July 24, 2022
The brief from today:
Women’s AFCON decided
South Africa’s women’s team are the winners of the 2022 Women’s AFCON. Banyana Banyana, as they are known back home, defeated the hosts, Morocco, 2-1 to win their first ever AFCON title. After reaching the final five times in the past, but always finishing second best, this tournament would end with the team both changing history, and also writing a new one. It was a full house at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium, with 52,000 fans making the atmosphere even more daunting for the South Africans. That said, it was South Africa that would open the scoring in the 63rd minute, and then double the lead eight minutes later, with both goals coming from Hildah Magaia. Morocco would finally respond in the 80th minute with Rosella Ayane scoring, and this, coupled with a massive nine minutes of injury time, made it a tense closing to the match. In the end, however, South Africa held on to deny the hosts any sort of comeback, and are now the continent’s champions. The victory caps off a truly successful tournament for the side, which saw them win every match, and also earn direct qualification to next year’s Women’s World Cup.
Banyana Banyana celebrate with their AFCON trophy
Super League holdouts have meeting
While the preseason exhibition tours for European sides are in full swing, Las Vegas was the location of a meeting between the heads of the remaining European Super League teams. Real Madrid and Barcelona played a match at the Allegiant Stadium one night after Juventus faced Chivas de Guadalajara in the same place. With three of those sides still holding out hopes for a European Super League, it’s no surprise that club supremos: Andrea Agnelli (Juventus), Florentino Perez (Real Madrid), and Joan Laporta (Barcelona) all met for lunch as their paths crossed in Sin City. Unlike the other nine teams that originally agreed to join the Super League, who then reneged after fan and media backlash, these three have no such intentions. In fact, they have currently taken their issue with UEFA to court in Luxembourg, and while the matter isn’t getting the media attention it did early on, it still persists. Their insistence on continuing with this project is still cause for pause because they are far too powerful, and also knowledgable on the business side of the sport, to just brush aside their ongoing efforts.
Rabiot and his mother weighing options
Shortly before Juventus departed for their US tour, it was announced that midfielder, Adrien Rabiot wouldn’t be included in the squad. The reason cited by both parties was that he had “personal issues” he was dealing with. Today, however, he was called up to the Juventus Under-23 team’s preseason retreat scheduled for the upcoming week. While there is a need to respect the fact that he may actually be dealing with something “personal”, there is also speculation that his mother, and agent, Veronique Rabiot, is working on a transfer for him away from Juventus. Rabiot still has one year left on his contract, and if Juve were to cash in, this summer would be the time. There is still just over a month left in the transfer window, and it will also be interesting to see if the Frenchman shows up for the U-23 retreat, or if he uses the “personal reasons” to excuse himself from participation.
Rabiot’s days at Juve could be numbered