Author: Peter Auf der Heyde

Arsenal and Manchester United have been leading the way when it comes to the Europa League. And they will want to keep things this way as they are punching below their weight in their domestic league.

The Reds, who slumped to their fourth league defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth on the weekend, are currently only 10th in the Premier League with 13 points from 11 matches – 18 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

Although slightly better, the Gunners are also not having the domestic season their fans are hoping for. They have four points more than United and are fifth, but six points adrift of the fourth-placed Chelsea.

In the Europa League, both clubs are looking strong and seem well en route to the knock-out stage.

Arsenal has an unblemished record in Group F, ahead of their away trip to Vitória de Guimarães. They have a three-point advantage over Eintracht Frankfurt, who are away to Standard Liège in the other group game on Thursday.

United, meanwhile, top group L followed by Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. Partizan Belgrade, who visit Old Trafford on Thursday, sits third.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team has yet to concede in the Europa League but have also only managed two goals – one in a 1-0 win in their opening game against Astana and the other in the 1-0 victory in Belgrade on the last match-day.

Pressure on Solskjær will only have been increased by the defeat against Bournemouth and the Norwegian will be keen to ensure that United qualify for the next round as early as possible.

But with French international Paul Pogba out injured, the coach is running out of options to play up front.

In Germany, Bayern Munich will be in a tough position when facing Borussia Dortmund for this Saturday’s Bundesliga Klassiker.

It will be for the defending champions the best possible opportunity to bounce back at home from the humiliating 5-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt on the weekend.

But a day after the defeat in Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac was fired. His assistant Hansi Flick was given the job on an interim basis.

The former Bayern midfielder’s task will not have been made any easier as three center-backs have been ruled out. Jerome Boateng, Germany international Niklas Süle and Bayern’s most expensive ever signing, Lucas Hernandez, will all be missing.

Their opponent Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, go into the match buoyed by a 3-0 league victory against the only previously unbeaten team in the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg.

That victory occurred just a few days after Dortmund came from behind to beat the log leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 in a cup match.

A victory for the home side would see Bayern move ahead of Dortmund, who currently is second in the Bundesliga three points behind Mönchengladbach, while Bayern is fourth, a further point behind.

History clearly favors Bayern, who have won the last five Klassiker at home, scoring an astonishing 22 goals and conceding just three.

Football fans throughout Africa will be able to see if history repeats itself or if Dortmund will be able to have the upper-hand on Munich as Der Klassiker, as well as Europa League matches, will be shown live and exclusive on the StarTimes football channels.

And shake things up he did.

Last year Southgate, who was in charge of the country’s U-21 side before taking over the seniors, took the team to a fourth place finish at the World Cup in Russia and earlier this year England qualified for the finals of the UEFA Nations League, where they went one better.

What makes Southgate’s success at national level even more remarkable is that the 49-year-old has not been afraid to blood young players, giving debuts to teenagers like Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Southgate has continued this trend in calling up young players as England are closing in on the finals of 2020 Euros.

England are leading Group A in the qualifying competition with 12 points – three ahead of the second-placed Czech Republic, whom they face in Prague on Friday. Thereafter they make the short trip to Sofia for their match against Bulgaria on Monday.

Of the 23 players called up by Southgate for the two games, 10 are not yet 23 and between them have just 73 caps.

With Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks, who is 23 years old and has three caps, Southgate could potentially field an entire team that could still compete at the U 23 level.

Southgate said that even though there were still a number of young players waiting in the wings, he would give preference to those playing regularly .

“It’s an advantage if guys are playing regularly because you want to come into a camp confident, fit, physically sharp. I understand at times I’ll get some stick because I try to say: ‘You want to pick people in form who are playing regularly,’ and it isn’t always possible to do it exactly that way.”

One of the players not picked for the two matches is Manchester City’s Phil Foden, who is not playing regularly for the Citizens. “Pep [Guardiola] recognises the quality of the player, but equally the quality of the opposition around him, so I’m sure in the coming months that game time will increase as the number of matches racks up.

“You should always assess those things halfway through the season and towards the end of the season to see how much football they’ve got.”

England’s matches are not the only standout games in the forthcoming days as in Group H Turkey, France and Iceland are involved in a tight battle for the top two positions that guarantee automatic qualification for the finals.

