TheNewsGuru

Tag: Semi-Final

  • Paris 2024 Women’s Football: Semi-final teams emerge

    Paris 2024 Women’s Football: Semi-final teams emerge

    The four countries advancing to the women’s football semifinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics have been confirmed: Germany, Spain, the United States, and Brazil.

     

    This follows the completion of Saturday’s quarter-final matches.

    The United States secured a 1-0 victory over Japan, while Spain triumphed 4-2 on penalties against Colombia after a 2-2 draw in regular time.

     

    Germany also won 4-2 on penalties against Canada after a 0-0 draw, and Brazil defeated France 1-0.

     

    The semifinal fixtures are scheduled for Tuesday.

    The United States will face Germany at 5 p.m., and Spain will go up against Brazil at 8 p.m.

    Meanwhile, Morocco, Egypt, France and Spain have also made it to the semi final of the Men’s Football event of the Olympic games.

  • Euro 2024: Football expert, Paul Merson predicts semi-final matches

    Euro 2024: Football expert, Paul Merson predicts semi-final matches

    Former England player, Paul Merson, has predicted the outcome of the semifinal matches coming up this weekend.

    Former Three Lions of England player and football pundit Paul Merson, has predicted the outcome of the semifinal matches coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday.

    The Three Lions of England will slug it out with Netherlands while Spain would tackle France in the semifinals of the Euro 2024 championship in Germany.

    The Netherlands defeated Turkey 2-1 while England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties.

    The game between France and Portugal ended in a penalty shootout in which Didier Deschamps’ men ran away with victory while Spain beat the host nation 2-1 in extra time to progress to the last four.

    ”Merson believes England did not play anywhere close to their best football against Switzerland.

    “Spain has been playing very well on occasions, but I’m still going with France. I don’t see Lamine Yamal getting a kick against Theo Hernandez, while Jules Kounde is more than capable of keeping Nico Williams out of the game.

    “Alvaro Morata hasn’t had a good tournament and isn’t going to get a kick against William Saliba in a month full of Sundays!

    France was solid at the back but they haven’t been able to score as freely as they’d have liked.

    “If it becomes an open game, Spain will dictate proceedings in midfield and come out on top. Deschamps won’t let that happen, so I back France to come out on top…Prediction: Spain 0-1 France.”

    For England’s game against Switzerland, he added, “I can’t see anything but an England win, I honestly can’t.”

  • Federation Cup: NFF releases semi-final fixtures

    Federation Cup: NFF releases semi-final fixtures

    Two Nigeria Professional Football League NPFL clubsides, Abia Warriors and Kano Pillars will slug it out in the President Federation Cup semi-final match scheduled to hold at the Lafia City Stadium on Thursday, June 20th, 2024.

    The second semi-final tie between El-Kanemi Warriors and Kebbi United will hold on the same day but at a different venue.

    The Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna will hold the second semi-final encounter.

    It would be recalled that the current holders of the competition, Bendel Insurance were eliminated by Sokoto United in the round of 16.

    The winner of the President Federation Cup will represent Nigeria in the CAF Confederation Cup next season.

  • AFCON 2023: Chukwueze sure Super Eagles will make it to final

    AFCON 2023: Chukwueze sure Super Eagles will make it to final

    Nigeria winger, Samuel Chukwueze, is full of confidence that today’s semi-final clash with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa will end in  Super Eagles favour.

    Chukwueze added that the Super Eagles will get the job done without allowing it get into penalty shoot-out.

    Chukwueze said this while also dismissing the notion that South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams is a penalty-saving specialist.

    Ronwen became the first goalkeeper in AFCON history to save 4 spot-kicks in South Africa’s penalty shoot-out win over Cape Verde and has kept 4 clean sheets so far, the joint-most at the tournament but Chukwueze believes Nigeria will triumph in normal time.

    “Penalty is a game of luck, anybody can miss. It is the one he [Williams] saw that he saved,” Chukwueze told Hot Sport’s Toyin Ibitoye.

    “I’m not saying he is not a good goalkeeper, he is actually a good goalkeeper, but the most important thing is for us to win in 90 minutes or 120 minutes. We will win without going into penalties.

    “It is not about being scared, it is about being on a safer side at the moment. We have been watching their clips, they are good on their own, but we will try our best and win.”

  • AFCON 2023: We are not worried about our poor record against Super Eagles – Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Williams

    AFCON 2023: We are not worried about our poor record against Super Eagles – Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Williams

    Ronwen Williams, the Bafana Bafana of South Africa goalkeeper, has fired warnings to the Super Eagles of Nigeria ahead of tonight semi-final clash in Bouake.

    According to Williams, statistics don’t play games in football.

    Williams, who recently put his name in history’s book after saving four penalties during shoot-outs against Cape Verde in the quarter-final, gave the warning during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that historically, the Super Eagles have more wins against the Bafana Bafana in terms of head-to-head.

    However, Williams insisted that Hugo Broos’ side are not worried about their poor record against Nigeria.

    “Stats don’t play the game. You know many statistics that were against us in this tournament and we proved that stats don’t play the game,” Williams said.

    “So, what has happened in the past, we can’t change that, but what we can change is tomorrow’s result, tomorrow’s performance. So we don’t look at that because that can’t change now.

