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Spintex Knights Stops Rivers Hoopers To Reach Final 

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Defending champions, Rivers Hoopers fell to a 64-52 defeat against Ghana’s Spintex Knights in the second semi-final game at the ongoing Louis Edem Invitational Basketball Championship last Friday.
In a game that was a rematch of last year’s final, Ghana’s Spintex Knights knew only a near-perfect display would see them avenge their loss against the KingsMen in the final match of the last edition.
The Knights started brightly, taking the game to the KingsMen and finishing the first quarter with a 7-point lead at 22-15.
The second quarter was an even contest, with both teams going toe-to-toe and squaring up against each other, with the Knights just about edging the KingsMen by a point (15-14) to go into halftime with an 8-point advantage at 37-29.
In the third quarter, Rivers Hoopers went on a surging run, cutting the deficit down to 4 points, but the Spintex Knights would not lay low and continued to contest all balls.
Rivers Hoopers took the third 19-18 to make it a 7-point game heading into the fourth quarter.
There was huge controversy in the fourth quarter as the game officials missed a terrible foul on Hoopers forward Michael Daramola, which ruled him out of the game, drawing the ire of the Hoopers bench.
Things continued to remain tight in the fourth, but the KingsMen failed to convert a couple of free throws to narrow the deficit.
In an unusual display of poor shooting, Rivers Hoopers missed a total of fourteen free throws during the entire duration of the game and made 4/24 from the deep.
Buchi Nwaiwu led four players in double figures; he was one rebound shy of a double-double as he shot 19 points and 9 rebounds, Michael Oriakhi added 11 while Ifeanyi Koko and Michael Daramola scored 10 points apiece.
The Spintex Knights, who edged Rivers Hoopers 17-16 in the fourth quarter, will face Hoops & Read in the final match by 4 p.m. on Saturday, while Rivers Hoopers will play against Lagos Raptors in the third-place game at 10 a.m.

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New Coach Promises Trophies At Barça

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Hansi Flick has said that Barcelona’s desire to always win trophies is why he is at the cub during his official unveiling as the club’s new head coach.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany coach signed a two-year deal with the LaLiga giants and said: “Before signing my contract I had a dinner with the president and I felt from the first second that I was arriving at an impressive club.”
“The squad has worked very hard from the first day in training. Each player wants to give 100% to show that they can play. The quality of the 16 or 17 year olds from La Masia is incredible.”
Two of the most recent standout products from Barça’s fabled academy are Lamine Yamal and Ansu Fati, two players who find themselves in very different situations.
On his 17-year-old star man, Flick was complimentary but also had words of warning.
“In the last year he has improved a lot. What he did in the Euros was incredible,” he added.

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Chelsea Will Concede Goals This Season – Coach

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Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca says his side “are going to concede goals this season playing out from the back” after two defensive errors in a 2-2 draw with Wrexham in his first game in charge.
Midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu scored an 82nd-minute equaliser in Santa Clara, California, cancelling out two second-half strikes by the League One side.
A sharp finish in the penalty box from Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring in the 35th minute of Chelsea’s opening friendly on their pre-season tour of the United States.
But Wrexham took a surprise lead after both teams made wholesale changes at half-time with Luke Bolton and Jack Marriott scoring following mistakes.
The defensive errors were part of a weak second-half performance as Chelsea adapt to Maresca’s possession-based approach.
Wrexham impressed – adding to their 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Saturday in a half-empty Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
It is the Welsh club’s second consecutive US pre-season tour, capitalising on their popularity under co-owners, Hollywood actors, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, with Phil Parkinson’s side preparing for third tier football for the first time since 2005.
Maresca was asked about conceding goals through his playing philosophy, which included more patient build-up from back to front.

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France’s Olympics Come Alive With Les Bleus Victory

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The French starting 11 was worth more than $250 million. Their home crowd was stirring, waving flags, chanting “Allez Les Bleus.” Their fearsome front three alone had played more than 300 games in the English Premier League. They entered these 2024 Olympics as the men’s soccer gold medal favourite, and an early candidate to bring the Games to life.
And on Wednesday in Marseille, they did just that, beating the United States 3-0.
For an hour in Marseille, on opening night, a feisty American team stood up to them.
But in the 61st minute of Paris 2024’s first prime-time headliner, Alexandre Lacazette struck, and the Stade Vélodrome erupted. Kids kissed the French Football Federation badges on their shirts. Thousands of blue, white and red flags twirled.
Until that moment, the game had been somewhat dormant. And the Games, more broadly, were still waiting to awake. In Paris, many locals have escaped the craziness of the Olympics. Areas around the River Seine are all but locked down to prepare for today’s opening ceremony. Tuesday and Wednesday, in some ways, felt like normal Parisian nights, sans buzz.
The best cure for all of that was France’s most popular sport, the one that led the media’s front pages on Tuesday in a non-Olympic context, just three days before the official start of the Olympics.
This, of course, was not a full French soccer team. The Games are a mostly under-23 tournament. But it was still a French soccer team. And it was, by Olympic men’s soccer’s JV standards, stacked.
It came from Bayern Munich and Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Crystal Palace, in the German Bundesliga and throughout France’s Ligue 1. There were players valued at 25 million euros stuck on the bench. There were athletes all over the field whom, unlike many Olympians, the French public knows.
And the two biggest stars among them ignited the public. Lacazette, a veteran striker, one of three over-age picks, broke through the United States resistance.
Michael Olise, a 22-year-old creator who recently signed with Bayern, scored the second.

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