Tag: World cup

  • FIFA U20 World Cup: Flying Eagles defeat overhyped Italian boys

    FIFA U20 World Cup: Flying Eagles defeat overhyped Italian boys

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have defeated Italy in their second Group D encounter in the ongoing 2023 FIFA Under 20 World Cup taking place in Argentina.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the encounter played out at the Estadio Malvinas Argetinas, Mendoza, Western Argentina.

    The Flying Eagles defeated the Italian boys, who have been tipped as favourites, by 2 goals to nil. Salim Fago and Jude Sunday scored the two goals.

    With the dogged performance by the Flying Eagles, Nigeria has booked a place in the knockout phase of the 2023 FIFA Under 20 World Cup

  • FIFA U20 World Cup: How Flying Eagles lineup against Italy

    FIFA U20 World Cup: How Flying Eagles lineup against Italy

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles today lock horns against Italy in their second Group D encounter in the ongoing 2023 FIFA Under 20 World Cup taking place in Argentina.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the encounter will kick off at 7 pm Nigerian time at the Estadio Malvinas Argetinas, Mendoza, Western Argentina.

    In the lineup are Chijioke Aniagboso (GK), Daniel Bameyi (C), Solomon Agbalaka, Abel Ogwueche, Benjamin Fredrick, Daniel Daga, Jude Sundav, Victor Eletu, Samson Lawal, Salim Fago and Ibrahim Muhammad.

    The substitutes are Nathaniel Nwosu, John Utomblo, Augustine Njoku, Tochukwu Nnadi, Haliru Sarki, Domingo Israel, Abdullahi Ibrahim, Ibrahim Kehinde and John Joshua.

    Earlier Flying Eagles coach Ladan Bosso, Abel Ogwuche and Daniel Bameyi had expressed optimism of a good outing against the Italian U20 side.

    TNG reports the Flying Eagles came from behind on Sunday to win their first Group D encounter against Dominican Republic by 2 goals to 1.

  • Golden Eaglets fumble, crash out of U17 AFCON, to miss World Cup

    Golden Eaglets fumble, crash out of U17 AFCON, to miss World Cup

    Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets fumbled on Thursday and crashed out of the ongoing Under 17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Golden Eaglets lost 1:2 against Burkina Faso in the quarter-final encounter in Algiers, failing to qualify for the U17 FIFA World Cup.

    Aboubacar Camara found the back of the Golden Eaglets’ net with a rebound, which Tochukwu Ogboji failed to clear in the 45th minute of play, putting Burkina Faso one foot forward.

    Camara again pulled the trigger in the 57th minute of play, scoring from the penalty spot after another blunder from Ogboji, which saw him tripped on Souleymane Alio in the penalty area.

    Nigeria, however, responded 10 minutes later via a simple tap-in by Abubakar Abdullahi to reduce the goal deficit for the home team.

    Assisted by Favour Daniel, following a corner, Abdullahi’s tap-in came in for the Golden Eaglets in the 67th minute but was not enough to turn the game on its head as the game finished in favour of their opponents.

    TNG reports the result means Nigeria could not secure a ticket to the 2023 FIFA Under 17 World Cup in November, after failing to reach the semi-finals of the ongoing AFCON.

    Meanwhile, Morrocco, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso have all booked places at this year’s Under 17 FIFA World Cup, having qualified for the semi-finals of the ongoing AFCON.

  • Record-breaking World Cup goalkeeper Carbajal dies aged 93

    Record-breaking World Cup goalkeeper Carbajal dies aged 93

    Former Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal, the first footballer to play in five World Cups, has died at the age of 93, local media announced on Tuesday.

    “Tota”, as Carbajal was known, appeared in goal for Mexico at the World Cups in Brazil 1950, Switzerland 1954, Sweden 1958, Chile 1962 and England 1966.

    He made 11 caps for his country from these competitions.

