86
THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍťËœ ͺ͸͚Î
SUNDAYSPORTS Iwobi’s Everton Host Wounded Spurs
Edited by Demola Ojo Email: demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com
T
he table does not lie after 10 matches and 16th versus 11th in the Premier League says everything about the underachievement of two teams harbouring far greater ambitions. Everton have won their last two games at Goodison Park in league and cup yet, having suffered another avoidable loss at Brighton last weekend, even if controversial, it feels Marco Silva remains only one bad home defeat away from a full-blown crisis. Tottenham suffered their fifth defeat of the campaign on Merseyside last Sunday but showed enough quality on the counterattack at Liverpool to encourage Mauricio Pochettino. The two teams who have endured disappointing campaigns to date will face off today when Everton welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Goodison Park. The hosts go into the weekend sitting only two places and two points above the relegation zone, while Spurs are also in the bottom half having won just twice in the Everton hopes Iwobi will help them get past Tottenham with a sterling performance today league since the opening day of the season. generally required to guarantee 12 points from their opening 10 Today will be the first time these the two sides met last weekend. The Londoners will hope for safety. games of a season, and it is their two teams have met while both have It is no exaggeration to suggest away form which is the biggest been in the bottom half since April a happier trip south from their that Tottenham have been in relreason behind that. 2004, and for Spurs time is running second Merseyside visit in as many egation form for more than eight Only Everton and Norwich have out to turn their form around if they weeks, but they have picked up months now, then, and another picked up fewer points on the want to at least salvage a top-four just one point from their last three league games and have only won defeat on today would be their road this season, and remarkably challenge this term. 19th of the calendar year across Tottenham’s wait for an away Eight points already separate six of their last 22 in the top flight. Indeed, Spurs have amassed only all competitions - their most since Premier League win stretches all Mauricio Pochettino’s side from 2008. the way back to January, since the Champions League spots, while 23 points from those 22 games - an Incidentally, 2008 was also the when they have accrued a measly leaders Liverpool are a full 16 points average which, spread over a 38last time they failed to pick up two points from the 33 on offer. clear of Spurs 10 games into the game season, would leave them more than their current tally of Indeed, Spurs’ only two away season following their victory when just short of the 40-point mark
league victories in 2019 as a whole came against Cardiff City and Fulham, meaning that you have to go back to their last visit to Everton - in December 2018 - for their most recent win away to a team currently in the top flight. It is a woeful record for a side that reached the final of the Champions League last season, but they will be hoping that a return to Goodison - where they won 6-2 just before Christmas last year - will spark a much-needed end to their troubles on the road. It certainly looks like a good opportunity to get back to winning ways on paper, with Spurs unbeaten in their last 13 league games against Everton in a run which stretches back to December 2012. Only the bottom three have conceded more goals than the Toffees after 10 games of the season, while their run of five defeats and just one win from their last six league games leaves them rock bottom of the form table too. While Everton’s general form has been poor of late, they have won seven of their last nine home league games and have kept clean sheets in seven of their last 10. Nine of their 10 points this season have come in front of their own fans. Coupled with Tottenham’s travel sickness, that provides a significant reason for Everton to be optimistic, although they may also need some of the luck which deserted them against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. The Toffees led 2-1 heading into the final 10 minutes at the Amex, only to controversially concede a VAR-awarded penalty before Lucas Digne’s 94th-minute own goal compounded their misery.
Tokyo 2020: Omidiran Nwakali: Olympic Eagles To Pick Tokyo 2020 Olympics Ticket Bemoans Falcons’ Crash, Exonerates Ruth David From Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Former executive committee member of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran has bemoaned the elimination of the Super Falcons from next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, by Cote D’Ivoire in the African qualifier. The Falcons were eliminated after the Ivoirians eked out a 1-1 result in Lagos, after the first leg in Abidjan ended goalless. It was the third consecutive time the team would fail to qualify for the Olympic Games football event. But Omidiran, the immediate past chairperson of the Women Football Development Committee of the NFF, attributed the Falcons’ exit to systemic problems affecting the growth of the game in the country even as she exonerated the former NFF Head of Women Football Department, Ruth David as the cause of the team’s exit. “I am surprised that Ruth David was blamed for the inability of Falcons to qualify. How can she be the cause when she is not the coach or one of the players? She is a civil servant, who takes directives in all she does about the national teams.
“Ruth is not the nemesis that some people ascribed to her. She is an asset to women football development. As far as I am concerned she is not and will never be the problem of Nigeria women football. Her commitment and passion for women football development is total. She is very experienced and exposed to the game and you can’t just wash away such an asset,� Omidiran, a former member of the House of Representatives said. Omidiran noted that she was familiar with David when the latter was the team secretary when Omidiran was a board member and recently as chairperson of the women football development committee. The former proprietor of Omidiran Babes football club of Osogbo said former coach Thomas Dernnaby’s sudden resignation and the players’ inability to convert chances against the Ivoirians in Lagos after a goalless draw in Abidjan cost Nigeria their Olympic Games ticket She also pointed out that other African countries were catching up in women football, stating that there are no longer minnows in the game.
Kelechi Nwakali says the Olympic Eagles are in Egypt to successfully defend the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations title Nigeria won in Senegal four years ago. Imama Amapakabo’s charges are among the eight teams that will compete at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations starting this week in Cairo, Egypt. The defending champions will compete in Group B along with Cote d’lvoire, Zambia and South Africa. �I believe the team is ready, the
mindset is to win the competition and pick the Olympic ticket,� Nwakali stated in a short video interview posted on the Youtube channel of the Nigeria Football Federation. “We have a good blend in the team. We have a lot of foreign-based players in the team, as well as players based here in Nigeria. We just have to prepare well for the competition. “Also, as defending champions that is a big motivation for us to try and win the competition again.
“Cote d’l voice, South Africa and Zambia are no pushovers, but we have what it takes to make it from the group. “We are not going to put pressure on ourselves. We are going to take each game as they come, but the objective is to pick Olympic ticket and win the competition.� The top three teams in the competition will qualify to represent Africa in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Springboks Beat England to Win Rugby World Cup dirt on a horrible night for Eddie Jones’s men. England had trailed 12-6 at the interval after taking a hammering in the scrum and making a series of handling errors. And despite four penalties from captain Owen Farrell they never looked like closing that gap as the Springboks produced an outstanding display to match those of 1995 in Johannesburg and 2007 in Paris. Those were iconic moments for a nation besotted with rugby and when Siya Kolisi lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft as the first black man to captain the Springboks they will have the final South Africa have a record equalling third part of a triptych that World Cup
South Africa broke English hearts with a ruthless display of power rugby to seize their third Rugby World Cup in devastating fashion. Twenty two points from the boot of nerveless fly-half Handre Pollard and second-half tries from wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe ground England into the Yokohama
will endure forever in the country’s collective memory. For England it was a chastening end to a campaign that had promised to end the 16-year wait for the World Cup glory.
RESULTS Bournemouth 1 – 0 Man United Arsenal 1 – 1 Wolves Aston Villa 1 – 2 Liverpool Brighton 2 – 0 Norwich Man City 2 – 1 Southampton ShefďŹ eld United 3 – 0 Burnley West Ham 2 – 3 Newcastle Watford 1 – 2 Chelsea Espanyol 1 – 2 Valencia Levante 3 – 1 Barcelona Sevilla 1 – 1 Atl Madrid Roma 2 – 1 Napoli Bologna 1 – 2 Inter Crystal Palace v Leicester 3pm Everton v Tottenham 5:30pm