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WWC: Renard heads late winner as France beat Brazil

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Captain Wendie Renard headed a late winner as France beat Brazil in a thrilling game in Brisbane at the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Eugenie le Sommer put the French ahead after 17 minutes, before Debinha pulled Brazil level in the second half.

There was end to end action as two of the pre-tournament favourites delivered a game which lived up to expectations.

But it was Renard – who had been an injury doubt – who headed in the decisive goal with seven minutes to go.

“She is the leader of the team,” France manager Herve Renard said of his captain. “If she was not able to play today then it wouldn’t be the same. We were lucky to have her today.”

Brazil would have qualified for the last 16 with victory but instead must wait until the final matchday to try to book a knockout spot.

Pia Sundhage’s side meet Jamaica in their final group match, while France take on Panama. Both games will be played on 2 August, kicking off at 11.00 BST.

Following a disappointing draw in their opening game against Jamaica and fitness concerns for key players – in particular Renard, who started having been touch and go with a calf problem – this was a make or break game for France.

The stakes were further heightened by a frenetic atmosphere in Brisbane, where the overwhelming majority of fans were in the yellow shirts of Brazil. When the Brazilian anthem was sung, you could have closed your eyes and imagined you were in the Maracana.

But France rose to the challenge, as their two on-pitch leaders – Renard, and all-time top scorer Le Sommer – took charge.

Their first goal was excellent. Sakina Karchaoui started the move with a left-footed cross from deep, Kadidiatou Diani kept it alive and Le Sommer was there with a perfectly cushioned header to steer the ball past Brazil keeper Leticia..

It was her 90th goal in 181 caps, and calms concerns about the French attack following the blunt showing versus Jamaica – which had led to recriminations among the squad, Le Sommer revealed.

“I think the turning point came from Jamaica,” she said. “Things got heated in the dressing room.

“Today we were up to scratch. We hope we can use this to improve even more so but it’s three points in the bag and we showed what we were made of.”

The celebrations after Le Sommer’s goal were telling. Goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin ran to the bench and jumped into a scrum of about 10 celebrating substitutes. Manager Renard joined in too, high-fiving everyone.

Then, as it appeared they would have to settle for one point, captain Renard arrived at the back post unmarked to head in Selma Bacha’s deep corner.

“I told you I trusted my girls,” manager Herve Renard said. “I was fully confident they were going to pull it out of the bag.

“Sometimes, it is good to get off to a shaky start as that sets the alarm bells ringing and then you can get back on your feet. We knew not to make any mistakes.”

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Jos, Plateau Comes Alive As NNL AGA Holds This Friday

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All is set for the Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria National League which is scheduled to hold in the capital city of Plateau state.

Already, stakeholders have started arriving the Tin City for the one-day deliberation.

The AGA which is the first activity of the season will see the NNL board meet with the 40 club representatives to fashion our all formalities for a successful season.

Kickoff date, format, funding and other matters of critical importance will be decided at the assembly.

NNL Chairman George Aluo who is already on the ground, gave further insight on the agenda.

“At the NNL AGA we will be rubbing minds with the club owners, share our thoughts and plans with them and be on the same page and decide when the league will start basically, as that is the most important thing so that after the AGA in Jos, we should be able to tell Nigerians when the league will kickoff.”

He continued, “The President of the NFF Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau has given us a mandate to start the league on time and ensure it aligns with the international calendar and that is the direction we want to go. So we have come up with our own plans and by the time we finish with our AGA in Jos, we’ll tell Nigerians what the plans are and how the league will be played.

He revealed that the board ” has put some plans in place as the NNL has been able to partner with the National Institute for Sports (NIS) for a pre-season capacity building seminar for our coaches. We want to upscale our coaches to make them better. Already, we have invited some resource persons from the NIS and the Technical Director of the NFF Augustine Eguavoen who will be involved in that and a Portuguese coach Thiago Conde so, at the end of the day, we would have upscale our coaches technically and before the start of the season by the time you’ve taken them to the classroom, I’m sure it will rub-off on the NNLas the 2023-2023 season gets underway.”

He appreciated the Plateau state Government for hosting the board as they begin deliberation this Friday.

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Colombia 2024: Falconets progress to third round as Mauritius withdraw

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The Mauritius Football Association has notified the Confederation of African Football of the withdrawal of the country’s U20 Women National Team from the ongoing African qualifying series for next year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals.

“Kindly note that CAF was informed of the withdrawal of Mauritius FA from the African qualifiers of FIFA U20 WWC 2024. Consequently, Nigeria is qualified to the next round of the competition and the missions of all officials of matches 37 & 38 are cancelled,” read a communication from CAF to the Nigeria Football Federation.

The Falconets were to fly to Mauritius next week for the first leg in Saint Pierre against the Mauritius U20 girls, with the return leg scheduled for the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday, 14th October.

With this situation, 2022 World Cup quarter-finalists Nigeria now progress to the next round of the qualification series.

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Confed Cup: Insurance players vow to beat RS Berkane for their chief motivator, Obaseki

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As Federation Cup champion, Bendel Insurance of Benin plays RS Berkane on Friday in a Caf Confederation Cup match, the players and officials said they are ready to shed blood to win for the good people and government of Edo State especially their number one supporter and motivator Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Though Insurance has a mountain to climb in the decisive leg in Morocco after they were forced to a 2-2 draw by RS Berkane at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, in the first leg on Saturday, September 16, they are confident that will beat their host and qualify for the next round of the competition.

Monday Odigie’s side will miss the services of striker Osarenkhoe Imade, who scored their opener in the first leg as well as their other goal in the last round.

The 22-year-old just penned a deal with United Arab Emirates side, United FC.

Despite missing their highest goal scorer from last season, stand-in captain and goalkeeper, Amas Obasigie, echoed the confidence of the team.

“Knowing the honour that awaits us if we beat our opponents to qualify for the group stage, we are going to fight for everything in the field of play to go home happy. We made two mistakes in Benin and will not want a repeat. We are facing very strong opponents who have been champions twice in a space of three years, but we will not allow their intimidation to affect our play. They should expect a good fight from us the way they also fought in Benin.

“Above all, we want to fight to win for our state Governor, who has been wonderful in giving his all, in sponsorship and motivation that has taken us thus far both in the domestic league and continental level,” Obasogie said.

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