Other Leagues
Delta, Edo qualify from South South rugby elimination series
Delta State Male Rugby Team and Edo State Female Rugby teams have qualified from the South South Zonal Team Sports Elimination played in Asaba over the weekend in preparation for the National Youth Games coming up Ilorin early next month.
According to the Technical Director of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), ‘Mr Rugby’ Obong Ntiense Williams, who coordinated the Rugby Qualifiers for the Zone, “three states contested for the South South Zonal Elimination for Rugby 7’s Event.
“The states are Delta, Rivers and Edo. Unfortunately Akwa Ibom State dropped their rugby team on departure and Bayelsa couldn’t feature their U15’s this time around.”
Said he, “The teams played a round robin games in the Male Rugby 7’s Event. Delta State won two match against Rivers and Edo respectively, thus accumulating eight points.
“Edo State playing with only six players came second by winning a match against Rivers three points to nil and lost one to Delta 28 to 10 points, thus accumulated four points.
“Rivers came third after losing both matches, but had one bonus point when they lost to Edo within seven points.
The Female 7’s event had only two teams Edo and Delta registered as Rivers didn’t come with their Female Rugby team.
Both teams played two matches between themselves. They drew in the first match by 10 points a piece and Edo went on to defeat Delta in the Second Match by 17 to 7 points.
After all the matches, Delta State won the male event and Edo State won the female event and will both represent the Zone early next month for the main National Youth Games in Ilorin.
Meanwhile, the students of St Patrick School where the matches were played trooped out to catch a glimpse of this exciting and beautiful game.
They ended up asking for a Coach and will be producing some of the next National Youth Game U15 Rugby Players for Delta State.
In other Zonal Qualifiers, Lagos State will be representing the South West Zone in both male and female events, while in the South East Zonal elimination that took place in Ebonyi State, Abia State Male and Anambra State female teams have qualified to represent the Zone in Ilorin.
In the other Zonal Qualifiers in the North East, Bauchi State will be representing the zone with a male rugby team, while, Kano State will represent the North West Zone in both the male and female events.
Kwara State completes the North Central zonal representative.
According to Obong Ntiense Williams, “I am so happy that our hard work of introducing Rugby around the country is paying off because, for the first time, we have teams from all the six geo-political zones being represented in the rugby event.
“This is a product of inclusiveness in the mainstream of sports in Nigeria and a fall out from the just completed 20th National Sports Festival held in Edo State earlier this year, where Rugby returned as a scoring event, thus generating the much needed interest from the states which has resulted in positive Rugby development across the Country.”
Jose Mourinho got off to a strong start in his first game as manager of Benfica as his side eased to a comfortable 3-0 win over AVS Futebol SAD in a Primeira Liga clash.
Mourinho, who left Turkey’s Fenerbahce last month, was appointed Benfica manager on Thursday, a day after Bruno Lage was sacked following their shock 3-2 Champions League defeat by Qarabag.
Heorhiy Sudakov opened the scoring for Benfica on the stroke of half-time, before Vangelis Pavlidis and Franjo Ivanovic sealed the three points on Saturday.
Despite the win, the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss was quick to keep expectations in check.
“We worked for an hour and a half yesterday,” the 62-year-old told reporters.
“I thank the players for their professionalism, their passion for the club, but at the same time for the way they welcomed me, the way I felt they were embracing what we were working on, and that’s it.
“If we had lost, it would obviously have been a disaster in terms of points. Winning isn’t phenomenal, but it was the best thing we could do, they needed to win after losing two points and after a psychologically heavy defeat.
“I told them after the game, it was good, but it was nothing extraordinary, hurry up, tomorrow there’s training in the morning.”
Benfica are second in the Portuguese top-flight standings with 13 points from five matches.
-ReutersJoin the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
A quarter of a century after waving Jose Mourinho out of the door, Benfica look to have finally coaxed the ‘Special One’ back — gambling that the sorcery which lit up Porto and dazzled Europe can now be summoned in Lisbon red.
Few recall that before Porto acclaimed him, Mourinho’s first managerial baptism came at Benfica back in 2000 in a tumultuous three-month stint that ended with fans chanting his name as he walked away.
Now, at 62, the prodigal son is set to return to Lisbon, Portuguese TV station RTP reported on Wednesday, amidst the wreckage of a 3-2 home collapse against Azerbaijan side Qarabag, who turned a two-goal deficit into a Champions League scalp.
