Sport
Chelsea 1 – 1 Tottenham (4 – 5 on penalties) Carabao Cup
Tottenham defeats Chelsea 5- 4 on penalties in Carabao Cup. A total of nine penalties had been converted before Mount stepped up to take the 10th, but the England midfielder’s effort clipped the post and went wide.
Mason Mount missed the crucial spot-kick as Tottenham edged past Chelsea on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. Chelsea had dominated the first half and new signing Timo Werner netted his first goal for the club with a clinical finish into the bottom corner.
Spurs responded well after the break and debutant Sergio Reguilon’s side-footed effort from inside the area was pushed over the crossbar by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who was also making his first appearance for his new club.
Jose Mourinho’s side got their rewards seven minutes from time when Spaniard Reguilon’s cross sailed through to the back post for Erik Lamela to coolly convert from six yards. With no extra time played, the match went straight to penalties and Mount was the only player to miss.
Second-string Spurs advance
Spurs boss Mourinho seemed to dismiss the competition before the game, saying the sheer number of fixtures his side face means he has to prioritise the Europa League as the money from it is “very important”.
An arduous schedule sees Spurs in the middle of a run of four games in the space of eight days.
After drawing with Newcastle on Sunday and getting past Chelsea on Tuesday, further matches follow on Thursday, against Maccabi Haifa in Europa League, and on Sunday, when they meet Manchester United in Premier League.
But Mourinho will be delighted at scraping through against his former club, where he had two spells as boss and won three Premier League titles. Mourinho was brought in as Mauricio Pochettino’s replacement last November with the aim of securing a long-awaited trophy – their victory in this competition back in 2008 being their most recent silverware.
The returning Gareth Bale remains unavailable through injury but fellow new boy Reguilon, whose mistake led to Chelsea’s goal, improved as the game wore on, showcasing his electric pace and ability to create a goal.
The wing-back was a constant outlet down the left in the second half and it was he who picked out Lamela for the leveller. That came soon after a bizarre moment in the second period when defender Eric Dier sprinted off the pitch and straight into the dressing room, followed quickly by a furious-looking Mourinho, before both re-emerged a couple of minutes later.
It subsequently emerged that Dier had desperately needed the toilet. Dier, Lamela, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane all converted their spot-kicks to help Tottenham through to the next round, which takes place in December.
“I am very proud of the players, even the ones not on the pitch,” Mourinho told BBC Radio 5 Live. “This is a unique situation that we go through and we still go through. Everything was about the spirit of my players.
“I don’t want to believe that we have another week like this one, but now this competition is in the pocket until December. “Mentally this win gives us a lift. The feeling is good, on Thursday we have fresh players and I hope they can give us what these boys gave us tonight.”
Chelsea new boys impress Lampard’s debut season as Chelsea boss was a relatively successful one, finishing in the top four and reaching the FA Cup final where they were beaten by rivals Arsenal.
But the remit has changed this season after spending over £200m on new signings, but exiting this competition means one less opportunity for a trophy at the end of the campaign.
Germany striker Werner, who netted 34 times last term, opened his account for the Blues and he showed signs of an emerging understanding with left-back Ben Chilwell, who was given his first start after joining from Leicester for £45m.
Mendy, a £22m acquisition from Rennes, has been brought in to solve the club’s goalkeeping problems and turned in a steady performance, coming confidently off his line to claim catches and making good stops to deny Reguilon and Lamela.
The Blues have failed to win their past two league games, hitting back for a 3-3 draw against West Brom and being defeated by Liverpool, so Lampard will need to start picking up results quickly with owner Roman Abramovich closely monitoring proceedings after his summer outlay.
“The first half was as much control as you can have in a game of football,” Lampard told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I keep saying the same thing but there’s no doubt that if you look at our first-half performance and some of the great stuff we did, that’s going to keep coming.
“To sustain that for 90 minutes with the fitness we’ve got is hard – you can see they were dead on their feet at the end. Tottenham had an extra two weeks of pre season. That’s a tough challenge but I can’t be unhappy with a lot of the performance.”
Lampard’s hold on Mourinho – the stats
- Chelsea have lost six of their last eight League Cup penalty shootouts, including all three at the fourth-round stage (also v Burnley in 2008-09 and Stoke in 2015-16).
- Jose Mourinho has progressed from 26 of his 31 League Cup ties, with this the first time he has ever progressed via a penalty shootout in the competition, losing his previous three.
- Mourinho has faced Frank Lampard four times without winning in his managerial career (D2 L2) – twice as many as he has faced any other manager without registering at least one win.
- Timo Werner scored his first goal for Chelsea with his 11th shot for the club in all competitions.
- Only Robert Lewandowski (56), Ciro Immobile and Cristiano Ronaldo (40 each) have score more goals among players in Europe’s top five leagues in all competitions since August 2019 than Werner (35).
- Werner is unbeaten in the last 41 club matches when he has scored across spells with RB Leipzig and Chelsea (W35 D6).
