Former French international Blaise Matuidi has announced his retirement from football at the age of 35. The midfielder was a crucial part of France’s 2018 World Cup winning campaign.
Matuidi spent majority of the last decade playing for two of the biggest clubs in Europe, PSG and Juventus, before joining MLS side Inter Miami in 2020.
Matuidi playing for Juventus
He was part of a fan favourite midfield trio for Les Bleus, alongside Ngolo Kante and Paul Pogba. Matuidi was also an important player in the plans of French Manager Didier Deschamps, who always used him in the big games.
Matuidi took to his Twitter to post a heartfelt message on his retirement. “Dear Football, I loved you so much. Football, you gave me so much, but the time has come to say enough. I accomplished my childhood dreams and the dreams I had as a grown man. It is with a lump in my throat, but with pride, that I turn over this new leaf today. Thank you!”
Matuidi closes out his career with 699 club appearances, 75 international caps and 22 major trophies,with the biggest prize in football, the World Cup amongst them. He will be remembered for his versatility and the energy he always brought in matches.
Blaise Matuidi was a key player during France’s 2018 World Cup success
The Premier League returns on Boxing Day with seven games lined up on the day.
League leaders Arsenal will be looking to extend their current lead of five points over Manchester City as they face a tricky home fixture against West Ham. Arsenal will seek to continue their brilliant form from the start of the season where they only dropped four points in their opening fourteen games. They will however have to return to action without Gabriel Jesus who has been a key player for them. The Brazilian picked up a knee injury at the World Cup and is expected to be out until February.
In form defender William Saliba was on the bench as France lost to Argentina in the World Cup final. He rejoined the squad on Friday and will be available on Boxing Day against The Hammers. Saliba has been a very important piece in the rebuilding of Arsenal and one of the best defenders in the league this season. He is one of many Arsenal players in good form this season with the likes of Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli also showing their quality.
Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka
It will be a crucial 24 four games for the Gunners as they aim for glory.
The Premier League returns on 26th following a World Cup that had everything in terms of entertainment. All eyes will be on Arsenal as they continue with their title charge. Can Mikel Arteta win Arsenal’s first league title since 2004?
Manchester City and Liverpool treated fans to a thriller at the Etihad on Thursday in the Carabao Cup. City managed to edge their bitter rivals 3-2 on the night but the game was not devoid of quality. Fans did not have to wait for long for Erling Haaland to score as he pounced on a sublime Kevin De Bruyne cross to give City the lead in the tenth minute. Liverpool got their equalizer ten minutes later through Fabio Carvalho, who lost defender Manuel Akanji and guided the ball past Stefan Ortega in the City goal.
The second half got to a fast start with Riyad Mahrez netting two minutes in only for Mohammed Salah to get his first goal in the Carabao Cup a minute later. Liverpool had great chances to take the lead but Darwin Nunez had a poor night in terms chance conversion. City took the lead for the third time in the game after Nathan Ake got on the end of another De Bruyne ball into the box. City then managed the game well to give them their first win over Liverpool in five matches and seal a spot in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals.
With eight teams remaining, City are odds-on favourites to win the trophy. A win would give them their fifth trophy in six years in the Carabao Cup.
City are looking for their fifth Carabao Cup in six years
The quarterfinal draw took place after the match.
Carabao Cup Quarter finals (To be played on the week commencing January 9th)
Current Ballon d’or holder Karim Benzema announced his retirement from international football at the age of 35 on Monday. This decision was seen coming by many after he was not recalled to participate in the World Cup final, despite his name being in the squad list.
Benzema has had an extremely rough period with Les Bleu despite managing 37 goals in 97 appearances for them. The striker had not played for France since 2015. He was only recalled into the national team in 2021 for the Euro 2020 tournament. The five year exclusion was instigated by a blackmailing case against him filed by his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Real Madrid in 2018, Benzema became a monster in attack for Los Blancos. His exploits led Madrid to multiple La Liga titles and a Champions League victory in 2022. He has featured in the La Liga team of the season since 2018 and won the topscorer ‘Pichichi’ trophy for the 21/22 season. His goal returns and performances in the same season led to him becoming the eighth different Real Madrid player to win the Ballon d’or. Even though he had spent a great part of his club career in the shadow of Ronaldo, Benzema eventually managed to show the world the full extent of his abilities.
Karim Benzema has 37 goals for Les Bleus
Benzema’s international career has not been devoid of controversy. Not only would he have had a greater input for Les Bleus, but also would have been a world champion. He probably would have been France’s all time top scorer, a fete now held by his rival Olivier Giroud.
