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FWWC: England ousts Power-Puff Girls of Columbia 2-1 in the Quarters. 

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SEMIFINAL SCORE BOARD

 Sweden will meet Spain in the first semifinal on Tuesday 15th august at Eden Park in Auckland at 0900 hours.

 

 England will now meet hosts Australia in the second semifinal on Wednesday 16th August at 1100 hours.

 

The Three Lionesses of England on Saturday at the Stadium Australia handicapped the Power-Puff Girls of Columbia in the quarterfinals of the women’s world cup 2-1 to qualify for her second appearance in the last four after Canada 2015.

 

Incidentally, the Power-Puff Girls scored first through Athletico Madrid’s Lecy Santos with a stunning out swinger that simply dropped into the net for her first goal at the tournament.

 

Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp got a pass from Russo that Perez of Columbia miscalculated an interception for and Hemp put it in for an equalizer.

 

Georgia Stanway floated a pass to Arsenals’ Alessia Russo to get the winner at 63rd minute. Russo scored in the 6-1 bashing of China at the group stages.

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England surely missed Lauren James their beautiful restless goal poacher who stamped maliciously on Super Falcon’s player at the Round of 16 and got a red card. FIFA officially announced a two match for James meaning she will still miss the Semifinal and may return at the final or 3rd place match whichever applies.

 

England will now meet hosts Australia in the second semifinal on Wednesday 16th August at 1100 hours.

 

Earlier today in a dramatic encounter that produced the highest penalty kicks ever in any world cup match, male or female with 20 kicks of 10 each, hosts Australia defeated France 7-6 to move to the semifinal.

 

England in their first match narrowly beat Haiti 1-0 on 22nd July; won against Denmark by the same margin on 28th July and on 1st August dazed China 6-1. England beat Super Falcons of Nigeria 4-2 on penalties after a goalless full time to move on to the quarterfinal from the round of 16.

 

England is in their 6th knockout stages. The country won two of their round of 16 matches, 2-1 against Norway in 2015 and 3-0 over Cameroon in 2019.

 

England was at the world cup six times and her best was a Bronze at Canada 2015 when she lost the semifinal 1-2 to Japan and beat France 1-0 in the 3rd place match. She had three quarterfinal appearances in Sweden 1995 when she was beaten by Germany 3-0; at China 2007 USA pounded England 3-0 and Germany came again while hosting in 2011 to beat England 4-3 on penalties when AET was 1-1.

 

To get to the round of 16, Columbia banged Korea 2-0 on 25th of July; defeated Germany 2-1 on 30th July and lost to Morocco 0-1 on 30th of July. Columbia scored four goals and conceded 2 vital goals. Columbia piped the Reggae Girlz of Jamaica by a lone goal to stop the all night long Reggae Jamz.

 

This is the second appearance of Columbia at the round of 16 stages at the world cup after 2015 where they were eliminated at that stage by eventual winners USA 0-2. Among South American teams, only Brazil has managed to win a game at the Knockout stage in 1999 and 2007.

 

England and Jamaica met once at the world cup which was a Group F match at Montreal in Canada on 17th June 2015 which England won. The two goals scored at that match were from Karen Carney and Fara Williams. Columbia defeated England 3-2 on 31st May 2005 and England retaliated 3-2 on 3rd May 2020.

 

England is playing their 6th quarterfinal at the world cup. They failed to qualify for the semifinal in the first three.

 

Columbia is getting to the quarterfinal for the first time and are looking to become the second American side to reach the final four after Brazil in 1999 and 2007.

 

Sweden will meet Spain in the first semifinal on Tuesday 15th august at Eden Park in Auckland at 0900 hours.

 

Something unique is that we are expecting a new champion for the world as previous champions, four times winner USA; two times winner, Germany; Japan and Norway that won one time each have been exited in this tournament.

 

By Eniola Olatunji 

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Iraola: My Fight With Isak Has Never Been About Goals

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Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola says Alexander Isak is a “massive” player for him – but adds he “fights” with the player about needing to do more for the “collective”.

 

Isak scored twice in the opening nine minutes in the 2-0 win over Ipswich to take his tally to three for the season – but Iraola hinted the player needs to do more off the ball for the team.

“He’s a massive player for us,” he told Sky Sports. “My demands will not be about the goals: he’s fit, in a good shape and he will produce the numbers.

“But my fights with him are more about other stuff, how to help the team in other situations. But it’s good he has played two full games and today a good amount of minutes, scoring the goals.”

Iraola did not reveal which specific areas Isak needs to improve, but it could be interpreted that Iraola wants his striker to do more in the pressing.

“I will demand other things so we can play well,” he said in his post-match press conference about those demands to Isak. “And if we play well, we are in good positions, the goals will come.

“He has to contribute to the collective and when everyone helps, after the goals and results will come.”

Iraola also said to Sky: “Today we were much, much better in our press. We were recovering very high and then we can contact him in good positions.

“If we recover the ball lower, it will be more difficult to find him to have less spaces. So we need more quality effort to put our No 9 in situations like he had today.”

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‘It’s So Strong’ – Sabalenka Halts Play Over Cannabis Smell

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Aryna Sabalenka briefly halted her US Open match against Kamilla Rakhimova because of a strong smell of cannabis before cruising into the fourth round in New York.

 

Top seed Sabalenka raised the issue after going 3-0 up in the first set against Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova, telling umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore that “someone is smoking weed”.

The Belarusian asked the umpire to intervene “because it’s so strong”.

Asderaki-Moore spoke to an official on her radio and made a smoking gesture to someone behind her, before play continued.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka went on to secure a confident 6-3 6-4 victory on Louis Armstrong Stadium as she chases a fifth Grand Slam singles title.

Sabalenka said afterwards she was not sure where the smell of cannabis was coming from but asked fans to be more mindful.

Smoking is not permitted on site at Flushing Meadows but the smell of cannabis sometimes wafts on to court from the nearby Corona Park.

It is legal to smoke it in New York for adults aged 21 and over.

“It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best,” Sabalenka said.

“I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium.

“I just hope they’re going to be a bit more aware of that stuff.”

Sabalenka is not the first player at this year’s US Open to complain about the smell of cannabis at Flushing Meadows.

Britain’s Katie Boulter previously said it was distracting, while Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones also noticed the smell.

In past years players including Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev have also complained.

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Onana Gets Twins As Salah Welcomes First Son Weeks After Joining Turkish Team

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Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has welcomed his third child and first son, named Lail, Trabzonspor President Ertuğrul Doğan said after the Turkish club’s third-round league match against Amedspor.

 

Doğan said Salah and his Cameroonian teammate André Onana travelled outside Turkey following the match as their wives were due to give birth.

“After the Amed match, we travelled abroad with Onana and Salah. Onana welcomed twins, while Salah welcomed a baby boy. I congratulate their families and wives,” Doğan was quoted as telling Turkish media.

Salah’s sister, Rabab Salah, later revealed the baby’s name on Instagram, posting a photograph of a baby hat and congratulating her brother on the birth of Lail.

The child is Salah’s first son. The Egyptian star and his wife, Magi, already have two daughters, Makka and Kayan.

Doğan’s comments came after a photograph of Salah and Onana aboard a private jet circulated online, prompting questions among Trabzonspor supporters and local media about the reason for their trip.

The club president said both players had travelled for family reasons following the match.

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