YAOUNDE: Senegal are through to a second consecutive Africa Cup of Nations final after breaking Burkina Faso hearts in their last-four tie in Yaounde on Wednesday.
Abdou Diallo, Idrissa Gana Gueye and Sadio Mane scored second-half goals to secure a 3-1 victory.
Aliou Cisse’s team had two penalties awarded in the first half only for the Ethiopian referee to change his mind both times following a VAR review.
However, they went ahead just after the midway point in the second period when Paris Saint-Germain defender Diallo popped up in the box to produce a striker’s finish.
The second arrived on 76 minutes as Mane provided a superb assist for Gueye, also of PSG, to score, and Mane completed the win late on after Blati Toure had pulled a goal back.
Africa’s top-ranked national team, Senegal will find out their opponents in Sunday’s final on Thursday, when hosts Cameroon take on Egypt in the second semi.
Those two nations are the most successful in AFCON history with 12 titles between them, while the Lions of Teranga are still searching for their first continental crown, two and a half years after losing to Algeria in the final in Cairo.
Their opponents here could not be underestimated.
Burkina Faso have shown themselves to be a talented young side and one driven on by the desire to give joy to supporters in a country reeling after President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was overthrown in a military coup last week.
That happened to a backdrop of a jihadist insurgency in the landlocked country, and their coach, Kamou Malo, talked of the events giving his team “added motivation.”
They showed plenty of fight and matched their opponents for long spells, but they did not trouble Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy in the Senegal goal often enough.
Mendy’s opposite number, Herve Koffi, was stretchered off half an hour in after landing horribly as he went up to punch the ball clear in an aerial challenge with Cheikhou Kouyate.
Referee Bamlak Tessema initially gave a spot-kick before changing his mind after a VAR review, as Kouyate was able to resume but Koffi could not.
Tessema also pointed to the spot in first-half injury time when a Gueye shot struck the arm of Burkina Faso’s Edmond Tapsoba in the area, but again he changed his mind after a review of the images showed the defender’s arm was in close to his body.
The breakthrough arrived with 20 minutes left, Kalidou Koulibaly trying an acrobatic attempt at a corner and inadvertently setting up Diallo to score, beating substitute ‘keeper Soufiane Farid Ouedraogo.
Senegal’s pressing made the second goal as Mane got to the byline and set up Gueye, who just beat Bamba Dieng to the finish.
It was always going to be a huge ask after that for the Stallions against a Senegal side who had conceded only once in the whole tournament.
However, they reduced the deficit eight minutes from time as Issa Kabore’s cross was diverted in by Toure’s knee.
Mane had the final say, though, bursting clear in the 87th minute to make it 3-1.
He will find out on Thursday if he will come up against his Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah and Egypt in the final.
Mane and Senegal break Burkina Faso hearts to reach AFCON final
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Mane and Senegal break Burkina Faso hearts to reach AFCON final
- Aliou Cisse's team had two penalties awarded in the first half only for the Ethiopian referee to change his mind both times following a VAR review
- Mane completed the win late on after Blati Toure had pulled a goal back
Djokovic and Kyrgios lose in doubles to top-seeded team at the Brisbane International
- DJokovic and Kyrgios won their opening doubles match, a crowd-pleasing, fist-pumping affair by both players at Pat Rafter Arena
- Djokovic won his first singles match and will next play Gael Monfils, who he has a 19-0 record against
BRISBANE: The new doubles team of Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios are out of the Brisbane International in the second round.
The pair, granted a wild-card entry by tournament organizers, lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 Wednesday to the top-seeded team of Nikola Mektic of Croatia and New Zealander Michael Venus.
DJokovic and Kyrgios won their opening doubles match, a crowd-pleasing, fist-pumping affair by both players at Pat Rafter Arena.
Kyrgios lost his opening singles match on Tuesday after an 18-month absence from the tour due to injuries. Djokovic won his first singles match on the same day and will next play Gael Monfils, who he has a 19-0 record against.
Cavaliers top Lakers in LeBron’s first game at 40, Celtics crush Raptors
- Milwaukee Bucks erased a 19-point deficit on the way to a 120-112 victory over the Indiana Pacers
- Another big night from Victor Wembanyama saw the San Antonio Spurs finish the year with a lopsided 122-86 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers
LOS ANGELES: The league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers spoiled LeBron James’s first game as a 40-year-old, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 122-110 on Tuesday, as the NBA champion Boston Celtics closed out 2024 with a 125-71 demolition of the Toronto Raptors.
