dyton mupawaenda
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international midfielder, Marvellous Nakamba has slowed down on tackles for Luton Town in the English Premier League lately and has lost ground at the top of the standings.
After seven games, Nakamba was sitting comfortably at the top of the tackles chart with 31 followed by Tottenham’s Bissouma on 25.
However, three games later Nakamba is now second with 37 while Fulham’s Portuguese star Joao Palhinha leads the chart with 45.
This means from averaging 4.43 tackles a match after Week 7, Nakamba managed just six in the next three games against Premiership leaders Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and former club Aston Villa at an average of two tackles a game.
The 29-year-old Nakamba has taken part in every one of the side’s 10 Premier League matches in 2023/2024, having been selected in the starting XI in all 10.
He had lasted all 90 minutes in the previous nine games until Sunday when he was taken off in the 76th minute leaving his total minutes on the pitch at 886 in 10 matches.
He has accumulated three yellow cards and is expected back in the starting line-up when Luton Town host Liverpool on Sunday evening.
Khenyeza hails Mutizwa’s brace
Golden Arrows coach Mabhuti Khenyeza was full of praise for striker Knox Mutizwa as his brace secured his side a 2-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs in the DStv Premiership match at Mpumalanga Stadium on Saturday.
Knox Mutizwa
The Zimbabwe international scored on either side of half time to give Abafana Bes’thende their sixth win of the season and maintain their second place on the log table. Sifiso Hlanti scored the only goal for Amakhosi in the first half.
“We work as a team and that’s a team goal because if you look, it came from somewhere. A vision from Nduduzo Sibiya and it’s all about connection,” Khenyeza told the media during the post-match press conference.
“There is no one who is better than anyone. We are all the same. If you see Mutizwa, he was not playing for long, but because he showed any hunger we brought him in.
“He scored a goal last time (against Cape Town City in the Carling Knockout) and that was an indication that he wants to start in the upcoming game which is good. We brought him and he scored two goals.”
Arrows are unbeaten since they were thumped 4-0 by Mamelodi Sundowns on August 15. They have registered five victories and a draw in their six matches.
Khenyeza urged his team to remain grounded and continue working hard.
“In football, you can’t win all the games. Sometimes, we will have challenges, but the mission is simple. We must not become the average team this season,” he said.
“Let’s try to be a competitive team because we can’t be thinking every time that others are better than you.
“What is helping us is to focus on ourselves, we are still going to win more games. Whether we lose or draw, we must not lose focus on what we are focusing on.”
KADEWERE’S LYON MATCH CANCELLED
Reuters reports that Sunday’s Ligue 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and Zimbabwe international striker Tino Kadewere’s Olympique Lyonnais was called off after Lyon’s team bus was pelted with stones, injuring coach Fabio Grosso, as the players made their way to the Stade Velodrome.
Sky Italia footage showed damage to two bus windows and Grosso being led into the stadium by two assistants. He was covering his face with his hands, which were stained with blood.
Italian media said Grosso suffered injuries to his scalp and face.
“He can’t hold a conversation, he had shards of glass in his face,” Lyon’s club president, John Textor added. “I’m very angry – our players, our coach, prepared for tonight and the fans wanted to see the game played,” he told Prime Video.
Fans were asked to leave the stadium calmly.
“Following the injuries of Lyon members, considering the opinion of the club, which did not wish to start the match, and the established protocol, the decision was taken not to play the match,” said referee Francois Letexier, quoted by French media.
“The images of the OL bus attacked with stones and its supporters, and of Fabio Grosso’s blooded face, are appalling,” French sports minister Amelie Oudea Castera said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“These unacceptable acts deny the very values of soccer and sport, and the perpetrators must all be found and severely punished,” she added.
Seven suspects had been arrested on Sunday night, the minister added.
HADEBE AN UNUSED SUB IN USA MLS CUP
Zimbabwe international defender, Teenage Hadebe was an unused substitute as Houston Dynamo beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 in the first round of the MLS Cup late on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Hadebe has had a difficult 2023 season due to injury and has just managed 14 appearances in the campaign.
leeroy
Online Reporter