IFFHS NEWS OF THE WEEK 22
Picture : the statue of Maradona in the Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago.
AN ERA GOES TO END
While Paris SG celebrates its first league woman football title (picture), Olympique Lyon mourns the end of an era. OL won every league title dating back to 2006-07 (14 consecutive titles), dominating year after year as it became Europe’s best team. Lyon won the UEFA Champions League in 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, a run that would make even Real Madrid’s men’s side blush. If we remember the last 12 years, we must consider the greatest sport dynasties of all time - New Zealand men’s rugby, Michael Jordan’s Bulls ,Pelé’s Brazil and OL women’s football ! OL decided long before all other great clubs of Europe that it wanted to be the best at women’s soccer, and for many years it was definitively the best, attracting talent from all over the world, including US stars like Alex Morgan, Hope Solo and Megan Rapinoe. But all dynasties must come to an end, and it took a motivated PSG club to do it both in league play and the Champions League.
MARADONA STATUE
The Argentina National Team , with captain Lionel Messi at his head, wore tribute shirts for Diego Maradona in their first match since his death. They also honored him with a statue outside the Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago.
CRUIJFF AND BARCELONA
Everybody remember the Legend Johan Cruijff : he was player (1973-1978) and manager ( 1988-1996) at FC Barcelona, having a successfull impact of the last 50 years of the club with his style of play and football philosophy !
His son Jordi was also already player (1992-1996, 2004-2006) and since this week became the Sporting Advisor to Joan Laporta, the new (since March 2021) and old FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta (2003-2010) .
21 YEARS AFTER
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon piped the Super Eagles of Nigeria in Vienna, Austria last night 1-0 in their first victory over the opponents since the AFCON 2000 final co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. Cameroon defeated Nigeria in post-match penalties at the National Stadium in Surulere on February 13, 2000 to win the first co-hosted AFCON, but have since then only registered four defeats and a draw at the hands of Nigeria.
Both sides lined up two friendly games during the current FIFA window to make up for the delay to the debut of qualifiers for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. In the first one last night, midfielder Zambo Anguissa replicated after Nigeria defense cleared poorly, thereby beating the excellent keeper Maduka on 37 minutes. Nigeria, short of the likes of Ola, Ebuehi, Akpoguna, Ajayi, Sanusi, Osimhen, Nwankwo, Omeruo gave a good fight to an equally good Cameroon short of Bassogog, Njie and Aboubakar, but with an excellent debutant goalie, Omossola.
Both teams next play on Tuesday with Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr expected to silence his ever increasing critics when he compares tactics with Cameroon counterpart, Toni Conceiçao who hopes to use the results of the two friendly games to convince authorities he should stay on after his contract expires in September.