Latest news with #Lunga
The South African
3 days ago
- Sport
- The South African
Mamelodi Sundowns to announce new deal
Mamelodi Sundowns defender Divine Lunga won't be changing his club colours anytime soon. The Betway Premiership champions have reportedly decided to keep the 30-year-old Zimbabwean for another year. Lunga made his dream move to the big time when he signed for Sundowns in July 2021 from fellow Premier Soccer League side Golden Arrows. Since then, Lunga, who plays his football as a left-back, has played 41 matches for Sundowns, which included three goals and eight assists. Divine Lunga pushes his limits at Chloorkop. Image: Masandawana/X. 'Mamelodi Sundowns have exercised the option in the contract of Zimbabwe international defender Divine Lunga till June 2026,' iDiski Times reported. 'Information gathered by this publication states that Sundowns exercised the option they had in Lunga's contract. He is expected to be with the club until June 2026 with his focus now firmly on the FIFA Club World Cup in the USA next month,' the report added. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The South African
25-04-2025
- Sport
- The South African
LIVE: Al Ahly vs Mamelodi Sundowns
A meeting between the top two clubs in Africa is scheduled for Friday night when Mamelodi Sundowns visit Al Ahly for a return leg tie in the CAF Champions League semi-final at the Cairo International Stadium. This comes after a goalless draw in the highly contested first leg, which took place at Loftus Versfeld a week ago. Heading to the decider in Egypt, Masandawana will be looking not only to score goals, but to win the match and advance to the final, which will be only their second time reaching it in the Champions League. Looking ahead to what is anticipated as a mouthwatering clash, Mamelodi Sundowns' defender, Divine Lunga, admitted it will be a difficult encounter that will require his side to leave everything on the pitch if they want to advance to the final. 'I think it's not going to be an easy game, just like when we played in Pretoria, but we are going to put maximum effort so that we can win the game. 'We don't want to go to the penalties because penalties are like a game of gambling. So, we will need to put our A-game so that we can manage to score and win the game in 90 minutes,' he said. When asked about the 75 000 capacity stadium they will be battling in for a seat in the final, Lunga stated that playing in a full capacity stadium will not be a first for the team, and it will be a non-factor. 'Playing in big stadiums will not be new for us, moreover, we have several players who are exposed to such crowds in their respective national teams. 'It's going to be a normal game for us, and the huge crowd will not affect us in any way.' To conclude, his Mamelodi Sundowns team-mate, Tashreeq Matthews, echoed Lunga's sentiments, stating this encounter is a must-win and they will do whatever it takes to win. He said, 'It's going to be a physical game, and we will have to do what we have to do to try and get the three points. 'In the first leg, Al Ahly defended very well and made good runs, so we will need to cut their flow very early in the game to get what we want out of this game, which is a positive result.' Kick-off is scheduled for 18:00 (SA time). The match will be screened live on SuperSport TV and SABC Sport. Al Ahly 1-1 Mamelodi Sundowns Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
The Citizen
25-04-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Sundowns' Lunga unconcerned by Ahly's home support
'Playing in a big stadium is nothing new,' said the Sundowns defender. Divine Lunga says many Sundowns players are used to playing in front of packed stadiums. Picture: Phakamisa Lensman/BackpagePix Mamelodi Sundowns defender Divine Lunga does not think a packed stadium in Cairo on Friday will be a problem for Masandawana in the Caf Champions League semifinal, second leg against Egypt's Al Ahly. ALSO READ: Du Preez admits Chiefs mentality is a problem Sundowns go into the match at the Cairo International stadium with plenty to do. They only managed a goalless draw in the home leg at Loftus Stadium. Cairo stadium set to be full for Sundowns-Ahly Over 70 000 fans are expected to pack into the venue. The Egyptian government has reportedly relaxed crowd restrictions just for this match. 'It is not anything for us,' said Lunga, however. 'Playing in a big stadium is nothing new. Some of our players play for the national team where there are always huge crowds. It is normal for us and we must just do our best.' Sundowns' players certainly make up a decent part of the Bafana Bafana squad. Sundowns also have plenty of experience of continental club football. This is the seventh time in eight years that Sundowns have reached the knockout rounds of the Champions League, though their only appearance in the final came when they won it back in 2016. This could be a tight game between two quality teams in Cairo, and could even go to a penalty shoot out. If the game is decided by spot kicks, Bafana captain and number one goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has plenty of pedigree in this arena. Lunga, however, wants the game decided in 90 minutes. 'A gambling thing' 'We don't want it to go to penalties because it is a gambling thing,' said Lunga. 'We will do our best to put a game in to win in 90 minutes.' ALSO READ: Sundowns' Lebusa ready for Champions League D-Day Sundowns do know that an away goal could be vital in Cairo, having at least kept a clean sheet at Loftus. A score draw for Miguel Cardoso's men in Cairo would be enough to see them through.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Getting scary': US aid cuts undermine global fight against TB
