Sports

More headache for Ten Hag as Tottenham hammer Man U 3-0

Published

4 months ago

September 30, 2024

Tottenham piled more pressure on Erik ten Hag’s position as Man United manager with a dominant 3-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Spurs made a flying start when Brennan Johnson tapped in from Micky Van de Ven’s storming run after three minutes.

Tottenham should have added to their lead long before Man United were reduced to 10 men when captain Fernandes was shown a straight red card on 42 minutes.

Dejan Kulusevski finally doubled the visitors advantage two minutes into the second half before Dominic Solanke rounded off the scoring.

Ten Hag began the season under scrutiny after surviving an internal review at the end of last season.

A shock FA Cup final victory over Manchester City was widely credited with saving the former Ajax coach’s job after finishing eighth in the Premier League last season.

A third defeat in United’s first six league games of the new campaign leaves the Red Devils down in 11th and time surely running out for their beleaguered boss.

United face daunting trips to Porto in the Europa League and Aston Villa on league duty next weekend before a two-week international break that clubs often use to implement managerial change.

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou was himself under pressure just over a week ago.

But Spurs have won four games in 12 days and turned in arguably their best performance of the Australian’s reign.

Van de Ven’s stunning surge from well inside his own half to the United by-line set the tone as his cross left Johnson a simple task to score for the fourth consecutive game.

Tottenham were without injured captain Son Heung-min and missed the South Korean’s clinical finishing as they tried to kill the game off.

Andre Onana saved one-on-ones from James Maddison and Timo Werner, while Johnson smashed another effort off the post.

At the other end, Joshua Zirzkee had United’s best chance to equalise when he was denied by a brilliant low save from Guglielmo Vicario.

Any hope of a United fightback was killed off by a moment of madness from their skipper.

Fernandes slipped as he slid into a challenge with Maddison but raised his studs to catch the England international.

Ten Hag responded by sacrificing his only striker in Zirkzee for the much-criticised Casemiro at half-time.

The Brazilian was one of those at fault for the second Tottenham goal.

Solanke outmuscled Casemiro to send Johnson tearing down the right and his deflected cross was cleverly flicked beyond Onana by Kulusevski.

Thereafter the 10 men showed plenty of fight and Casemiro came close to halving United’s deficit.

But more calamitous defending allowed Solanke to slide in Tottenham’s third from a corner.

Solanke should have rubbed salt into United wounds when Onana saved another one-on-one.

The travelling support taunted Ten Hag with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” during the second half.

United’s new football leadership team handed the Dutchman an extension to his contract less than three months ago.

How quickly they backtrack on that decision now appears a matter of time.

Manchester United’s Dutch manager Erik ten Hag reacts after the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on September 29, 2024.

Manchester United’s Portuguese midfielder #08 Bruno Fernandes is sent off by English referee Chris Kavanagh during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on September 29, 2024.

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.