SPORT - The African Mirror

Dec

15

2022

Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup 2022 – blame their disdain for football school structures and development

SPORT

NIGERIA’S national men’s football team is absent from this year’s World Cup in Qatar. It is only the second time since its first appearance in the tournament in 1994 that the Super Eagles failed to qualify. Sports scientist and FIFA physical fitness instructor Isiaka Oladele Oladipo explains why the team missed out and what it must do to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Author ISIAKA OLADELE OLADIPO, Professor of Sports and Exercise Physiology, University of Ibadan Why didn’t Nigeria qualify for the 2022 World Cup? It was not a day’s failure. It started a while before we played the…

Dec

13

2022

By The African Mirror

Morocco at the World Cup: 6 driving forces behind a history-making win

SPORT

HISTORY was made by Morocco, the first African and first Arab team to advance to a semi-final at the men’s football World Cup. The Atlas Lions, endowed with impeccable organisation and defensive will, creative midfield passing, speedy offence and the rousing racket of its fans, broke the elusive World Cup glass ceiling against Portugal to face France in the final four in Qatar. Author WYCLIFFE W. NJORORAI SIMIYU, Professor of Health and Kinesiology, University of Texas at Tyler The sound of the Moroccan fans has become a lifeblood coursing through the first World Cup to be staged in the Arab…

Dec

13

2022

By The African Mirror

World Cup 2022: From Morocco to Cameroon, African teams claimed new records in Qatar

SPORT

JOEL OMOTTO, BIRD STORY AGENCY FOR the first time in history, Africa will be represented in the last four of a World Cup, after Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 in the quarter-final at the Al Thumama stadium in Doha. Before that stunning victory, the Atlas Lions and Senegal made it to the round of 16, making this Africa's best performance at the World Cup since 2014. All the African teams that competed at Qatar 2022 also won at least one match, for the first time in World Cup history. And it was local African coaches that led the five teams. The…

Dec

13

2022

By The African Mirror

Morocco’s foreign-born contingent deliver in Qatar

SPORT

MARK GLEESON MOROCCO’S unexpected march to the World Cup semi-finals can be attributed partly to a policy of deliberately seeking out talent in the Diaspora to strengthen the national team and give them a better chance of success. Fourteen of Morocco’s 26-man squad were born outside the country, more than any other team at the tournament in Qatar, providing an eclectic mix of players from growing migrant communities across Europe who have helped them break new ground. The shock 1-0 quarter-final win over Portugal on Saturday made Morocco the first African and Arab country to reach the last four of…

Dec

20

2022

By The African Mirror

Soccer Argentina’s post-Maradona youth revel in Messi’s maiden World Cup win

SPORT

MIGUEL LO BIANCO and HORACIO SORIA ARGENTINE Santiago Cutaia, 34, had never felt the elation of his country winning the soccer World Cup before, born two years after late icon Diego Maradona last hoisted the trophy aloft for the Albiceleste in 1986. He has now. His generation, who grew up after the peak of Maradona, witnessed for the first time their team become world champions on Sunday, beating France on penalties in a whipsaw final. It was the third World Cup for Argentina, but the first in 36 years. "I am 34 years old and I had never seen Argentina…

Dec

31

2022

By The African Mirror

World soccer to fall silent in memory of Brazilian legend Pele

FOOTBALL

THE sporting world expressed its sorrow at the death of one of its greatest heroes, bidding farewell to Brazilian soccer legend Pele with a flood of heartfelt tributes. Brazil's Pele, a prolific goalscorer who won the World Cup an unprecedented three times as a player in 1958, 1962 and 1970, died on Thursday aged 82 after a long battle with cancer. "Flags at the home of FIFA in Zurich are flying at half-mast today, as we remember the eternal king: Pele," world soccer's governing body FIFA said on Twitter. FIFA has also written to its over 200 member associations asking competition organisers…

Dec

31

2022

By The African Mirror

We’ll never forget him – Brazil mourns loss of soccer legend Pele

SPORT

BRAZIL mourned the death of one of its brightest stars, soccer great Pele, with fans and friends paying their respects to the sports icon who died at the age of 82 after battling colon cancer for just over a year. Outside Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein hospital, where Pele had been undergoing treatment, fans gathered to mourn the loss of one of the greatest-ever exponents of the beautiful game, displaying Pele memorabilia on a clothesline by the entrance. "I'll never forget him, the Brazilian king of soccer," said 67-year-old Antonio da Paz. "He provided us with joy even in our saddest times." Pele's…

Dec

28

2022

By The African Mirror

6 moments in African football in 2022 that will be talked about for years to come

SPORT

2022 was a significant year for African football. It was a benchmark for the women’s game and a year that may mark the first real move into African football as a business rather than football as development. It ended with some thrilling matches at the men’s World Cup in Qatar, proving the real progress made by teams from African countries. The first full year of a return to the sport after the COVID pandemic, 2022 has shown that the African game is able to grow and claim its own space in world football beyond the headlines generated by star African…

Dec

23

2022

By The African Mirror

From Mali to Florida – the amazing story of an African basketball star

SPORT

SILALEI SHANI, BIRD STORY AGENCY WHEN Malian national and Arizona men’s basketball centre, Oumar Ballo, was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2022 Maui Invitational in late November, the powerful, 7-feet-tall player made it clear he was Africa's next big name in basketball. After averaging 21 points and 10.7 rebounds and a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds in the title game vs. Creighton, Ballo garnering plenty of attention. The junior from Mali is no new face to African basketball’s highlight reels, however,. Ballo played for Mali at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 African Championship in Mauritius, averaging 14 points…

Dec

21

2022

By The African Mirror

Argentina’s World Cup winners arrive home to hero’s welcome

SPORT

NICOLÁS MISCULIN and MIGUEL LO BIANCO THOUSANDS of ecstatic fans gave Argentina's football squad a hero's welcome in Buenos Aires in the early hours before dawn on Tuesday after the plane carrying Lionel Messi and his World Cup-winning teammates touched down at Ezeiza airport. The Argentine capital has been in party mode since their dramatic victory over France in Sunday's final in Qatar, which gave the country its first World Cup win since Diego Maradona hoisted the trophy 36 years ago. The players, wearing their gold winners' medals around their necks and taking turns to hold the World Cup trophy aloft, waved…