Sports & This'n'That

Well, there can be no denying the obvious fact that this year’s Football World Cup has been a genuinely drama-filled and spectacular football feast. Indeed, from tiny Cape Verde’s highly improbable, heroic qualification for the Round of 32 to the utterly mesmerizing football skills of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and the diminutive Argentinean magician, Lionel Messi, this has unmistakably been a World Cup for the ages. Granted, there were some hugely debated controversies, such as the seemingly sky-high ticket prices to the USA’s rejection of requests rightfully made by African fans to enter America so that they could support their national football teams. Despite that though, these contentious moves failed to put a dampener on the first rate, highest caliber of football that was on display throughout every stage of this massively exciting football championship. Thus, as we await the grand finale of this competition tomorrow with breathless excitement, let us...

Since 2002, the once all-conquering Brazil football team has endured a depressingly long World Cup trophy drought.   Now under the tutelage of the Italian master tactician Carlo Ancelotti, Brazil has another opportunity to end their hoodoo in the World Cup later this year.   As is to be expected, doing so will not be a walk in the park for Brazil as there are loads of other quality teams who harbor ambitions of winning the holy grail of global football.   Thus, with Brazil and her rivals primed to go all out in an attempt to clinch the coveted  title, we should be in for a peach of a football championship.      

Now that the AFCON Finals in Morocco have thrillingly gotten up and running, there is little doubt that hardworking scouts from Europe and elsewhere have converged on Morocco eager to sign the new football stars who will be born during the edge-of-your-seat, exciting footballing championship.   Lest we forget, though, it is near-certain that established African football superstars like the lethal forward Ademola Lookman and the deadly Egyptian attacker Mohamed Salah among others will be highly reluctant to utterly surrender the spotlight to the emerging young starlets.   Thus, with new stars set to brilliantly rise to prominence coupled with the fact that extraordinary African football gems are also likely to display their dazzling skills-sets, then there is no question that this year’s AFCON promises to be one to remember.    

  So, who really is the Greatest of All Time in the NBA?   For a long while now, there has been one long-running and animated debate among basketball fans over which NBA icon is the greatest of all time (GOAT). Usually, the two major luminaries that feature most prominently in this passionate debate are the now-retired Michael Jordan and the ageless veteran Lebron James, who at 41, is remarkably rolling back the years each time he  admirably plays this season. As it has oft been said, it is mightily difficult to compare two basketball greats from different eras as each age in basketball has its own unique features, which just renders efforts to compare Lebron with MJ all the more challenging. So, my solution for this huge, unresolved debate is this: perhaps MJ and Lebron should fittingly be described as the greatest players of their respective generations. That way, no one really loses anything and armchair sports critics that belong to the MJ and Lebron camps c...

  For the last decade and a half, we have been treated to some unforgettably magical and enthralling showings by two of the present football age’s biggest rivals: the prolific Portuguese maestro Cristiano Ronaldo and his Argentinean nemesis the extraordinarily skillful Lionel Messi. Now both in the sunset of their remarkable football careers, it appears that the utterly devoted football fans of Ronaldo and Messi will soon witness both all-time football greats handing over the baton to the next, hugely talented generation. This was made especially clear recently when Ronaldo announced the monumental news that next year’s Football World Cup will be his last. In addition, the Portuguese superstar also announced that he will hang up his boots in one or two years’ time.   Unquestionably, this must indeed come as saddening news for the tons of fans of the deadly forward nicknamed ‘CR 7’. Like him or loathe him, the gifted Portuguese’s special place in the annals of footbal...

  It is the worst-kept secret in global sports that few numbers of Africans on the continent know the sport of baseball inside out.   In spite of that fact, though, it cannot be denied that the American baseball world series finals between the L.A Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays that wrapped up last weekend was still an engrossing and nail-biting thriller. Before we proceed further, let me state clearly that the title-deciding baseball world series finals are always a Best of Seven Games Series, which near-constantly serve up unexpected twists and turns.   And, this series was such a scintillating and nerve-shredding watch for many reasons, one of them being the fact that the series went down to the wire before an undisputed victor could emerge. Distressingly for Canadian baseball fans, it was the Dodgers who came out on top in a triumph for the ages. Clearly, although the outcome of the series was heartbreaking for Toronto baseball devotees, it can still be argued that the...

After overwhelmingly dominating men’s tennis for two decades, many tennis fans were sad to see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal call it quits. Indeed, the sheer irrefutable hegemony of the Big Three, who are to wit: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic over men’s tennis ushered in such an unprecedented epoch of the sport that it remains unmatched in men’s singles tennis’ history. With Nadal and Federer now retired and with Djokovic presently being in the twilight of his glittering career, many hard core tennis aficionados had been worried about which players could fill the void left behind by the aforesaid undisputed living legends of the sport. However, it appears as if the fears of keen tennis enthusiasts globally were groundless. Indeed, the meteoric rise of the Italian Jannik Sinner and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz to stardom has set tongues wagging as the duo has swiftly developed a fierce rivalry. This has been plainly evident thus far this year as Sinner admirably retaine...