    Carbajal held the record of playing in five World Cups for 32 years until 1998 when German midfielder Lothar Matthaus reached the mark.

    Carbajal’s compatriots Rafael Marquez and Andres Guardado, along with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, have also since equalled his record.

    Although Carbajal said he was scouted by Real Madrid between 1950 and 1954, the Mexican never left his domestic league.

    He played most of his career in his hometown with Club Leon.

  • Lionel Messi reacts after making history with Laureus awards

    Lionel Messi reacts after making history with Laureus awards

    After inspiring Argentina to a historic third FIFA World Cup triumph, PSG’s star player, Lionel Messi has won the 2023 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.

    Argentina won the 2023 Laureus World Team of the Year Award with Messi making history as the first ever athlete to win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Laureus World Team of the Year Awards in the same year.

    Reacting after winning the historic awards, Messi said: “It’s nice to receive recognition of this type, this year I was lucky to fulfill my great dream. I went through everything, many joys with Barcelona and many sadness with the national team, but I never stopped”.

    TNG reports Argentina thrilled the footballing world with their 2022 FIFA World Cup performances, culminating in an incredible victory over France in one of the greatest finals the tournament has ever seen.

    The 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards took place in Paris, France on Monday to celebrate the best of sports with Jamaican track and field athlete, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning the 2023 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award.

    While 20-year-old tennis player, Carlos Alcaraz won the 2023 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award, football player, Christian Eriksen won the 2023 Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award, Eileen Gu won the 2023 Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year award and Catherine Debrunner won the 2023 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.

  • BREAKING: Nigeria’s U20 coach names final squad for FIFA U20 World Cup [FULL LIST]

    BREAKING: Nigeria’s U20 coach names final squad for FIFA U20 World Cup [FULL LIST]

    Nigeria Under 20 coach Ladan Bosso on Monday named his final squad for the FIFA U20 World Cup starting later this month in Argentina.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Flying Eagles are already in Argentina for the final phase of their preparations for the FIFA U20 World Cup.

    The goalkeepers who made the list are Chijioke Aniagboso, Nathaniel Nwosu and Saheed Jimoh.

    The defenders are Daniel Bameyi, Benjamin Frederick, Israel Domingo, Abel Ogwuche, Augustine Njoku and Solomon Abalaka.

    In the midfield are Daniel Daga, Samson Lawal, Victor Eletu, Ibrahim Abdullahi, John Joshua and Tochukwu Nnadi.

    Meanwhile, the forwards are Haliru Sarki, Jude Sunday, Ibrahim Mohammed, Lawal Salem Fago, Kehinde Ibrahim and Emmanuel Umeh.

    TNG reports the Flying Eagles have been slotted in Group D for this year’s championship and will play Dominican Republic, Italy and Brazil.

    Their first two games will hold in Mendoza, in the far west of Argentina, against the Dominican Republic on 21 May and against Italy on 24 May, before they fly to La Plata to play Brazil on 27 May.

  • World Cup holders, Argentina top FIFA rankings after six-year wait

    World Cup holders, Argentina top FIFA rankings after six-year wait

    World Cup winners, Argentina have returned to the top of the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in six years.

    Lionel Scaloni’s side, who captured their third world title with a thrilling final win against France in Qatar in 2022, won friendlies against Panama and Curacao in the March international break.

    Lionel Messi brought up two milestones in those fixtures, netting his 800th career goal in a 2-0 victory over Panama,  before reaching 100 international goals as he scored a hat-trick in a 7-0 rout of Curacao.

    Argentina last topped the rankings in 2017, but the Albiceleste dropped as low as 12th the following year after an underwhelming campaign at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    Argentina replace rivals Brazil at the summit after the Selecao suffered a surprise friendly loss to World Cup semi-finalists, Morocco in March, a result which sees them drop to third.

    France are second in the rankings after their Euro 2024 qualification wins over the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, while the rest of the top 10 remains unchanged.

