3-5-2 FOOTBALL

Senegal clinched its first-ever Africa Cup of Nations title after missing out on two previous occasions. The final was a match billed as a battle between Liverpool forwards Sadio Mane , of Senegal, and Egypt captain Mohamed Salah . Mane netted the winning spot-kick as Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties to clinch their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations, after the final ended goalless following extra time. The Liverpool forward had earlier seen a seventh-minute penalty saved by Pharaohs keeper Gabaski . Chelsea's Edouard Mendy denied Mohanad Lasheen to give Mane the chance to win it in Yaounde's Olembe Stadium. After two frustrating finals, Senegal ended their wait to be the Africa Cup of Nations Champions. Egypt missed out on a record-extending eighth continental crown that would also have been a first for Salah. THE MATCH

Defending champions Brazil defeated Spain 2-1 to win their second consecutive gold medal in men’s football after their Gold in Rio. Spain bagged the Silver, while Mexico clinched the Bronze after defeating host Japan in the third placing match. Substitute Malcom delivered the winner in the 108th minute. Here are some interesting facts about the Olympics  football final. 1. It took Brazil 64 years to win their first Olympic gold medal in football. Just five years later, they won their second. 2. Brazil became the fifth team in history to win back-to-back men’s titles at the Olympics. Argentina was the last to accomplish the feat in 2004 and 2008 3. The Rio Olympic final had been played out in front of 63,000 people at the Maracanã. In Yokohama, the teams were confronted with the familiar spectacle of empty plastic seats. The International Stadium is a huge open concrete bowl, agreeably tatty in places, with the sprawling vista that comes from a six-lane old-school running trac...

Ballon d’Or is the greatest footballing individual achievement anybody can get on a global stage. The winner will be handed a gold trophy and this has been handed out to the best player on the planet since 1956. Ballon d'Or was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID19 is now back. The world cannot wait to see the biggest individual honour the game has to offer to the winner in 2021. Although the award will only be handed out in December, performances over these last few weeks will go a long way to deciding who will and won't be in contention to be the next winner of the Golden Ball. With the European season now well behind us and both Euro 2020 and the Copa America also in the books, the world's best players are beginning to come to the fore. Although world football has dozens of talents and potentials to win this coveted award, but the last decade showed a total duopoly between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi securing 11 of the total awards between themselves in the last 1...

Euphoria erupts in the streets of Rome immediately after the victory.  Roberto Mancini  boys became men as they came back from the shock concede and claim a 3-2 victory over  England  at Wembley. Luke Shaw 's goal inside the opening two minutes gave England a lead, which looked like it would hold onto all night. But a goalmouth scramble midway through the second half allowed  Leonardo Bonucci  to poke home an equalizer for  Italy . It was a similar story in the first additional 15 minutes, though England did briefly force their way back into the game in the second period, albeit without either side creating anything to reward the crowd for their waves of noise. So it went to penalties, where England’s young guns failed and Italy took the championship. It is the  Azzurri 's first major title in 15 years since they won the World Cup over France. Gianlucci Donnarumma  saved from  Jadon Sancho  and  Bukayo Saka  after  Ma...

Lionel Messi  finally able to secure his first international medal with Argentina to his collection of  La Liga ,  Champions League ,  World Club Cup ,  Ballon d’Or  and more. Clearly he is in tears, succumbed to the atmosphere finally realizing the dreams have come true at last. Argentina  have also won their first major title in 28 years on Saturday when an  Angel Di Maria  goal gave them a 1-0 win over  Brazil  and a record-equalling 15th  Copa America . The victory also means they draw level with  Uruguay  as the all-time leading winners. Di Maria, starting for just the second time in the Copa, justified his selection by scoring the opener in the 22nd minute in the first half. Argentina managed to defend even when Brazil piled on the pressure in an exciting second half but even with five strikers on the field they could not get an equaliser against an Argentine defence protected by the outstanding  Rodrigo De...

England reached their first major tournament final since 1966 after defeating Denmark 2-1 in Euro quarterfinals. Captain Harry Kane fired his side into European Championship final by tapping in the rebound to his saved penalty in extra-time. Despite being tired of traveling, Denmark showed a lot of determination from the kick-off. Mikkel Damsgaard ended England's run of clean sheets with a superb freekick to beat Jordan Pickford in the 30th minute. The Three Lions responded with increasing the pressure on Denmark. Nine minutes later, Bukayo Saka delivered a fine pass into the danger area for Raheem Sterling , but was intercepted by Simon Kjaer and the ball ended into his own net. ASIA SPORTS CHANNEL The 1-1 score remained until the full time whistle. As the match got into the extra-time, England pegged back a tiring Denmark side. In the 103rd minute, Sterling was brought down in the penalty area by Joakim Maehle . Kane took the spotkick, Kasper Schmeichel saved it but the...

Italy beat Spain 4-2 in penalty shootouts to booked a spot in the Euro 2020 final. The semifinal clash at Wembley Stadium ended with a 1-1 draw and the winner have to be decided through penalties. Alvaro Morata failed to score his spot kick, and Jorginho delivered the winner for the Azzurri . After having impressive runs in this tournament, the match between the two sides was expected to be a very tight contest. In the 60th minute, Federico Chiesa looked as if he had sent Italy through with a wonderful shot from a counter attack. However, Morata came on to slot the equaliser with just 10 minutes left on the clock. Roberto Mancini had lead Italy to be one the best team in this tournament. They had won all their previous 13 games and deserve the place in the final. The Azzurri will play against England or Denmark in the final this Sunday. Photo:  UEFA EURO 2020 THE MATCH