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Rivers Angels Wallop Edo Queens 4-1, Reclaim Top Spot

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Rivers Angels FC of Port
Harcourt on Wednesday  came from behind to trash visiting Edo Queens 4-1 in a match day 13 of the Nigeria Women Football League at the Liberation stadium today.
Ibinabo Georgewill had given the visitors an early lead in the 2nd minute but Ugo Njoku slotted in the equalizer in the 21st minute before Iroka Glory made it 2-1 going into half time.
The 2014 NWFL champions didn’t stop there as Amarachi Ojinma raised the tally to 3-1 in the 58th minute from an Iroka Glory assist and Juliet Bassey registered her first goal of the season as she volleyed in a cross from Cecilia Nku to make it 4-1 in the 81st minute.
After the game, head coach of the Port Harcourt side, Edwin Okon expressed his delight.
“I am happy, at least we secured the 3 points and not only the 3 points, the number of goals, this is the only place you can come and see good officiating, Rivers state I said it anywhere or Abuja, that is the only two places you can go and get good officiating, aside from that, win at all cost” Okon said.
I lost to them at their home because of the syndrome of win at home all cost, but you can see today we had many penalty incidents and the referee said  because we’re winning, so am grateful at least we’re on top of the league and we hope of maintaining till end of the season” he added.
Angels forward, Juliet Bassey who registered her first goal of the season could not hide her excitement.
know how many but with God all things are possible” said Juliet.
On his part, head coach of Edo Queens, Kenneth Aigbe said he would go back to the drawing board o work on their errors.
“It’s a good game, it’s a good standard you could see some errors that happened in the course of play that has to go home and work out with so that by the next game we’ll step it up, Rivers Angels is not a small team and we equally, we’re not a small team, it’s a good game, they played well and with the standard of the referee, am highly impressed, the referee did very well just silly mistakes and all that which happens everywhere in football” stated Aigbe.
Rivers Angels now top group B with 25 points and will next play Nasarawa Amazons on August 29 in a rescheduled week 11 game.

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Gyokeres Situation, Transfer Under Cloud At Sporting

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Sporting have not received an offer for striker Viktor Gyokeres and there is no gentleman’s agreement for him to leave for £59million, says club president Frederico Varandas.
Sweden international Gyokeres, 27, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Arsenal after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
He has a 100m euro (£85m) release clause in his contract.
It has been widely reported that, after staying at Sporting last summer, Gyokeres and Sporting agreed he could leave for 70m euros (£59m) this summer.
However, Varandas said the club’s only promise to Gyokeres was that they would not demand his full release clause.
“I can guarantee that Viktor Gyokeres will not leave for 60m euros plus 10m euros because I never promised that,” Varandas said.
“To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyokeres, neither today nor last season.”
Gyokeres spent three seasons with Coventry City in the Championship before joining Sporting under Ruben Amorim.
Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana was sporting director at Sporting last summer, when Gyokeres’ agent sought assurances about his leaving if a suitable offer arrived.
“One of the agent’s biggest concerns was whether we would demand the termination clause,” said Varandas.
“He wanted to guarantee certain things. And what was agreed? That Sporting would not demand a release clause now.
“For one reason: he was going to be 27 years old and no player leaves Portugal at 27 for 100m eurors or 90m euros.
“In that same meeting the agent wanted to anchor the exit to a value. I said this sentence: ‘It’s not worth us setting a value because I don’t know what will happen in a year’s time. I don’t know if it will be 40m euros, 60m euros or 80m euros. What I can guarantee is that I will not demand 100 million euros.’”

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Concacaf Opposes 64-Team W’Cup Plans

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Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has criticised a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams.
The plans, put forward by South American governing body Conmebol, have also drawn opposition from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
But Conmebol said it wanted to add more participants to mark the competition’s 100-year anniversary.
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told Tidesports source
“We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.”
Concacaf is the governing body of football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
The decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was taken in 2017 following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress.
Fifa’s 75th congress will be held in Paraguay on 15 May, when Conmebol’s proposal could be discussed.
If the proposal is accepted, the 2030 edition would consist of 128 matches, double the number played under the 64-game format used from 1998 and 2022.
In March, Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said it would cause “chaos”.
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,” said Salman.
“But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”

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Brazil Edge Paraguay, Book W’Cup Spot

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Brazil qualified for the 2026 World Cup this week with a 1-0 win against Paraguay in South American qualifying to give Carlo Ancelotti his first win as manager.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr scored from close range in the second half, finishing after fine work from Manchester United-bound playmaker Matheus Cunha.
The victory, Ancelotti’s first after a 0-0 draw against Ecuador on his debut last week, means Brazil has now qualified for every edition of the World Cup.
“We needed to win and qualify for the World Cup,” said Vinicius Jr.
“Now the coach will have more time to work. Of course today wasn’t one of our best performances, but the important thing is always to win.
“Now it’s time to celebrate qualifying.”
Elsewhere, World Cup holders Argentina played out an entertaining 1-1 draw with Colombia in Buenos Aires.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a fine individual goal, dancing through three defenders before finishing past Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina was reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a high-boot challenge on Colombia’s Kevin Castano.
But Lionel Messi’s side found an equaliser nine minutes from the end through Lyon’s Thiago Almada, leaving Colombia four points clear of seventh-placed Venezuela.
Ecuador, Argentina’s nearest challengers, booked their spot at next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after a 0-0 draw away at Peru.

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