of 578,304 for the 2024 edition.
Of UK applicants 49% were female, while there was a 105% increase in applications from people aged between 20-29.
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa surged to victory in the elite women’s race in a world record for a women’s only field, while Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe triumphed in the men’s event.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has said that his side will have to do something special in Paris if they are to reach the Champions League final following defeat in their semi-final first leg.
Ousmane Dembele’s early strike at the Emirates leaves the Gunners needing to overturn a one-goal deficit against Paris St-Germain in the second leg at the Parc des Princes next week.
It was an ultimately frustrating night for Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, who failed to convert any of their five shots on target.
“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special. We’re going to have to do something special in Paris to be there,” Arteta said.
PSG dominated the opening 20 minutes of the match and, while the hosts grew into the game, they continued to be frustrated by the French side’s solid defence, failing to score in a home Champions League match for the first time since February 2016.
“We have a lot of chances to be in that final. As I repeat myself, you have to do something special in the competition to have the right to be in the final. And the time to do it is going to be in Paris,” said Arteta.
Arsenal have not reached the final since 2005-06 while PSG are hunting a first Champions League trophy.
As they did against Liverpool and Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, Luis Enrique’s side relied on Italian keeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep them out of trouble.
The 26-year-old kept a clean sheet and made five saves – including important stops to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in one-on-one situations.
“At the end, we have two of our front players one v one with Donnarumma. If they scored the goal it is different. He made the saves, like he did against Liverpool and Villa, and that’s the difference in the Champions League,” Arteta said.
But Enrique says the shot-stopper was just doing his job.
“That’s the work of a goalkeeper, no? Save the team, they work every day for that. In a semi-final, you need all the players,” the Spaniard said.