Sports & This'n'That

Throughout the lengthy and storied history of the football world cup, unforgettable tales of bona fide giants being slain by underdogs have taken center-stage. Thrillingly, this year’s installment of the competition in the host nation Qatar has excitingly proven to be no exception as we have been already joyously treated to two major upsets despite the fact that we are still in the early days of the world cup. Indeed, the first seismic shock happened early this week during the meeting between unheralded Saudi Arabia and heavyweights Argentina, who are among the favorites to hoist aloft the intensely sought-after world cup trophy. The Lionel Messi-led Argentina even drew first blood in the encounter when their pint-sized skipper confidently converted a penalty in as early as the tenth minute of the clash. Nevertheless, going behind only served to motivate Saudi Arabia to begin zestfully searching for a leveler, which must have dashed the hopes of those Argentinians expecting the...

Following an eye-catching tournament of bedazzling football action, the hugely entertaining FIFA U-17 women’s world cup finally ended last Sunday, with the Spaniards retaining their trophy. Nevertheless, although the competition proved to be immensely rewarding for Spain, the Nigerian flamingoes as well have more than sufficient cause to celebrate after they defeated mighty Germany in the third-place match of the august competition. Indeed, this laudable feat further cements Nigeria’s status as the pre-eminent country on the continent where women’s football is concerned. It should also be noted here that Nigeria has a rich pedigree in women’s youth football as their 2 nd place finish at the 2014 FIFA U-20 women’s world cup amply demonstrates. Having brilliantly claimed third place at the FIFA U-17 women’s world cup, one wonders what comes next for the giant-killing Nigerian flamingoes. It is fervently hoped that this golden generation of Nigerian flamingoes can be kept toget...

Photo by Rhett Lewis on Unsplash With the Football World Cup in Qatar being just around the corner, African fans are eagerly looking forward to the global feast of football with mounting excitement. Indeed, many African fans are bullish that at least a few of our World Cup-bound teams possess the mettle to progress very far in the unfailingly exciting football championship. At this point, it should be noted that our five world cup representatives this year are: Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia and Morocco. It should also be recollected that no African team in history has progressed beyond the quarterfinal stage of the world cup, which is really a crying shame. Indeed, with gigantic numbers of Africa’s most glittering football gems leaving the continent every year to join the premier football clubs in the world, one would expect that African teams would have been able to advance to the semifinal stage of the world cup a few times by now. Frustratingly though, as alluded to e...