Sports
Draws Dominate CAF Champions League Second Round
Defending champion Al Ahly has been held to a fortunate goalless draw by CA Bizerte in their CAF Champions League second round, first-leg encounter in Tunisia on Sunday.
The Egyptians have goalkeeper Sherif Ekrami to thank for the draw after he made a number of fine saves. Bizerte star Larbi Jabeur also had a goal disallowed for a foul on the keeper.
Esperance, who have made the last three Champions League finals, winning in 2011, were also held scoreless by Algerian side JSM Bejaia.
The Tunisians were unfortunate not to get an away goal though as Youcef Belaïli hit the crossbar early on, and when he did have the ball in the back of the net it was ruled out for offside.
Zamalek have it all to do after they could only manage a 1-1 home draw with Ethiopian side St George. Umed Ukuri put the visitors ahead in Cairo, before Abdoulaye Cissé equalised for the White Knights with seven minutes remaining.
Cameroon side CotonSport were in rampant form as they beat Stade Malien 3-0 and might have won by an even greater margin after missing a host of chances.
Promising rising star Yougouda Kada had the home team ahead and the midfielder added a second before halftime. Striker Ismaël Bang made the scoreline more emphatic with 12 minutes to go.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Sewe Sports hold the upper hand after they drew 1-1 with FUS Rabat in Morocco. The host went ahead with 20 minutes to play through Brahim El Bahri, but Kévin Zougoula equalised 10 minutes later for what could be a vital away goal.
Nigeria’s Enugu Rangers were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Recreativo Libolo of Angola, while Congo champions AC Leopards won 3-1 at home to Algerian side Entente Setif.
Orlando Pirates collected perhaps the win of the round of matches though as they beat much-vaunted TP Mazembe 3-1, boosted by a dubious late penalty award that was converted by Collins Mbesuma. The Zambian forward and Nigerian star Onyekachi Okonkwo got the other goals, while Patou Kabangu netted for the Congolese.
The return legs are on the weekend of May 3-5, while the winners qualify for the group phase of the Champions League starting in July and the losers drop down to the African Confederation Cup.
Defending champions Al Ahly have been held to a fortunate goalless draw by CA Bizerte in their CAF Champions League second round, first-leg encounter in Tunisia on Sunday.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor