Connect with us

Sports

The Good and The Bad: How African stars performed in Europe last weekend

Published

on

Over the weekend, African soccer stars took to the field for their respective European clubs in different leagues and competitions.

Some churned out impressive displays while others had outings they would rather forget.

A handful of the players made crucial contributions for their clubs while others found themselves on the losing side.

We bring a review of the African players who were too good for their European teams as well as the ones who were not so good.

Too Good

Mohamed Elneny: Arsenal

The Egyptian midfielder once again showed his importance for Arsenal with an assist in the Gunners 3-1 thumping of Manchester United at the Emirates.

After a man of the match display at Stamford Bridge a week earlier, Elneny was instrumental to Arsenal overall outing with a sterling performance in the middle of the park alongside Granit Xhaka.

He also provided the assist for the third goal scored by Xhaka in the 70th minute, a which has once again propelled Arsenal into the top four in the EPL with a Champions League qualification looking likely after their direct rivals, Tottenham Hotspur dropped points against Brentford.

Mohammed Kudus: Ajax

Ghanaian star Kudus was also good for Dutch Eredivisie runaway leaders Ajax as he provided the assist in the 88th minute in his club’s 1-0 defeat of NEC in the game played on Saturday.

His fellow African in the team, Sebastien Haller of Ivory Coast played the whole duration of the game but had little impact.

Karl Toko Ekambi, Alexander Djiku: Lyon

The Cameroonian players make tje good list as they conteibuted positively to Lyon’s 5-2 defeat of Montpellier in the French Ligue 1.

Ekambi scored one goal and provided an assist, netting as Lyon’s third goal in the 68th minute before providing the assist for captain Houssem Aouar’s goal in the second minute of added time.

Moses Simon: Nantes

Simon who was unarguably Nigeria’s best player as the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon, picked up from where he stopped as he helped his modest French club Nantes came back from 2-0 and 3-2 down to claim a 5-3 win over Bordeaux.

The Nigerian claimed an assist to draw his club level at 3-3, before claiming his side’s fourth goal as his teasing cross forced Bordeaux defender Ricardo Mangas to turn the ball into his own net.

Edoaurd Mendy and Hakim Ziyech: Chelsea

Senegalese shot stopper, Edoaurd Mendy and retired Moroccan Moroccan international Hakim Ziyech were instrumental to Chelsea not losing a third straight match at the Stamford Bridge.

Mendy was at his best as he stopped West Ham’s relentless onslaught as the Blue ran out 1-0 winners while Ziyech who replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the 76th minute played a key part in the only goal scored by Christian Pulisic in added time.

Too Bad

Alex Iwobi: Everton

Everton Super Eagles midfielder Iwobi was too bad for Everton against Liverpool that fans of the club took to social media to question if he is really the nephew of former Eagles and Bolton Wanderers midfield magician, Austin ‘Jay-Jay” Okocha.

Iwobi was preferred on the left side of midfield by Frank Lampard but he contributed next to nothing as Everton slumped its 11 loss in their last 12 Premier League away games, including each of the last seven in a row, making it their longest run of consecutive away defeats since a run of eight between April and October 1994.

The Toffees ended the day in the relegation zone for the first time since 6th December 2019.

Mohamed Salisu: Southampton

The Ghanaian defender had a mixed bag of game as he scored an own goal as Southampton 2-2 draw against Brighton to share the points.

Salisu’s own goal gave Brighton a two-goal advantage before Southampton recovered and scored twice through James Ward-Prowse.

Emmanuel Dennis, Hassan Kamara: Watford

Nigeria’s Dennis and Ivory Coast’s Kamara combined for Watford’s 28th-minute goal in against Manchester City but it was not enough to save them from a 5-1 thumping at the Etihad Stadium.

Dennis has now been directly involved in 52% of Watford’s 31 Premier League goals this season, scoring 10 goals with six assists to his name.

Victor Osimhen: Napoli

Osimhen played the full 90 minutes as Napoli’s Serie A title hopes went up in smoke as they lost 3-2 to 14th-placed Empoli, after leading 2-0 at a point.

The lanky forward failed to find the back of the net yet again, though he had his six shots, the poorest return for the striker whose previous worst performance this season came at home games against Hellas Verona in November.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

TP Mazembe pip AS FAR to win African Women’s Champions League

Published

on

TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) became the third team to win the 2024 African Women’s Champions League after narrowly defeating AS FAR of Morocco 1-0 in the final played on Sunday at the El Jadida’s Stade Ben Ahmed El Abdi Stadium.

