Sports
Man City did not match Liverpool’s passion, says Guardiola
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City failed to match Liverpool’s hunger to win the Premier League title after his side’s two-year reign as champions came to an end on Thursday.
Guardiola’s side handed Liverpool their first English title for 30 years after losing 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
After playing second fiddle to City for the last two years, Liverpool have stormed to the title with a remarkable 28 wins from their 31 league games to open up a 23-point gap at the top of the table.
Guardiola conceded his players struggled to emulate the desire and drive shown by Jurgen Klopp’s team.
“Maybe we didn’t arrive with the same passion; Liverpool played every single game like it was the last chance they have,” Guardiola said.
“And maybe we didn’t get that moment, especially the key moments in the first part of the season.
“That is the reality, that we are so far behind. Liverpool were fantastic consistency throughout the whole season.
“We dropped points at the beginning of the season and Liverpool didn’t drop points.”
Liverpool’s title triumph comes with a record seven games still to play and the Reds could go on to smash a whole series of records set by Guardiola’s City two years ago.
Urging City to maintain their focus better in future, Guardiola is well aware of the task his side face to regain the title next term.
“We’ll have to recover for next season, to be more consistent, and recover the points we missed this season.
“That’s reality. Two years ago we were 25 points ahead of Liverpool, and now they are this distance ahead.”
Guardiola had known the title was on its way to Merseyside for months after Liverpool opened up a huge lead before the coronavirus hiatus.
Now the City manager has challenged his stars to learn from the painful experience.
“We have to take a little perspective, be humble, and say ‘not all the time we can win’,” he said.
“Then we must learn what we need to do to avoid this situation again.”
Guardiola is confident of a City response next season but is concentrating on finishing this season on a high in the FA Cup and Champions League.
The holders travel to Newcastle in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday and hold a 2-1 lead over Real Madrid from the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
“Now we have I would say still five, six weeks of competition, especially Sunday with the FA Cup.
“It’s important to get to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, get qualification for the Champions League, and after that the Champions League itself.
“I’ve never thought ‘always we can win’, but we can say, the last 10 competitions we played as a club we won eight titles.
“That’s never happened before in this country. You cannot win all the time and always.”
Guardiola appeared to blame the absence for most of the season of injured French centre-back Aymeric Laporte for City’s spluttering form.
“We missed one important central defender. That was a real big problem for us,” he said.
Sports
EPL to adopt semi-automated offside technology next season
The English Premier League (EPL) says semi-automated offside technology will be used in matches from next season.
The league announced the decision in a statement on its website on Thursday.
The decision was made after a unanimous agreement by all the clubs at a Premier League Shareholders’ meeting.
The technology will be ready for use from the 2024/25 season after the autumn international breaks.
“The new system will be used for the first time in the Premier League next season, and it is anticipated the technology will be ready to be introduced after one of the autumn international breaks,” the statement reads.
“The technology will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and will produce high-quality broadcast graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.”
The first usage of the semi-automated offside technology in top-level football was at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The offside rule has been subjected to change in recent years, with the video assistant referee (VAR) technology also deployed to assist the on-field officials in checking for offside calls leading to a goal.
The EPL further updated its offside rule in the summer of 2023 to include that “a player who is clearly offside should not become onside on every occasion when an opponent moves and touches the ball.”
Sports
Nigerian chess master, Tunde Onakoya sets to break Guinness World Record
Nigerian chess master, Tunde Onakoya has revealed plans to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Onakoya who made the plan known on his X account on Friday said that he is “doing this for the dreams of millions of children across Africa without access to education.”
He added that the attempt will hold on April 17th at the New York City’s Times Square and he is to play chess for 58 hours without a single defeat.
He wrote, “On the 17th of April 2024, I will attempt to break the Guiness World record for the longest Chess marathon in the heart of Times Square New York City for 58 hours without losing a game. Doing this for the dreams of millions of children across Africa without access to education.”
Onakoya disclosed that the attempt will start at 10am and would be available for all to stream on YouTube.
10am
— Tunde Onakoya (@Tunde_OD) April 12, 2024
It will also be streamed live on YouTube for everyone to follow online.
Need all Nigerians in New York to turn up massively for this one. https://t.co/i5Iy6hZdf5
He appealed to Nigerians residing in New York, urging them to come forward and provide their enthusiastic support as he strives to establish a new world record.
Tunde Onakoya is renowned for his philanthropic efforts, notably utilizing chess as a tool to offer opportunities for young people residing in the marginalized areas, often referred to as ‘slums,’ within the country.
Sports
NFF reappoints Manu Garba as Golden Eaglets head coach
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has reappointed Manu Garba as the head coach of the Golden Eaglets.
The federation announced the appointment in a statement on Friday.
Garba held the same position in 2013 when he led the Golden Eaglets to win the FIFA U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
His world-conquering squad included Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi, Isaac Success, Musa Mohammed, Chidiebere Nwakali and Dele Alampasu.
After a brief stint handling the men’s U-20 squad, Garba was reappointed to the Golden Eaglet role in 2018.
His second spell bore little success as his team crashed out in the Round of 16 of the 2019 U-17 World Cup in Brazil.
Garba’s latest stint with the team will commence with the preparation for next month’s WAFU B U-17 Championship, taking place in Ghana.
He will be hoping to put together a team that will surpass Nigeria’s performance at the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), where the country crashed out in the quarter-final and failed to qualify for the age-grade World Cup.
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