NIGERIA

Super Eagles have wrapped up the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers with a comfortable six-nil victory against Sao Tome and Principe at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on Sunday.

A hat-trick from Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, a goal each from Ademola Lookman, Taiwo Awoniyi, and substitute, Samuel Chukwueze ensured the team finished top of Group A ahead of Guinea Bissau.

The strikes take Osimhen’s tally to ten in the qualification series, as the top scorer for the 2023 Afcon qualifiers.

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will now shift their focus to the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers as they look to make amends after missing out on the last edition in Qatar.

The Nigerian top-flight has been rechristened the Nigeria Premier Football League.

The new name was adopted at the Annual General Assembly of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, in Uyo on Sunday.

A date for the commencement of the 2023-24 NPFL season is yet to be announced.

Rangers head coach, Fidelis Ilechukwu says winning is not the most important thing when it comes to warm-up matches.

Ilechukwu said the attitude and determination of the players to manage situations was what was required.

The Flying Antelopes have participated in over ten friendly games in preparation for the 2023-24 Nigeria Professional Football League season.

Rivers United has completed a dramatic comeback to overcome a determined Heartland side in a competitive warm-up game.

The encounter played at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt ended two-one in favour of the Pride of Rivers.

Alex Oyowah’s second half header and Yao Benard’a last minute strike was enough to cancel out Heartland’s early strike in the first half.

The former NPFL champions will now concentrate on their CAF Confederation Cup second round clash against Etoile Filante of Burkina Faso.

Gombe United played out a one-all draw against Katsina United in a pre-season competition in Kaduna.

Mohammed Babaganaru’s side took the lead through Samson Ola before Katsina United restored parity.

The game was Babaganaru’s first since his appointment as the head coach of Gombe United.

Sporting Lagos has appointed Shola Adegun as the head coach of its youth team.

Adegun is expected to take charge of the development team of the newly promoted Nigeria Professional Football League side.

The young tactician previously coached Jos-based Mees Palace Football Academy.

The duo of Nigerian international, Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala are both delighted to have being nominated for the prestigous Ballon d’Or award in the men’s and women’s category.

Both players are part of the five African players vying to win one of the most prestigious awards in the football world since George Weah achieved this feat in 1995.

Other players from the continent shortlisted for the award are Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Cameroon’s Andre Onana and Yassine Bounou from Morocco

Former World one hundred metre hurdles champion, Tobi Amusan, has dropped one spot in the latest World Athletcis ranking.

Amusan lost her world women’s one hundred metre hurdles crown to Jamaica’s Danielle Williams at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.

She is now ranked 25th globally but retains her number two spot in the one hundred metre hurdles behind Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

Also, Ese Brume who lost eight spots in the latest ranking, is now placed one hundred and fifty in the overall women’s ranking.

ENGLAND

Manchester United winger, Antony has agreed to delay his return to the club “to address allegations” of assault made against him.

Antony was due back to training on Monday after being dropped from Brazil’s squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru.

Manchester United said it has been agreed with the player that he would delay his return until further notice in order to address the matter.

Manchester United star, Jadon Sancho is set for showdown talks with the team’s manager Erik ten Hag on Monday.

This comes in the wake of his social media outburst after Ten Hag told reporters that Sancho did not warrant a place in his side to face Arsenal due to his level of performances in training.

A disgruntled Sancho quickly aired his frustration online where he insisted he was being made a ‘scapegoat’ for difficulties at United.

Former Chelsea midfielder, Joe Cole, has compared Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka to Lionel Messi after England were held to a one-all draw by Ukraine in Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifying.

Saka put up another impressive performance for the Three Lions despite the result.

He came close to securing all points but his powerful effort came back off the crossbar.

England star, Jude Bellingham has admitted that England were not at their usual level in their one-all draw against Ukraine.

Gareth Southgate’s side saw their impressive start to Euro 2024 qualification come to an end in Poland.

Bellingham however, outline the importance of England moving a step closer to qualifying for next year’s tournament in Germany.

Chelsea have been dealt yet another injury scare after Mykhailo Mudryk was taken off by Ukraine against England.

The winger pulled up holding his calf late in the one-all draw and signalled to the bench that he could not continue.

This meant that he has still not completed ninety minutes for his national team, and has also struggled for minutes at Chelsea this summer.

Former Chelsea star, Joe Cole believes that Jordan Henderson has put his England career ‘in jeopardy’ by moving to Saudi Arabia.

Henderson featured for England in the draw against Ukraine, with the midfielder making his first international appearance since joining Al-Ettifaq from Liverpool.

Although Henderson remains part of the national team setup for now, Cole feels that Henderson could end up losing his place in the squad.