Ironically, Benfica knocked Mourinho’s former employers Fenerbahce out of Europe barely a fortnight before the Turks bundled him out of a job.
Mourinho’s accomplishments are well known.
The Portuguese, who was born in the coastal town of Setubal, a half-hour’s drive from Lisbon, is widely regarded as one of the best coaches of his generation.
He has claimed league titles in four countries and is one of six managers to lift the European Cup with two clubs as well as the only coach to win all three current UEFA club competitions.
Mourinho’s brief stint after being appointed Benfica manager in 2000 was nothing short of dramatic but it was also crucial as he started building a name and legacy that has kept the club’s fans dreaming of what could have been for over two decades.
Hired in September that year to replace Jupp Heynckes after a dismal start to the season, with two wins out of five games under the German, Mourinho arrived at a club in political turmoil with presidential elections looming and a broken changing room.
Working alongside assistant Carlos Mozer, a former Benfica and Brazil great as a defender, Mourinho managed to block the outside noise from his players and transformed the struggling squad, culminating in a stunning 3-0 victory over heavily favoured local rivals Sporting that left fans jubilant.
But the honeymoon was short-lived. Despite a record of six wins, three draws and two defeats in 11 matches, Mourinho departed just two days after that triumph due to disagreements with newly-elected president Manuel Vilarinho.
“It is a very sad day for us, the day we end our contractual relationship with Benfica,” Mourinho announced on December 5, 2000, in a press room filled with fans chanting his name.
“(Before Mourinho) Benfica played terribly … We had a rubbish team; even I could have played, or at least been a regular substitute,” Vilarinho told reporters.
“And Mr Mourinho, who is an excellent coach and leader of men, almost a wizard, manages to change those mentalities.
“Mr Mourinho beat Sporting 3-0 … And this is a Saturday. On Monday, we have a board meeting and Mr. Mourinho says this: ‘Either you renew my contract for another year or tomorrow I won’t be coaching any more’.
“And he left … I think he never liked me, I don’t know why, he must have thought I didn’t like him,” Vilarinho added, trying to explain how Benfica allowed Mourinho to leave.
Mourinho went on to manage lowly Uniao Leira for a season before joining Porto and leading the Northern Portugal side to unprecedented success by winning back-to-back league titles, a Portuguese Cup, the 2003 UEFA Cup and Champions League in 2004.
After two decades of a roller-coaster career at Chelsea, Inter Milan, where he won the Champions League, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma and Fenerbahce, he is heading home to finish a job that is 25 years overdue.
-Reuters
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Domestic football has resumed in Sudan for the first time in over two years, as the country launches a one-month competition featuring eight top clubs to determine its national champions amid ongoing conflict.
The return of league action comes despite the devastating civil war that has gripped Sudan since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has claimed more than 150,000 lives and displaced around 12 million people, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Among the teams participating in the makeshift tournament are Sudan’s football giants, Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, who have dominated the domestic scene since the national league’s inception in 1965, winning all but four of the titles between them.
During the height of the conflict, both clubs were forced to relocate operations to Mauritania in West Africa, where they played league matches last season.
Al Hilal emerged champions in that campaign while hosting their continental fixtures on neutral ground due to security concerns.
Now back on Sudanese soil, both teams have kicked off their campaigns in the newly introduced Sudanese Elite Championship, which will determine the clubs eligible for the 2025/26 CAF continental competitions.
Matches are being staged in the relatively safer cities of Ad-Damer, located 430 kilometres from the embattled capital Khartoum, and Atbara, about 320 kilometres north.
Al Hilal began their campaign with a win over Al Merghani Kassala, while Al Merrikh also secured victory, edging Ahly Madani 1–0 over the weekend. Their much-anticipated derby clash is scheduled for the final day of the competition on July 22.
The other clubs in the competition are Zamalek, Umm Rawaba, Al Amal Atbara, Hay Al Wadi Nyala, and Merrikh Al Abyad. Each team will play the others once, with seven rounds of fixtures to be completed over the month.
Despite the return of league football, Sudan’s national team remains in limbo, having not played a home match since March 2023.
The Falcons of Jediane are set to compete at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco and are also in contention for a historic first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
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