Jarrett Allen scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell added 26 points and Evan Mobley chipped in 20 for the Cavaliers, who notched their eighth straight win to push their league-best record to 29-4.
James, whose four NBA titles include a 2016 championship with his hometown team Cleveland, scored 23 points with four rebounds, seven assists and a blocked shot.
It was his first game since his 40th birthday on Monday, and made James the first player in league history to play a game in his teens and in his 40s.
Austin Reaves led the Lakers with an impressive near-triple-double of 35 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
Anthony Davis scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but after twice edging ahead in the second quarter the Lakers trailed by five at halftime and never led in the second half.
There was less drama in Boston, where the Celtics won by the second-largest margin of victory in franchise history — trailing only their 56-point triumph at Chicago in December 2018.
Jayson Tatum scored 18 of his 23 points in the third quarter, when the Celtics out-scored the Raptors 45-18 to effectively put the game out of reach.
Payton Pritchard scored 19 points off the bench as seven Celtics players scored in double figures.
The Celtics connected on 22 of their 43 three-point attempts as they handed the Raptors an 11th straight defeat.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said the big win — after the Celtics dropped four of their last six games — was just part of the process as the Celtics try to repeat as champions.
“There’s still stuff that we’ve got to work on... we’ve just got to continue to be better,” Mazzulla said.
The Milwaukee Bucks erased a 19-point deficit on the way to a 120-112 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, back after missing three games because of illness, found his rhythm after scoring just four points in the first half, finishing with 30 points and 12 rebounds.
Brook Lopez added 16 points and reserves Bobby Portis Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. scored 14 points each for Milwaukee, who trailed 83-64 midway through the third quarter.
“These are the type of games you need throughout a season to keep you going,” Portis said. “It was a great game for us, especially going forward, that we can look back on like: OK, cool, we do it one time we can do it again and just keep building, keep building.”
Another big night from Victor Wembanyama saw the San Antonio Spurs finish the year with a lopsided 122-86 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Wembanyama closed out a December to remember with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists, one steal and three blocked shots in less than 26 minutes on the court.
His 17 points in the first quarter matched the Clippers’ total in the period.
In Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points and the Thunder notched their 12th straight regular-season victory, 113-105 over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Thunder trailed by as many as 12 in the second quarter and were down 52-46 at half time.
But they outscored the Timberwolves 43-23 in the third quarter and never trailed in the fourth on the way to a seventh consecutive win since they fell to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup final, which doesn’t count as part of the regular season.
Naomi Osaka wins again to reach the quarterfinals at the Auckland WTA tournament
- Osaka overcame a swirling breeze and a lengthy rain break to progress comfortably
AUCKLAND: Four-time Grand Slam singles winner Naomi Osaka has started 2025 in style, beating Julia Grabher 7-5, 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Auckland tennis classic.
Osaka overcame a swirling breeze and a lengthy rain break to progress comfortably beyond the second round. Although the wind often affected her ball toss, Osaka didn’t drop her serve at any stage and broke Grabher once in each set to win her way to the Auckland quarterfinals for the second time. Osaka also reached the last eight on her only previous visit to New Zealand in 2017.
“She was a really tough opponent for me to play against and I felt I just had to concentrate on myself a lot and try not to be as nervous as I felt,” Osaka said.
“I got some great advice from a great coach over there,” Osaka added, referring to Patrick Mouratoglou who recently joined her team and previously had a long association with Serena Williams. “I just tried to focus on my bullet points and go out swinging if I had to go out. But fortunately I’m here to play another round.”
Osaka again showed no sign of the back injury which ended her 2024 season at the China Open in October. She moved freely, went to the net rarely but effectively and hit hard, especially from the forehand side.
Osaka’s first serve was a powerful weapon and she won 80 percent of points when she put the serve in play.
The first set was tight, without a break of serve until the 12th game. Osaka came back from the rain delay which came when she was leading 40-15 in the previous game and seemed to step up, holding serve and breaking the Austrian player immediately to take the first set.