Head coach, Bruce Arena has resigned as boss of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution.

Arena was alleged to have made “insensitive and inappropriate” remarks and was placed on administrative leave last month while the MLS investigated the matter.

No specific details of the charges have been made public.

OTHER LEAGUES

Real Madrid have identified Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez as a potential backup option if they are unable to sign Kylian Mbappe next summer.

Paris Saint-Germain star Mbappe has been heavily linked with Real Madrid for several years and was anticipated that he would finally make the switch to the Spanish club next summer once his contract expires.

Real Madrid have identified potential options in case they cannot land Mbappe, with Alvarez one of the players that is being considered.

Injury-hit Northern Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifier misery continued as a one-nil defeat away to Kazakhstan stretched their losing streak to five matches.

A superb first-half goal by Maxim Samorodov was the difference in a drab, tight encounter in Astana.

Conor McMenamin missed an excellent chance to equalise for the visitors before the break and Conor Washington had a second-half shot saved.

Northern Ireland have just three points from their opening six Group H matches.

Hansi Flick has been sacked as Germany manager, following four-one friendly defeat by Japan.

He becomes the first German head coach to be sacked since the role was created in 1926.

Germany lost four of their past five games, with Flick having overseen just twelve wins in his twenty-five matches in charge since replacing Joachim Low in August 2021.

Former Ajax manager, Louis van Gaal says he will find out whether his recent cancer operation has been successful in treating his condition when he goes for a check-up.

Van Gaal shocked world football when he revealed he was battling prostate cancer in the build-up to last year’s Qatar World Cup.

Germany captain, Ilkay Gundogan has revealed that Germany have ‘no confidence’ and are in a ‘mental fight with themselves’ after the team’s loss to Japan.

Germany were thrashed four-one by the Samurai Blue with goals from Junya Ito, Ayase Ueda, Takuma Asano and Ao Tanaka cancelling out Leroy Sane’s effort.

Rob Page’s future as Wales boss is on a knife edge as he prepares for the Euro 2024 qualifier in Latvia on Monday that could decide the fate of himself and his team.

With only the top two in each group qualifying automatically for next summer’s finals in Germany, Wales are fourth three points behind second-placed Croatia having played a game more heading into the crucial clash in Riga.

Page signed a four-year deal only a year ago but results have been dire since then, with Wales performing dreadfully at last winter’s World Cup and showing no signs of improvement since.

OTHER SPORTS

In Boxing, Sean Strickland upset heavy pre-fight favourite Israel Adesanya to win the middleweight title at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia.

American Strickland, pressed forward relentlessly over five rounds, out-striking Nigeria-born New Zealander Adesanya to win a unanimous decision.

Strickland was only handed the title opportunity after an injury to fellow top contender Dricus du Plessis.

Meanwhile, Nigerian-born New Zealander, Israel Adesanya has showed off his war wounds after conceding his UFC middleweight world title to Sean Strickland inside the Octagon.

The result of stunned the MMA world with Adesanya heavy favourite going into the contest but struggling to deal with Strickland’s ring dominance and striking throughout the encounter.

In Tennis, American teenager, Coco Gauff has fulfilled the potential she has long promised by landing her first Grand Slam title with a fightback win over Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final.

Gauff, seeded sixth, started slowly in front of an expectant home crowd but grew in confidence to wear down second seed Sabalenka in New York.

Gauff, clinched a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win on a delirious Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In Rugby, World Cup organisers have apologised to fans caught up in the chaotic scenes outside the Stade Velodrome before England’s match against Argentina.

Thousands of ticket holders missed the start of the Pool D opener because of the limited number of entry points and turnstiles, insufficient staffing levels and extensive security checks.

In Cricket, India against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super Four stage will be finished on Monday’s reserve day after heavy rain in Colombo.

The reserve day was only added by organisers on Thursday, and is the only game, bar the final on seventeen September, to have an extra day allocated.

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl, with India reaching 147-2 off twenty-four point one overs when the rain arrived.

In Athletics; Mo Farah, one of the greatest British athletes of all time, finished fourth in the final race of his career at the Great North Run.

The 40-year-old four-time Olympic champion slipped off the pace early in the famous 13.1-mile race from Newcastle to South Shields.
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In Basketball; Germany won the Basketball World Cup for the first time by beating Serbia – who were missing talisman Nikola Jokic – 83-77 in Manila.

It is their first title since winning the European Championship in 1993.

Dennis Schroder top scored for the Germans with 28 points, while Franz Wagner contributed 19.

Canada took third place with a 127-118 win against the United States, who Germany knocked out in the semi-finals earlier in the day.

THOUGHT

Champions keep playing until they get it right…words from Billie Jean King