Sports

Toothless Man United Hold Bournemouth Despite Fernandes’ Double

Published

10 months ago

April 14, 2024

Manchester United’s chances of Champions League football next season took another battering as Bruno Fernandes’ double could only salvage a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday.

Twice the Cherries led through Dominic Solanke and Justin Kluivert and Bournemouth were denied the opportunity to win the game at the death after a controversial VAR review overturned the decision to award the home side a penalty.

A point leaves United still 10 adrift of Aston Villa and Tottenham in the race for a top-four finish with six games to go.

The Red Devils have now won just once in their last seven Premier League games to leave Erik ten Hag’s future as United boss next season in doubt.

Once again it was United’s defensive deficiencies that were exploited as Bournemouth just missed out on a famous double after winning 3-0 at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

French teenager Willy Kambwala kept his place at centre-back with Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof among those absent due to injury.

But Kambwala had a moment to forget for the opening goal as his slip allowed Solanke to pick his spot and fire home his 19th goal of the season.

United had barely threatened as an attacking force before they levelled against the run of play on 31 minutes.

Alejandro Garnacho’s deflected cross fell perfectly into the path of Fernandes to volley into the roof of the net.

Bournemouth were back in front within five minutes as this time Kluivert took advantage of the acres of space offered by the United defence inside the box to drill low past Andre Onana.

Ten Hag’s future as United boss becomes more unsure with every passing week and poor performance.

However, the Dutchman was rewarded for a daring change at half-time as he replaced Garnacho with Amad Diallo.

The Ivorian winger shot to fame with an extra-time winner against Liverpool in a thrilling FA Cup quarter-final last month.

And he helped earn the visitors a point as his deflected shot was handled by Adam Smith inside the area.

Fernandes stepped up to slot the resulting penalty past Neto.

Bournemouth thought they had a spot-kick of their own deep into stoppage time when Kambwala blocked Ryan Christie’s charge into the box.

After a penalty was initially awarded, VAR intervened to say the foul had taken place just outside the box.

A point leaves Bournemouth still in 12th, eight points adrift of United in the European places.

Sports

Former Belgium player Radja Nainggolan arrested for alleged cocaine smuggling

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Former Belgian footballer, Radja Nainggolan has reportedly been arrested for alleged involvement in cocaine smuggling.

According to a report by Corriere della Sera, the former AS Roma midfielder was allegedly part of a smuggling operation transporting cocaine from South America to Antwerp.

The Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed Nainggolan’s arrest as part of a large-scale raid on 30,000 houses in Antwerp and Brussels on Monday, January 27, 2025.

“The federal judicial police of Brussels carried out thirty house searches on Monday morning in the context of a case from the Organized Crime department of the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. The searches mainly took place in the province of Antwerp and in Brussels.”

“The investigation concerns suspected activities related to the importation of cocaine from South America to Europe via the port of Antwerp, as well as its distribution in Belgium. We can confirm that the footballer RN (Radja Nainggolan) has been taken into custody in connection with this case,” the statement read as quoted by UK outlet, Daily Mail.

“Given that interrogations are ongoing, and in compliance with the principle of presumption of innocence, no further comment will be made at this stage.”

Nainggolan, 36, currently plays for Lokeren-Temse, a lower-tier club in Belgium. He rose to prominence during his time in Italy, representing clubs such as Inter Milan, AS Roma, and Cagliari.

The former midfielder announced his retirement from international football in 2018 after being omitted from Belgium’s squad for the FIFA World Cup that year.

Sports

Full List: AFCON 2025 Draw Confirmed

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, has been confirmed on Monday.

The tournament is scheduled to run from December 21, 2025 until January 18, 2026.

All the 24 countries that will be present in Morocco have been found out their initial opponents.

All but two of the 52 Confederation of African Football (CAF) member participated in the qualifying series.

Following the preliminary round, 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four, playing home and away in a total of six matches, where the top two teams from each group qualified.

The tournament will take place in six cities over four weeks, but there can only be one nation crowned the kings of Africa.

Here are all the important details and the full draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

AFCON 2025 groups
Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
Group B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
Group F: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique

Sports

Para Badminton Int’l: Nigeria’s Bolaji wins gold in Egypt

Published

2 days ago

January 27, 2025

Naijablitznews

By Francesca Hangeior

Paralympic bronze medalist, Eniola Bolaji, on Sunday won gold medal in her final match at the Egypt Para Badminton International 2025.

To get this point, Bolaji won all her previous games in the competition hosted by Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bolaji defeated Sweden’s Hillevi Salomonsson 2-0 (21-1, 21-2) in the women’s SL3 final on Sunday in Cairo Egypt.

The African champion demonstrated her skill throughout the tournament, beating Shahinda Mohamed (21-7, 21-2).

She also defeated Basma Nabil-Fawzy (21-6, 21-4) and further conquered Elizabeth Puma (21-2, 21-4) with straight-set victories in earlier rounds.

Bolaji triumphed in dominant style, extending her remarkable winning streak by claiming her 10th title in 10 tournaments, while securing her 58th win in 64 matches

According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Bolaji has competed in 10 international championships over the past two years, emerging victorious in all.

This is a remarkable feat that bonds her as a force to be reckoned with in Para Badminton.

She broke multiple records and brought pride to Nigeria and Africa.

Bolaji’s achievement followed her radical success in 2024 where she made history as the first African athlete to win a badminton medal at the Paralympic Games

The Egypt Para Badminton International 2025 which started on Jan.21, ended on today (Jan. 26) in Cairo.