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Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022 — 39<br />

•Amusan<br />

Partey to lead Ghana<br />

at the World Cup<br />

Arsenal midfielder<br />

Thomas Partey is set<br />

to lead Ghana at the World<br />

Cup after he was selected in<br />

the country’s 26-man squad<br />

for the tournament in<br />

Qatar.<br />

Partey is the headline<br />

name in the Black Stars<br />

side, which also includes<br />

Southampton defender<br />

Mohammed Salisu,<br />

Brighton full-back Tariq<br />

Lamptey - following his<br />

switch of allegiance from<br />

England - and Daniel<br />

Amartey of Leicester.<br />

Ajax star Mohammed<br />

Kudus, who has impressed<br />

with his performances in<br />

Holland so far this season,<br />

and Athletic Bilbao striker<br />

Inaki Williams - whose<br />

brother Nico has been<br />

picked for Spain - are also<br />

in the squad announced by<br />

manager Otto Addo<br />

yesterday.<br />

But there is no place for<br />

the likes of Leicester’s<br />

Jeffrey Schlupp and Genk<br />

midfielder Joseph Paintsil.<br />

Callum Hudson-Odoi,<br />

who is on loan at Bayer<br />

Leverkusen from Chelsea,<br />

reportedly rejected the<br />

chance to play for Ghana<br />

despite being snubbed by<br />

England.<br />

The 22-year-old is<br />

eligible to play for the<br />

African nation through his<br />

Ghanaian parents, meaning<br />

he could still switch his<br />

international allegiance<br />

despite making three senior<br />

appearances for England.<br />

All three of those caps<br />

were earned before he<br />

turned 21, which allows<br />

him to play for another<br />

nation if he wishes.<br />

Ghana face an uphill task<br />

to qualify for the knockout<br />

round in Qatar after being<br />

drawn in Group H<br />

alongside Portugal,<br />

Uruguay and South Korea.<br />

Ronaldo launches<br />

scathing attack on Man<br />

Utd, Erik ten Hag<br />

Cristiano Ronaldo has<br />

launched an<br />

extraordinary attack on<br />

Manchester United and<br />

manager Erik ten Hag, claiming<br />

that he feels “betrayed” by the<br />

club and insisting that he does<br />

not “have respect” for Ten Hag.<br />

The 37-year-old has been<br />

linked with a move away from<br />

Old Trafford during the January<br />

window, having fallen down the<br />

pecking order since Ten Hag’s<br />

arrival during the summer.<br />

Ronaldo was dropped from<br />

the first-team squad and forced<br />

to train with the<br />

reserves last month<br />

after refusing to come<br />

on as a substitute<br />

against Tottenham<br />

Hotspur and then<br />

leaving Old Trafford<br />

before the end of the<br />

game.<br />

Ten Hag has since<br />

brought him back in<br />

from the wilderness,<br />

with three of his four<br />

Premier League<br />

starts this season<br />

Manchester United<br />

have issued a<br />

statement following their<br />

forward Cristiano Ronaldo’s<br />

explosive interview with<br />

British veteran journalist Piers<br />

Morgan.<br />

Ronaldo recently did an<br />

exclusive interview with<br />

Morgan and hit out at<br />

Manchester United and their<br />

coming after his public fallout<br />

with the Dutch boss.<br />

However, just hours after the<br />

Red Devils played their final<br />

match before the World Cup<br />

break, an explosive interview<br />

with Piers Morgan has been<br />

released in which Ronaldo<br />

heavily criticises the club, his<br />

manager and former boss Ralf<br />

Rangnick.<br />

When asked whether he felt<br />

the club were trying to force him<br />

out, Ronaldo told Morgan: “Yes.<br />

Not only the coach, but the other<br />

two or three guys around the<br />

club. I felt betrayed.<br />

manager Erik ten Hag.<br />

The Portugal captain said<br />

Man United had betrayed<br />

him and that he does not<br />

respect Ten Hag. However,<br />

reacting to the development,<br />

Man United, in a statement<br />

via its website on Monday,<br />

said: “Manchester United<br />

notes the media coverage<br />

regarding an interview by<br />

•Osimhen<br />

Osimhen out of<br />

Super Eagles’ friendly<br />

with Portugal<br />

Napoli forward Victor<br />

Osimhen will not be<br />

available for the Super<br />

Eagles friendly match against<br />

Portugal on November 17 in<br />

Lisbon.<br />

The Nigerian Football<br />

Federation disclosed this via<br />

their official Twitter account on<br />

Monday.<br />

Injury has been cited as why<br />

Osimhen will not participate in<br />

the high-profile friendly match<br />

with the former European<br />

champions.<br />

Osimhen’s absence will be a<br />

big blow to Nigeria’s hopes of<br />

beating World Cup-bound<br />

Portugal..<br />

The Napoli forward has been<br />

Mejbri makes<br />

Tunisia’s squad for<br />

the World Cup<br />

Manchester United<br />

youngster Hannibal<br />

Mejbri has been included in<br />

Tunisia’s squad for the<br />

Qatar World Cup.<br />

The 19-year-old is part of<br />

a generally experienced 26-<br />

man squad named by head<br />

coach Jalel Kadri yesterday,<br />

which includes veterans<br />

Wahbi Khazri and Youssef<br />

Msakni, who will share<br />