- Erik Lamela has been directly involved in six goals in his last four League Cup starts for Tottenham (3 goals, 3 assists).
- Each of the two League Cup meetings between Mourinho and Lampard have gone to penalty shootouts, with both managers progressing once – Lampard in 2018-19 with Derby v Man Utd and Mourinho tonight with Spurs.
Source – BBC News
Soccer fans in Nigeria have expressed their confidence that the Super Eagles will win the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The Nigerian team qualified for the finals after defeating South Africa in the semi-final round of the competition. They face hosts Ivory Coast for the last game of the tournament today.
This will be the second match between both teams. The elephants of Ivory Coast suffered a 1- 0 defeat in their encounter with the Super Eagles at the group stage. Nigerian soccer fans say they are confident that the team will also win the final game.
Moshood Olatunji says, “We’re taking the cup. We’re not bragging and we’re not being pretentious and we’re not underestimating any group. But I think the Nigerian team started slow and they really worked as a team. The thing they had that I could see was the teamwork. They play for each other, they’re not playing for the coach, they’re actually playing for each other as a team. And I think if they carry that attitude into the finals, there’s no stopping us.”
Maxwell Ogbaje says, “I’m not surprised that we got to where we are today. We actually have a strong team. We have been at our best. It’s not just by chance, people see it that the one zero, one zero has always been a lucky thing, but it’s not. There’s actually good effort from the team that has brought that success.”
“Let them keep doing what they are doing especially the back 5. It’s a fantastic tactic that the coach Peseiro has been able to knock the boys with, so they should do what they do. They should be tight behind and they should take their chances. They should hit them on the counter and I believe if they are able to do that and they stay together, then Nigeria will be able to carry the day,” says Sam Maimagani.
It’s the eighth time Nigeria has made it to the finals in the Africa Cup of Nations and the 4th for Ivory Coast.
Nigeria is already a three-time winner of the Africa Cup of Nations and a triumph in today’s encounter will make it the 4th in 10 years.
A win for Ivory Coast will make them a three-time champion of the AFCON. Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is expected to be at the game today to cheer the Super Eagles to victory.
Source: SABC
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Bayern Munich leapfrogged rivals Borussia Dortmund to clinch their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title in a last-day drama in German football on Saturday, May 27.
In a climactic season finale, Bayern Munich ended up celebrating an unexpected title win while Dortmund’s dream of their first league trophy since 2012 was left in tatters following a 2-2 draw with Mainz.
Dortmund were leading by two points before their last match for the season but were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Mainz on Saturday, allowing Bayern to finish in first place with a goal difference.
RB Leipzig and sensational Union Berlin are third and fourth respectively and will also compete in the Champions League next season.
Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 have been relegated, while VfB Stuttgart will go into the relegation playoff.
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India is looking to a new generation of talented young cricketers led by teenage batter Shafali Verma to propel them to a first Women’s T20 World Cup title this month. Long-serving skipper Mithali Raj and record-breaking fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, trailblazers for women’s cricket in India, both retired last year.
New captain Harmanpreet Kaur said both players are still on hand to give advice, but it is time to look forward. Whenever we need they are always available to us, that’s what you expect from senior players,” the 33-year-old told a recent press conference.
“Nobody can fill their places, but the young girls who are getting the chances are doing well. One of the players who has grabbed her chance is Verma, an attacking opening batter who led India to victory in the inaugural U19 T20 World Cup in South Africa last month.
The 19-year-old will be back on familiar ground for the T20 World Cup, which is again in South Africa. It starts on February 10 and India are chasing a breakthrough first title, having been runners-up behind hosts Australia in the last edition, in 2020. Their first match is against arch-rivals Pakistan on February 12 in Cape Town.
Verma made her international debut at the age of just 15 and was in the team that reached the T20 World Cup final in 2020.
She also played in the one-day World Cup and was a member of the Indian side which took silver at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The youngster looks up to big-hitting England batsman Liam Livingstone for inspiration and considers Indian great Sachin Tendulkar a role model. After captaining India to victory in the U19 World Cup, Verma said: “This is just the beginning.”
“When I entered the Under-19s, I only focused on winning the Under-19 Cup and we have won that today,” ESPNCricinfo quoted her as saying. I will look to take this winning confidence with me and win the senior World Cup.”
Besides Verma, the India team also includes Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and Renuka Singh. The women’s game is making inroads in the cricket-mad country, with the inaugural Women’s Premier League set for March, ahead of the men’s IPL.
Last month, India’s cricket board auctioned off five women’s IPL teams for $572.5 million. The new generation “are ready to be the representatives of the modern generation of women’s cricketers”, cricket journalist Sharda Ugra told AFP.
“The women’s IPL is going to start and they are the perfect representation of the kind of Indian women cricketers that belong to the T20 generation. They have the right mindset and they are very, very talented.
Source: eNCA
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