Sports

FA Cup: Minnows Stun Liverpool, End Dream

Published

14 hours ago

February 10, 2025

Plymouth Argyle produced a classic FA Cup giant-killing as the Championship’s bottom club stunned Premier League leaders Liverpool at a raucous Home Park.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot made 10 changes from the side that swept Tottenham aside to reach the Carabao Cup final and paid the price as Plymouth made the most of the opportunity to secure a place in the fifth round.
A scrappy tie came to life eight minutes after the interval when Plymouth were awarded a penalty after Harvey Elliott’s handball, Ryan Hardie drilling home the spot-kick in emphatic fashion.
Hardie almost added a second shortly afterwards when his shot was turned on to the post by Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Liverpool applied some pressure in the closing stages, keeper Conor Hazard saving superbly from Diogo Jota then miraculously from substitute Darwin Nunez’s header, but Plymouth closed out a landmark win under new manager Miron Muslic.
Plymouth’s atmospheric Home Park erupted with a deafening roar as the final whistle sounded on a victory they will recall forever in Devon.
The sinking of Liverpool was a triumph for Plymouth’s charismatic manager Muslic, who has won the hearts of the ‘Green Army’ since succeeding the sacked Wayne Rooney.
In a stunning atmosphere, Plymouth sensed their chance when Liverpool’s teamsheet landed, with stellar names such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk not even on the bench.
Plymouth, as they had to, made the tie a scrap and then the decisive moment came when Elliott needlessly handled, allowing Hardie to assume the role of match-winner.
And they found a hero in keeper Hazard in those closing moments as he saved from Jota, then miraculously from Nunez’s header.
The main priority remains survival in the Championship, but the FA Cup demonstrated its enduring magic by producing a result that Plymouth hope will help their fight to stay up

Sports

City’s January Spending Propelled By Fears Of Transfer Ban?

Published

14 hours ago

February 10, 2025

The Tide

Pep Guardiola has denied that Manchester City spent big in January in case the club are hit with a transfer embargo for alleged Premier League financial rule breaches.
City splashed out around £170 million ($211 million) on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez before Monday’s transfer deadline.
They are much-needed reinforcements for a side who are well off the pace in the Premier League and who just scraped into the Champions League play-offs.
Guardiola, whose side edged third-tier Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, was asked whether the club’s striking outlay was triggered by the possibility they would be hit by a transfer ban.

Sports

Chelsea Fall Short Against Brighton

Published

14 hours ago

February 10, 2025

The Tide

Brighton came from behind to beat Chelsea and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Blues took a fortunate lead early on when Cole Palmer’s volleyed cross from the left was fumbled into his own net by Bart Verbruggen.
But Albion came back and Georginio Rutter headed in from Joel Veltman’s cross.
And they took the lead when Rutter picked out Kaoru Mitoma, the subject of a rejected £54m bid from Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr before the transfer deadline, who dinked the ball over Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea felt the goal should have been disallowed, as the ball struck Tariq Lamptey’s arm in the build-up, though there are no video assistant referees in the FA Cup fourth round.
Those goals came from Albion’s only shots in the first 60 minutes.

Sports

Eaglets Not In CAF’s U-17 AFCON Plans

Published

14 hours ago

February 10, 2025

The Tide

Speculations about the Golden Eaglets making the cut for the 2025 U-17 AFCON in Morocco have eventually been crushed after the Confederation of African Football announced plans to complete the slots for this year’s expanded tournament and overlooked Nigeria.
The U-17 AFCON will take place in Morocco between March 30 and April 19, 2025, and will be a qualifier for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar in November a tournament Nigeria has won five times.
Despite finishing third at last year’s WAFU B U-17 Championship in Ghana, the Golden Eaglets fell short in the qualifiers with Ivory Coast and winners Burkina Faso picking the automatic spots in the region.
CAF has now allotted four slots in the expanded tournament to the Gambia, who finished third at the WAFU Zone A qualifiers; Tunisia and two countries from the CECAFA and COSAFA regions.
The two other spots for the 16-team tournament will be filled by the top two sides in the UNIFFAC region qualifiers which will be hosted by Cameroon from February 16 to 28, as confirmed by CAF last week.
Five teams; Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo will compete in the UNIFAF tournament.
Five teams; Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo will compete in the UNIFAF tournament.
As things stand, the Golden Eaglets have been left without a place in the expanded tournament and will now miss back-to-back FIFA U-17 World Cups.
Nigeria have won the U-17 World Cup five times and this miss marks a setback for Nigeria’s age-grade football.
They also missed out on the 2023 U-17 FIFA World Cup in Indonesia by finishing outside the top four at the U-17 AFCON in Algeria.
In a statement released last week, CAF said its executive committee had approved the expansion of the tournament.
The anticipation for an expanded tournament stemmed from FIFA’s recent decision at its Bangkok Congress to increase Africa’s U17 World Cup slots to 10 teams for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.