Cameroon 2 Guinea-Bissau 0: Banana and Bahoken get AFCON holders off to winning start

Cameroon kicked off their Africa Cup of Nations title defence with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau in Tuesday s Group F clash.

The 2017 winners were made to work hard for their victory in Ismailia, as both goals arrived in a three-minute period in the final half-an-hour of the match.

Yaya Banana broke inexperienced Guinea-Bissau s resolve with a header in the 66th minute and substitute Stephane Bahoken made a swift impact by adding a second.

Guinea-Bissau, competing in the finals for just a second time, struggled to create much over the 90 minutes and relied on Jonas Mendes to keep them on level terms until Cameroon eventually made the breakthrough.

FULL TIME | Cameroon Guinea-Bissau 2-0

— CAF (@CAF_Online)

Christian Bassogog fired over…

Bitesize Prediction: Peterborough vs Barnsley – 02/12/22

Market: Barnsley double chance

Odds: 5/7 @

Two sides who find themselves leading the chase to claim a play-off spot, Barnsley will make the trip to Peterborough on Friday night.

Starting with the hosts, while Peterborough might have opened the 2022/23 campaign with their sights set on securing an immediate Championship return, Grant McCann s men are in the midst of a worrying rut. Last seen over the weekend when watching their FA Cup adventure come to an end thanks to a shock 3-1 drumming away at Shrewsbury, the former Hull boss does find some pressure on his shoulders. Slipping their way down the League One table, the Posh have now lost four of their last five matchups across all formats. Likewise, with just a single win to their name since opening November, Pe…

Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona: Kounde in remarkable sending off as Araujo does Real Madrid a favour

Jules Kounde was sent off as Sevilla missed the opportunity to crank up the pressure on LaLiga leaders Real Madrid after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Barcelona on Tuesday.

Los Nervionenses, who secured a last-gasp win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday, went ahead shortly after the half-hour mark thanks to a smart set-piece routine finished by Alejandro Gomez.

Barca took a point back to Catalonia, though, courtesy of Ronald Araujo s header in the 45th minute, with Kounde seeing red in the 64th minute for throwing the ball at Jordi Alba s face after a coming together between the two players. 

The result meant Sevilla failed to close to within three points of Carlo Ancelotti s leaders, while Barca passed up the chance to go fourth.

Barca dominated the …

Adebayor keen to finish above Arsenal

Tottenham forward Emmanuel Adebayor is determined to help his team-mates maintain their four-point advantage over rivals Arsenal.

Tottenham forward Emmanuel Adebayor is determined to help his team-mates maintain their four-point advantage over rivals Arsenal.

The striker left Arsenal in 2009 for Manchester City, but after failing to make a lasting impression at Etihad Stadium, joined Tottenham last season on loan before completing a permanent deal in the off-season.

Adebayor told The Telegraph: Everyone knows there s a big rivalry between Arsenal and Spurs.

When I was at Arsenal, my job was to score goals for them. Now I m at Tottenham and I have to help the team finish in the top four.

We have a big chance this season to finish on top of the…

Strachan ´incredibly proud´ of Croatia win

Gordon Strachan described his pride after Scotland became just the second side to beat Croatia in Zagreb in competitive action on Friday.

Robert Snodgrass 26th-minute goal was enough to seal a memorable 1-0 success at the Maksimir Stadium, with a 4-1 defeat against England in 2008 being the hosts only previous loss there.

Three points for Strachan s side lifts them off the bottom of FIFA World Cup Qualifying Group A and also ensures that they will not be among the bottom seeds for the next campaign.

Strachan who also sealed his first competitive win as manager told BBC Sport: I m incredibly proud there was a bit of ability in there at times and they played from the heart.

We worked hard on our shape and that takes a lot of hard graft.

The former Leeds United man di…

Bilic hails reported West Ham target Sturridge

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic talked up Daniel Sturridge as the forward seemingly nears a Liverpool exit.

Sturridge, 27, looks set to leave Anfield in the off-season after making just five Premier League starts this campaign.

The England international is reportedly a target for West Ham, who are 14th in the league table.

Bilic is an admirer of Sturridge and said the forward, at his best, was a star.

When he is on fire, he is a great player. We are going to see. We have our list of strikers. If you go back two or three seasons he was unbelievable, the Croatian said.

He plays very rarely but I watched Stoke against Liverpool. He came on and, with a couple of passes, he broke their defence.

So of course he is showing that when he plays, bu…

Villa reveals why he left Barcelona

David Villa has revealed a decreasing amount of game time saw him make the decision to leave Barcelona for Atletico Madrid in 2013. 

The Spaniard was purchased by Barcelona from Valencia in 2010 and spent three seasons at the club, winning a total of eight trophies. 

However, a number of substitute appearances in 2012-13 under Pep Guardiola saw Villa decide to leave the Camp Nou. 

The 34-year-old went on to win a La Liga title under Diego Simeone, before moving on to New York City in the MLS.

I had a contract at Barcelona, and they wanted me to continue, but I felt like I had lost prominence and I wanted to get it back at another club. I went because of that, he told beIN Sport. 

I have always said playing with [Lionel] Messi was fantastic. …

Fernando Torres joins Sagan Tosu

It has been confirmed that legendary Spanish striker Fernando Torres has completed his move to Japanese side Sagan Tosu. The news comes after much speculation over the 34-year-old s future, with Torres being linked to several high-profile clubs around Europe. However, instead of taking up those offers, he s decided to play out the next few years of his career over in Asia.

Torres will be joining the side that wound up finishing 8th in J1 League last season, and he won t be the only non-Asian player in their ranks. Victor Ibarbo, who used to play for Watford, is also on the books at Sagan Tosu and will be viewed alongside Torres as one of the driving forces behind their championship campaign.

Despite being at Atletico for many years during his initial run, Torres is arg…

Argentina 13/8 to beat Israel to nil in Saturdays international friendly

Market: Argentina win to nil
Odds: 

Hoping this will be the year that they reclaim the World Cup, Argentina, led by Lionel Messi will travel to the National Stadium Ramat Gan to face off against Isreal on Saturday.

For Elisha Levy s Isreal side, after enduring another difficult qualifying campaign, the hosts have once again missed out on the World Cup finals. Sadly for Isreal, their form of late has continued to disappoint, The Blue and Whites are coming off the back of a 2-1 loss to Romania at the National Stadium and Isreal have now lost six of their last eight. It will also be their form in the final third that will be a huge cause for concern for Levy s side, Isreal have now failed to find the net in four of their six defeats and have only won one home match since Se…

Arsenal clash ´nothing new´ for Emery ahead of Europa League semi-final

Unai Emery insists facing a former club is nothing new to him as he aims to steer Villarreal to a first European final at the expense of previous employers Arsenal.

Villarreal made it through to the last four of the Europa League thanks to a 3-1 aggregate triumph over Dinamo Zagreb, who were surprise conquerors of Tottenham in the previous round.

After converting a penalty in the first leg to put the LaLiga side in control of the quarter-final tie, Gerard Moreno was on target again in a 2-1 win on Thursday to make it six goals in his past five outings in the competition.

Next up will be Arsenal, a club where Emery spent 18 months in charge. He reached the Europa League final with the Gunners in May 2019 but was sacked before the end of the calendar year.