Football / Sports

Salah inspires Pharaohs to AFCON 2022 semi-finals with goal and assist

MO SALAH’s Egypt side are through to the AFCON 2022 semi-finals thanks to a 2-1 win over Morocco in the last eight.

Salah scored and assisted a late goal in extra-time to put his team one win away from this year’s finale in Yaounde.

The Pharaoh’s bid to reclaim AFCON silverware continues as they scrape past Morocco in a tight last-8 affair.

Egyptian supporters feared the worst when Moroccan forward Sofiane Boufal converted a penalty within the first minutes courtesy of Aymen Ashraf’s reckless challenge in the box.

But Egyptian captain Mo Salah put the nation on his shoulders, scored the equalizer with 53 minutes gone on the clock and provided an assist for super sub Trezeguet five minutes into extra time.

What could be fascinating is that Egypt could meet Senegal in the final which would mean Liverpool teammates Mo Salah and Sadio Mane going at it for a trophy.

It wasn’t even up for a debate due to how influential this man was during large periods of the match.

Mighty Mo Salah single handedly picked his team up when they were in the gutter, put them back on level terms and set up Trezeguet to grab the winner.

This is why Egyptian head coach Carlos Queiroz named him captain of the squad and if Jordan Henderson at Liverpool isn’t careful, the Egyptian wizard could take that armband off him too.

Phenomenal performance from Salah this evening and he is now two games away from finally clinching AFCON silverware.

Other than Nigeria with 14, no nation has made it to the semi-final stage more times than Egypt (13) since data was recorded.

And on 7 of those occasions, the Pharaohs have gone on to win the entire tournament.

If they can overcome Cameroon in the last four, Carlos Queiroz’ men will certainly fancy their chances to make it number 8.

So with the Egyptians getting the better of Morocco, they will face hosts and 5x AFCON winners, Cameroon in the semi-final.

Providing there are no last minute altercations, the …

Football / Sports

Sofiane Boufal scores late winner as Ghana lose opening clash in AFCON

Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal seized on a loose ball to score seven minutes from time and secure a 1-0 win over Ghana in their opening Group C match at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday.

Boufal hammered home from close range after a mazy run into the penalty area from Zakaria Aboukhlal that saw him tease the Ghana defence, only to be checked by Thomas Partey, with the ball then running perfectly for Boufal to score.

The goal came from a rare chance in a game where both sides showed defensive prowess but did little to impress in attack.  Both countries are looking to end a long wait for success in the continental championship but showed little early sign of making an impact at the tournament in Cameroon, admittedly after disrupted preparations.

Boufal’s goal did open up a cagey affair and Morocco had two more decent chances as captain Romain Saiss headed wide after an 87th minute free kick and then in stoppage time Ghana’s keeper Joe Wollacott stopped a blistering shot.

Until then, there had only been two opportunities for Ghana.

Joseph Paintsil hit a goal-bound shot towards the top corner in the 70th minute only for Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to turn the effort around the post.

Ghana also had a good set-piece opportunity in the 31st minute but Partey fired his free kick over the bar.

The victory extended to 10 matches Morocco’s winning streak, including all six World Cup qualifiers played between September and November.…

Olympics / Sports

10 Nigerian athletes banned from Olympics

A huge scandal rocked Team Nigeria’s camp on Wednesday at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games when 10 Nigerian athletes were disqualified from competing in the event after they failed to undergo mandatory tests ahead of the global sports event. Our correspondents learnt the Nigerian camp was thrown into a mourning mood after word went round that the affected athletes, who compete in track and field events, had been sent packing from the Games with just two days to the start of their events.

The Athletics Integrity Unit in a statement on Wednesday made available to correspondent, did not mention the names of the affected Nigerian athletes, but said a total of 20 athletes across the world were disqualified from the Olympics for not meeting minimum requirements by Category A countries. However, findings by our correspondent showed that the only Nigerian track and field athletes eligible to compete in Tokyo were Enoch Adegoke, Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Patience Okon- George, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Samson Nathaniel, Grace Nwokocha, Divine Oduduru, Emmanuel Ojeli, Blessing Okagbare and Nse Uko, as their names were listed on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics portal.

The names of the other track and field athletes for the event namely Knowledge Omovoh, Ruth Usoro, Favor Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Glory Patrick, Yinka Ajayi, Tima Godbless, Chidi Okezie, Chioma Onyekwere and Annette Echikunwoke were omitted by the International Olympic Committee, meaning they were the athletes banned from competing at the Games.

Other countries, who had some of their athletes disqualified, are Belarus and Ukraine, who both had three athletes banned, Kenya (two) and Morocco and Ethiopia, who had one athlete each sent packing from the Games.…