  • Davido explains why he performed at World Cup Final, few weeks after his son’s death

    Davido explains why he performed at World Cup Final, few weeks after his son’s death

    Multi-award-winning singer, David Adeleke, a.k.a Davido, has explained why he performed at last year’s World Cup just a few weeks after the death of his son, Ifeanyi.

    Revealing how he had to start rehearsals just one month after his son’s death, how it affected him, and how the performance went, Davido said he never knew that it was the World Cup in Qatar.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls that Davido’s World Cup performance was monumental not only because of the magnitude of the stage he was on but also because it was the first time he had performed since the tragic death of his son, Ifeanyi, just about two months prior.

    Davido who dropped his Timeless album hours ago had this to say; “Crazy. This is like a year ago we did the FIFA draw which we performed the official theme song, and I think they had like 5, 6 official theme songs but that was like the first one. And uhm, you know the vibe was cool then but I didn’t really look at it like ‘oh they’re gonna call me back to do the World Cup’ or stuff like that.

    “And then later on, when it was getting closer to the World Cup, I think they started talking to my management like you know, yeah we want David to come down. But me I always thought like: is it the main one? Like is the main main one?’I didn’t even know it was like the main main main one till like a week to going to Qatar.

    Davido explains why he performed at World Cup Final, few weeks after his son’s death

    “Then they sent like yeah, it’s the actual main event and we have to come a week before to rehearse- that’s like a month after my son passed.

    “So it was just like ah! Should I do it? But then I was like ah, this is an opportunity that might never come again, and people don’t even get it in their whole career. And I was like man, my son would probably want me to do it. I was like ‘okay, I think I’ll do this one, then probably just disappear again.

    “So we went to Qatar, got down. Bro, the production, it was like we haven’t done any work at all. Yo, that performance woke us up like whenever we get back to performing, we’re about to be doing some crazy stuff.

    “Amazing experience. Shoutout to the Qatari people, very loving people. Very loving, caring people. They took care of us the whole time. I feel like that was one of the best places I could have gone after what happened to me.”

  • U20 AFCON: Nigeria beat Tunisia to win bronze medal

    U20 AFCON: Nigeria beat Tunisia to win bronze medal

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles on Friday in Egypt finished third at the ongoing Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) following a 4-0 thumping of the Young Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.

    The third-place playoff at the Cairo International Stadium saw the Nigerian side going ahead in the 9th minute through Ibrahim Muhammad.

    Ahmed Abdullahi doubled the lead a minute after the half-time break, before Jude Sunday grabbed a brace in the 48th and 90th minutes to clearly establish Nigeria’s superiority in the game.

    Sunday’s first goal was a fantastic solo effort and his second was scored with a fierce drive from the edge of the box in stoppage time.

    The Tunisian team had a better ball possession rating of 54 per cent against the 46 per cent recorded by Nigeria’s Flying Eagles but it was not enough to make any difference.

    Nigeria and Tunisia, alongside finalists Senegal and The Gambia, will represent Africa at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup scheduled to be hosted by Indonesia from May 20 to June 11.

    Senegal will take on The Gambia in the final match of the competition on Saturday at the Cairo International Stadium.

  • Tinubu likens INEC’s Certificate of Return to World Cup

    Tinubu likens INEC’s Certificate of Return to World Cup

    Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola  Ahmed Tinubu, has likened the Certificate of Return given to him by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to a ‘ World Cup’ trophy.

    The former Lagos Governor, made the remark when he paid a courtesy visit to the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akinolu on Sunday in Lagos.

    Tinubu, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was announced winner of the February 25 presidential election.

    Speaking at the palace, Tinubu said: “The journey that we embarked upon, we have returned home with a certificate.

    “It is like our own World Cup and I thank you all for the effort.”

    Tinubu returned to Lagos on Sunday from his temporary base in Abuja to enable him attend some functions and apparently in preparation for March 11 gubernatorial and National Assembly election in the country.