Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Morocco have reached the last 16 on their Women’s World Cup debut after beating Colombia – although the South Americans progress as Group H winners. Germany’s failure to beat South Korea means Morocco are into the knockout rounds as runners-up. Anissa Lahmari scored the only goal via a rebound after captain Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty was saved. Morocco – who lost 6-0 to the Germans in their opener before successive wins – will face France in Adelaide next. Colombia, who earned two wins in their first two matches and finish above Morocco on goal difference, will play Jamaica in Melbourne earlier…

Romelu Lukaku has reportedly agreed to a three-year contract with Juventus, but the transfer depends on Dusan Vlahovic’s move to Chelsea. The Serie A giants are keen on signing the Belgian striker, but the transfer is contingent on Vlahovic’s departure from Juventus. According to Di Marzio, the two clubs are working to execute a swap deal which would see the two forwards heading in the opposite directions. Meanwhile, Lukaku has already agreed to personal terms with the Bianconeri and will sign a three-year deal, with an option for an additional year. Chelsea eye Vlahovic as a valuable acquisition to bolster their attacking options…

Paris Saint-Germain has removed forward, Kylian Mbappe from its website cover with the France captain being linked with a move to Real Madrid in the ongoing summer transfer window. The likes of Neymar, Lee Kang-In, Marquinhos, Lucas Hernandez, and Marco Verratti are the current players on PSG’s cover. Mbappe was left out of the PSG squad that is currently touring Japan and South Korea as part of their pre-season. Earlier this summer, Mbappe told PSG that he won’t be extending his contract beyond the 2023-2024 season. As a result, the Parisians are looking to sell the 24-year-old this summer to…

Boss Mauricio Pochettino hopes an injury suffered by striker Christopher Nkunku is not a “big issue” as Chelsea drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund to end their pre-season US tour undefeated. Mason Burstow scored a 90th-minute equaliser for Chelsea after Marius Wolf gave Dortmund the lead in Chicago. £52m signing Nkunku, 25, went off in the 22nd minute after appearing to injure his knee when he was tackled. The pitch at Chicago’s Soldier Field was in poor condition. Areas were patchy and worn after the stadium, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, was used for an Ed Sheeran concert attended by…

Defending Champions and Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigresses Wednesday survived the scare of not qualifying for the semi-finals of the ongoing Afrobasket championship in Rwanda against hard fighting Mozambique. The Mozambicans who qualified through a quarter-finals play-off against Cote d’Ivoire took an early lead, winning the first two quarters,18-16 and 15-13 to establish a four point lead in the first half at 33-29. Like the true champions they are, the Sarah Ogoke-led side fought back to pick the third quarter at 18-10 before subduing the southern Africans 12-9 in the last quarter to pick the semi-finals ticket at 59-52.…

Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has had minor knee surgery and will miss the start of the Premier League season. Jesus did not play in Wednesday’s pre-season win over Monaco and manager Mikel Arteta confirmed afterwards that the Brazil forward will be out “for a few weeks” after a “little procedure”. The 26-year-old’s injury is related to the knee problems he had last season, which also required surgery. “It’s a big blow because we had him back to his best,” said Arteta. Speaking after Arsenal beat Monaco 6-5 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium, the Gunners boss said Jesus had…

Manchester City have agreed a 90m euro fee (£77m) with RB Leipzig for Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol. The deal for the 21-year-old does not include add-ons, meaning the £80m Manchester United paid Leicester City for Harry Maguire in 2019 remains the British record for a defender. He has been a key player for Leipzig in the 87 games he played since signing from Dynamo Zagreb in 2021. It is expected Gvardiol will fly to England for a medical later this week The deal looked unlikely to be agreed last week Leipzig when insisted they would not sell for less than…

Villarreal captain, Dani Parejo has sent his best wishes to former teammate, Samuel Chukwueze. Chukwueze ended his five-year association with Villarreal last month, moving to Serie A giants, AC Milan on a five-year contract. The 24-year-old this week presented Parejo with a signed AC Milan jersey with his name on the back. Overwhelmed by the gesture, Parejo sent warm wishes to the Nigeria international on social media. “This year you will rock, “read the short message. Chukwueze is expected to make his debut for AC Milan in a pre-season friendly against Monza this week.

Jamaica manager Lorne Donaldson said his team had “never had this much fun” after reaching the Women’s World Cup last 16 for the first time, leaving Brazil devastated. They battled out a cagey encounter in Melbourne and Jamaica put in a stubborn defensive display to ensure their impressive tournament still has another chapter. The Reggae Girlz, ranked 43rd in the world, are unbeaten and have kept three clean sheets in the group stages of their second World Cup, having conceded 12 goals in three defeats in 2019’s competition. “We were not expected to be in the World Cup in 2019,”…

France manager Herve Renard warned his players “not to take anything for granted” as they survived a scare to beat Panama and finish top of Group F at the Women’s World Cup. After Panama led through Marta Cox’s superb free-kick, France took control in Sydney with Kadi Diani scoring a hat-trick. But Panama pulled two goals back, and Renard was unhappy his side eased off. “I just think they were looking for easy way out tonight,” he said. “We were 5-1 up, with the game in the bag… you see this often in football. It was poor attitude from the…

Sweden beat Argentina to make it three wins from three at the Women’s World Cup, clinching top spot in Group G and a mouth-watering last-16 clash with the USA. With first place essentially guaranteed thanks to a vastly superior goal difference, Sweden made nine changes in Hamilton and lacked the cohesion of their first two games but still had too much for their opponents. After a fiercely contested hour, Sweden’s extra quality shone through, with Rebecka Blomqvist finding space in the box to power home Sofia Jakobsson’s cross from close range. Elin Rubensson put the result beyond doubt with a…

South Africa are through to the last 16 after claiming their first Women’s World Cup win with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Italy in Wellington. Thembi Kgatlana’s 92nd-minute winner proved the difference after Italy fought back to level with an Arianna Caruso header. A draw would have been enough to take Italy into the knockout rounds. South Africa will play Group E winners the Netherlands on Sunday. After earning a first World Cup point in their 2-2 draw with Argentina, South Africa have shown significant progress from their debut appearance at the tournament in 2019, when they lost all three…