Sports

Man United Falls To Chelsea, 2-1

Published

14 years ago

March 2, 2011

Frank Lampard breathed fresh life into the Premier League title race as the Chelsea midfielder’s late penalty clinched a 2-1 victory over leaders Manchester United, last night.

Lampard’s dramatic winner came after referee Martin Atkinson ruled that United defender Chris Smalling had brought down Chelsea substitute Yuri Zhirkov with 10 minutes to go at Stamford Bridge. It was a hammer blow for United, who suffered just their second league defeat this season despite taking the lead through Wayne Rooney’s first-half strike.

Brazilian defender David Luiz equalised with his first goal for Chelsea soon after half-time and Lampard sealed the points before captain Nemanja Vidic was sent off for a second booking in stoppage time.

While fourth-place Chelsea’s hopes of retaining the title are still slender as they trail United by 12 points, their win has done a massive favour to second-place Arsenal. The Gunners can close to within one point of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team if they win their game in hand.

Ferguson had kept faith with the players that won emphatically at Wigan on Saturday, which meant he sent out an unchanged United team for the first time in 165 games, and they dominated in the first half. Ashley Cole, hit by revelations that he accidently shot a student with an air-rifle at Chelsea’s training ground, was greeted with shouts of “shoot” from both sets of fans whenever he got anywhere near United’s penalty area. Nicolas Anelka took that advice as he flashed wide from long range.

Chelsea midfielder Ramires was lucky to escape with just a booking for an ugly two-footed lunge on Michael Carrick and that tackle sparked United into life. Ferguson’s side, who last won at Chelsea back in 2002, threatened for the first time when Patrice Evra’s low cross narrowly eluded Rooney and should have taken the lead moments later.

Nani’s cross gave Rooney a clear sight of goal, but his woefully mistimed header sailed wide of the target. However, Rooney, cleared to play after dodging an FA ban for his elbow on Wigan’s James McCarthy, showed why he remains United’s most dangerous force as he opened the scoring in the 30th minute. Taking Nani’s short pass in his stride, Rooney turned towards the penalty area and, with Branislav Ivanovic backing off, he had time and space to unleash a powerful low strike that arrowed into the bottom corner of Petr Cech’s net.

Van der Sar almost gifted Chelsea an immediate equaliser when he fumbled Lampard’s venomous free-kick, but he recovered to block Ivanovic’s attempt from the rebound and Vidic alertly cleared off the line.

The Blues drew level from virtually their first decent delivery of the match in the 54th minute. Michael Essien floated over a teasing cross that Ivanovic flicked onto Luiz and he blasted a half-volley past Van der Sar. The goal seemed to bring out the street fighter in Luiz and he was booked for a bone-crunching tackle on Rooney before enraging Ferguson with a body-check on the same player.

Rooney should have restored United’s lead in the 64th minute when Nani’s pass sent him sprinting clear of the Chelsea defence but he curled wide. Ryan Giggs came on to make his 606th league appearance for United — equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s record — and he made an instant impression as his chipped pass put Rooney through to fire straight at Cech.

Another substitute, Chelsea’s Zhirkov, had the decisive impact, however. Drogba and Lampard worked the ball towards Zhirkov and he stumbled under the slightest of touches from Smalling, prompting Atkinson to award a penalty. Lampard slammed the 80th minute spot-kick past Van der Sar and then Vidic deflected Zhirkov’s shot onto a post before the Serbian defender saw red for tugging back Ramires.

Sports

NCF targets success after W’Cup outing

Published

10 hours ago

February 5, 2025

The Tide

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, says the board is poised to build on the success of the country’s female U-19 team at the recently concluded ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia, as a way of advancing the development of the game in the country.

Nigeria’s Junior Female Yellow Greens ended the tournament as the sixth-best nation, creating huge upsets against test-playing nations New Zealand and Ireland.

The team’s historic performance drew more attention to the game in Nigeria, and Akpata believes the NCF can achieve more by fostering strategic partnerships with brands and relevant stakeholders ahead of subsequent tournaments.

Having started the year on a bright note with the Junior Female Yellow Greens outing, NCF presidents noted that it was in line with the board’s strategic plans for the year.

“We redefined expectations as we went along and these girls deserve all the accolades they are getting. Having said that, this is not just happening by chance, it is four years in the making,” Akpata said at the reception organised by the NCF for the team last Friday.

“We have six targets. For the female team, we want to break into the top 20 in the world and the top 25 in the world for the male so that we can go and play in the Challenge League where we can play the ODI, that’s a different status.”

According to Akpata, the U-19 women’s team performance has aided the NCF’s plan to sell itself to potential partners.

