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September 27, 2018

d'tigress - afasports
OTHER SPORTS

D’TIGRESS AND AFA SPORTS – THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY

by Brila
written by Brila

Two years ago a few Patriots came to Nigeria with a dream. To maximize the potential of basketball in Nigeria. It is common knowledge the plethora of talent that we are surrounded by in this great nation and yet the challenge would be finding a way to harness this talent and bring it to fruition.

AFRICA FOR AFRICA SPORTS! Commonly known as AFA sports became the first ever African sports apparel company to feature in a major international tournament as the proud kit sponsor of D’tigress women’s basketball team.

D'tigress

AFA sports and D’tigress made history together! Defeating Turkey in their second group game who finished fourth in the last go-round in 2014, marked their first win in tournament history.

D’tigress won a game at the FIBA World cup. And since then? Simply forgotten how to lose, the 57 to 56 win against Greece secured a spot in the quarterfinal making them the first African team to get to this stage of the tournament.

Perhaps a monumental part of this journey is how much the performance is powered by the support from AFA sports. The CTG technology in the AFA shoes provides its host with extra grip, speed, and precision so that you are always one step ahead of the competition, the soft micro mesh material allows athletes to stay hydrated in the most humid of climates.

No one can understand the needs of an African athlete more than a fellow African, and these products were tailor-made to fit the needs of the African athlete like a glove.

To create some necessary perspective, take a trip down memory lane. This is Nigeria’s first tournament appearance since 2006 where they finished last, and the second ever performance.

D'tigress

 

Against all odds, Nigeria arrived in Spain with the second lowest rank (42) among all 16 participating teams!  Nigeria also qualified for this tournament after winning Afrobasket in 2017 for the first time in 12 years and started the tournament as underdogs.

Some say correlation does not equal causation, but this line is too thick to erase.

Endorse Africa, grow Africa and buy Africa.

 

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Pickford
WORLD FOOTBALL

England Number one Pickford signs new six-year deal at Everton

by Brila
written by Brila

England number one Jordan Pickford said he believes moving to Everton was the key factor in him starring at the World Cup as he signed a new six-year deal with The Toffees on Wednesday.

Pickford didn’t make his England debut until after joining Everton from Sunderland for £30 million ($39 million) in June 2017, but just a year later played a major part in Russia as the Three Lions reached the semi-finals for the first time in 28 years.

“When I made the move last year, I thought Everton would be a great club to come to and the right step in my career,” said Pickford.

“Getting the opportunity to become England’s number one was down to being at Everton, I believe, and being able to put in solid performances week in and week out.

“Coming to Everton, a massive club with a massive history and seeing how passionate and determined the fans are, it’s inspired me to perform week in and week out and it’s moved my career on, without question.”

Things haven’t yet gone as well at club level for Pickford, though, as Everton finished a disappointing campaign in eighth last season and are currently 12th in the Premier League after six league games under new boss Marco Silva.

However, Pickford wants to go onto become a “legend” at Goodison Park.

“This is a great club for me and, hopefully, we can get the success for the fans to earn the right to be a legend at Everton one day, each and every one of us.”

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Amunike
FeaturedNIGERIAN FOOTBALL

Coach Amunike ready to build the Tanzania challenge

by Brila
written by Brila

Tanzania coach and former Super Eagles winger Emmanuel Amunike admits leading the Taifa Stars is a challenge but his team are ready to build.

The former Nigeria international is now preparing to face Cape Verde in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in October.

The 1994 Caf African Footballer of the Year is confident he has the strategy to lead Tanzania to a first Nations Cup finals since 1980.

“Being the head coach of the Tanzania senior team is a challenging job,” he told BBC Sport.

“Hopefully, we do our best and I believe that hard work is a non-negotiable term in whatever we do in life. You just have to do what you know best.”

The Taifa Stars are Amuneke’s first role as coach of a senior national team and he began with a goalless draw in neighbouring Uganda in 2019 Nations Cup qualifier.

“We achieved our objective. We were clear with what we want to do and we worked towards it,”

“I am proud of the players – I had only spent 10 days with the team and we could see the character in the team.

