Football

Morocco Advance to AFCON Final

Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was the hero with two saves in the shoot-out as hosts Morocco beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties to set up an Africa Cup of Nations final showdown this weekend with Senegal after a tense last-four clash on Wednesday finished 0-0 at the end of extra time.

Bounou saved from Samuel Chukwueze and brilliantly from Bruno Onyemaechi, allowing Youssef En-Nesyri to convert the winning kick and spark wild celebrations among the 65,458 crowd inside the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.

There was joy but also relief for Hamza Igamane, who had appeared distraught after his kick — Morocco’s second in the shoot-out — was saved by Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali.

He was the only Moroccan player to fail to score in the shoot-out, however, with captain and talisman Achraf Hakimi among those who converted their penalties.

Morocco will now play Senegal on Sunday for the title after the Lions of Teranga defeated Mohamed Salah’s Egypt 1-0 in the other semi-final earlier in Tangiers thanks to a Sadio Mane goal — that will be a clash between the top two African sides in the FIFA world rankings.

“It was one of the hardest matches we have had against a very solid and talented team,” said Morocco coach Walid Regragui, who played in the last Atlas Lions side to reach the final when they lost to Tunisia in 2004.

“I am very happy for the players and for the Moroccan people who really deserve this.

“It is a great gift for them to be in the final but we will need to recover quickly because we put a lot of energy into this game.”

Morocco have been under enormous pressure to deliver a first AFCON title for their country in half a century but will be confident of coming out on top against Senegal with their support behind them.

However, as their dream remains alive it is an agonising way for Nigeria’s hopes to end, two years after they lost the final to the hosts in Ivory Coast — they had been hoping to win a fourth Cup of Nations crown to match the tally of rivals Ghana.

Led by two recent winners of the African player of the year prize in Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, Nigeria had been arguably the best team at the tournament up to the semi-finals and the top scorers with 14 goals.

But they created next to nothing during the 120 minutes here and must settle for Saturday’s third-place play-off against Egypt in Casablanca before watching the World Cup from afar following their failure to qualify.

Hard to take for Super Eagles

“The players fought for every ball and it is difficult to lose on penalties, but this is football and we have to accept it,” said Nigeria coach Eric Chelle.

“It is difficult to play here in Morocco because you have to play against the team and against the crowd.”

Doubts about the Moroccan team’s ability to handle the enormous pressure of playing at home had dissipated following their win over Cameroon in the quarter-finals.

The 2022 World Cup semi-finalists had been whistled by their own fans at times during the group phase here, but this time those supporters did their bit by responding to any Nigerian spell of possession with deafening jeers.

A frenetic opening spell to the contest saw the Moroccan winger Brahim Diaz -– probably the tournament’s outstanding player -– curl a shot wide before Alex Iwobi teed up Lookman at the other end for a shot that was well saved.

Morocco had chances, including a free-kick from Hakimi and a shot from Ismael Saibari that was well saved by Nwabali.

However, the second half was more cagey and the clock ran down on normal time, while the spectre of penalties grew larger as the extra half-hour progressed.

It seemed Nigeria were settling for the shoot-out, even taking off Osimhen as they hoped to repeat their win on penalties in the 2024 semi-final against South Africa.

However, Morocco had also famously won on penalties against Spain at the last World Cup and they repeated the trick to reach the final of their Cup of Nations.

Football

Cristiano Ronaldo wishes fans ‘Ramadan Kareem’

Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo wished his fans Ramadan Kareem on Tuesday.

The UAE confirmed the official start date of Ramadan will begin on February 18.

Recently, Ronaldo marked his first match since turning 41 in the best possible way, scoring in Al Nassr’s 2-0 win over Al Fateh on Saturday at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Stadium.

The victory keeps Al Nassr firmly in the Saudi Pro League title race. They are now just one point behind leaders Al Hilal after game week 21.

Making his return to the starting eleven after missing three matches amid a dispute with club management, Ronaldo wasted little time reminding everyone of his value.

In the 18th minute, Sadio Mane delivered a sharp cross into the box and Ronaldo met it first time, guiding the ball into the bottom right corner. It was a calm and clinical finish, the kind that has defined his career for more than two decades.

Al Nassr controlled most of the game after taking the lead. They sealed the win in the 78th minute when Ayman Yahya struck a fine second goal to secure all three points for the visitors.

Al Nassr will aim to extend their winning streak when they face Al Hazem on February 21. With Ronaldo back among the goals and fully focused on football again, the Riyadh giants remain the biggest challenge to Al Hilal in the race for the Saudi Pro League crown.

Football

Messi injury halts Inter Miami Puerto Rico friendly

Argentine star Lionel Messi missed Inter Miami’s training session on Wednesday due to strain in his left hamstring, prompting the American soccer league champions to postpone their friendly match in Puerto Rico.

The Argentine star and captain of Inter Miami was injured during the 2-2 draw with Barcelona Guayaquil in Ecuador last Saturday.

Messi underwent further tests to determine the extent of the injury.

“Unfortunately, I felt some muscle tightness in the last match,” Messi said in a team statement.

The return date of the Qatar 2022 World Cup champion remains uncertain, as the club stated that his gradual return to training “will depend on the improvement of his health and functional condition in the coming days.”

The defending champions will kick off their 2026 league campaign against Los Angeles FC on February 21.

Inter Miami was scheduled to play against Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle on Friday in Puerto Rico, but the team announced the postponement of the match to February 26, three days before its game against rival Orlando in the American league.

Messi, winner of eight Ballon d’Or awards for the world’s best player, continued, addressing the Puerto Rican fans: “We were really looking forward to seeing you. So we worked with the club to find an alternative date so we could travel and play in Puerto Rico.”

He concluded by saying, “We know how excited and eager you are to watch the Inter Miami match, and we would be delighted if that happens soon

Asharq -Al Awsat

Football

Liverpool beat Sunderland through Van’s goal

This victory raised Liverpool’s tally to 42 points in sixth place, while Sunderland’s tally remained at 36 points in eleventh place.

Liverpool’s next match is against Brighton on Saturday, while Sunderland play Oxford United on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Similar to the first-round encounter between the two teams which ended in a 1-1 draw, the match was largely even in terms of possession, chance creation and attacking attempts.

Liverpool had a golden opportunity to score in the 29th minute after Mohamed Salah sent in a cross that Sunderland’s defense failed to deal with, allowing the ball to reach German Florian Wirtz, but he hesitated in shooting it directly in front of the goal,

In the second half, the performance continued at the same pace, with Liverpool making attempts met by sporadic attacks from Sunderland. However, the team of Dutch coach Arne Slott lacked the decisive attacking rhythm capable of threatening the home team’s goal more effectively.

In the 61st minute, Liverpool were awarded a corner kick, which Salah delivered perfectly onto the head of Van Dijk, who headed it into the net, giving his team the lead.

Liverpool were forced to substitute their Japanese player Wataru Endo in the 69th minute after he suffered a serious injury, before Slott brought on Englishman Curtis Jones in place of Dutchman Cody Gakpo in the 75th minute.

Despite this important victory, Liverpool are still outside the European qualification spots for next season, specifically the Champions League, as they need to achieve more victories to move up the standings and catch up with one of the qualifying spots.

The Reds are now three points behind their rivals Manchester United, who are in fourth place and could only manage a 1-1

Asharq -Al Awsat