'He just wanted to play football': A family mourns a 15-year-old as Togo cracks down on protests
'Jacques died for Togo,' his uncle, Koutoglo Kossi Mawuli, said quietly, eyes heavy with grief.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Little Dutch delight for Kaizer Chiefs
Grey clouds and rain proved an appropriate backdrop for South African club Kaizer Chiefs as they completed a disappointing pre-season tour of the Netherlands by losing 2-1 to FC Twente. In other football news, African club champions Pyramids have lost ace forward Ibrahim Adel and former Morocco star Ahmed Faras has died aged 78. South Africa Kaizer Chiefs, winners of a record 53 domestic trophies in South Africa, triumphed in only one of five friendly matches on a pre-season of the Netherlands. The Johannesburg outfit beat PEC Zwolle 1-0 but lost to Vitesse (2-1), Utrecht (4-0), NEC Nijmegen (1-0) and FC Twente. Chiefs hired Tunisian coach Nasreddine Nabi last season and he ended a 10-year trophy drought by winning the South African FA Cup, but they finished a disappointing ninth in the 16-club Premiership. Egypt Ibrahim Adel, whose six goals help Pyramids become surprise winners of the 2024/25 CAF Champions League in only their second appearance, is moving to United Arab Emirates club Al Jazira. The 24-year-old missed the first leg of the final against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa through injury, but recovered to come off the bench in the return match. Another Pyramids star, Democratic Republic of Congo-born forward Fiston Mayele, has returned to the Cairo club after a proposed move to Saudi Arabian club Al Fateh failed to materialise. Morocco Ahmed Faras, who captained Morocco to their lone Africa Cup of Nations title in 1976, has died aged 78 after a long illness, the national football federation announced. The forward scored 36 goals in 94 appearances for the national team and in 1975 became the first Moroccan to be voted African Player of the Year. Faras spent his entire 18-year club career with Mohammedia, helping them win the league, the national cup twice and the super cup. Sudan Record 30-time champions Al Hilal slipped one place to second in the Sudan Elite League play-offs after drawing 3-3 with Al Wadi Nyala on matchday five. Arch rivals Al Merrikh took over top spot by winning 2-1 against Al Mergani Kassala to boost chances of a top-two finish and qualification for the 2025/26 CAF Champions League. The play-offs are being staged in the military-controlled northeast of a country where an ongoing civil war, which began in April 2023, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions. Guinea French coach Hubert Velud is among the contenders to replace compatriot Michel Dussuyer as coach of struggling Guinea. Velud, 66, left Moroccan club FAR Rabat this year after a bizarre accident. Jumping to celebrate sealing a Champions League last-eight place, he fell awkwardly, was injured and could not work. Despite being able to call on star Borussia Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy, Guinea failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and lie fifth in a 2026 World Cup qualifying group. bur-str-dl/ea
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Spain see off spirited Swiss to reach Euro 2025 semi-finals
Spain reached the semi-finals of Women's Euro 2025 on Friday after battling past Switzerland 2-0 as the world champions continued their bid for a first-ever European crown. Athenea del Castillo and Claudia Pina scored the goals in the second half in Bern to give La Roja deserved passage to the last four where they will face either France or Germany on Wednesday. But Montse Tome's team didn't have it all their own way as hosts Switzerland put up a brave fight in front of a passionate crowd at the Wankdorf Stadium. The Swiss survived an early scare when Mariona Caldentey shot wide a ninth-minute penalty and from there did a great job in gumming up Spain's usually free-flowing football. Pia Sundhage's players acquitted themselves brilliantly in their home tournament and were given a loud round of applause from the majority of the nearly 30,000 supporters. The Swiss, who finished the match with 10 women after Noelle Maritz was sent off in the final minute, had never progressed past the group stage of a Euros before and in the end Spain proved to be too much for the team ranked 23rd in the world. Spain meanwhile overcame a serious test of patience before their superior quality eventually prevailed, with Alexia Putellas' wasted penalty late on changing nothing. An already raucous home crowd roared with delight when Caldentey scuffed wide her spot-kick after the Arsenal forward was brought down by Nadine Riesen. But that didn't discourage Spain who dealt well with the fervent atmosphere and some fierce tackling but struggled to find a way through the home team's packed defence. The efforts that Spain did have on goal were wayward with a series of potshots and blocked efforts before Irene Paredes headed Pina's corner onto the post two minutes before half-time. The same pattern continued after the break with Spain probing and bumping against both a Swiss wall and the woodwork. Patri Guijarro headed another corner onto the post and in the ensuing scramble Esther Gonzalez somehow contrived to strike the other post in front of an open goal. It didn't look like it was going to be Spain's night but del Castillo finally made the breakthrough in the 66th minutes -- four minute after replacing Caldentey -- collecting Aitana Bonmati's through ball and rolling home the goal which ended Switzerland's spirited resistance. Pina whipped home a wonderful second goal five minutes later and that was that for the Swiss, who at least had one more thing to cheer for when Livia Peng pushed out Putellas' weak spot-kick with two minutes remaining. td/ea
Fox Sports
18 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Texas Picked to Win 2025 SEC Championship With Arch Manning at QB
Texas, with Heisman Trophy candidate Arch Manning set to take over as starting quarterback, is the preseason pick to win the SEC championship. The Longhorns received 96 of the 204 votes cast from media members covering the SEC media days this week to be crowned SEC champion on Dec. 6 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia, with 44 votes, received the second-most votes. If that scenario plays out, it would mean a rematch of the 2024 SEC Championship Game, which Georgia won in an overtime thriller. The SEC title game pits the two teams with the best regular-season conference record against one another. Alabama was third with 29 votes, while LSU got 20. South Carolina was next with five, while Oklahoma received three and Vanderbilt and Florida each got two votes. Tennessee, Ole Miss and Auburn each received one vote. Since 1992, only 10 times has the predicted champion in the preseason poll gone on to win the SEC championship. The 2024 SEC title game averaged 16.6 million viewers, the fourth-largest audience on record for the game. The OT win for Georgia, which peaked with 19.7 million viewers, delivered the largest audience of the college football season. Reporting by The Associated Press. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience College Football Texas Longhorns recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