“I told them that we were coming here to fight and that is exactly what we saw.”

While the 47-year-old, who won the Nations Cup as a player in 1994 with Nigeria, was happy with his first result he knows there is more work to be done.

“What we actually want to do is to continue to look at our teams and the areas we can continue to grow,” he continued.

“The four teams in that group all have one ambition and the objective is to make it to the Nations Cup.

“Every game is totally different. Every game comes with different challenges and a different approach.”

“What we are doing is to be realistic and be truthful to ourselves as a team, look at the areas we want to improve and look at the areas we have been doing good and continue to improve on that.”

Ahead of their back-to-back games against Cape Verde the Taifa Stars are on two points from their two Nations Cup qualifiers after a 1-1 draw with last year.

Amuneke, who also played for Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon and Zamalek in Egypt, made a name at youth level with Nigeria.

He was an assistant win Nigeria won the 2013 Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and was head a head coach when they retained their title two years later in Chile.

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D'tigress
OTHER SPORTSUncategorized

Greece’ game was as difficult as expected – D’Tigress’ star Akaraiwe

by Brila
written by Brila

D’Tigress Forward, Nkem Akaraiwe says the team’s victory over Greece in Wednesday’s quarter-final qualification game was as difficult as expected, although the result fell short of what they’d hoped for.

 

The Nigerian team picked their third win of the tournament in a 57-56 victory over the Europeans to set up a quarter-final meeting with the defending champions, Team USA.

 

In a related development, D’Tigress Head coach Hughley Otis Jr. was peeved with officiating in the fourth quarter of the quarter-final qualification game against Greece.

 

According to his reports, Otis switched tactics to a more defensive strategy in the final quarter because he felt some bias in the officiating that saw genuine calls ignored for Nigeria.

 

D’Tigress won by a single point in the final seconds of the encounter.

 

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Pogba
WORLD FOOTBALL

Pogba vs Mourinho: Manchester United fans – Who do you support?

by Brila
written by Brila

Paul Pogba’s relationship with Jose Mourinho appears to be fractured beyond repair after the Manchester United boss said the French World Cup star would never captain the side again.

 

Subsequently, A frosty footage came in from the United’s training ground… See below:

 

 

Pogba, who returned to Manchester in 2016 for a then world-record fee of? 89 million ($117 million) struggled towards the end of last season, left out of the starting line-up or substituted on a number of occasions.

 

Fresh from playing a pivotal role in France’s World Cup success, the midfielder has started to deliver on his price tag this season scoring four times so far and deputizing as captain in the absence of Antonio Valencia.

 

Who do you support in all of these confrontations?

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UEFA Champions League
WORLD FOOTBALL

BREAKING! UEFA announce VAR to be used in Champions League next season

by Brila
written by Brila

Video assistant referee (VAR) technology will be used in the Champions League from next season, UEFA has announced.

 

The UEFA Executive Committee met this morning at the House of European Football in Nyon and decided to introduce Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League, as of the play-off stage of the competition (August 2019).

 

In addition, it was decided that VAR would also be used at the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. UEFA plans to subsequently extend the use of VAR at the final tournament of UEFA EURO 2020, in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League (group-stage onwards), and in the 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals.

 

Commenting on the introduction of VAR, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said:

 

“We are confident that introducing Video Assistant Referees in August 2019 will give us enough time to put in place a robust system and to train match officials to ensure an efficient and successful implementation of VAR in the UEFA Champions League, the world’s flagship club competition.”

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D'tigress
OTHER SPORTS

FIBAWWC: D’Tigress becomes first African team in last 8

by Brila
written by Brila

D’Tigress became the first African team to advance to the quarter-final of the FIBA Women’s World Cup after beating Greece 57-56 in the quarter-final qualification game on Wednesday.

Evelyn Akhator led the way with her third double-double of the competition scoring 14 points and 13 rebounds, Ezinne Kalu had 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, Promise Amukamara added 13 points 3 rebounds while Atonye Nyigifa contributed 10 points and 5 rebounds.