The French, who lost away to Turkey face Şenol Güneş’ side in the Stade de France on Monday – three days after having faced Iceland in Reykjavik.

Football fans throughout Africa need not worry that they will miss out on the best Euro qualifiers, as the top matches are being shown live and exclusively on the StarTime football channels.

Make sure you stay on top of all the action by tuning in to your favourite team in the Europa League – brought to Africa live and exclusive by StarTimes.

Arsenal was in devastating form in their opening fixture, winning 3-0 at last year’s beaten semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt, while Manchester United needed a late Mason Greenwood goal to beat Kazakhstan team Astana.

Despite fielding several players who barely feature in the Premier League, Arsenal outplayed Frankfurt in their opening Group F match and are now at home to Standard Liege, who also won their first game.

The Belgian club beat Vitoria Guimaraes 2-0 at home, but are expected to struggle against an Arsenal side who are hoping to – at least – repeat last season’s performance in the Europa League, when they went all the way to the final.

The Reds meanwhile, who are campaigning in Group L, have a short trip to Alkmaar for their second match.

Two-time Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar, who played in the UEFA Cup final in 1981, drew their opening game against Partizan Belgrade 2-2, but are favored to be the team that will accompany United into the knock-out stages.

Former Manchester United and England midfielder Owen Hargreaves told television viewers that as the winners of the Europa League qualify for the Champions League the following season, this year’s competition is very important for both United and Arsenal.

“They’ve fallen behind Manchester City and Liverpool. The fact of the matter is that this competition I think for both teams is, in a way, must-win.

“I don’t see either of them (Manchester United and Arsenal) finishing in the top four the way they’re currently playing. So I think the best way to get in there is this competition.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are the third Premier League club involved in the Europa League, are making a European comeback after 39 years. They had to enter the competition in the second qualifying round but managed to win six games in a row to advance to the group phase.

There, they found the going much tougher as they were beaten 1-0 at home by 2011 finalists Braga in their opening Group K match. Nuno Santo’s side is now away to Besiktas in a match neither side can afford to lose.

The Istanbul club gave away a 2-1 lead at Slovan Bratislava and was beaten with two injury-time goals 4-2.

As one of the premier football competitions in the world, the Europa League has attracted millions of fans throughout Africa and they do not need to miss out on the action, as the top matches are being shown live and exclusively on the StarTime football channels.

Make sure you stay on top of all the action by tuning in to your favorite team in the Europa League – brought to Africa live and exclusive by StarTimes.

Although more African teams than ever before – five – participated at the global event, Angola, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Nigeria (who did secure qualification to the 2020 Olympics though) had lost all chances of advancing to the knock-out stage in the initial group phase.

Instead, the quarter-finals read a bit like Eurobasket, with only the US, Australia and Argentina gate-crashing the European party.

El Alma Argentina, who won the inaugural championship as host in 1950, open up proceedings against two-time champions Serbia in Dongguan in the early match on Tuesday.

Argentina are, of course, without their most famous player Manu Ginóbili, who retired last year after a 23-season professional career, including 16 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

The majority of their players ply their trade at home in Spain while Serbia, on the other hand, have four NBA players in their squad in China.

Both teams advanced to the second round with an unblemished record of three victories, but while Serbia were quite convincingly beaten by Spain in the second round, Argentina advanced to the knockout stage after topping their group following victories against Venezuela and Poland.

In the second game today, Spain, who are led by Marc Gasol, face Poland in Shanghai.

The younger of the successful Gasol brothers, who arrived in China on the back of his first NBA title with the Toronto Raptors, has been in outstanding form throughout the tournament, but aged 34, he knows that his time playing at the highest level is coming to an end.

His 39-year-old brother Pau has been forced to miss the trip to China due to injury and in his absence, another pair of brothers, Juan and Willy Hernangómez have stepped up to the party.

At 23 and 25 respectively, the future belongs to the two NBA players.

Spain coach Sergio Scarilo said after their final group match that the brothers are extremely talented players. “They have needed experience on the court because they are in and out when they play in the NBA.

“To be great like Marc and Pau have been, they need to have concentration and make the right decisions. They need to overcome obstacles when they have bad nights. The World Cup is a great chance for them to prove themselves in bigger roles.”

