Sport
Everton thrash West Brom 5 – 2
The Baggies took an early lead through an excellent solo effort by Grady Diangana, who broke from inside his own half before hitting a dipping effort beyond Jordan Pickford for his first top-flight goal. Dominic Calvert-Lewin hit a first career hat-trick and James Rodriguez scored on his home debut as Everton continued their impressive start to the Premier League season with a dominant win against 10-man West Brom.
Everton equalised midway through the first half when the video assistant referee overturned an offside decision after Calvert-Lewin cleverly backheeled into the net for his second goal in as many games.
Rodriguez then marked his home debut with a clinical finish on the stroke of half-time, sweeping a low effort into the far corner from Richarlison’s pass. A crazy few minutes at the end of the first half saw Kieran Gibbs and manager Slaven Bilic sent off for the visitors – Gibbs dismissed for pushing Rodriguez, and Bilic for remonstrating with the officials as they made their way off the pitch at half-time.
Despite that double setback West Brom pulled level straight after the restart when Matheu Pereira curled in a stunning free-kick, but parity was short-lived as Michael Keane stabbed in a loose ball after Sam Johnstone parried Richarlison’s header.
Calvert-Lewin then got his second when he slid in from close range after good work by Rodriguez and Richarlison and completed his hat-trick by heading in Rodriguez’s corner.
Everton have won their opening two league fixtures for the first time in eight years, while defeat for West Brom means they are still searching for their first points of the season. Early days, but Everton – and Rodriguez – look exciting After flirting with relegation and then limping towards a mid-table finish last season, Everton needed a big summer.
Despite the short turnaround, Carlo Ancelotti’s work in the transfer market has been impressive and the additions of Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure already appear to have significantly improved their midfield just two games into the season.
But it is the signing of Colombian forward Rodriguez that looks set to be the pick of the deals, as well as perhaps the best bit of business completed this summer in the Premier League. Rodriguez caught the eye with his impressive footwork and vision in Everton’s opening win against Tottenham and built on that in this game as he was involved in three of the home side’s five goals.
His strike to make it 2-1 was one of real quality as, despite having four West Brom players in close attention, he took a touch before sweeping into the far corner from outside the box.
He then showed great vision for Everton’s fourth, lofting the ball into the box for Richarlison, who squared for Calvert-Lewin and was on hand again to provide the assist for the English striker’s third.
Ancelotti clearly is a manager who can get the best out of Rodriguez, who has now scored in four of Europe’s top five leagues, with his first goals in La Liga, the Bundesliga and now the Premier League all coming under the Italian.
And the former Chelsea boss appears to be having the same influence on Calvert-Lewin. The striker had not scored more than six goals in a season in his first three Premier League campaigns but got 13 last term – eight of those under Ancelotti – and already has four this season.
Baggies need to shore up defence
When West Ham sold Diangana to West Brom this summer, it prompted an unexpected and angry message on social media from Hammers’ captain Mark Noble, who said he was “gutted, angry and sad” that the club had decided to sell the youngster.
His goal against Everton showed just why Noble rated Diangana so highly and justified West Brom’s decision to spend £18m of their budget on the England youth international.
Diangana’s raw talent coupled with the creativity of Pereira – who with 17 assists is second only to Kevin de Bruyne as top creator of goals in English football since the start of last season – means the Baggies have attacking flair that could serve them well this season.
But they have now conceded eight goals in just two games and there will need to be a significant improvement in their defensive displays if they are to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Man of the match – Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
Rodriguez made it look easy –
what they said
Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti to BBC Sport: “The game was not so easy. We had difficulties in the first half. West Brom were better than us. We had a good reaction. With the advantage of one more player we were more in control. “The players have come back with more ambition and motivation. The new signings have helped us be more motivated. Good momentum for us.
“I’m really pleased for James Rodriguez. A new country, a new league – it was not so easy. But he made it easy because he has a lot of quality. A fantastic player.” West Brom boss Slaven Bilic told BBC Sport: “We did so many mistakes we can’t do at this level.
“Why I’m frustrated is the way we were tactically in the first half, we were closing them down, passing the ball, the way we pressed them, it can’t be 2-1 for them. “To show that naivety to go down after we are 1-0 up and to get the red card is frustrating.”
A first for Richarlison – the stats
- Everton have registered back-to-back victories at the start of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 2012-13.
- West Brom have conceded five goals in a Premier League game for the first time since a 5-5 draw on the final day of the 2012-13 season against Manchester United.
- Seamus Coleman became only the sixth player to hit the 250-start milestone for Everton in the Premier League (also Tim Howard, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman and David Unsworth).
- Since his Everton debut in December 2016, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored 36 goals in all competitions, seven more than any other player for the Toffees.
- Calvert-Lewin is the first Everton player to score a top-flight hat-trick since Wayne Rooney vs West Ham in November 2017, and the youngest Englishman to do so for the Toffees (23 years and 187 days) since Tony Cottee (23 years and 47 days) vs Newcastle in August 1988.
- 34% of Everton playmaker James Rodríguez’s 53 goals in Europe’s top five leagues have been scored from outside the box (18 of 53), including three of his past six.
- Kieran Gibbs is the first West Brom player to be sent off in the Premier League since Hal Robson-Kanu against Burnley in August 2017.
- Everton attacker Richarlison registered two assists in a Premier League game for the first time ever (111 appearances in total).
What next?
Everton will look to make it four wins from four in all competitions when they travel to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, 26 September (15:00 BST), while West Brom host Chelsea on the same day (17:30 BST).
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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