  With the 2024-25 English Premier League (EPL) season now in full swing, football devotees around the globe are enjoyably relishing the epic battles between the English top flight’s mammoth clubs for the greatly cherished league trophy.   In the EPL, it is well known that lowly sides can at times slay the biggest of giants as was clearly demonstrated last weekend when supposed lightweights Bournemouth edged out reigning champions Manchester City 2-1 in what was an unmistakably jaw-dropping result. So far, Liverpool has been the undisputed pacesetters in the league as the Mersey-siders continue to adapt fabulously to their new Dutch coach Arne Slot’s tactics in the club’s Post-Jurgen Klopp era.   Thus, even though these are still early days in the season, one hopes that the EPL can fully live up to its reputation for being arguably the most pulsating football league in the world.

Dear mom,  You are the most consequential person in my life and you are my firm anchor whenever the storms of life threaten to overwhelm me. Through all the ups and downs as well as the highs and lows, you have been the one constant figure in my life guiding me through all the dark troubles that have at times unfortunately come my way. So, on this especially special day, i would like to say 'Happy Mother's Day' to you mom for your ceaseless love and kindness.   

Following what has been a hugely engrossing football championship, the number of teams partaking in the AFCON Finals has now been whittled down to just two - Nigeria and the hosts Ivory Coast, who will battle it out in the final, the day after tomorrow .

The famous HAKA of the All Blacks. Photo by Stefan Lehner on Unsplash

In the ever-scintillating realm of women’s tennis, excitement is presently mounting over the fact that the WTA’s (Women’s Tennis Association) season-ending championship is slated to begin tomorrow in the Mexican city of Cancun, which is a popular holiday destination for tourists and sightseers. Indeed, the top eight singles players in women’s tennis, who are of course the sport’s leading lights, will converge on Cancun tomorrow and battle it out against one another in an earnest bid to claim the last prestigious trophy of the year. The championship is definitely set to offer boundless thrills and spills as the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, the Pole Iga Swiatek, the American teen phenomenon Coco Gauff and the affable Tunisian Ons Jabeur among others will all be in contention to secure the intensely coveted WTA Finals trophy. With everything now all set for the competition to begin, it is dearly hoped that the pre-eminent tennis personages in women’s tennis will serve up a real peach of ...

Heading into their English Premier League (EPL) duel against high-fliers Arsenal earlier today, lowly Bournemouth must have known that it was always going to be a big ask for them to defeat the Gunners.

Now that the 2023/24 English Premier League season is in full swing, all eyes will be trained on the North London derby tomorrow between those two age-old foes Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs. Both sides have made a flying start to the season and they are both in fine fettle ahead of their much-awaited renewal of their fierce rivalry tomorrow at the majestic Emirates Stadium. It should be noted that after taking over the reins of Tottenham, Spurs’ new coach Ange Postecoglou has sought to make his charges play an entertaining brand of football to the sheer delight of the Spurs’ faithful. As for Arsenal, the Gunners have outstandingly picked up where they left off last season, which was clearly evident in their 4-0 rout of Dutch premier league table-toppers PSV Eindhoven. Thus, with both teams raring to go, it will be enormously fascinating to see which team ends up rubbing their hands with glee once the unfailingly engrossing duel has finished.         ...

Following an action-packed US Open final in front of a highly partisan crowd, the darling of the home fans, Coco Gauff brilliantly overcame her big-hitting Belarussian opponent Aryna Sabalenka to be crowned the deserving champion of the last grand slam of the year.

In the realm of football, there are run-of-the-mill players, and then there are the gifted gems, who have been blessed with extraordinary talents.

Tomorrow  at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal and Manchester United will renew their rivalry which has really intensified in the English Premier League (EPL) era.

Ever since she brilliantly rose to prominence a few years ago, the teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff has distinguished herself as one of the sport’s brightest, up and coming talents.

Image: FIFA Women World Cup Logo Wikimedia Following the last several weeks of utterly spellbinding and skillfully entertaining football, the FIFA Women’s World Cup will end tomorrow in a mouthwatering climax, pitting European champions England against a talented Spanish side. Indeed, however things pan out tomorrow history will still be written as it will mark the first time in a little over a decade that Team USA will not be featuring in the final of the fabulous football spectacle. Perhaps one of the biggest talking points of the overwhelmingly successful championship is the fact that a fair number of giants were slain in dramatic and compelling fashion. Who could forget Colombia’s unforgettably magical 2-1 victory over mighty Germany and Nigeria edging out Australia 3-2 in a slim and absolutely gripping triumph? Apart from the jaw-dropping giant-slaying heroics of some supposedly lightweight teams, another key talking point has been the sublime quality of football on displa...

Arguably, global football’s most pulsating championship, the English Premier League (EPL) kicked-off yesterday to the sheer elation of millions of die-hard fans around the world.  Obviously, the main storyline for the reigning EPL champions, Manchester City is whether they will be able to match or perhaps even surpass their heroics last season in which they fantastically claimed a rare treble of trophies.