BEB Weekend Sports: Juicy Gist!

Nigeria in Group B at 2019 AFCON

Nigeria have been drawn with Guinea , Madagascar, Burundi in Group B at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

The draw for the 32 nd AFCON finals took place in Cairo, Egypt on Friday.

Egypt will kick off the event against Zimbabwe on June 21.

While reacting to the draw Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr says he is wary of the two debutant teams in the Super Eagles' group with Madagascar and Burundi making their first appearance at the newly expanded finals.

"It's good to see new countries, with the enthusiasm that they can bring to this African Cup of Nations," Rohr said. 

"Madagascar, I know them very well - my wife is from Madagascar," the coach added. 

"There are no easy matches for us, we never underrate anybody. But I hope we can come out of this group and go as far as possible," said Rohr, who also praised Burundi for the way they ousted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's Gabon in the qualifiers.

Rohr said he was expecting to play friendly matches against two serious contenders for the title, Senegal and Ghana, in the run up to the tournament.

Juventus miss chance to seal title at SPAL

Juventus missed the chance to wrap up a record eighth consecutive Serie A title as they lost 2-1 at SPAL.

Massimiliano Allegri's side needed just a point to win the title, but will have to wait for next Saturday's match against Fiorentina, unless Napoli fail to beat Chievo on Sunday.

Moise Kean turned home Joao Cancelo's wayward shot to put Juventus in front.

Kevin Bonifazi headed in the equaliser just after half-time, before 37-year-old Sergio Floccari scored the winner.

It was SPAL's first win against the Italian champions since February 1957 and only Juventus' second league defeat of the season.

Allegri rested several first-team players, including top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo with Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Ajax in mind. They drew 1-1 at the Johan Cruyff Arena last week.

It was their youngest starting line-up in Serie A for 20 years, with an average of 25 years and 104 days. Their 17-year-old centre-back Paolo Gozzi Iweru became the youngest player to feature in Italy's top flight this season.

Hamilton wins race 1,000 in China

Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable victory in the Chinese Grand Prix to hold the championship lead for the first time in 2019.

The Mercedes driver passed team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who started from pole position, off the line and controlled Formula 1's 1,000th race from there.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took third, after the team ordered team-mate Charles Leclerc to let him by in the opening laps.

The decision led to Leclerc losing fourth place to Max Verstappen's Red Bull.

And Ferrari's young driver - in his third race for the team - questioned the decision over team radio, saying: "But I'm pulling away."

Ferrari will face questions about the wisdom of their approach to the race - and to team orders in general - but Hamilton was serenely distant from such concerns.

After taking the lead, Hamilton edged away from Bottas, building a five-second lead before his first pit stop on lap 22.

Mercedes' decision to bring Bottas in first to protect from Vettel behind dropped the lead to less than two seconds, but Hamilton soon pulled away again to take his second victory in a row.

It was Hamilton's 75th career victory, and it came on a weekend on which he had struggled throughout practice but pulled a lap out of the bag to grab a front-row spot, which proved the foundation for his win.

Head coach Walton leaves LA Lakers

Head coach Luke Walton has left the Los Angeles Lakers two days after Magic Johnson resigned as the team's president of basketball operations.

The Lakers finished 10th in the Western Conference, failing to reach the play-offs for the sixth straight year.

"This franchise and the city will always be special to me and my family," said 39-year-old Walton, who won the NBA twice as a Lakers player.

The club said his departure after three years in charge was by mutual consent.

"We would like to thank Luke for his dedicated service," said Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.

"We wish Luke and his family the best of luck moving forward."

Lakers legend Johnson - who played a key role in bringing LeBron James to the team last year - said he had grown tired of "the back-stabbing and the whispering" when announcing his departure on Wednesday.

He also suggested he did not want to have to make a decision over the future of Walton, stating:

"Tomorrow I would have to affect someone's livelihood and their life."

from Bola Esho's Blog