“One of the key things again is that we now have a brand we can sell so we are going commercial. Let people also recognise that they can invest in the cricket brand. Before the World Cup, we got two requests from international companies including one in Costa Rica saying they want to have their names on our outfit. But I paused and thought I’d rather prefer a Nigerian brand. That’s what these girls have done. Hopefully, we will launch the Nigerian Super League this year as well.”

Other Nigerian national teams will also be in the mix to qualify for more World Cups this year, beginning with the men’s U-19 team, which will host other countries in Lagos by April. The men’s senior team are billed for the final phase of the men’s T20 World Cup qualifiers in November.

Sports

IBF Cancels purse bid for Ajagba, Bakole elimination bout

Published

10 hours ago

February 5, 2025

The Tide

The International Boxing Federation has cancelled its scheduled Thursday purse bid hearing for the heavyweight title elimination bout between Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba and Congo’s Martin Bakole.

The fight, which was previously announced by Riyadh Season head Turki Alalshikh for a May 2 Ring Magazine show in New York City, will now likely proceed through private negotiations between the fighters’ promoters.

The scrapping of the purse bid indicates that the IBF has removed the fight from its usual bidding process, where different promoters would compete for the rights to stage the bout.

This suggests that sufficient evidence was presented to the governing body to allow the promoters to negotiate terms privately.

This development doesn’t necessarily affect the status of the fight itself but rather changes how the financial aspects will be determined. Instead of promoters submitting sealed bids to the IBF, BOXXER and Top Rank can now directly negotiate the terms for their respective fighters.

There is also a chance that this means that the fight will be cancelled or indefinitely postponed.

Both heavyweights feature in The Ring’s top 10 rankings, with BOXXER-promoted Bakole at No.6 and Top Rank’s Ajagba at No.10.

The winner of the bout will become the mandatory challenger for IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, who defends his title against former WBO champion Joseph Parker on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) enhanced his reputation with a stunning fifth-round knockout of previously unbeaten American prospect Jared Anderson last August at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The victory marked his 10th consecutive win since his October 2018 stoppage loss to Michael Hunter.

The 33-year-old Congolese knockout artist, now based in Scotland, has been seeking major opportunities since his impressive victory over Anderson on Riyadh Season’s first venture into the US market.

Ajagba (20-1, 14 KOs), a 2016 Rio Olympics super heavyweight representative, has won his last five fights since suffering his lone professional defeat to Frank Sanchez in October 2021.

The Nigerian pugilist, who now trains in Houston, Texas, secured the biggest win of his career in his last outing, earning a split decision victory over Guido Vianello in Corpus Christi, Texas last April.

Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), ranked No.2 by The Ring, awaits the winner of the elimination bout, as he prepares to defend his title against third-ranked Parker (35-3, 24 KOs) in Saudi Arabia.

Sports

Aruna, renew rivalry at Singapore Smash 2025

Published

10 hours ago

February 5, 2025

The Tide

Quadri Aruna

The intense rivalry between Nigeria and Brazil in table tennis will be reignited as two of the best players from these nations, Quadri Aruna and Hugo Calderano, clash in the second round of the Men’s Singles at the WTT Singapore Smash 2025.

Exactly one year after their last encounter at the 2024 WTT Finals in Doha, the Nigerian star will face off against the Brazilian sensation in what promises to be an explosive match between continental champions.

Calderano holds a slight edge, having won two of their three previous meetings. However, Aruna has the psychological advantage, having triumphed in their most recent match in Doha.

Aruna began his campaign at the Singapore Smash 2025 with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over South Korea’s Oh Jungsun.

Despite losing the first game 8-11, the Nigerian turned the tide with an 11-8 win in the second game. The third game was closely contested, but Aruna’s fast-paced shots during the rally secured an 11-9 win.

On his part, Calderano dominated Portugal’s Marcos Freitas with a swift 3-0 win in the first round, securing his spot in the second round, where he will battle the African champion today.

With the exits of Egypt’s trio Omar Assar, Mohamed El-Beiali, and Youssef Abdelaziz, Aruna remains the only surviving African in the Men’s Singles.

In the Women’s Singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda celebrated her 17th birthday with a first-round win over Spain’s Maria Xiao.

Competing in her fifth WTT Grand Smash event, Goda aimed for her first-ever singles win on this prestigious stage. Facing Xiao for the first time, the Spaniard took the early lead, but Goda fought back to win 7-11, 13-11, 11-5, 12-10, marking another milestone in her budding career.

However, her compatriots Dina Meshref and Mariam Alhodaby were eliminated in the first round, leaving Goda as the only surviving African in the Women’s Singles. Goda will face China’s Ma Kuai in the second round, aiming to extend her stay in Doha.