Other Leagues
Iheanacho’s last-gasp penalty sets up Celtic v Hearts title decider
Celtic’s Kelechi Iheanacho scored a controversial penalty with the last kick of the game to secure a 3-2 win at Motherwell on Wednesday, sending the Scottish Premiership title race to a final-day showdown against leaders Heart of Midlothian.
With Hearts beating Falkirk 3-0 at home and Celtic being held after Motherwell’s Liam Gordon scored an 85th-minute equaliser at Fir Park, a first title in 66 years was within touching distance for the Edinburgh club.
Had it stayed like that, Celtic would have needed to beat Hearts by a three-goal margin at home on Saturday.
But deep in stoppage time, Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson headed away a ball into the area but was adjudged by referee John Beaton, after a VAR check and his viewing a pitch-side monitor, to have brushed the ball with his raised hand despite no Celtic player appealing for it.
Under enormous pressure, Iheanacho stayed ice cool to slot his kick past keeper Calum Ward to spark a pitch invasion by delirious Celtic fans and take an epic title race to a climax on Saturday, where Hearts will need a draw to become the first team other than Celtic or Rangers to be champions since 1985.
While Celtic manager Martin O’Neill praised his side’s never-say-die spirit, Hearts manager Derek McInnes, having watched the video of Celtic’s penalty, struggled to contain his anger.
“It’s disgusting. We’re up against everybody. I don’t think it’s a penalty,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s so poor, and it looks as though (Celtic) have been given it.
“They are very fortunate. It’s going to the last game. We’re delighted to be part of it. We’re going to have to go and get a positive result. What a game it’s going to be.”
Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou described the penalty decision as “shocking”. “I can’t see any paragraph in the rule book that can lead to that being a penalty,” he said.
Hearts have 80 points from 37 games with Celtic, who have won six league games in a row, on 79.
GLUED TO THEIR PHONES
Goals by Frankie Kent, Cammy Devlin and Blair Spittal earned Hearts the points at Tynecastle, where fans were glued to their phones checking on events 40 miles away.
They cheered when news of Elliot Watt’s opening goal for Motherwell came through, and when Kent sent a bullet header into Falkirk’s net after 29 minutes, and Devlin made it 2-0 to Hearts with a deflected shot, the mood was ecstatic.
Some Hearts fans were even shedding tears of joy, although when Celtic equalised at Motherwell through Daizen Maeda, the mood was dampened slightly.
An eerie silence descended on Tynecastle for much of the second half after Benjamin Nygren’s stunning second goal for Celtic changed the dynamics.
All that mattered then was what was happening at Fir Park, where Motherwell were laying siege to the Celtic goal. Motherwell hit the crossbar with a deflected Elliot Watt strike , with Tawanda Maswanhise’s rebound saved by Viljami Sinisalo.
Gordon’s equaliser for Motherwell had the Hearts fans dancing again, but their joy turned to disbelief as events unfolded elsewhere that will raise the ghosts of the last time Hearts were so close to the title.
Forty years ago, Hearts arrived at the final day of the 1985-86 season unbeaten in 27 league games, two points ahead of Celtic and requiring just a draw at Dundee to win the trophy.
Instead, Celtic fan Albert Kidd scored two late goals to give Dundee a 2-0 win at Dens Park, and Celtic romped to a 5-0 victory against St Mirren to snatch the title on goal difference and leave Hearts broken.
-Reuters
Visit the Sports Village Square Channel:
https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Former African champions Ismaily SC, the club beaten by Nigeria’s Enyimba FC in the historic 2003 CAF Champions League final, have been relegated from the Egyptian Premier League after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Wadi Degla FC on Tuesday.
The result confirmed the end of Ismaily’s long-standing stay in Egypt’s top division, as the three-time league champions finished bottom of the four-team relegation group with 19 points.
The relegation marks only the second time in the club’s history that they have dropped out of the top flight and the first since the 1957-58 season. Their earlier relegation came during the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, when the club lost several key players before eventually returning to the elite division.
Founded in 1924 in the north-eastern Egyptian city of Ismailia along the Suez Canal, Ismaily are regarded as one of Egypt’s oldest and most iconic clubs.
