Sport
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores his 11th goal as Everton drew 1-all with Burnley
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores his 11th goal as Everton drew 1-all with Burnley. The hosts made a lightning start, Robbie Brady’s strike from outside the box giving them the lead in the third minute. Burnley and Everton shared the points in an entertaining Premier League arm-wrestle at Turf Moor.
Everton were vulnerable, but improved after an injury to Fabian Delph forced them into a reshuffle midway through the first half. They equalised just before the breakthrough Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Premier League’s leading scorer this season.
Both sides had chances to win it, only for goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope, the men vying for the England number one shirt, to shine in front of the watching Gareth Southgate.
Burnley stay in the bottom three, a point behind 17th-placed Fulham, who play Manchester City at 15:00 GMT on Saturday. The Clarets will have a game in hand on the majority of the league by the end of the weekend.
Everton are seventh, four points behind leaders Tottenham, although the Toffees could slide into the bottom half depending on other results.
Everton make virtue of necessity
Curiously, this game turned on a moment of misfortune for Delph, with the resulting Everton reshuffle actually benefiting the Toffees.
Deployed at left wing-back for just his second league start of the season, Delph lasted only 27 minutes before being forced off with an injury to his troublesome hamstring.
Instead of replacing like-for-like, Everton introduced Andre Gomes into their midfield and switched to a flat back four.
Whereas before Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure were being overrun, the extra body gave the visitors a foothold in the middle. It was the previously poor Allan’s intervention that set Everton on their way to the equaliser, though Burnley felt he fouled Ashley Westwood to win the ball.
From then on, Everton always looked the more likely to win it, even if Pickford was forced into excellent saves from Chris Wood and Ben Mee.
Burnley’s growing shoots of recovery
Burnley remain in the relegation zone, but this result represents a further advance on a wretched start to the season that saw them take one point from six matches. They have now lost just one one in four, and there was no disgrace in an injury-hit team being well beaten at Manchester City last time out.
They flew out of the blocks, harrying to regain possession high up the field, with Westwood winning the ball for Brady to lash in his first goal in more than a year. Even after that, Burnley pressed, their full-backs happy to push on, only for Everton to establish themselves after the Delph injury.
There were periods of the second half when Burnley saw most of the ball, but it was Everton who had more time in the ascendancy. However, the hosts remained solid, were well worth their point and may have had more had Pickford not been sharp.
Everton fail to land knockout blow
After a stellar start to the season, Everton arrived in Lancashire with four defeats in their previous five games.
More pain looked likely in a disjointed start, only for the enforced reshuffle to not only stiffen their midfield but also release the creativity of Richarlison and James Rodriguez.
In Calvert-Lewin, they possess a potent threat – the England striker was lively even before he slid in to meet Richarlison’s cross for his 11th league goal of the season.
Everton had spells of pressure in the second half, a goalmouth scramble, a curling effort from Rodriguez and a late strike by substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson. Like his opposite number, the dependable Pope was only to be beaten once.
Dyche in the 200 Club – stats
- Burnley have only won once in their last 11 Premier League games (D3 L7), scoring just six goals in the process.
- Everton have never kept a clean sheet in their seven Premier League away games against Burnley (W2 D1 L4) – against no team have they played more games in the competition without recording an away clean sheet.
- This was the first time Burnley and Everton have drawn in the Premier League (13th meeting), while it’s their first top-flight stalemate since August 1975 at Turf Moor (1-1).
- Everton have conceded in 10 consecutive Premier League games – their longest run without a clean sheet in the competition since November 2017 (12 games).
- Everton’s Jordan Pickford has conceded more goals from outside the box than any other goalkeeper in the Premier League this season (5).
- Robbie Brady’s goal for Burnley was the quickest Everton have conceded in a Premier League game since November 2017 versus Crystal Palace when James McArthur scored after 51 seconds.
- Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored more league goals from inside the box (11) than any other player in Europe’s top five divisions this season. In fact, the Everton striker has scored six times from inside the six-yard box, twice as many as any other Premier League player this term.
- Burnley manager Sean Dyche took charge of his 200th Premier League game today, making him the 35th different manager to reach this milestone. Only four of the 16 English managers to reach the milestone have won their 200th match (Pardew, Hodgson, Bruce and Hoddle).
What’s next?
Burnley travel to Arsenal next Sunday evening (19:15 GMT), while Everton host Chelsea the previous night (20:00).
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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