Sports
Man City’s Domestic Success Unrivalled -Guardiola
Manchester City’s recent dominance of English competitions is unrivalled, says manager Pep Guardiola after winning a third successive Carabao Cup.
Goals from Sergio Aguero and Rodri before Mbwana Samatta’s reply saw City beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley, last weekend.
On top of three League Cups, Guardiola has won two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup and two Community Shields with City.
“Since we started to win, the last nine [domestic] competitions we played, we won eight,” he told Tidesports source
“That is awesome. No club before in the history of domestic trophies, not counting Europe, won the amount of titles in a row we have won.
“Not even the biggest Liverpool in the 80s, the biggest Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho, or Arsene Wenger [with Arsenal).
“These clubs were amazing but were never able to win in the last nine titles, domestic eight.”
Liverpool won six league titles, two FA Cups and four successive League Cups in the 1980s, while United accumulated 13 Premier League titles including three in a row on two occasions under Ferguson, with Wenger guiding Arsenal to an unbeaten league season.
Guardiola, who joined Manchester City in 2016, led his side to the domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup last season, having also won the season-opening Community Shield.
The Spaniard says his side cannot compete for the title this year because Liverpool is “exceptional”. but believes his players’ desire to keep winning trophies has made City a “big, big club”.
“Never before we could go to Madrid, and Europe, and bigger stages and win the way we did,” Guardiola said about his side’s 2-1 victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg last week.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to qualify, but this is the first step. To believe we can go there and play, face-to-face, and win it.
“This is more important than come the end of the season we won one title or two titles.”
ity dominated for long spells of the final but Aston Villa almost took the game to extra time when Bjorn Engels’ header was turned onto the post by Claudio Bravo.
Villa boss Dean Smith said he was proud of his players’ efforts against “one of the top teams in the world”.
“We knew we would have to be patient without the ball,” said Smith, who admitted he thought Engels’ header moments from time was going in.
“They went 2-0 up and it is a mountain to climb against a team of that quality but we nearly climbed that mountain.
“I thought the lads showed a lot of heart and a lot of quality as well.”
Wins for West Ham and Watford in the Premier League on Saturday meant Villa dropped into the relegation zone, albeit with a game in hand.
But Smith is confident his side can take heart from their performance at Wembley.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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