Sports
Rio: S’Africa’s Banyana, Sweden To Kick-Off Football Event
The South African women’s team, Banyana Banyana, will have the honour of participating in the first event at the 2016 Summer Olympics when they tackle Sweden today.
Banyana and the Swedes will face off at Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro for a Group A clash, with kick-off at 18h00 CAT.
South Africa secured their place at the Olympics (for the second successive time) by coming through three qualifying rounds in the CAF preliminaries. They overcame Gabon, Kenya and Equatorial Guinea to secure a place at the Games.
Vera Pauw’s side will be looking for an improved showing compared to their 2012 debut, when they finished bottom of their group in London after losses to Sweden and Candada, as well as a goalless draw with Japan.
Just as four years ago, Banyana open their campaign with a clash against the Swedes, who are making their sixth appearance at the Olympics and joined France and Germany as the three European qualifiers.
It is crucial that South Africa does not suffer a repeat of their 4-1 loss to Sweden in Coventry, but Banyana captain Janine Van Wyk believes they are far better prepared this time around.
We have been meeting these girls [the Sweden team] up and down the elevator, and thinking that those are the opponents we will be facing,” Van Wyk told SAFA Media.
“We also were thinking that in 2012 in London it was our opening match against them and that the result was not what we expected, makes it a game that is unforgettable.
“When people ask me today who was the toughest opponent we have ever faced, it would be Sweden who beat us 4-1 in 2012 and we were not well prepared.
“This time around we are looking forward to the match and going for it as best as we can, with the team high on confidence in ourselves as a group.
“I think we are really capable of getting a good result if we just stick together and work on the aspects we have been working on for the past eight months.
“This game will give us a lot of confidence going forward if we get a good result – so we are really looking forward to as it means a lot to us, probably one of the most important matches of the tournament to get a good start for ourselves.”
The other Group A match sees hosts Brazil tackle China at the same venue an hour after the Banyana game finishes.
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
