Sports
Accl: Esperance, Mazembe Renew Rivalry
Esperance de Tunis and TP Mazembe will renew their rivalry when they meet in the first leg of the CAF Champions League tomorrow.
Kick-off at the Olympic Stadium in Rades is set for 6.00 p.m local time.
Esperance, the competition’s title holders, proved their class in the previous round when they ousted Algeria’s CS Constantine 6-3 on aggregate, with Youcef Belaili, Fousseny Coulibaly, Mohamed Ali Yacoubi, Saad Bguir (two) and Franck Kom sharing the six goals between them to underline the Tunisian side’s depth and versatility in attack.
Blood and Gold coach Moine Chaabani is looking to guide his team to back-to-back African titles, and they would become the first team to win successive Champions League tournaments since Al Ahly in 2012 and 2013.
TP Mazembe, however, represents formidable opponents. The DR Congo giants looked to be in real danger in the quarterfinals when they were held 0-0 in Tanzania by Simba SC and then found themselves 1-0 down early in the return game in Lubumbashi.
However, the Ravens soon clicked into top gear and goals from Kabaso Chongo, Meschak Elia, Tresor Mputu and Jackson Muleka saw them triumph 4-1 on the day and overall.
Esperance and Mazembe have some significant history against one another in this competition, with the DR Congo side famously crushing their Tunisian counterparts 6-1 on aggregate in the final of the 2010 edition.
However, the Blood and Gold took revenge two years later in the semifinals when they won 1-0 on aggregate over two legs. Expect a heated battle between these rivals.
Gambian referee Bakary Gassama will take charge of the match in Rades, while the return leg is scheduled for next Saturday at the TP Mazembe Stadium in Lubumbashi.
The aggregate winners will face either South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns or Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca in the final late next month.
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