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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.