Sports

ALL THE SPORTS by Ime Morison

In a weekend in which South Africa, the World and indeed Sports mourn the death and/or celebrate the life of an icon- Rhohilala Nelson Madiba Mandela- with a minute silence or ovation; actions on the pitch were most unpredictable. Our sports columnist shall bring you insights into the major surprises...over the weekend in ALL THE SPORTS.

NIGERIA DRAWS ARGENTINA AGAIN...
The Super Eagles of Nigeria has been drawn for the fourth time in the World Cup against Argentina. In the ceremony held in the Amazon city of Sauipe, on Friday, Nigeria was fortunate to land a relatively easy grouping, consisting Iran, Bosnia and Heczegovina, though the rivalry with Argentina is set to continue ...
Other groups at the World Cup are:
GROUP A: BRAZIL, CAMEROON, CROATIA, MEXICO.
GROUP B: CHILE, SPAIN, NETHERLANDS, AUSTRALIA.
GROUP C: COLUMBIA, GREECE, IVORY COAST, JAPAN.
GROUP D: ENGLAND, ITALY, URUGUAY, COSTA RICA.
GROUP E: SWITZERLAND, ECUADOR, FRANCE, HONDURAS.
GROUP F: ARGENTINA, NIGERIA, BOSNIA, IRAN.
GROUP G: GERMANY, PORTUGAL, GHANA, U.S.A.
GROUP H: BELGUIM, ALGERIA, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA.

CHELSEA IN TROUBLE ...
A furious Jose Mourinho decried Chealsea's woes after seeing his team slip to an embarassing 3-2 defeat against Stoke City at the Brittannia Stadium. Chelsea had been ahead through an Andre Schurrle strike but soon found themselves behind when Stephen Ireland found the bottom corner following a swift Stoke counter attack. Peter Crouch had equalised for Stoke through a corner.
Chelsea fought back to level terms with another Schurrle thunderbolt. Shurrle could have gotten a hatrick but was denied by the woodwork and Stoke ultimately profited from another counter to score a third and grab a dramatic win.
The result underlined Chelsea's defensive frailty as they have conceeded more than six goals in the last three matches, which is a troubling statistics to Mourinho.

MOYES' WOES
Newcasttle recorded their first win 41 years at Old Trafford to deepen David Moyes' woes at Manchester United. Yohann Cabaye scored Newcasttle's only goal and with the mid-week defeat at home to Everton, the support-base for Moyes within United faithfuls is dwindling. Though the crowd at the Stretford End applauded and sang their manager's name, a vast majority of the Old Trafford crowd were long gone with much of the match left. Hmmmmmmm...such a blatant display of lack of faith...Woeful indeed!

ADVANTAGE GONE...
Arsenal failed to take advantage of their rivals slip-up to extend their lead on the table to seven points, as they could only draw 1-1 with Everton at the Emirates. The Gunners were ahead through record-signing Mesut Ozil but were denied victory when substitute Gerard Deulofeu smashed Everton level.
Though they still lead with five points, Arsenal now face testing trips to Naples in the Champions League and the Etihad Stadium to face Napoli and Manchester City respectively. As well as a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.
Failure to excell in these ties could define Arsenal's season ...

In other results, Manchester City played out a 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Marys; Liverpool defeated West Ham 4-1; Tottenham edged Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Lights; Fulham defeated Aston Villa 2-0; Norwich City secured a 2-0 away win at the Hawthorns, over Westbrom; Crystal Palace defeated Cardiff City 2-0 at Selhurst Park while Swansea City played --- with Hull City.

BALLON D'OR SHORTLIST
Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribery and Lionel Messi have made the final shortlist for FIFA's Ballon D'or 2013. The trio were chosen from a 23-man list.
The award which now honours the World's Best Player of the year was introduced by French Football Magazine in 1956 to honour the European best footballer, and had Standley Matthews as the first winner. In 2007, the award became a world player award and three years later merged with Fifa's own world player honour.
In the women's category, Nadine Angerer(Germany), Marta (Brazil) and Abby Wambach(USA) have been norminated.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Jupp Heynckes and Jurgen Klopp have been norminated for coach of year while Ralf Kellermann, Silvia Neid and Pia Sundhage are the women coaches norminated.
Fifa also confirmed the final norminees for FIFPRO WORLD XI, team of the year to include Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Mesut Ozil, Van Persie, Luis Suarez, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, Petr Cech, Gareth Bale, Ashley Cole, Sergio Aguero, Leighton Baines, David Luis, Nemanja Vidic, Branislav Ivanovich, David Silva etc.

Don't forget to enjoy the best of club football on Tuesday and Wednesday as Champions League returns this week...We'll be back and better next week...Cheers!