On Wednesday basketball fans in Dongguan will be treated to a virtual NBA match as France take on Team USA, who are looking for a third successive World Cup title.

In the absence of most of the top US NBA stars, the star attraction in the game will presumably be French center Rudy Gobert, who has a four-year 102 million dollars contract with the Utah Jazz.

The 27-year-old, who won back-to-back NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2018 and 2019, set up a new single-season record for slum dunks this year, when he managed 306.

The final quarter-final sees Australia take on the Czech Republic in Shanghai with history on the cards for the winner. The Czech Republic have already made their own history by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since being eligible to qualify in 1994.

Australia, on the other hand, although they have been virtually omnipresent since 1970 (missing out only in 2002) have never advanced past the quarter-finals, but will fancy their chances to do so this time around.

For basketball fans throughout Africa, the FIBA World Cup will be brought live and exclusive to their TV screens via the StarTimes sports channels as the leading digital-TV operator in Africa has secured the right to the prestigious competition.

So when the two take to the field in a Euro 2020 qualifier in Hamburg on Friday, it is irrelevant that the two former superpowers of world football have seen their fortunes wane recently.

Germany is ranked a lowly 15th globally, whilst the Dutch, who were once considered the second-best team in the world is one place behind their rivals.

With Belarus, Estonia and Northern Ireland the other teams in Group C, Die Mannschaft and Oranje are expected to occupy the top two places which would see them through to the finals.

But Northern Ireland currently sits in top place, having won four out of four – albeit against Belarus and Estonia. Germany, with three wins from three, is behind them, followed by the Dutch, who have one win from two games.

Germany snatches a dramatic last-gasp 3-2 victory in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam in March to pile the pressure on Ronald Koeman’s side, who cannot afford to drop another three points.

On Friday they will face a Germany side eager to put recent disappointments behind them. They were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stage and finished bottom in their European Nations League group and were relegated.

That notwithstanding, the German squad has a certain familiarity to it, with captain Manuel Neuer, Toni Kroos, Marco Reus, Joshua Kimmich all being called-up.
However, veterans Mats Hummels, Jérôme Boateng, and Thomas Müller, who were controversially axed after the World Cup, remain ousted, while Leroy Sané and Julian Draxler are injured.

Coach Joachim Löw has introduced two uncapped players in defender Niklas Stark and forward Luca Waldschmidt, who topped the scorer charts at the Euro U-21 championships earlier this year.

But with Leipzig’s Timo Werner being the in-form Bundesliga striker at the moment – having scored a hattrick against Borussia Moenchengladbach on the weekend – and Serge Gnabry having an astonishing scoring ratio (seven goals in eight matches) for the national team, it seems likely that Löw will start with them upfront.

The coach said he was looking forward to the games against the Dutch and the qualifier against the table-topping Irish three days later in Belfast. “I am eagerly waiting to return to the team and the players.

“In every position, the players know they need to improve. We are fully aware of what it will take to be amongst the best at the Euros next year,” he said.
Despite their ranking, the Dutch, on the other hand, made it to the inaugural finals of the Nations League and were only defeated by the hosts Portugal in the championship match.

Like his counterpart, Koeman has opted for experience, with newly-crowned European Footballer of the Year Virgil van Dijk leading the side into battle alongside players like Georginio Wijnaldum, Kevin Strootman, Ryan Babel and Memphis Depay.
Football fans throughout Africa will be able to see this great rivalry play-out in Hamburg live on the StarTimes World Football channel, as the continent’s leading digital-TV operator has secured the broadcasting rights to the prestigious competition.

Angola, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Nigeria will keep the African flag flying in the extended tournament that sees 32 countries competing in eight venues throughout the vast country.

Africa’s history in the competition is a checkered one, with Egypt finishing fifth out of 11 teams at the first competition in 1950. Thereafter the continent had to wait until 1974 before another African team would participate at the showpiece event of international basketball.

And since then, although at least one African team has qualified for the round of the last-16 in the last few tournaments, that is as far as they got.

The outgoing president of FIBA Africa, Hamane Niang, is hoping that things will change and said that the world could see the continent play a strong role at these championships.

