Olympics
This is how Brazil will play against Super Falcons in Bordeaux
Nigeria’s women football team, Super Falcons are returning to the Olympic Games 16 years after their last participation. Sports Village Square recalls that the team is starting from where they ended – a clash with Brazil.
The Brazilians were the last team the Super Facons faced at Beijing 2008. This time, they are meeting at Bordeaux this Thursday.
Sports Village Square investigated the Brazilian team which the Super Falcons will face at Stade de Bordeaux.
Brazil have a nice mix of star quality with experience, as well as a number of promising youth players expecting to make the squad.
Their new coach, Arthur Elias, joined the team after last year’s World Cup and has since led Brazil to a final in the Gold Cup earlier in the year.
The team looks on the up, and with Brazil recently being announced as the next hosts of the Women’s World Cup, there is plenty of optimism among the nation about its future.
Following Brazil’s women’s Copa America win in 2022, they sealed their spot at the Olympics and are now placed in a group along with Spain, Japan and Nigeria.
Their current group is tough, but with a third-place spot potentially being enough to qualify, Brazil expect to reach the knockout stages. The team operates a 3-4-2-1 formation.
There are several experienced heads in the Brazil squad. Seven of the players are 30 years old or older, which would have given them numerous attempts at both the World Cup and the Olympics in the past.
.A further six of the starting eleven for Brazil are in their prime years of their career, between 27 and 30 years old.
This mix of experience, peak performers, and several young stars joining the team makes an exciting combination, shaping up a side ready to battle at the Olympics in the perfect conditions and balance of the squad.
Information gleaned from the publication of Total Football Analysis focuses on Brazil women’s team since Elias took charge in October of last year, and how he has been setting his team up in the past few months.
His most likely starting line-up against the Super Falcons runs thus: Luciano, a 37-year old will be in goal following her strong showing in the Gold Cup earlier this year. In 12 league games for her club, Ferroviaria, she conceded five goals showing the strong form .
Antonia Silva is expected to start at the right side of the back three. She has performed the role in 14 of the coach’s 15 games in charge. In the heart of defence – the centre of the back three, 21-year-old Lauren will likely play.
At left centre-back, Rafaelle has regularly featured in the role. After swapping Arsenal in England’s FA Women’s Super Leaguen for Orlando Pride, she is currently part of the defence which has only conceded eleven goals in thirteen league games.
Adriana, Rafaelle’s teammate, will likely hold the width on the right flank, playing as the wing-back, although she is an attacking-minded player.
Duda Sampaio of Corinthians is reportedly helping her club dominate the league with 12 wins in the 13 opening games of the season from the centre of the pitch.
Although she is a more attack-minded option, her partner, Duda Santos, will attempt to provide some balance. At left wing-back, Yasmim, a natural left-back, will play.
Bia Zaneratto is expected to start on the right-hand side in the front three.
The front three will remain fairly narrow, so even though she has often started as the centre forward for her club and managed nine goal contributions in eight league starts, the role will be fairly similar for Brazil.
On the left side, 38-year-old Brazil legend Marta is expected to play, although she missed the Gold Cup earlier in the year.
Gabi Nunes will lead the line at centre forward after 11 goals in 23 starts for Levante in the Spanish Primera Division.
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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