His focus will now be on having a successful season with Real Madrid upon the resumption of European Leagues.
The Carabao Cup marks the return of English football with the round of 16 taking place this week. Manchester City will face holders Liverpool on Thursday in what will be the biggest tie of the round. Both teams had majority of their internationals return early from the world cup due to round of 16 and quarterfinal exits thus, strong squads are expected.
Liverpool celebrate winning the Carabao Cup last season after beating Chelsea on penalties.
Manchester United will be boosted by the returns of their players who featured in the world cup quarterfinals such as Bruno Fernandes and Antony, as they prepare to take on Burnley at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
The fixtures will be used to also gauge the preparedness of the teams for the Premier League as it resumes on the 26th of December.
When Japan beat Germany in their opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the phrase ‘Project Bluelock’ was trending across multiple social media platforms. Those who sought to find its meaning came across an anime named Bluelock. The anime adaptation of the manga Bluelock started this year and it has already surpassed multiple expectations. Japan’s exploits at the World Cup were connected to the anime’s storyline by fans of the show.
Bluelock is an anime about football. The project Bluelock aims to find the best striker in Japan. Jinpachi Ego, the leader of the project cites lack of strikers with ego as the reason Japan never makes it past the round of 16 at world cups. The main focus is on building five, with five teams; V, W, X, Y and Z. Isagi Yoichi is the protagonist in the story and he stars for Team Z in the first round. He stands out as a dangerous striker in building 5. Meguru Bachira, Rensuke Kunigami and Hyoma Chigiri also star in the first selection for team Z, each showing different strengths. In the end, after all teams faced each other, ego revealed that there are no other buildings.
Team Z players.
With multiple depictions of real life footballers, the anime tries to be as realistic as it can get.
The anime is currently on its eleventh episode, closing out the first arc. The second selection arc is almost kicking off and if you have read the manga, it gets tastier. Its audience has really grown following Japan’s world cup run.
Bluelock’s popularity is currently rivaling some big names such as One Piece and Bleach. With alot still to be revealed in the anime, Bluelock is looking like an all time great already !
In what was arguably the greatest game of football, Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties enabling Lionel Messi to lift a trophy he has yearned for throughout his career, the World Cup.
Argentina took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the first half and with fifteen minutes left on the clock, it was almost certain that they would be crowned world champions but it was not to happen that way. A Kylian Mbappe brace sent the match into extra time where Lionel Messi got his second of the night but another Mbappe penalty(completing his hattrick!), meant that the game was to be decided by penalties.
Emiliano Martinez saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty and Aurelien Tchouameni sent his wide allowing Gonzalo Montiel to put away the winning spot kick for Argentina.
Lionel Messi has won all trophies available to him in his career and the World Cup had eluded him four times before. The closest he had come was in 2014 where Argentina lost out to Germany after a Mario Gotze goal in extra time. Winning the world cup is his greatest achievement in an extremely illustrious career.
Even though they lost, Les Bleus gave a valiant effort, treating fans to some premium football. Kylian Mbappe undoubtedly has shown that he is ready to dominate football for multiple years. He will be gunning for his second World Cup trophy in 2026.
For Argentina, they can rejoice that Lionel Messi will retire a world champion and arguably the greatest to ever do it.
Before it was Maradona, now it is Messi. It was not easy for the latter but he now sits in an exclusive list of players who have ‘completed football’. You have to think that an eighth Balon d’or is on the way for him.
By Ken Andrew
kennyandrewmuganda@gmail.com
2022 has been an epic year for the UFC especially in terms of upsets. Leon Edwards, Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka were some of the biggest winners in title fights, each earning their title in the final moments of the fifth round. The UFC also held events outside of the United States and Fight Island in Saudi Arabia for the first time since the pandemic started. This year, fans were treated to shows in Singapore, The United Kingdom, and for the first time ever, France.
2023 looks to be a good year for fans of the UFC as the already announced events and rumoured fights are looking tasty.
NO 1. Pound for Pound fighter Alex Volkanovski
Three of the first four Pay Per View events will be outside the United States. The company will open their Pay Per View calender with UFC 283 in Brazil. It is a much anticipated fight card with two title fights, both with Brazilian fighters contesting for the gold. Perth will then host UFC 284, featuring Australian Alex Volkanovski. He will be looking to earn his second belt as he takes on Islam Makhachev for the Lightweight belt.
UFC 285 will take place on March 4th in Las Vegas. Finally, UFC 286 will take place at the O2 Arena in London. This will be the UFC’s third visit to London in a year but only the second ever numbered event in the UK. The reviews of the past events in London have been amazing and UFC London is a fan favourite event.