For Nigerian football followers, the club remains closely associated with Enyimba’s historic triumph in the 2003 CAF Champions League final — a landmark victory that made the Aba-based side the first Nigerian club to win Africa’s premier club competition.
Enyimba defeated Ismaily 2-1 on aggregate in the final, winning the return leg 2-1 in Cairo after the first leg in Aba ended goalless. The victory launched a golden era for the Nigerian club, which successfully defended the title in 2004.
Ismaily themselves hold an important place in African football history. The Egyptian side became the first club from Egypt to win Africa’s top club competition in 1969, when the tournament was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs.
The club last won the Egyptian league title in the 2001-02 season and also boasts two Egypt Cup trophies.
However, financial difficulties in recent years have badly affected the once-famous club. Reports indicate that Ismaily even published their bank account details publicly at one stage in a bid to encourage supporters to contribute funds toward the club’s survival.
Meanwhile, Wadi Degla’s victory lifted them to 48 points and the top position in the relegation group, keeping alive their hopes of survival.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
A goal scored under soccer’s experimental “daylight” offside rule was allowed for the first time in a professional match on Saturday, with Pacific FC forward Alejandro Diaz on target in a 2-2 draw with Halifax Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League.
The strike would have been ruled out under the standard International Football Association Board Laws of the Game, but stood under the CPL’s ongoing trial conducted in cooperation with FIFA.
The Canadian league is testing the rule this season as part of efforts to reduce marginal offside decisions and encourage attacking play.
Under the system, an attacker is only deemed offside if there is clear “daylight” between them and the second-last defender, rather than being penalised for narrowly being ahead.
The concept, long advocated by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in his role as FIFA’s head of global football development, is being assessed in Canada as a potential change to the offside law.
Diaz’s goal marked the first in-game application of the interpretation, which resulted directly in a goal, offering a glimpse of how the rule could alter attacking patterns and defensive positioning.
The CPL, which launched the trial earlier this month, has provided FIFA with a professional testing ground for the proposal as soccer’s world governing body evaluates whether to expand its use more broadly.
Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy was handed a four-match ban after striking a referee on the head following a 1-1 draw with Ceramica Cleopatra, the Egyptian Pro League said on Thursday.
The Egypt international, who was on the bench for Tuesday’s game, was incensed after Al-Ahly’s appeal for a penalty following a handball in stoppage time was denied.
“He handed a four‑match ban and fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($942) for assaulting the referee by pushing or pulling (use of the hand without violence),” the league said in a statement.
The ban means El-Shenawy, who is expected to be Egypt’s starting goalkeeper at the World Cup in North America, will be sidelined until the final week of the league play-offs.
Al-Ahly are third on 41 points, five points behind leaders Zamalek.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Iran hold World Cup departure rally despite continuing concerns
Iheanacho’s last-gasp penalty sets up Celtic v Hearts title decider
Man City slice Arsenal’s league lead to two points
Breaking! Uzoho suspended from Super Eagles’ next match with Sierra Leone
No longer Super League as CAF changes name of its new clubs competition
NIGERIAN FOOTBALL CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SANUSI CHARGES NIGERIAN COACHES TO BE UPRIGHT, DILIGENT
- World Cup6 days ago
FIFA Plans Three Opening Ceremonies in All Host Nations for 2026 World Cup
- World Cup5 days ago
United States Unveils Hollywood-Style FIFA World Cup 2026 Opening Ceremony
- World Cup5 days ago
Mexico president wavers on plan to cut school year by 40 days for the World Cup
- World Cup6 days ago
Burna Boy Joins Shakira for Official 2026 World Cup Song ‘Dai Dai’
- World Cup1 week ago
Despite 2026 Absence, Nigeria Still Leads Africa’s World Cup Winners’ Chart
- Premier League6 days ago
Man United’s Fernandes and City’s Shaw win FWA Footballer of the Year awards
- World Cup1 day ago
Magic Johnson Leads Campaign to Showcase Los Angeles Ahead of World Cup
- Nigerian Football6 days ago
Sporting Lagos Crowned 2026 NNL Champions After Dramatic Super Four Finale