Akhator added 2 assists, 4 steals and 1 block in 30 minutes played.

D’Tigress had a close encounter with the Greek for a large part of the game and tied the game 4 times with 6 lead changes. They, however, took a 15 point lead with 2:45 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Greece were led by Maria Fasoula in the final quarter limiting the D’Tigress to just 9 points as against 19 scored by Greece.

Fasoula had 18 points and 12 boards while Evanthia Maltsi added 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Nigeria who were down by 1 point in the final 20 seconds had Elo Edeferioka and Kalu converting 3/4 free throws awarded to them. Despite Kalu missing her second FT with 2 seconds left, Styliani Kaltsidou could only do little with the defensive rebound.

Following their win against Greece, they made history as the first African team to win three games and the first to reach the quarter-final of the FIBA Women’s World Cup.

Nigeria will next face the United States of America in the quarter-final on Friday.

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Hazard
WORLD FOOTBALL

Is Eden Hazard the best player in the Premier League?

by Brila
written by Brila

Belgian Captain Eden Hazard stole the show after coming on vs Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday Night at the Anfield.

 

Both managers fielded heavily weakened sides for the cup clash ahead of their second meeting of the week on Saturday.

 

However, with the quality in both starting XIs, they could’ve been lining up for a top-flight game. It was the visitors who began the match with more intensity and they saw the better of the early chances.

 

Willian, Ross Barkley and Andreas Christensen were just a few of the players to test Simon Mignolet within the opening 15 minutes.

 

A dreadfully short backpass from Christensen was seized upon by the former Blue but after rounding Caballero, he somehow sent his off-balance shot wide of the gaping net.

 

Moments later, Willian managed to pick out Morata six yards from the Liverpool goal but the Spaniard couldn’t keep his header below the crossbar.

 

Barkley’s lazy header was then pounced upon by Mane but he failed to score in a one-on-one situation with the Blues keeper knowing very little about the save.

 

After plenty of second-half pressure, Klopp’s side finally got their noses in front and it was Sturridge who made amends for his earlier miss.

 

The ex-England international acrobatically got to the rebound of Keita’s shot and sent a bicycle kick flying into the unattended Chelsea net.

 

20 minutes came and went following the goal and the visitors didn’t look like equalizing but they created an opening out of nothing.

 

Eden Hazard whipped in a free-kick from the right-hand side and after Mignolet kept out Barkley’s header, Emerson Palmieri was on hand to poke in the rebound.

 

The officials went through an extensive check of VAR with a hint of offside but the goal stood and the game looked destined for penalties.

 

Although, with a shootout looming, the contest exploded into life with both sides going hammer and tongs searching for a winner.

 

Sturridge came within an inch of getting the third goal as his bending strike from 25 yards crashed onto the bar before his former team-mate stole the show.

 

Hazard picked the ball up 30 yards from goal before majestically dancing past three Red shirts and smashing an unstoppable strike beyond a helpless Mignolet to send the travelling fans into pandemonium.

 

The World Cup star had come halfway through the second-half and always looked dangerous but no one would’ve expected a goal of such top quality when he replaced Willian.

 

With Eden Hazard’s exploit this season;

Do you think he is the Best player in the Premier League?

Drop your opinions in our comment section…

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Libya
WORLD FOOTBALL

Libya National team to open Camp in Tunis on October 8 ahead Super Eagles clash

by Brila
written by Brila

Libya’s national team will formally open camp in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, on October 8, ahead of their trip to battle the Super Eagles in Nigeria on October 12.

 

Although Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are yet to officially name a venue for the first leg of the Afirca Cup of Nations qualifier, Libya’s coach, Adel Amrouche is going ahead with his plans.
Considering that Libya have already decided on hosting the second leg in Tunis on October 15, Amrouche reasons it would be apt to start getting familiar with the terrain from preparations for the first match as well.
Heading into the double-fixture in October, Amrouche also hinted that he will name up to five new faces for the match, which has now been touted to hold at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on October 12.
Libya top Group E of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers with four points ahead of their double-fixture with the Eagles, for which Hussein said preparations are already in place.
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