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MANCHESTER CITY’S TITLE BID IN TATTERS
Manchester City’s faint hopes of retaining the Premier League title were left in tatters as they blew a two-goal lead and had Ederson sent off in a dramatic 3-2 defeat at Wolves on Friday.
Pep Guardiola’s side recovered from Ederson’s 12th minute dismissal to take control thanks to Raheem Sterling’s double either side of half-time.
But City’s fatigued stars were unable to go the distance as Adama Traore’s goal started a thrilling Wolves fightback.
Raul Jimenez equalised with eight minutes to go and Matt Doherty hit the winner to send Molineux wild in the 89th minute.
Third placed City trail runaway leaders Liverpool by 14 points and, Jurgen Klopp’s red-hot team have a game in hand, making it hard to imagine the champions getting their hands on the trophy for a third successive season.
Wolves, flying high in fifth place, have contributed to City’s downfall more than most and, after winning 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October, they celebrated a top-flight double over the Manchester club for the first time since 1960-61.
The only blemish for Wolves were the missiles thrown from the stands when City celebrated their second goal, an incident that prompted the Football Association to launch an investigation.
Referee Martin Atkinson was seen passing a metal hip flask to the fourth official as an announcement over the tannoy warned “numerous instances of objects being thrown have been seen. CCTV will be used to prosecute offenders”.
It was a bitter night for Guardiola, whose team have lost five league games this season after being beaten just four times in the whole of last term.
City had looked closer to their best in recent wins over Arsenal and Leicester, but they could not have made a worse start at Molineux.
When Diogo Jota escaped with a well-timed run behind the City defence, Ederson rashly raced out of his area.
The Brazilian misjudged the bounce of the ball and clipped Jota, earning a red card. Guardiola then replaced Sergio Aguero with reserve keeper Claudio Bravo.
City responded by snatching the lead in controversial fashion in the 25th minute.
Riyad Mahrez made an incisive run that ended with Leander Dendoncker stepping on the Algerian’s foot, leading VAR to award a penalty.
That was not the end of the drama as Sterling’s low spot-kick was saved by Rui Patricio, only for VAR to intervene again as the penalty was retaken for encroachment.
RELENTLESS PRESSURE
Guardiola appeared to signal for a change of penalty taker, but Sterling stepped up and shot to the same side of Patricio’s goal with his second kick.
Again the Wolves keeper kept it out, but this time Sterling followed up to tap in the rebound.
When Sterling doubled the lead in the 50th minute, City looked in charge.
Rodri picked out Kevin De Bruyne and he played a perfectly-weighted pass behind the Wolves defence to Sterling.
Beating the offside trap with ease, Sterling ran clear on goal and clipped a deft finish over Patricio for his 19th club goal of the season.
But Sterling’s eventful night wasn’t finished yet and, when he surrendered possession carelessly in midfield five minutes later, Wolves took advantage to reduce the deficit.
Traore’s blistering pace makes him a tough opponent, so City backed off just enough to allow the wing-back to blast a low drive past Bravo from 20 yards.
Wolves’ relentless pressure in the closing stages finally forced City to crack.
Benjamin Mendy made a mess of trying to shepherd the ball out for a goal-kick and Traore stole possession.
Traore crossed for Jimenez to stab past Bravo from close-range, leaving City’s exhausted players on their knees in frustration.
There was even worse to come for City in the 89th minute as Doherty took Jimenez’s backheel, slalomed past Nicolas Otamendi and smashed a fine finish into the far corner.
Sterling nearly rescued City in stoppage-time but his shot cannoned off the bar to push the champions a step closer to surrendering their crown.
-AFP
UEFA appears poised for an emergency vote on suspending Israel from European competition next week, with national federations scrambling to position themselves amid mounting political pressure following calls for action.
The brewing crisis intensified this week when United Nations experts called for Israel’s suspension from international football amid the unfolding genocide in occupied Palestinian territory.
A source confirmed that Europe’s soccer body could potentially decide next week to vote on whether to suspend Israel from European competition.
Should UEFA vote to ban Israel, it would put the organisation on a collision course with the government of the United States — co-hosts for the 2026 World Cup — which is vehemently against such a motion.
“We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup,” a spokesperson for the U.S. state department told Sky News.
But even though UEFA has the power to suspend Israel or its clubs from their competitions, it may not be able to stop them from competing in World Cup qualifiers, which fall under the ambit of global soccer body FIFA.
The general secretaries of all UEFA national associations are meeting this week in Marbella, where Israel is not officially on the agenda, but officials expect UEFA to call an emergency vote next week.