“For a very long time, African teams came to the World Cup to limit the damage as used to be said. What has been positive is that the African teams have played without any anxiety and on an equal footing with their opponents,” said the Malian, who is set to become the sport’s governing bodies president at the FIBA Congress in Beijing.

The highest-ranked African team in the competition is Nigeria, who will travel to China with plenty of experience, having several NBA – or former – NBA players.

They have been drawn into Group B, where they will face Argentina, Russia and South Korea.

The star on the side is 6’9 forward Al-Farouq Aminu, who last month signed a 29 million dollars three-year contract with the Orlando Magic after leaving the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 9.4 points and 7.6 rebounds this season.

Other stars on the side are 35-year-old Ike Diogu, who spent seven years in the NBA before moving to Asia, where he currently plays for Shimane Susanoo Magic in Japan, as well as Minnesota Timberwolves’ Joshua Okogie.

The shooting guard Okogie is, together with coach Alexander Nwora’s son Jordan, the youngest player in the squad at 20.

The other four teams also have their fair share of experience in their sides, with Senegal though, not naming recent Boston Celtics signing Tacko Fall and Minnesota Timberwolves big Gorgui Dieng in their squad as the players want to concentrate on their NBA clubs.

The West Africans will be competing in Group H against Australia, Canada, and Lithuania.

Tunisian Salah Mejri, who was released by the Dallas Mavericks earlier this year, will be looking to put in some solid performances in Group C against Spain, Puerto Rica, and Iran to find a new club.

The two other African teams, Angola and Côte d’Ivoire are in Groups D and A respectively.

Arguably the biggest African name in basketball will not actually be playing for an African team as Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was born in Greece to Nigerian parents, will be starring for Greece.

The 24-year-old swingman, who is on a four year, 100 million dollar contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, made history early in his career by being the first player to finish a regular season in the top 20 in total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.
Antetokounmpo, whose brother Thanasis is also in the Greek squad, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player earlier this year.

Rwandan fans will be able to watch the FIBA Basketball World Cup live and HD on the StarTimes sports channels as the leading digital-TV operator in Africa has secured the exclusive right to the prestigious competition.

But going into their final Group A match against Peru in São Paulo on Saturday, Tite’s side does not have the six points that had been expected from the team.

After securing a comfortable 3-0 win against Bolivia in the opening match, they managed no better than a goalless draw against Venezuela in their next, prompting fans to jeer the players as they left the field.

Left back Filipe Luis, who has played his part in ensuring that the eight-time champions have yet to concede, has promised that the team will give everything against Peru.

“Obviously it doesn’t help when the fans are against us, chanting ‘ole’ for our opponent. In the end, that doesn’t help anybody. We need to keep fighting and keep giving our best to try to change things,” the Atlético Madrid star said.

Like the hosts Peru have four points from their two opening matches and are already guaranteed a place in the knock-out stages as they will – at worst – qualify as one of the top two third-placed teams.

In Group B Argentina find themselves in an even more difficult situation as they go into their final match in Porto Alegre on Sunday against the reigning Asian champions Qatar, who are one of two invited teams at the showpiece event of South American football.

A defeat against Colombia in their first match and a draw against Paraguay in their second leaves La Albiceleste bottom of their group and needing a win against Qatar if they want to stay in the race for a record-equalling 15th title.

They needed to come from behind to secure a point against Paraguay (courtesy of a Lionel Messi penalty in the second half) and could easily have lost had Derlis Gonzalez scored for Paraguay from the spot kick with the score 1-1.

Colombia is already assured of topping the group and thereby avoiding Brazil in the quarter- and semi-finals.

Argentina, on the other hand, will – baring a miracle that would see Brazil lose to Peru and Venezuela beating Bolivia – face the hosts either in the first round of the knock-out phase or the round of the last-four.

Either way, that, coupled with the way they have played, does not instill confidence in those hoping that Messi, who has won just about everything personally and with his club, but nothing with the national senior team finally secures some silverware.

Football fans throughout Africa wanting to find out whether he finally breaks the duck need only to tune in to StarTimes, as the leading digital-TV operator in Africa has secured the broadcasting rights to the prestigious Copa América.

Brazil v Peru and Argentina v Qatar – as well as all other matches – will be broadcast live and exclusively on the StarTimes football channels.