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South Africa beat Morocco 2-1 to lift 2022 Wafcon

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Two second half goals from inform striker Hildah Magaia were all the Banyana Banyana of South Africa needed to defeat host Morocco 2-1 to win their first-ever TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in a pulsating final match on Saturday.

The South Korea-based attacker struck first in the 63rd minute before adding a second in the 71st minute to silence the vociferous Moroccan fans at the packed Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat.

Though Rosella Ayane pulled one goal back to give the home fans some hopes of a come back with 10 minutes to go and piled on the pressure on the South African women, it was too little, too late.

Banyana Banyana had shown they were determined to break the duck to win their first continental trophy from the blast of the whistle to wipe out the disappointment they had faced in their previous five final appearances where they always came up short when it mattered the most by taking the fight to the Atlas Lionesses.

But despite their dominance, the first goal did not come until the hour mark when Magaia had the net at her mercy to tap home after excellent work by Jermaine Seoposenwe who had displaced two Moroccan defenders on the left before laying the inviting pass.

Nine minutes later, the ‘Girls’ were to double their lead when Karabo Dhlamini crossed from the left and Magaia was on hand to stab home again.

The Atlas Lionesses scored what turned out to be a consolation goal in the 80th minute when Fatima Tagnaout took advantage of a defensive error to intelligently set up Ayane who made no mistake from inside the box.

Bouyed by the goal, the host poured forward looking for the equalizer by launching waves of attacks into the South African area but the Banyana Banyana held on stoically to see out the game and pick up the treasured trophy.

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Liverpool legend Graham Souness wants ‘selfish’ Salah to leave club

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One of the legends of English Premier League club, Liverpool, Graeme Souness, wants Egyptian star, Mohamed Salah, to leave the club due to his “extreme selfish” nature.

Souness who was reacting to the celebrated touchline dispute between Salah and manager Jurgen Klopp during the club’s league match against West Ham last weekend, described Salah as the most selfish player he has ever seen.

Salah got into trouble with Liverpool fans when he was preparing to come on as a substitute, having been selected on the bench for the second time in three games.

Video footage that captured the scene showed Klopp walking up to the Egyptian and whisper something in his ear but whatever the manager said seemed to infuriate Salah who flared up leading to an exchange of words between the duo.

The two have played down the confrontation with Klopp insisting that whatever issue they had has been “completely resolved.”

Klopp who spoke on Friday at a press conference ahead of Liverpool’s home match with Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, insisted that his spat with the star forward would not damage to their relationship going forward.

“If we wouldn’t know each other for that long, I don’t know how we would deal with it, but we know each other for that long and respect each other too much that it’s really no problem,” Klopp said.

“In general, the best situation would be everybody is in the best possible place, we win games, we score lots of goals.

“Yes, then the situation with Salah would probably not have been exactly like that. Then Mo wouldn’t have been on the bench in the first place,” the manager said.

However, while speaking on William Hill’s Three Up Front podcast on Friday, Souness called Salah a selfish player and expects him to leave Liverpool.

“Salah is the most selfish player I have ever witnessed. Even before that game, whenever Klopp takes him off, he is never happy about it,” Souness said.

“That is what you want from your players; if you take them off on two goals, they should want to stay on to score a third. When Sadio Mane was there, they’d fall out all the time,” Souness added.

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Why Zambia’s women national team could miss Olympics

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Zambia’s women national football team is on the verge of missing out on playing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This is after world football governing body, FIFA, threatened to suspend the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) following accusations of money laundering offences levelled against its president, Andrew Kamanga, as well as allegations of “undue influence by third parties”.

Kamanga who has be the FAZ president since 2016, was last week, arrested by the country’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) along with the Secretary-General, Reuben Kamanga and two other persons, over an alleged money laundering running into K341,902.

The arrested officials have already been charged by the DEC for allegedly obtaining government funds under false pretences and being part of a conspiracy to defraud.

The anti-graft agency alleged that Kamanga used the money to fund trips for two associates to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast early this year.

Kamanga and Reuben were charged along with Madalitso Kamanga and Jairous Siame, who travelled to the tournament as part of FAZ’s support staff though are not working with FAZ.

Indications that the Zambian football association could face the hammer came via a letter by FIFA Member Associations Officer, Kenny Jean-Marie, addressed to FAZ that the world football’s governing body had “taken interest” in the arrests of the football officials.

In the letter, Jean-Marie requested for copies of any documents received in relation to the accusations and also directed FAZ to hold its scheduled AGM despite an injunction brought by a suspended club owner which accused Kamanga of changing the association’s constitution without following due procedure, being filed in Zambia’s high court to stop it taking place.

The letter also warned that failure to hold the AGM would provide possible grounds for suspension.

Part of the letter reads:

“The order of the High Court of Zambia dated 24 April, 2024, appears to clearly amount to undue influence by third parties which could be considered as a violation of Article 19 paragraph 1 of the Fifa Statutes and Article 7 paragraph 1.g. of the CAF Statutes.

“For the avoidance of doubt, please note that the infringement of the aforementioned provisions of the FIFA and CAF Statutes may give rise to grounds for the suspension of FAZ irrespective of whether the infringement was attributed to FAZ or not.

“We would like to remind you that a suspended member association may not exercise any of its membership rights.

“The representative teams as well as the affiliated clubs of this federation can no longer take part in international competitions until the suspension has been lifted. In view of the foregoing, FAZ is directed to conduct its Annual General Meeting.”

However, a ruling by a judge upheld the injunction on and scheduled another hearing for Thursday, meaning the AGM was not allowed to take place which has placed the participation of the women’s team in the forthcoming Olympics in jeopardy.

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