Sport
Crystal Palace thump West Brom 5 – 1
Wilfred Zaha scores brace as Crystal Palace thump West Brom 5 – 1. Forward Zaha had missed Palace’s previous two matches – both of which ended in defeat – after testing positive for Covid-19 but quickly found his feet again at The Hawthorns with a typically lively attacking display that included two goals and an assist.
Wilfred Zaha again underlined his importance to Crystal Palace as they took advantage of the controversial dismissal of Matheus Pereira to claim their first points in three games with a rout at West Brom.
It was from his low cross that Darnell Furlong diverted the ball into his own net to give the visitors the lead and his whipped finish into the far corner that restored the advantage after Conor Gallagher’s low, driven equaliser.
Between these two Zaha contributions, though, came the incident that completely altered the complexion of the game – Pereira’s red card.
It seemed unclear, even after multiple replays, whether the Baggies forward intended his boot to make contact with Patrick van Aanholt’s midriff while on the ground, but referee Paul Tierney had no doubt after viewing the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
Prior to that, Albion had been the better side with momentum behind them after Gallagher’s leveller, which came shortly after Furlong had gone close to making amends for his own goal with a header that came back off the bar.
But holding out for almost an hour with 10 men proved impossible, and Zaha sparked a Palace goal-fest.
Christian Benteke headed the first of his two goals of the afternoon from a Van Aanholt cross just four minutes after his strike-partner’s fine finish.
Zaha was on hand again to tap in from close range to make it 4-1 following a driving run into the box from Eberechi Eze before Benteke added the icing with a lovely finish on the turn.
It is the first time Palace have scored five away from home in a top-flight game and lifts them to 11th in the table, three points off the top four.
West Brom remain in the bottom three. Zaha remains Palace’s main man
Roy Hodgson claimed before the season started that this was the strongest squad he has had at his disposal during his time at Crystal Palace.
But Zaha remains the key man.
You need only look at their record without him in Premier League games – just two wins from their past 17. They were limp and unthreatening in their recent defeats by Burnley and Newcastle as their talismanic forward self-isolated but were immediately reinvigorated here by his presence.
He inevitably benefited from the extra space afforded him following Pereira’s red card, but even before that he was an uncontainable menace to the Baggies, forcing Darnell into his costly evasive action as he tried to clear his dangerous early cross.
“I see it from Wilf all the time – I’ve seen it over the last three and a half years,” said Hodgson. “We know he has that ability when we can get the ball to his feet in the final third.
“What he has added to his game this year is goal-scoring. If Wilf can keep that up it bodes very well for us.” He has now scored or assisted 10 of Palace’s 16 goals this season. No wonder Hodgson opted to take him off with 10 minutes remaining and the game won.
“He was a bit disappointed I took him off with 10 minutes to go because he wanted a hat-trick,” added Hodgson. “That’s a good sign. “I would have been less happy if he said ‘I was quite content to come off, I don’t need the third goal’.”
Zaha’s departure left Benteke to claim the limelight with a second goal, meaning in this one game alone he has matched his scoring tally for last season and doubled that of the season before.
It was a tough afternoon for Slaven Bilic’s side, who have now conceded a league-high 23 goals this season. Bilic can take some heart from the way his side played with 11 men, but will be worried by the manner in which they utterly capitulated with 10.
“I’m not happy with the way we collapsed at 2-1 – you can’t do that – but for us to be competitive and be strong we need all of them on the pitch,” said Bilic.
“After the second goal, especially after the third goal, it became too easy for them. We didn’t mark, everybody was thinking and relying on their team-mate to do the job.”
On the red card, Bilic added: “It was a cheap one. For me, he gave [the referee] an option [to send him off].
“The more you watch it, the less it is a red card. Maybe there’s a little contact. I would say a reaction is there but it wasn’t a kick. If he gives them an option to give him a red card, you can’t do it.”
Hodgson returns to haunt another old club – the stats
- Roy Hodgson has won 11 Premier League matches against teams he’s previously managed in the division – no manager has won more such matches (Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce also have 11 wins vs former clubs).
- Since the start of the 2012-13 season, only Olivier Giroud (31) has scored more headed Premier League goals than Christian Benteke (27).
- Conor Gallagher (20 years and 304 days) became the youngest player to score in consecutive Premier League games for West Brom since Saido Berahino in January 2014 (20 years 150 days).
- Matheus Pereira’s straight red card for West Brom makes it 12 of 13 red cards this season that have been straight dismissals (92%) – last season, only 57% of red cards in the Premier League were for straight red cards (25/44).
- Wilfried Zaha has scored seven goals in nine Premier League games for Crystal Palace this season – Zaha’s previous seven goals came over 49 appearances.
- West Brom became the first team to score an own goal and receive a red card in the first half of a Premier League game since Spurs at West Ham in May 2014, and the first to do so in a home game since Bolton Wanderers vs Leicester in December 2001.
- Darnell Furlong became the first player to score an own goal and register an assist in a Premier League game since Denis Odoi for Fulham against Burnley in January 2019.
- Among the 18 teams who have a had player sent off in at least 30 Premier League games, West Brom have lost the highest percentages of those games, losing 21 of the 31 games when receiving a red card (68%).
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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