The Trump administration's sweeping foreign aid cuts will send tuberculosis cases and deaths soaring around the world, humanitarian workers have warned. One told AFP that people are already dying from a lack of treatment in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The United States has long been the biggest funder for the global fight against tuberculosis -- once known as consumption -- which is again the world's biggest infectious disease killer after being briefly surpassed by Covid-19. But President Donald Trump froze US foreign aid after returning to the White House in January, abruptly halting the work of many US-funded programmes against tuberculosis and other health scourges such as HIV and malaria. Trump's billionaire advisor Elon Musk has boasted of putting the vast US humanitarian agency USAID "through the woodchipper". On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83 percent of all USAID contracts were officially cancelled. It was unclear which programmes would be spared. The World Health Organization warned last week that the cuts would endanger millions of lives, pointing out that tuberculosis (TB) efforts averted 3.65 million deaths last year alone. The change has already brought about a major impact in many developing countries, according to aid workers and activists on the ground. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, many frontline community workers have been forced to stop helping tuberculosis patients, said Maxime Lunga, who heads a local group called Club des Amis. Even before the US funding cuts, there was shortage of TB drugs in the country, which is also facing outbreaks of mpox, as well as a mystery illness and a surge in fighting in its conflict-plagued east. "The chaotic situation is starting to get scary here," said Lunga, who is himself a tuberculosis survivor. "Right now we are receiving a lot of phone calls from patients asking us how to help them access care," he told AFP. "We know that some of the patients on waiting lists are now dying because they are not being treated." - 'People will suffer' - In Ukraine, another war-battered nation with high TB rates, a programme to teach children about the dangers of tuberculosis was just three days from starting in schools when the US order to stop work came in. Olya Klymenko, whose group TB People Ukraine spent two years setting up the programme, lamented that the money had been wasted. It was, she said, a "very bad deal". Klymenko feared the US cuts would reverse the gains that have been made since she survived TB a decade ago. "As a person who started receiving treatment when the old approaches were used, I know perfectly well what we have lost now," she told AFP. "People will suffer a lot." Lunga and Klymenko's organisations both received US funds through the Stop TB Partnership. The Geneva-based NGO received a letter from the US government terminating all funding late last month. It had to share the bad news with 150 community organisations that test, treat and care for patients in affected countries. Then Stop TB received a new letter last week rescinding the termination. "The new letter clearly indicates that all work should resume as planned," the organisation's executive director, Lucica Ditiu, told AFP. But it was still unclear whether the decision was permanent -- or when any new US money would actually be released, she added. - 'Snowball effect' - Allowing airborne TB to go untested and untreated could have a "snowball effect" across the world, Ditiu warned. There are already mutated forms of TB that are resistant to most drugs, and Ditiu feared the US cuts could result in a bug that no treatment can stop. "Interrupting a treatment for a drug-resistant TB person is horrible, because it will create a bug that will be spread through the air, so me and you and our families or friends can get it," she warned. The funding cuts were particularly "devastating" because 2024 was the "best year ever" for the fight against TB, Ditiu added. According to an internal USAID memo by a now-dismissed assistant administrator, the aid cuts will cause rates of tuberculosis and drug-resistant TB to both surge by roughly 30 percent. "The US will see more cases of hard-to-treat TB arriving at its doorstep," according to the memo, published in the New York Times earlier this month. The US is already reportedly experiencing the largest TB outbreak in its modern history in Kansas City. A humanitarian source in Geneva who wished to remain anonymous told AFP the situation was "very dangerous, even for the European Union" because of the risk linked to drug-resistant TB in Ukraine and Georgia. dl/gil
