Mexico exit World Cup despite beating Saudi Arabia – Newstrends
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Mexico exit World Cup despite beating Saudi Arabia

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Mexico suffered an agonising exit from the World Cup on goal difference on Wednesday despite beating Saudi Arabia 2-1 in a dramatic finale to Group C.

Second-half goals from Henry Martin and Luis Chavez secured victory for Mexico but they finished third behind Poland after Salem Al-Dawsari’s late strike.

Mexico desperately pushed for a third goal in an effort to improve their goal difference as they faced elimination on FIFA fair play rules.

Saudi Arabia’s win over Argentina in their opening match was one of the World Cup’s great upsets, but they crashed back down to earth with a 2-0 loss to Poland in their second game.

Coach Herve Renard urged his players to show that was no flash in the pan and write themselves into Saudi football history by reaching knockout rounds for the first time since 1994.

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Having failed to win either of their first two group games for the first time in 44 years, Mexico knew victory was essential if they were to stand a chance of reaching the last 16 at an eighth successive World Cup.

Mexico boss Gerardo Martino ditched the back five he used in the 2-0 loss to Argentina and brought in Martin to lead the attack.

It almost reaped immediate rewards but Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais raced out to block Alexis Vega after he was slipped in behind the defence by Hirving Lozano.

Al-Owais, one of the heroes of the 2-1 win over Argentina, tentatively palmed away a bouncing cross ahead of a lunging Martin and held weak attempts by Chavez and Orbelin Pineda.

Mohamed Kanno whipped a free-kick just over for Saudi Arabia, who saw defender Ali Al-Bulayhi forced off with injury — adding to their mounting casualty list.

Mexico continued to attack without success and Ali Al-Hassan nearly sent the bulk of the largely Saudi crowd wild late in the first half with a diving header that flashed wide of the far post.

Chavez tested Al-Owais right after the interval and Martin soon broke the deadlock as he turned in from close range following Cesar Montes’ clever flick-on at a corner.

Mexico’s second goal arrived just five minutes later when Chavez sensationally curled a free-kick into the top corner from 30 metres.

Keeping an eye on the score between Argentina and Poland, Mexico pushed relentlessly for a third goal, with Lozano’s effort ruled out for a tight offside.

Martin blazed over when he had a glorious chance and Chavez had another free-kick turned away by Al-Owais, who also sprawled to his right to claw out a drive from Lozano.

Uriel Antuna then had another goal disallowed for offside before Al-Dawsari’s late strike put an end to the drama.

AFP

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Falconets defeats Ugandan, through to African Games’ final

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Falconets

Falconets defeats Ugandan, through to African Games’ final

Nigeria’s Falconets defeated  their Ugandan  Under 20 counterparts, 2-0 in the semi- final of the football event of the ongoing African Games in Ghana.

Falconets are the reigning champions of the women’s football event and they didn’t have it easy against a plucky Ugandan side who were eager to upset form book.

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Nigeria , however, broke the deadlock in the 74th  minute through Adaobi Okah before Rivers Angels’ Chiamaka Okwuchukwu netted the second in the 90th  minute.

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Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

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Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

Substitute Amad Diallo scored the winner as Manchester United beat rivals Liverpool 4-3 in an FA Cup quarter-final clash at Old Trafford.

United took an early lead thanks to Scott McTominay’s opener but Liverpool drew level when Mac Allister struck. Mohamed Salah gave the visitors the lead and it looked like there were going to win it until substitute Antonio struck in added time.

The match went into extra-time and Harvey Elliot scored for the visitors. Again, it looked like Liverpool had done enough to win the tie when Marcus Rashford who had wasted two glorious chances drew the home team level.

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Amad had the final say. A counter-attack by Manchester United gave the Ivorian a glorious opportunity to steal the limelight and he did, scoring the winner in 120th minute.

Amad was shown a second yellow card for taking off his jersey as his team battled on with 10-men to secure passage to the semi-final of the FA Cup.

Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

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Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

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Harry Kane

Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

Harry Kane set a new personal best of 31 league goals in a season as Bayern Munich beat Darmstadt to close the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen to seven points.

Darmstadt took the lead through Tim Skarke before Jamal Musiala levelled.

Kane’s diving header put Bayern in front and Musiala dribbled past the Darmstadt defence for his second.

Substitute Serge Gnabry and Mathys Tel made it five for Bayern with Oscar Vilhelmsson scoring Darmstadt’s second.

Despite being bottom of the table, Darmstadt gave Bayern a few scares in the first half but tired in the second period as Bayern exerted their control.

There was one moment of concern for England captain Kane in the second half when he appeared to injure his ankle colliding with a goalpost.

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Kane was substituted after the incident in the 82nd minute and Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel was unsure how serious it was.

“He slipped and fell into the net and twisted his ankle,” said Tuchel. “He’s cooling it down with ice and we don’t have a diagnosis yet.

“When Harry goes off it’s never a good sign because Harry never goes off when there’s still goals to score.”

Kane had previously scored 30 goals in two Premier League seasons while at Tottenham Hotspur.

He has also set a new record for the most goals in a Bundesliga debut campaign, overtaking the previous record set by Uwe Seeler (30) for Hamburg in 1963-64 – which was the first season of the Bundesliga.

He will return to England for the Champions League quarter-finals next month when Bayern face his old foes Arsenal – he has scored 14 goals against the Gunners in 19 appearances.

The first leg takes place at Emirates Stadium on 9 April with the return leg a week later on 17 April.

Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

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