She held serve to love in two of her first three service games in the second set, then broke Grabher in the sixth game to go ahead 4-2. Osaka continued to hold serve comfortably, closing out the match on her first match point.
The Auckland tournament is a tune-up for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 12, and lost some of its star power on Tuesday when former US Open champion Emma Raducanu withdrew with a back injury. Elize Mertens also pulled out of Auckland with injury, leaving Osaka to face a more open draw
Canada’s Dabrowski reveals cancer treatment amid run to Olympic bronze
- Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski revealed Tuesday that her run to Olympic tennis bronze in Paris came as she received treatment for breast cancer
MONTREAL: Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski revealed Tuesday that her run to Olympic tennis bronze in Paris came as she received treatment for breast cancer.
“How can something so small cause such a big problem? This is the question I asked myself when I was diagnosed with breast cancer back in mid-April,” the 32-year-old doubles specialist wrote on Instagram.
“I know this will come as a shock to many, but I am okay and I will be okay. Early detection saves lives. I can wholeheartedly agree with this.”
Dabrowski said she discovered a lump in her left breast during a 2023 self-exam, but at that time was told its size meant there was no cause for concern.
A year later it was larger and she underwent a biopsy and received the diagnosis.
“Those are words you never expect to hear, and in an instant your life or the life of a loved one turns upside down,” said Dabrowski, who won the 2023 US Open women’s doubles title, the 2018 Australian Open mixed-doubles title and the 2017 French Open mixed-doubles title.
Dabrowski said her “surreal” second half of the 2024 season included two surgeries and radiotherapy, before slightly delaying further treatment to compete at Wimbledon and the Olympics.
She teamed up with New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe to finish runners-up at Wimbledon and won mixed-doubles bronze in Paris with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
She and Routliffe won the doubles crown at the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh.
Dabrowski said she waited to share her story because she “wanted to figure everything out and handle things privately with only those closest to me in the loop.”
Now, she says, her perspective on her tennis career and life has changed.
“When the threat of losing everything I’d worked for my entire life became a real possibility, only then did I begin to authentically appreciate what I had,” she said.
“My mindset shifted from ‘I have to do this’ to ‘I get to do this.’
“Through this lens I find it so much easier to find joy in areas of my life I previously viewed as a heavy weight.”
Dabrowski’s post was met with an outpouring of support from WTA colleagues, including Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, Pegula calling her “effing strong.”
Routliffe said she was “lucky” to be by Dabrowski’s side through it all.
“Here’s to more smiling in 2025,” Routliffe said.
Ruben Amorim is ‘very excited’ about where 14th-place Man United can go in 2025
- The Portuguese says he’s determined to press on with the 3-4-3 system despite the difficulties United’s squad has had in adapting
- United have the toughest of starts to 2025 when they travel to play league leader Liverpool on Sunday in what is widely considered English soccer’s fiercest rivalry
MANCHESTER: Despite his team entering 2025 in 14th place in the Premier League, Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is “very excited” about the year ahead.
United’s 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle on Monday saw them suffer five league losses in the same calendar month for the first time since September 1962, and a fourth straight reverse in all competitions means the Red Devils have lost six of their last eight.
But in a message posted on his club’s official X account on New Year’s Eve, Amorim wrote: “I know it will take a lot of hard work from everyone to get there, but I am very excited about where we can go together in 2025.”
Amorim is yet to halt the alarming slide which led to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal in October, and his team is seven points above the drop zone with increasing talk of a relegation fight, including by Amorim himself who has called it “a possibility.”
But the Portuguese says he’s determined to press on with the 3-4-3 system despite the difficulties United’s squad has had in adapting.
“Of course I didn’t choose the players specifically for these positions but that I already knew,” he said. “But I understand they have a lot of difficulties because they spend two years playing one way and then they are playing another.”
Amorim did not have the benefit of a pre-season to implement such a major change to United’s tactical model, and admitted that is having a significant impact.
“I think the players are losing everything, the small things that we try to work on in training,” Amorim said. “After one goal they lose everything because we don’t have the base, we don’t have time to build the base to cope with the difficult moments so it’s really hard in this moment.”
United have the toughest of starts to 2025 when they travel to play league leader Liverpool on Sunday in what is widely considered English soccer’s fiercest rivalry.
