Sports
Madagascar Seals First Ever Nations Cup Qualification
Madagascar qualified for their first ever African Nations Cup after beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 at home on Tuesday and was later joined by Egypt, Senegal and Tunisia in the 24-team field for next year’s expanded finals.
With two nations qualifying from 11 of the 12 four-team groups, Madagascar were always going to have a good chance to make the breakthrough, at their 17th attempt, after starting their Group A campaign with an away win in Sudan last year.
Yet successive 1-0 wins home and away against Equatorial Guinea in the last five days took them over the line with Njiva Rakotoharimalala scoring the only goal of Tuesday’s match in Antananarivo.
Senegal won 1-0 in Sudan thanks to a late goal from Sidy Sarr as Liverpool forward Sadio Mane was left out of the team after hurting a thumb at the weekend.
Egypt’s 2-0 away win over eSwatini, formerly Swaziland, was without the injured Mohamed Salah and a 2-1 triumph for Tunisia in Niger ensured the two north African powerhouses qualified from Group J. Firas Chawat scored both goals for Tunisia on his debut.
Uganda needs a point from their last two qualifiers to reach the finals after beating Lesotho 2-0 away and Guinea are also on the cusp despite giving up a late goal and being held 1-1 in Rwanda.
Liverpool’s Naby Keita went off at halftime with a suspected muscle strain.
Ivory Coast still has some work to do after they were held 0-0 away in the Central African Republic, but are expected to qualify from Group H along with Guinea.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did not play for Gabon as they won 1-0 in South Sudan after a row over the charter plane initially laid on to take the team to Juba.
Aubameyang lead protests by players and staff and then said he had a backache and pulled out of the trip on Monday, as a new and larger plane took the players for the match, where Andre Biyogo Poko scored the only goal of the game.
Aubameyang last month criticised the Gabon federation’s poor organisation.
Tiny Seychelles held South Africa to a goalless draw on the Indian Ocean island, while Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo followed up his hat-trick against Libya at the weekend with another two goals against the same opposition in a 3-2 win in neutral Sfax, Tunisia.
Nigeria top Group E with nine points, South Africa has eight and Libya four.
South Africa, however, have tough fixtures against Nigeria at home next month and Libya away in March for their last two games and could miss out on the finals for the second straight edition.
Sourced From: SoccerNet NG
Complete Sports NG
Iheanacho Bags Sixth Assist As Leicester Slip Up In Top-Four Race After Frustrsting Draw At 10-Man Southampton
Kelechi Iheanacho provided his sixth assist of the season as 10-man Southampton held Leicester to a 1-1 draw and frustrate the Foxes in their push to clinch a top-four finish, Completesports.com reports. The in-form Iheanacho made amends by assisting Johnny Evans for Leicester’s equaliser, after he gave away the penalty which James Ward-Prowse converted to […]
The post Iheanacho Bags Sixth Assist As Leicester Slip Up In Top-Four Race After Frustrsting Draw At 10-Man Southampton appeared first on Complete Sports.
Sourced From: Complete Sports
The 26-year-old becomes only the second player to score 30 league goals in Europe’s top ten leagues this season and the first Nigerian to reach that mark after he scored in Genk’s 3-2 win at Antwerp
Paul Onuachu continues to break new grounds in what has been a remarkable season after he scored his 30th league goal to help Genk to a 3-2 win over Royal Antwerp in the opening game of the Jupiler League Championship playoff round.
After coronavirus ended the Belgian top-flight abruptly last season, the championship round resumed again this season, with Antwerp playing host to Genk.
Theo Bongonda put Genk ahead in the 20th minute following a ball from Junya Ito, but goals from Maxime Le Marchand and Koji Miyoshi in the space of four minutes turned the tie around for Antwerp.
However, Onuachu restored parity for The Smurfs in the 71st minute for his 30th league goal of the season. By reaching this milestone, the former Midtjylland striker becomes the first Nigerian to reach 30 league goals in a single season in Europe.
Also, he is just the second player after Robert Lewandowski to score 30 or more goals in Europe’s top ten leagues this season.
But the Nigerian international is still 11 short of the record for most goals in a single Belgian top-flight season, set by Arthur Ceuleers and Jules Van Craen in the 1942-1943 season.
Nonetheless, Onuachu is well on course to become the third Nigerian player to finish as the top scorer in the Belgian top-flight after Tosin Dosunmu and Joseph Akpala.
Meanwhile, Bongonda, who provided the assist for Onuachu’s goal, combined once again with Ito to fire home the winner for Genk two minutes from time.
Sourced From: Soccernet.ng
Asisat Oshoala netted a vital away goal for Barcelona Ladies who lost 2-1 to Manchester City but qualified for the semi-finals of the UEFA women’s Champions League on Wednesday, Completesports.com reports. Barcelona progressed into the last four stage with a 4-2 aggregate win over City, after winning the reverse fixture 3-0. It was a first […]
The post Women’s UCL: Oshoala Scores As Barca Knockout Man City, Clinch Semi-finals Ticket appeared first on Complete Sports.
Sourced From: Complete Sports
The Super Falcons star was the hero in the first leg, and was again brilliant in the return leg, even though La Blaugranes lost
Asisat Oshoala was once again on target, but Barcelona lost 2-1 in the return leg of their Uefa Women’s Champions League quarterfinal clash.
However, Barcelona still progressed to the semifinals 4-2 on aggregate, having won the first leg 3-0 in Rome.
Oshoala was the hero in the first leg, scoring once and winning a penalty. The Nigerian international picked up from where she left off as she scored Barcelona’s equaliser in the 59th minute after Janine Beckie had given City the lead.
The former Liverpool star finished off a cut back from Mariona Caldentey to draw Lluis Cortes ladies level. The 26-year-old now has 13 goals for Barcelona this season, including four in the champions league.
Although Samantha Mewis restored City’s lead from the penalty spot, it was the Spanish champions that progressed 4-2 on aggregate.
Barcelona will now face either Lyon or Paris in the semifinals next month.
Sourced From: Soccernet.ng
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