    “We control what we can control and that is tomorrow’s performance and tomorrow’s result.”

  • AFCON 2023: Nigeria, Congo, others know semi-final opponents

    AFCON 2023: Nigeria, Congo, others know semi-final opponents

    All four teams that have made it to the semi-final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations have been confirmed.

    Nigeria, Congo, South Africa and Ivory Coast all secured semi-final placement after defeating their opponents in the quarter-final of the competition.

    South Africa became the last team to book their spot after eliminating Cape Verde via penalty kicks.

    The game ended goalless in 120 minutes.

    Bafana Bafana will face rivals Nigeria for a place in the final.

    Earlier in the day, hosts Ivory Coast pulled off a dramatic 2-1 win over Mali, to progress into the last four.

    They play DR Congo in their semi-final.

    Both semi-final matches will be played next Wednesday, February 7.

  • AFCON 2023: How Super Eagles can secure semi-final ticket – Peseiro

    AFCON 2023: How Super Eagles can secure semi-final ticket – Peseiro

    Jose Peseiro, the Super Eagles head coach,  has noted that his boys will secure a semi-final ticket if they raise their game against Angola in their quarter-final fixture on Friday.

    Peseiro said this in a post via his X account on Sunday following Nigeria’s AFCON Round of 16 victory against Cameroon on Saturday.

    Peseiro’s men defeated Cameroon 2-0, courtesy of two  goals from   Ademola Lookman .

    Nigeria will face Angola in the AFCON last eight on Friday.

    “Yesterday against Cameroon, we got an excellent win in yet another game without conceding a goal and where our boys were huge,” Peseiro tweeted.

    “Great spirit and humility! Once again, they did Nigeria proud. Friday against Angola, we’ll have to be even better if we want to win a place in the semi-finals.”

     

  • Carabao Cup: Chelsea, Fulham, Middlesbrough book semi-final ticket

    Carabao Cup: Chelsea, Fulham, Middlesbrough book semi-final ticket

    Two Premier League clubsides and a Championship side have secured qualification to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup following Tuesday’s fixtures that took place across different centers in England.

    The three already qualified teams  are Fulham, Middlesbrough and Chelsea.

    Fulham made it through to the semi-final of the Carabao cup by seeing off fellow Premier League side Everton 4-2 on penalties, after  the game ended 1-1 at regulation time.

    Middlesbrough booked their place with a 3-0 thrashing of Port Vale.

    Mykhailo Mudryk scored a loss time goal for the Blues to cancel out  Callum Wilson’s 16th minute effort to push the game to penalties which Chelsea eventually won.

    Liverpool will slug it out with West Ham tonight in the last quarter-final fixture.

    After Liverpool versus West Ham  game this evening, the draw for the last four will be conducted.

     

  • World Championship: Amusan wins heat five, cruises into semi-final

    World Championship: Amusan wins heat five, cruises into semi-final

    Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan on Tuesday evening cruised to the semi-final of the 100m women hurdles in far away Budapest, Hungary.

    In her first race on Tuesday evening, Amusan won Heat 5 of the 100m hurdles, qualifying for Wednesday’s semi-finals in style.

    The 26-year-old Nigerian only got the green light to compete in the championships last week after being cleared over an alleged breaking of the dope-testing whereabouts rule.

    “I’m just thankful I’m here in Budapest and able to race, using my talent,” said Amusan.

    “It is not been the best but I’m here.

    “I tried to stay as relaxed as possible (through all the uncertainty) and do what my coach tells me. So here I am.”

    Harrison was the one who took the eye as she bids to turn two silvers (the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, 2019 world championships) into gold.

    The 30-year-old American’s time was just three hundredths of a second outside her personal best, which was when she broke the world record in London in 2016.

    “Across the five Heats decided on Tuesday, Amusan’s winning time was the third fastest.

    United States, Kendra Harrison, had the fastest time in the Heats; she ran a world lead time of 12.24 seconds to win Heat 3.

    Devynne Charlton from the Bahamas finished second in Heat 3 with a time of 12.41 seconds which is also a new National Record

    Amusan after scaling AIU’s  whereabouts failure  hurdle will compete in heat 2 in  Wednesday’s semi-final race.

  • 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: See all qualified teams for semi-final

    2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: See all qualified teams for semi-final

    The 2023 FIFA World Cup currently ongoing in Australia and New Zealand  has reached the semi-final stage and all four teams have emerged.

    Spain, Sweden, Australia, and England are the last teams left in the tournament.

    Spain booked their place in the semi-final after defeating the Netherlands in extra-time, and Sweden followed suit much later after beating Japan by 2-1.

    Japan’s elimination meant that there will be a new champion in this edition in Australia and New Zealand as all past winners have been sent packing.

    Hosts Australia eliminated France after an agonizing penalty shootout. The match ended goalless after extra time and was settled from the spot, with the shootout going to a 10th kick. England meanwhile complete the semi-final line-up by beating Colombia 1-2.

    The first semi-final between Spain and Sweden will be played on Tuesday 15 August at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, kicking off at the local time 8 p.m. NZST (4 a.m. EDT / 1 a.m. PDT) or 10:00 hours CEST for viewers watching in Spain or Sweden.

    Australia will tackle England in the second Semi-Final on Wednesday 16 August at Accor Stadium (Stadium Australia), Sydney.