Author: Nurudeen Obalola
By Korede James Jose Mourinho has given high praise to Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers after his display for Rangers against Fenerbahce in Thursday’s UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg fixture. Fenerbahce manager Mourinho hailed the Nigeria international who scored and provided an assist as Rangers won 3-1 in Turkey. Dessers opened the scoring in the seventh minute as he rounded the goalkeeper before squeezing a shot over the line, and then set up teammate Vaclav Cerny to make it 2-0. “Dessers is a good player,” Mourinho was quoted by Rangers Review. “But today he looked like the…
LeBron James’ and Luka Doncic’s 30-point double-doubles might have jumped off the box score after the Los Angeles Lakers’ 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks in the NBA on Thursday, but superstars said the victory belonged to their supporting cast. “I think Gabe [Vincent] won the game with those three 3s in the fourth quarter,” Doncic said of the team’s bac-kup point guard. The Lakers trailed by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter — only the second time during their eight-game winning streak they were down double-digits to an opponent — when D’Tigers star Vincent caught fire. Vincent, who missed…
By Korede James Nigerian forward Rafiu Durosinmi scored for Viktoria Plzen but a stoppage time strike by Gustav Isaksen earned nine-man Lazio a 2-1 victory in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg clash in the Czech Republic on Thursday. It was the third appearance for the 22-year-old Durosinmi in the competition this season, with two goals and an assist. Alessio Romagnoli gave Lazio the lead on 18 minutes but Durosinmi pulled the home team level eight minutes into the second half. Lazio were reduced to 10 men 13 minutes from time after Nicolo Rovella was shown a…
By Korede James Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers was on target and also provided an assist to inspire Rangers to a shock 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce in their UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg clash in Turkey on Thursday. The Nigeria international now has three goals and two assists in nine Europa League matches this campaign. Also, this season Dessers has so far registered 19 goals and five assists in 41 appearances across all competitions. Also in action for Rangers was Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun who came on in the 28th minute, while Bright Osayi-Samuel was not…
FIFA said on Thursday it will review a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to mark the centenary of the sport’s marquee event. The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the inaugural edition was staged, set to host three games. The World Cup has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for next year’s edition in the United States ofAmerica, Mexico and Canada. “A proposal to analyze a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030 was…
By Korede James Former English Premier League player Joey Barton has controversially claimed that the African continent has never produced a defender better than Jamie Carragher. Barton, who played for Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers among others, made the comments in support of former England and Liverpool defender Carragher, who has received heavy backlash for saying that the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is not a major tournament. Carragher has since clarified his comments, admitting that he was clumsy with his language. Appearing on the Common Sense Podcast, Barton, who was a journeyman midfielder, featuring for several clubs in…
By Korede James Super Eagles midfielder Raphael Onyedika has expressed confidence that Club Brugge can overturn their UEFA Champions League first leg round of 16 defeat to Aston Villa. After recovering from injury Onyedika was named in Club Brugge’s starting line-up but could not prevent them from going down to a 3-1 home defeat on Tuesday. That was only the second time Aston Villa would beat a Belgian team in UEFA competition, with the previous win a 1-0 semi-final defeat of Anderlecht on their road to 1982 European Cup (now Champions League) glory. Reflecting on the home defeat, Onyedika told…
By Korede James Legendary Galatasaray forward Tanju Colak has claimed that the Turkish giants would be struggling in the Super Lig table if not for Victor Osimhen’s contributions this season. Super Eagles striker Osimhen, who joined Galatasaray on loan from Napoli last summer, has been impressive for the Turks, the 26-year-old contributing 16 goals and four assists in 20 league appearances for the leaders. Osimhen’s contributions have kept Galatasaray on top of the league, four points clear of rivals Fenerbahce. Speaking in an interview with Ekol TV, Colak, who played for Galatasaray from 1987 to 1991, scoring 116 goals in…
Rangers have confirmed that one of their supporters has died in Istanbul ahead of their UEFA Europa League clash with Fenerbahce on Thursday night. The Scottish giants, the club of Super Eagles striker Cyriel Dessers, are due to take on their Turkish opponents after qualifying automatically for the last-16 back in January. However, the club has received devastating news just hours before the first leg of the knockout tie. On Thursday morning, Rangers announced that a fan tragically passed overnight after being involved in a ‘road traffic accident’. A club statement read: “We are devastated to have learned of the passing of one…
By Nurudeen Obalola The Super Falcons of Nigeria have kept their 36th position in the latest FIFA women’s world ranking released on Thursday. The nine-time African champions have been in the 36th spot since March 2024, retaining the same position in June, August and December. This is the first ranking of 2025, and the Super Falcons have clung to that same spot, even keeping their 1622 points. They also remain the top-ranked team in Africa, followed by Women’s Africa Cup of Nations holders South Africa (54th in the world), Morocco (60th), Zambia (64th) and Ghana (65th). Nigeria’s 2024 WAFCON (to…