TP Mazembe claimed the title for the first time courtesy of a 10th minute penalty which was converted by Marlene Kasaj after AS FAR captain Aziza Rabbah handled the ball in the box.

The Congolese side should have doubled their lead six minutes later when an unmarked Merveille Kanjinga fired wide from seven yards out before the more fancied home team gradually grew into the match and looked to cancel the deficit and add to their continental triumph in 2022.

But AS FAR put in a subdued display and failed to test Mazembe’s goalkeeper Fideline Ngoy, with tournament top scorer Doha El Madani who had netted six goals in their run to the final, wasting their best chance as she sliced a first-half free-kick wide.

With the triumph, TP Mazembe carted home the giant trophy and a cheque for $600,000 (£479,000) after the prize money was increased for the fourth edition of the tournament, while the AS FAR went home with $400,000 (£319,000).

Continue Reading

Sports

Wafcon 2024 draw throws up interesting pairings

Published

on

The draw for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) holding in Morocco from July 5 to 26 next year which was held on Friday, threw up some interesting match-ups to look forward to as hosts Morocco found themselves in what has been described as the group of death.

The Atlas Lionesses will have to contend with Zambia, DR Congo and Senegal in Group A, while Group B has record 11-time continental champions, the Super Falcons of Nigeria slugging it out with Tunisia, Algeria and Botswana, just as current defending champions, Banyana Banyana of South Africa will do battle with Ghana, Mali and Tanzania in Group C.

The top two sides in each group will progress to the quarter-finals, alongside the two best third-placed finishers.

Though qualification for the 2024 Wafcon was completed in December last year, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), was forced to push the finals into 2025 because of international football’s congested calendar, which included the participation of Nigeria and Zambia at the Olympics.

Morocco also staged the 2022 edition of Wafcon, ending as runners-up, and former international Fatiha Laassiri believes home support will provide “a real advantage” next year.

Wafcon 2024 group draw with world ranking in brackets:

Group A: Morocco (hosts, 59), Zambia (62), Senegal (83), DR Congo (102).

Group B: Nigeria (36), Tunisia (78), Algeria (84), Botswana (153).

Group C: South Africa (holders, 50), Ghana (66), Mali (81), Tanzania (145).

Continue Reading

EDITOR’S PICK

Musings From Abroad8 hours ago

EU withdraws Niger diplomat after junta accuses it of mismanaging aid

The European External Action Service (EEAS) has announced that the European Union would return its ambassador from Niger after the...

Politics9 hours ago

Mali: 7 Russian mercenaries killed

An al Qaeda offshoot in North Africa has claimed responsibility for the attack in central Mali, killing at least seven...

Musings From Abroad9 hours ago

Mpox remains health emergency, WHO insists

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has insisted that the Mpox epidemic remains a public health emergency. WHO first declared an...

Musings From Abroad10 hours ago

Italy concerned over adult actor detained in Egypt

Officials in Italy, where sentiments are still high over the unresolved murder of student Giulio Regeni, who was detained and...

Tech12 hours ago

Fintech startup DigMo launched in Zambia to gamify financial planning

DigMo, a gamified fintech startup which helps users to build wealth tools from low to middle-income earners, has been launched...

Sports12 hours ago

TP Mazembe pip AS FAR to win African Women’s Champions League

TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) became the third team to win the 2024 African Women’s Champions...

Culture12 hours ago

Nicki Minaj eulogizes Davido for collaborating with her on new song

American rapper, Onika Maraj, popularly known as Nicki Minaj, has poured encomium on Nigerian Afrobeats superstar, David Adeleke, aka Davido,...

Metro12 hours ago

Zambia: Farmers’ union warns of uncertain future for agriculture sector

The Small-Scale Farmers Development Agency (SAFADA) of Zambia has warned of uncertainty on the future of the agricultural sector, stating...

Metro17 hours ago

Nigeria: CSO urges President Tinubu to investigate missing funds in Humanitarian Ministry

A Nigerian civil society organization, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has called on President Bola Tinubu to launch...

Culture2 days ago

South African DJ Black Coffee bags World’s Best DJ 2024

South African disc jockey, DJ Black Coffee, has been named the World’s Best DJ 2024 at the Golden Moon Awards....

Trending