The UFC 286 fight card is unfinished and there are hopes that Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett will participate. Paddy and ‘Meatball’ Molly McCann have been the biggest stars in the UFC London events. Hopefully, they recover from their recent fights and are ready on March 18th.
Ever since the season kicked off 5 months ago in Bahrain, the F1 campaign has been a constant slugfest between Red Bull and Ferrari. Back and forth throughout 12 races, all the winners have either come from the Italian team or the team run by the energy drinks company. In the drivers’ championship, the battle seems to be going Max Verstappen’s way with seven wins out of twelve compared to his counterpart Charles Leclerc with only three wins this season. The other two race winners have also been Red Bull and Ferrari drivers in the form of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.
For a team that was believed to have the best package on the grid in terms of performance and reliability, Ferrari have often found themselves throwing away race wins with poor strategies and surprisingly engine malfunctions. Something their fans have grown accustomed to since 2018 with Sebastian Vettel.
Behind all this Ferrari-Red Bull battle is 8-time constructors champion Mercedes who had a torrid time finding form in the earlier races but have since improved on their consistency. For many races, the team struggled to come to terms with the new regulations and the one thing hurting their title defence challenges was the cars ‘porpoising.’ Recently that has seemed to be water under the bridge but their pace is still ways off the top two sides.
Their drivers have also had different stories to tell. Multiple world champion Lewis Hamilton struggled to get in sync with the machinery as he posted some of his worst ever finishes this season. In Italy, at the Emilia Romagna GP, Hamilton finished in a measly 13-place but has since bounced back. His teammate George Russell has looked more comfortable than Lewis consistent top five finishes throughout the season.
The rest of the grid looks far detached from the top three teams with Renault Alpine in fourth place 177 points behind Mercedes. They are followed by McLaren who have been a disappointing outfit this season. Touted as one of the teams to break the Red Bull-Mercedes dominance of previous years, the team has drastically dropped as they can’t get veteran driver Daniel Ricciardo to put in performances that match his teammate Lando Norris. Alfa Romeo and Haas follow in sixth and seventh place and both teams would be proud of their performances this season. Haas have had Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen consistently getting point finishes, which helped lift the team in the standings.
The three remaining teams are Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin and Williams. Alpha Tauri are also another disappointing outfit performing way below their standards as a mid-table team. Aston Martin have also had their issues with reliability and with the announcement of Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, they have to find a new driver for next season. Williams haven’t had their luck in quite a while and it isn’t changing with the kind of finishes their two drivers are posting.
Max verstappen Celebrates after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix
By Blaise Ogutu
The 2022 summer transfer window has been open for the past three weeks and player movements are in full swing. Let’s take a look at the Premier League and what different clubs are up to.
The two top clubs in the form of Manchester City and Liverpool have both made blockbuster signings with Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez respectively. City has been on the lookout for a new striker ever since the departure of veteran Sergio Aguero and seems to have found the perfect replacement in the tall Norwegian. With 86 goals in 89 matches for Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland decided a new challenge was on the cards for him and Manchester was the city in mind.
Liverpool on the other hand has added Darwin Nunez to their ranks, in an attempt to win another Premier League title under Jurgen Klopp. The 23-year-old Uruguayan penned a six-year deal from Benfica, the second signing from the league by Liverpool in recent months since Luis Diaz from Porto. Coming into the squad with 34 goals from last season, Klopp will be banking on the young striker to produce the goods in the frontline.
Tottenham Hotspur has been arguably the most active in the window so far with Antonio Conte at the helm looking for an instant impact. The Italian has brought Ivan Perisic from Inter on a free transfer effectively improving his flanks. They have also secured the services of Yves Bissouma from south coast club Brighton and Hove Albion and recently Richarlison from Everton. The latter will be a sore miss for Everton as his goals in the final stretch of last season ensured safety for the Toffees. It is also reported that the club is in advanced talks with Middlesborough to sign Djed Spence.
Spurs’ crosstown rivals Arsenal have also made moves this summer with the impending arrival of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City to bolster their attack following the departure of Alexander Lacazette to Lyon. Courtesy of the Gunners, there will be another Vieira in the league in the form of Fabio Vieira who they signed from Porto. For a long time, the club had been linked with Leeds forward Raphinha but that has since evaporated as Chelsea came swooping in for the Brazilian and are now involved in a battle with Barcelona for his signature.
Plenty of movements all around with pending deals (Manchester United still eyeing Frenkie De Jong from Barcelona) with plenty of time to go before deadline day in September.
