BEB Weekend Sports: Juicy News!

Nigeria return to AFCON 


Nigeria qualified for their first Africa Cup of Nations since winning the tournament in 2013 after drawing 1-1 with South Africa in Johannesburg.

The draw guarantees the three-time African champions a place in Cameroon with a round of matches still to play.

Despite conquering Africa in 2013, the Super Eagles surprisingly failed to qualify for the 2015 and 2017 finals.

Nigeria led through an own goal before South Africa's Percy Tau produced a moment of magic to tee up Lebo Mothiba.

The draw takes the Super Eagles to 10 points in Group E, one ahead of South Africa and three more than Libya who roared back into contention when thrashing the Seychelles 8-1 in Victoria.

Libya will now qualify for the Nations Cup if they beat Bafana Bafana in their final match next March.
Nigeria, meanwhile, finish their campaign at home to the Seychelles who have conceded 22 goals in their five group games and prop up the table with one point.

Real Madrid appoint Argentine as permanent manager


Real Madrid have appointed Santiago Solari as the club's permanent manager until June 2021.

Solari, 42, took over on 29 October on an interim basis after the sacking of former Spain manager Julen Lopetgui.

He has since led Real to four wins in four games - the best start of any manager in the club's history.
Real had to give Solari - or someone else - the job as Spanish rules prevent an interim coach from staying in charge for longer than two weeks.

Solari's wins in his spell in charge have been against Melilla in the Copa del Rey, Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, and Real Valladolid and Celta Vigo in La Liga.

In those games, Real have scored 15 goals and conceded two goals.

The club, who confirmed Solari's appointment in a brief statement on their website, were ninth when he assumed control and they are now sixth, four points adrift of leaders Barcelona.

Djokovic beats Anderson to reach ATP final


World number one Novak Djokovic put in a ruthless display to beat Kevin Anderson and reach the final of the ATP Finals in London.

The Serb will play Germany's Alexander Zverev in Sunday's season finale after a 6-2 6-2 victory.
In what was a re-run of July's Wimbledon final, Djokovic dominated in the same way this time to reach his seventh final of the year.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion has not dropped a set all week.
"I think it was the best match I've played so far this week," Djokovic said after sealing victory in one hour and 16 minutes with a forehand that bounced off the top of the net. 
"It came at the right time. Kevin has been playing great tennis this week. 
"He lost serve in the first game which was big because he relies so much on his serve. I tried to win as many points on his second serve as possible. It worked very well."
Victory for Djokovic in the final would cap a remarkable year in which he came back from elbow surgery to win Wimbledon and the US Open and returned to the top of the world rankings for the first time in two years.

Mayweather-Nasukawa fight 'back on'


Floyd Mayweather says his fight against Japanese kickboxer and mixed martial arts fighter Tenshin Nasukawa is back on.

The undefeated five-weight world champion
appeared at a press conference earlier this month to announce the fight , adding he had signed with Japanese MMA company Rizin Fighting Federation.

But just days later, Mayweather said the fight - which was scheduled to take place in Japan on New Year's Eve - would not be happening,
insisting he had been "blindsided" at the press conference.

However, the 41-year-old has now told American broadcaster TMZ he will fight Nasukawa in a nine minute exhibition match with "no kicking".

"There's no official fight. It's an exhibition. A small, nine minute exhibition. No kicking. It's going to be the highest paid exhibition ever. Just for promoting this event I've made seven figures.
"It's a no-brainer. Just because I'm retired, I still make appearances around the world and make a ton of money."
Mayweather has a perfect record of 50-0 as a boxer, and last fought when he beat Conor McGregor in ten rounds in August 2017.

In July he was named by Forbes magazine as the world's highest-paid celebrity.

from Bola Esho's Blog

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