Football News: Review Of The Day 18th February 2019

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Review of the Day

Mali Under-20 African Champions

Mali have beaten Senegal 3-2 on penalties to win the countries first ever continental title. The pair had faced each other at the start of the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, as the opening Group B match ended 2-0 to Senegal. Mali got their revenge when it mattered. The four semi-finalists, South Africa, Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, have all qualified for the Under-20 World Cup in Poland in May.

Ramos Sent Off Again

Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos has received his 25th red card of a career which has been littered with them, despite him being one of those players who gets away with a lot of blatant fouls, similar to Fernandinho. His 19th red card in La Liga, a record, came in a shock defeat to lowly Girona, as Madrid gave up the opportunity to go 2nd in the standings. Girona had not won in 13 matches before this match.

City Can Win The Lot

At least according to teenager Phil Foden, who is on the fringes of the squad but could have been a regular if he had left for German football like Jaden Sancho. The 18 year old said that Manchester City can "definitely" win a quadruple of the four competitions they are in, after they beat Newport County to reach the FA Cup quarter finals. Understandable he got excited, I mean who wouldn't after beating the mighty Newport County? Flying as high as 15th in League Two, with a squad value of a monster £70,000 compared to lowly Man City who have had to scrape theirs together with a mere half a billion pounds, it is little wonder Foden is getting carried away after an historic win of these proportions.

Solksjaer Compares Sanchez To Ketchup

(For the benefit of Jason McAteer, when asked to pass it, that's the red one.) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has backed Alexis Sanchez to come good, eventually, comparing the Chilean to an old advert for Heinz Tomato Ketchup, which ran under the tagline, 'good things come to those who wait'. Sanchez has so far struggled with injuries since joining from Arsenal in January 2018, though he has managed to be more effective than the man swapped for him, Henrikh Mkhitaryan. But then my mother would be more effective than Mkhitaryan, despite being barely able to walk due to a variety of ailments (mostly because she is ancient though still claims to be just 25!). Sanchez himself said, after blaming the linesman for injuring him during the warm up ahead of his last substitute appearance, has said that he worries he has not shown what he can do for Man Utd yet. Well he can stop worrying, because his mind can be put at ease, as he definitely has not shown what he can do. Maybe someone just needs to pat the bottom of the bottle? That always works for ketchup, though it usually means it ends up splattering everywhere....

Cardiff Make Distasteful Attempts To Avoid Paying Sala Transfer Fee

Cardiff City are looking for someone to blame for Sala's death, as well as attempting to get the transfer fee reduced, in order to avoid paying the figure they agreed. The Welsh club are even considering suing Nantes over claims that the pilot, David Ibbotson, who was sadly lost in the accident as well, did not have the correct licence to fly passengers on a commercial basis. Sorry but they should have made the arrangements rather than leaving it to someone else to do then. They could be using this as a learning experience and showing proper respect to the fact that two people died by making sure any mistakes made do not get repeated in the future. Instead they are just worried about money and how much it will cost them! Sickening.

Vieira Finds New Target

Now Mario Balotelli has left OGC Nice, Patrick Vieira has had to find someone new to blame after every defeat. Luckily for him, Allan Saint-Maximin has become an easy scapegoat, with the 21 year old keen to leave the club, Vieira was able to pin the 3-0 defeat to Amiens on Saint-Maximin's non-appearance saying: "Saint-Maximin decided that he was sick. It was his decision, not mine nor the doctor's. He had absolutely no fever, as he claimed, so it's a big disappointment." Clearly this is going to rumble on for a bit though as Saint-Maximin denied he had said he was sick, instead claiming he had an ankle injury.

Neymar Gets More Negative Than Positive Votes

ESPN Brazil have run a poll to find the Top 10 greatest players for the country since Pele. Not only did Neymar Jr fail to make the top 10, but he was also the only player listed to receive more negative votes than positive ones. Just to point out, they were not from me, though my vote for him would definitely be negative! The top 10 were:
1. Ronaldo
2. Ronaldinho
3. Romario
4. Zico
5. Rivaldo
6. Socrates
7. Kaka
8= Cafu
8= Bebeto
8= Roberto Carlos
9. Falcao
10. Careca
Even though their maths is so bad the top 10 consisted of 12 players, Neymar still did not make it!

Icardi Raises Chorus Of Boos

When Mauro Icardi, dropped and stripped of the captaincy, was shown on the big screen sat next to his wife/agent Wanda Nara, a huge chorus of boos rang around the stadium forcing the image to be quickly taken off the screen. Inter Milan went on to win the game against Sampdoria 2-1 despite the absence of Icardi due to an 'injury'. The boos could easily have been as much for his wife, who continues to insult all involved with Inter every chance she gets, which is a lot as she is a regular on TV in Italy.

Written by Tris Burke February 18 2019 08:16:03