Monthly Archives: November 2022

CITY EYEING RETURN TO WINNING WAYS

The shock from the last-minute defeat at home to North London club Tottenham Hotspur should be out of the system of the Manchester City players as they prepare to face Frank Lampard and Everton in the Premier League this weekend.

Manchester City were heavy favourites to beat Tottenham Hotspur at home in the Premier League last weekend despite the fact that the North Londoners have proven to be a bogey team to them in recent times. By the end of their latest league meeting at the Etihad Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur showed that they are still a bogey team to Manchester City after recording an impressive 3-2 away win thanks to the brace from star striker Harry Kane. The second of the Kane goals came just after Algerian player Riyad Mahrez had pulled the scoreline back to 2-2 in stoppage time. The Spurs win ensured that the Premier League title race is very far from its conclusion with Merseyside giants Liverpool closing in on Manchester City. The Reds are just three points off City with a better goal difference ahead of the final twelve (12) games of the season.

Manchester City were on a 12-game winning run before they were stopped by home team Southampton last month via a 1-1 draw. They then recovered from the draw to beat London team Brentford 2-0 at home before thrashing bottom team Norwich City 4-0 away  from home. The Spurs game followed the Norwich City game in the league.

Frank Lampard and his Everton players stand in the way of City bouncing back from the defeat at the hands of Spurs. Both teams meet at Goodison Park on Saturday. New Everton boss Frank Lampard has a record of one win and two defeats from three league matches ahead of visit of the defending champions. Also, his team are just two points better than the relegation zone at the moment.

N/KOREA: QATAR 2022 W/CUP QUALIFIERS REVIEWED

North Korea were one of the many teams who were drawn bye as far as the first round of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region is concerned. They went straight into the second round which played hosts to five teams each in eight groups.

The North Koreans were drawn in the last group (Group H) alongside rivals South Korea. The other teams in the group were Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka. North Korea would later withdraw from the group due to safety concerns connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.

North Korea began their qualifying campaign in the second round against Lebanon and it ended in victory. They were able to record a 2-0 win at home thanks to a pair of goals from JongII-gwan. Jong gave the North Koreans a perfect start in their qualifying campaignwith the opening goal in the seventh minute before he sealed the win with his brace eleven minutes into the second half.

In their second game in Group H, Jang kuk-chol scored the only goal of the game midway into the second half to give North Korea a 1-0 away win over Sri Lanka to make it two wins out of two games. They faced rivals South Korea in their next game and it ended in a goalless draw at home.

North Korea suffered a surprising defeat to hosts Turkmenistan via a 3-1 scoreline. Han kwang-Son scored a consolation goal for the North Koreans in stoppage time after the home team had scored three times through Titow, Amanow and Orazsahedow.

In their fifth game in the group, North Korea played out a goalless draw at the home of Lebanon and that was the their last game in the group before they pulled out of the qualifiers. They were still very much in contention to qualify for the third round of the Asian qualifiers ahead of Qatar 2022.