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Defending Champions, USA Stunned by Portugal in a Goalless Draw

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Defending Champions of the Women’s World Cup, USA escaped defeat on Tuesday at Eden Park as little rated Portugal turned the soccer giants to Lilliputians via a goalless draw saving the Americans what would have been a seismic thunderbolt in world football.

Portugal attempted to become first European side to beat a title holder in a group stage. Portugal is ranked 21 in the world and USA is ranked number 1 so it is a David versus Goliath encounter.

USA tried all the tricks in the books to win neatly using aggressive strategies that got them into bookings. The Americans were more tensed towards the end of the match as Portugal put more pressures to get a goal but kept shooting wide and America had to make two changes at added time of 90+3 minutes of the expected 90+6 minutes to gain time.

This is their first meeting at the world cup where USA had won all 8 matches against all debutantes they have met scoring 18 goals and conceding 4. USA won all their final group games except the 1-2 loss to Sweden in 2011.

Portugal and USA met on 8th November2018 and USA won 1-0; met 30th August 2019 when USA slammed Portugal 4-0; met 4th September 2019 and USA again defeated Portugal 3-0 and 11th June 2021 when USA piped Portugal 1-0.

In the first round, USA lashed Vietnam 3-0 and Netherlands clipped Portugal 1-0. In the second round, USA and Netherlands played 1-1 draw and Portugal won 2-0 over Vietnam.

By this goalless draw, USA is second in group E and qualified with Netherland who tops the group chalking 7 points winning two matches and a draw scoring 9 goals and conceding 1; USA is second with 5 points winning a match and having 2 drawn games scoring 4 goals and conceding 1; Unlucky Portugal had 4 points winning one match, with a draw and a loss scoring 2 goals and conceding one while Vietnam that had no point and scored no goal , no win but conceded 12 goals the highest in the tournament so far rocks the bottom of the group.

Netherlands will meet Runners up of Group G and USA will meet the champions of the group in the Round of 16. Group G qualifiers will be decided tomorrow.

The USA is the most successful women’s team in the world looking for a record 5th win having won the coveted world cup four times in 1991 at China; 1999 at home; 2015 in Canada and 2019 in France. The country also won the Olympics female soccer Gold four times in 1996; 2004; 2008 and 2012. Appearing in all tournaments, she also bagged the Silver in Germany 2011 and made three Bronze medals at Sweden 95; USA 2003 and China 2007.

We are still expecting Group D matches to be decided at 12 noon today as the Lionesses of England tackles China at Hindmarsh Stadium and Haiti faces Denmark at NIB Stadium.

Tomorrow Wednesday 2nd August, Group G matches will be decided simultaneously at 0800 hours. Argentina will square up against Sweden at the FMG Stadium Waikato while South Africa has a herculean task to beat Italy at Wellington Regional Stadium for a surprise win may let Africa have another team at the Round of 16.

Also tomorrow at 1100 hours Group F matches will be determined. Panama the whipped team of the group will try to survive against former Champions, France at the Allianz Stadium while the Reggae Girlz will try to obtain another miracle with a win over the Samba Girls of Brazil at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

By Eniola Olatunji

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Barca Pissed As Yamal Caught In All Night Romp With Strange Model

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Recently, Barcelona’s young star Lamine Yamal has once again found himself embroiled in off-field controversy. Just days after the defeat in the Clásico, on Monday local time last week, he was photographed travelling to Milan with several friends.

 

According to renowned paparazzo Jordi Martín, Yamal attended a party with a prominent Italian model during his trip and spent the night with her – a woman who is not his current girlfriend. Rumours suggest Yamal had previously shared an ambiguous relationship with this model before he began dating his current partner.

During his stay in Milan, Yamal attended a party with a prominent model who was not his current girlfriend Nicki Nicole. It is understood that this model, Anna Gegnoso, is Italian and rumoured to have had a prior romantic connection with Yamal before his relationship with Nicki Nicole began.

According to the photographer, Yamal first attended the party with Anna that evening before the pair spent the night together at Milan’s Armani Hotel – an incident that would undoubtedly displease Nicki Nicole should it prove true. Furthermore, Yamal and his accompanying friends deliberately obstructed media personnel from capturing photographs and footage at the scene.

Jordi Martin further disclosed that this behaviour has provoked considerable displeasure among Barcelona’s club hierarchy. They have grown weary of Yamal’s lifestyle. Several weeks prior, whilst injured, he flew to Croatia for a holiday with Nicki Nicole, publicly sharing photos of their trip on social media – an act that already drew criticism.

This latest incident – reportedly flying to Milan for revelry within hours of the Clásico defeat – has only exacerbated the situation. Particularly given his lacklustre performance against Real Madrid, he now finds himself dominating headlines for off-field reasons.

These successive off-field incidents, coupled with his earlier controversial remarks about Real Madrid at an event, have increasingly raised concerns within Barcelona’s ranks. Club officials fear he is becoming increasingly overwhelmed by this “noise,” drifting away from his core focus on football

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Ronaldo , Messi Top Penalty Misses Ranking List

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According to the statistics in 2025/10/13, here are the top 7 players who miss most of the penalty.

 

Ranking of the number of missed penalties:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo: Missed 34 penalties, a total of 211 penalties taken, penalty kick success rate 83.8%

2. Lionel Messi: Missed 32 penalties, a total of 145 penalties taken, penalty kick success rate 77.9%

3. Neymar: Missed 22 times, a total of 113 penalties, penalty kick success rate 80.5%

4. Francesco Totti: Missed 20 times, a total of 106 main penalties, penalty kick success rate 81.1%

5. Ciro Immobile: Missed 19 penalties, a total of 105 penalty kicks taken, penalty kick success rate 81.9%

6. Zlatan Ibrahimović: Missed 17 penalties, a total of 104 penalty kicks taken, penalty kick success rate 83.6%

7. Ronaldinho: Missed 16 penalties, a total of 85 penalty kicks taken, penalty kick success rate 81.1%

Note: This data does not include penalty kicks missed in penalty shootouts

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Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has been named Norwich City caretaker manager

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Wilshere will take charge of the Sky Bet Championship club following the sacking of Johannes Hoff Thorup.

Thorup’s number two, Glen Riddersholm has also left Carrow Road on Tuesday.

Wilshere, who was part of the coaching crew under Thorup will be assisted by Tony Roberts and Nick Stanley.

Norwich City have two games left in their Championship campaign.

Sporting director Ben Knapper said: “Whilst we made this appointment with a long-term focus and in line with our wider club strategy and direction, unfortunately recent results and performances have deemed it necessary for us make a change.

“I’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Johannes and Glen. They are both fantastic people who worked tirelessly to help improve and move our football club forward.

“We all wish the two of them the best in the next stage of their respective careers.

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