captaincy duties.<br />

Mejbri has made 18<br />

appearances for the country<br />

since making his debut in<br />

2021 after swapping<br />

Man Utd to investigate Ronaldo<br />

Cristiano Ronaldo.<br />

“The club will consider its<br />

response after the full facts<br />

have been established.<br />

“Our focus remains on<br />

preparing for the second half<br />

of the season and continuing<br />

the momentum, belief and<br />

togetherness being built<br />

among the players, manager,<br />

staff, and fans.”<br />

•Dessers<br />

one one of of the the best strikers in Europe<br />

so far this season.<br />

A couple of weeks ago, Osimhen<br />

became Nigeria’s all-time top<br />

scorer in the Italian Serie A after<br />

notching 32 goals for Napoli.<br />

The 23-year-old striker has<br />

scored nine goals for the<br />

Neapolitans to sit top of the Italian<br />

top-flight’s goalscorer chart.<br />

In Osimhen’s place for the<br />

Portugal friendly, Jose Peseiro has<br />

called up Cremonese attacker<br />

Cyriel Dessers.<br />

Dessers’ availability is also in<br />

doubt, as the former Genk ace has<br />

missed the club’s last couple of<br />

games due to injury.<br />

The kick-off is 18:45 pm Portugal<br />

time (19:45 pm in Nigeria).<br />

•Hannibal<br />

allegiances from France,<br />

who he played for at youth<br />

level. He qualifies to play for<br />

Tunisia through his parents.<br />

Former captain and<br />

goalkeeper Aymen<br />

Mathlouthi, 38, is included<br />

after a three-year absence<br />

from the squad.<br />

Via BBC Sport, Kadri<br />

wrote on social media: ‘It<br />

was not an easy decision to<br />

make.<br />

The list can only have 26<br />

players on it. There will<br />

always be mixed reactions.’<br />

•Thuram<br />

Amusan<br />

makes final<br />

shortlist for<br />

2022<br />

Women’s<br />

World Athlete<br />

Nigeria’s queen of the<br />

track, Tobi Amusan has<br />

been named in the list of five<br />

finalists for the 2022 Women’s<br />

Athlete of the Year.<br />

The World Athletics<br />

released the name of the<br />

athletes on its official website<br />

on Monday.<br />

Amusan made the shortlist<br />

following a remarkable year<br />

which saw her set a new<br />

record of 12.12s in the 100m<br />

hurdles at the World Athletics<br />

Championships, Oregon 2022.<br />

The 24-year-old was the first<br />

Nigerian and African to<br />

achieve the feat.<br />

Amusan also successfully<br />

defended her Diamond<br />

League title and also claimed<br />

the Commonwealth and<br />

African crowns.<br />

Veteran Jamaican athlete,<br />

Shelly-Ann Fraser- Pryce,<br />

Peru’s Kimberly Garcia,<br />

Sydney McLaughlin of the<br />

United States of America and<br />

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas are<br />

the other athletes in the<br />

running for the award.<br />

France add<br />

Thuram to World<br />

Cup squad<br />

B<br />

o r u s s i a<br />

Monchengladbach<br />

forward Marcus Thuram<br />

has been added to France’s<br />

World Cup squad.<br />

Les Bleus manager<br />

Didier Deschamps had<br />

only named 25 players out<br />

of a possible 26 in his<br />

squad for the tournament<br />

in Qatar, but has now<br />

reached his full allocation<br />

with the addition of<br />

Thuram.<br />

It’s unclear why the 54-<br />

year-old didn’t originally<br />

select his full allocation of<br />

players, but he will now<br />

have a full squad to choose<br />

from when the tournament<br />

gets underway later this<br />

week.<br />

Drake loses £1.7M bet on<br />

Adesanya to beat Pereira<br />

Rap star Drake has lost<br />

a huge seven-figure<br />

sum on the UFC after<br />

Supercomputer predicts Chelsea to<br />

have worst season in 30 years<br />

Chelsea have been<br />

tipped to have one of<br />

their worst seasons in 30<br />

years... with Arsenal going on<br />

to win the Premier League<br />

title.<br />

That’s according to a<br />

supercomputer tasked with<br />

using data to predict how the<br />

season will play out.<br />

Boffins and brainiacs over<br />

at bettingexpert have built<br />

a supercomputer called<br />

BETSiE - which uses data<br />

points including xG and xA<br />

while running a simulation<br />

100,000 times. Chelsea have<br />

endured a difficult start to the<br />

season, with their fortunes<br />

having scarcely improved<br />

since replacing Thomas<br />

Tuchel with Graham Potter.<br />

The Blues fell to a 1-0<br />

defeat at high-flying<br />

Newcastle on Saturday to fall<br />

to eighth in the Prem table.<br />

backing ousted<br />

middleweight champion<br />

Israel Adesanya to beat<br />

Brazilian Alex Pereira at<br />

UFC 281 on Saturday<br />

evening.<br />

Adesanya, 33, was the<br />

bookies favourite going<br />

into the fight and would<br />

have earned Drake<br />

£2.4million if he could<br />

have found a way to victory<br />

inside the Octagon.<br />

Pereira snatched the win<br />

in the fifth and final round<br />

as he broke Adesanya’s<br />

standing guard with a left<br />

hook that sent the former<br />

champion to the canvas,<br />

and the bout to an end.

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