Sports

WWC: Heartbreak as Banyana Banyana let go two-goal lead to draw with Argentina

Published

9 months ago

July 28, 2023

The Banyana Banyana of South Africa were on the verge of picking their first ever three points at a Women’s World Cup after racing into a two-goal lead against Argentina before bottling it, ending the game in a 2-2 draw.

The Coach Dediree Ellis-tutored side appeared to be cruising to a first-ever win in five matches at the World Cup after goals by Linda Motlhalo and Thembi Kgatlana either side of half-time in the match played on Friday in Dunedin.

But late on, the South Americans got two quick goals through a stunning Sophia Braun strike in the 74th minute before Romina Nunez scored the equaliser with a fine header, thus denying the Africans landmark first-ever win at the tournament.

There were positives for Banyana Banyana in the first half with their positive play and goals, undermining how dangerous their forwards can be on the counterattack.

But there was also a negative; their most influential player, midfielder Refiloe Jane, was injured and had to leave on a stretcher midway through the half, while Kholosa Biyana was shown a yellow card for the second game in a row, meaning that she too will miss the team’s final group stage match.

Click to comment

Sports

Chelsea offers Lukaku plus cash to Napoli for Osimhen

Published

9 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

English Premier League club, Chelsea, is said to be willing to offer Belgium striker, Romelu Lukaku, as well as fork out £77 million to Napoli in a bid to lure Nigerian forward, Victor Osimhen, to the club this summer.

Multiple reports in the Italian sporting media reveal that the Blues are willing to use forgotten man Lukaku and unnamed player to sweeten the deal to bring in Osimhen.

The Belgian striker who is on loan at Roma, is set to depart the Italian capital at the end of the season and make his return to Stamford Bridge where Chelsea are already planning ways to get rid of him on a permanent basis.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport, the latest development in the Lukaku’s saga with the Blues is that Chelsea have gone as far as offering the 30-year-old attacker to Napoli.

“The Blues are aiming to sign Victor Osimhen this coming summer and are aiming to include Lukaku in a deal for the Nigerian international,” Marzio said.

“Newly appointed Napoli sporting director, Manna, is said to be very keen on Lukaku after having tried to bring him to Juventus and Napoli are currently considering the offer with Roma slipping away from the race for Big Rom.”

The 30-year-old Belgian rejoined the Blues in a disastrous £97.5m deal in 2021 and has spent the last two seasons out on loan, firstly at Inter Milan then this time around at Roma.

With two years still remaining on his deal, the Blues will look to get his salary off their wage bill for good this summer.

Osimhen on the other hand, helped Napoli to a historic Serie A title victory last season, scoring 26. This season, he has scored 14 goals in 22 appearances, having missed chunks of the campaign due to a hamstring injury and Afcon.

Lukaku, meanwhile, has netted 11 goals in 29 Serie A appearances for Roma, with 19 in all competitions.

Sports

Nigeria’s 4x400m mixed relay, 4×400 teams qualify for Olympics

Published

2 days ago

May 5, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Team Nigeria on Sunday morning booked two places at the upcoming Paris Olympics Games in the Mixed 4x400m relay and 4X400m men’s events with automatic qualification spots at the ongoing World Relays in the Bahamas.

The mixed 4x400m relay team which had the quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Chidi Okezie, and Esther Elo Joseph, picked the slot after finishing second behind the USA in their heat with a time of 3:13.79, to ensured Nigeria’s presence on the Olympic stage.

Both Nigeria and the US were a distance ahead of other in the heat and it was obvious as at the third leg that the race was between the two countries.

According to reports on the race, Okezie ran an impressive third leg in 44.78 to handover his baton first, but a US Olympics gold-medalist, Kendall Ellis, was too much for Esther Elo Joseph in the anchor leg as she led the United States to the finish line first.