FIFA did not respond to a Reuters request for comment while UEFA declined to comment.
Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub said Israelis should not be allowed to participate in any matches, whether they are under UEFA or FIFA.
“Israel has violated the principles, values and FIFA’s statutes. Therefore, I believe that Israel should be sanctioned,” Rajoub told TV2.
“The sanctions should come from UEFA and FIFA.”
WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Israel’s national team are set to face Norway and Italy, the top two teams in their World Cup qualifying group, next month.
“We don’t have any indications that we are facing such an act (UEFA suspension),” a spokesperson for the Israel Football Association told Reuters.
“We are focusing on our international matches against Norway and Italy.”
Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) is one of the member associations that have been the driving force behind calling for a meeting on the Israel situation. The NFF declined to comment.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the NFF and a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, has also been vocal about the crisis in Gaza ahead of her country’s home game against Israel on October 11.
“Neither we nor other organisations can remain indifferent to the humanitarian suffering and disproportionate attacks that the civilian population in Gaza has been subjected to for a long time,” Klaveness said in a statement last month.
“We want to donate the proceeds (from the game) to a humanitarian organisation that saves lives in Gaza every day and provides active emergency aid on the ground.”
The Dutch football federation (KNVB) said it knows nothing about a vote to suspend Israel.
“As soon as the football association receives a message about this, it will take a position,” the KNVB told Dutch outlet NOS.
Last week, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be banned from international sports competitions. However, officials from the Spanish FA (RFEF) have kept a low profile on the matter.
Israel maintains that its war is not against the population of Gaza but against the Hamas militant group whose fighters led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and precipitated the war.
The subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, according to local health officials.
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A hat-trick from George Agha and a sublime free-kick goal from David Edeh ensured a comfortable start for five-time world champions Nigeria in the WAFU-B U17 Championship, as the Golden Eaglets routed Baby Cheetahs of Benin Republic 4 -1 in Yamoussoukro on Wednesday.
Agha converted from the spot three minutes into the game after Boluwatife Thompson was hacked inside the box.
Edeh displayed fantastic football artistry to score from a free-kick in the 5th minute of the encounter.
The Eaglets were in cruise control as Agha bagged his brace in the 14th minute. The charges of Manu Garba were very dominant with a three-goal advantage.
Warris Soumanou in goal for Benin Republic was caught napping and his error of judgement gave the Eaglets another goal after a beautiful exchange of passes and dribbles between Thompson and Edeh, which set up Agha for his hat-trick in the 32nd minute.
It was raining goals and it was the turn of the Beninoise in the 45th minute, as a low drive from Jeremy Zannou gave the Baby Cheetahs a consolation goal.
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Mohamed Salah’s dramatic stoppage-time penalty ensured Liverpool maintained their winning start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory at promoted side Burnley on Sunday.
With British record signing Alexander Isak forced to wait for his Liverpool debut having been left out the squad for the trip to Lancashire, the champions struggled to break down a dogged home side in the first half.
After a regroup at the break, the visitors upped the ante in the second half, with Dominik Szoboszlai finally forcing a fine save from Martin Dubravka in the Burnley goal.
Burnley were holding on for a well-earned point with ease, before the ball agonisingly struck substitute Hannibal Mejbri’s arm in the penalty area and Salah slotted the spot kick into the net in the 95th minute to break home hearts.
Liverpool are still to really get going this season, requiring a winner in the last 10 minutes of all four of their league victories so far. The goal that clinched an undeserved success at Turf Moor was certainly the most fortunate.
After one of the longest transfer sagas in Premier League history finally reached its expected conclusion, Liverpool supporters were forced to wait two weeks for their first glimpse of their 125-million-pound ($169.45-million) goal machine due to the international break.
While coach Arne Slot said this week that Isak would have to be utilised carefully due to his previous injuries and lack of action so far this season, the Swede was still expected to at least be on the bench at Turf Moor.
The wait goes on as, without their expensive new forward, Liverpool mustered just one shot on target in the first half, from left-back Andrew Robertson.
Burnley, who conceded the fewest goals in English football league history last term to earn them promotion, otherwise frustrated the champions with ease. Even Lesley Ugochukwu’s red card for two bookings in the 84th minute did not seem to fluster them.
Even without Isak, Liverpool still had much attacking talent on the Turf Moor pitch but they just could not find that killer pass.
Salah was especially below par but he made no mistake in the most pressurised moment after Hannibal had stuck up an arm to block Jeremie Frimpong’s cross
The champions’ impressive Premier League goalscoring streak stretches to 38 games nonetheless, their longest such run in the competition.
-Reuters
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