Sports

*As De Bruyne, Lukaku, Doku, Others Head Home By Sid Lowe, at the Los Angeles Stadium Mikel Merino’s amazing moment arrived once more, a country circling the corner flag with him. The man who came on to score the late, late goals that took Spain's La Roja Furia (The Red Fury) into a European championship semi-final two years ago and a World Cup quarter-final four days ago, only went and did it again. This is some hat-trick, history made here. Introduced as sub on 85.32 with Spain struggling to find a way through against Belgium, Merino was the man most…

France national team, Les Bleus, sent a resounding message to the entire world, cementing their status as tournament favorites with a crushing victory over Morocco, Thursday night Nigeria time. In a matchup that promised to be a thriller, Les Bleus ultimately dominated, sealed by two absolute world-class goals from their biggest superstars. Kylian Mbappé, who had missed a penalty earlier on, made up for it as he struck first in the 60th minute, finding just enough space to unleash an unstoppable shot past Yassine Bounou. Six minutes later, Ousmane Dembélé added to the lead, scoring in the 66th minute. France…

*Ancelloti's Men Miss Early Penalty By Paul MacInnnes, at the New York New Jersey Stadium Norway are into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time after edging the contest against multiple winners Brazil, thanks to the man whose smile, and choice in cowboy apparel, has charmed the USA. Erling Haaland delivered again for his country, scoring two goals in the last 11 minutes – his sixth and seventh of the tournament – to send Brazil back home and keep the Viking invasion rolling on. The result is a massive vindication for coach Ståle Solbakken and the team…

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By Felix Durumbah, with Reuters and other reports Through deliberate and concerted national effort, Morocco has, in recent time, established itself as a leading fortress of football in Africa and, leveraging this, seeks to stamp same reputation in global football. The marketing and investment spinoffs from this are unquantifiable. But that is a separate topic. As we write, the Maghrebian nation is already safely ensconced in the quarter-finals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup being co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. Morocco trounced Canada 3-0 to secure its berth. A serious-minded, focused nation of about 38.8 million people, Morocco,…

*The Africans Reached Semi-final In 2022 Qatar World Cup Canada became the first co-host to exit the 2026 World Cup as they were well beaten by Morocco in Houston, Texas, Saturday, 4 July. The Moroccans, having failed to impress in a bad-tempered first half, took the lead five minutes after the interval through Azzedine Ounahi. Ounahi swept home Achraf Hakimi's cut-back free kick from inside the D as the Canadian defence failed to close him down. The Girona midfielder scored his second by converting a breakaway with eight minutes remaining to seal victory. And an ultimately comfortable win was topped…

*We Leave With Heads High, Made History For Our Country -Coach Lionel Messi and Argentina will move on to Atlanta and a last-16 tie against Egypt next week after a thrilling 3-2 victory against Cape Verde in the early hours of Saturday (Nigeria time), but this was still a wonderful night for the tiny archipelago nation of just about 600,000, whose players left Miami Stadium having created their own moment of sporting history. “First things, the pride I feel in my players and what they did, they did it with dignity and courage,” Bubista, the Cape Verde coach, said after…

*Messi On Scoresheet Cape Verde might have lost but it felt like they had won, on Saturday early morning Nigeria time. The way they applied themselves, the way they battled and fought with bravery and ambition. They took the defending world champions right to the edge. Immediately after the game,the Cape Verde players looked devastated – some in tears, others with their heads in their hands. Obviously they should be proud of themselves but it’s completely understandable, they were so close to pulling off the greatest sporting shock of all time. Messi looked a mix of bemused, relieved and shattered.…

Egypt cavort, Egypt dance, Egypt enjoy. They were far more clinical with the spot kicks; on balance, they were the more threatening over the 120 minutes of football, on Friday, 3 July. But the margins weren’t that big. Australia will be crushed, having once again failed to win a World Cup knockout game: that’s zero for three now. But Egypt have done it at last. At long last, because their previous chance was at the 1934 World Cup, when they were beaten by Hungary in the round of 16. A full 92 years later, they’re now going to be playing…

Julian Nagelsmann has agreed to step down as Germany’s head coach following the team’s disappointing showing at the World Cup, paving the way for Jürgen Klopp to replace the 38-year-old. Nagelsmann agreed to leave the post he took over from Hansi Flick a little under three years ago following talks with German Football Association (DFB) officials at their headquarters in Frankfurt on Thursday. The DFB said in a statement that Nagelsmann contract, which ran through to the 2028 European Championship, would end with immediate effect and that Klopp “has already indicated his fundamental readiness to take over the position." Klopp…