Untung99

* Fears that France midfielder has ruptured his ACL * Leon Bailey signs new contract to stay at Villa Park Aston Villa have revealed midfielder Boubacar Kamara suffered a “significant knee ligament injury” against Manchester United. The 24-year-old sustained the problem in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Villa Park and was replaced in the 65th minute by Moussa Diaby. A club statement on Monday read: “Aston Villa can confirm Boubacar Kamara has suffered a significant knee ligament injury. The midfielder sustained the damage during yesterday’s fixture with Manchester United and has subsequently undergone a scan this morning. Kamara’s condition will be reviewed ahead of a further consultation with a knee specialist.” Continue reading...

Giallorossi pushed Inter to the limit and the manager’s words in defeat contrasted wildly with his ever-feuding predecessor Don’t tell Daniele De Rossi that his team played well against Inter. “I’m a footballing son of Luciano Spalletti,” said the Roma manager at the end of Saturday’s 4-2 defeat. “He would never accept compliments after a loss because that’s how you fall into mediocrity.” Still, we can probably get away with saying it here. For 45 minutes on Saturday, Roma were excellent: standing toe-to-toe with the Serie A leaders like few have all season. The game had barely started when Stephan El Shaarawy forced Yann Sommer into a fingertip save. Inter subsequently took the lead through a Francesco Acerbi header, but goals from Gianluca Mancini and El Shaarawy put Roma in front at the break. Continue reading...

Hammers count the cost, Wilder ditches the maths while Elliott and Sarr are providing the numbers that matter The academies of Manchester United and Chelsea have a decent reputation for bringing through highly talented and technical players. Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi both got a taste of Premier League football with their first clubs but for various reasons were allowed to leave in the summer to join Nottingham Forest. Aged 21 and 23, respectively, the duo have time on their side. Against Newcastle Elanga’s pace was a constant danger, helping him kick dust into Dan Burn’s face as he sprinted beyond the full-back, who had no answer to the Swede’s pace. Hudson-Odoi’s threat comes from cutting in from the left, which brought him his goal on Saturday. Nuno Espírito Santo was eager to bring in a winger in January, acquiring Gio Reyna, another 21-year-old, from Borussia Dortmund because he thinks counterattacking football could be key to Forest’s success. Will Unwin Match repo...

It turns out the zombie team really couldn’t be killed after all. The dead kid doesn’t fear the knife. Ghosts don’t feel pain. There was no way to prevent Ivory Coast from winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the third time. League formats excepted, no side had won a major tournament after losing twice, but it was more than those defeats by Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in the group phase. Three times in the knockout stage they were behind and each time Emerse Faé’s side came back to prevail. Nobody could pretend this Ivory Coast team is one of the great sides, but this was one of the great tournament wins. Nobody would set out to win a tournament this way, qualifying from their group as the fourth of four best third-place sides, sacking the coach, doing – at least if almost every player interview since is to be believed – a lot of looking in the mirror. But maybe this is the most fun way to win, amid chaos and disbelieving laughter and an inextinguishable will. Continue reading...

The Coventry manager, Mark Robins, joked he was “going to kill” Haji Wright and Callum O’Hare over their unconventional way of deciding who would take a penalty in their 2-1 victory against Millwall. Wright won an impromptu game of rock paper scissors between the two before converting the spot-kick that cancelled out Romain Esse’s early opener. The USA international then struck the winner to lift the Sky Blues up to sixth in the Championship and leave Millwall, who began as the better side, four points clear of the relegation zone. Continue reading...

There was redemption at Meadow Park for the goalkeeper Khiara Keating as Manchester City won 1-0 and knocked the 14-time FA Cup winners Arsenal out of the competition in the fifth round. Keating weathered a late Arsenal charge, including pulling off a stunning save from a header destined for the top corner in added time, pushing over Lotte Wubben-Moy’s effort and clawing away a shot that looked to have crossed the line to atone for her errors for both goals in City’s 2-1 defeat here in the league that left her in tears. Continue reading...

We take a look at some of our favourite images from the tournament before Sunday’s final between Nigeria and hosts Ivory Coast Continue reading...