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Odisha have had a few encouraging performances in the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) of late but there haven't been enough of such matches to lift them off the bottom spot.

The Kalinga Warriors have picked just one win this season in the form of a 4-2 win against Kerala Blasters and have just seven points from 12 games. They will be looking for a positive result as they face Bengaluru FC on Sunday. The Blues emerged victorious by a 2-1 margin the last time the two sides met in December, when the Blues were led by Carles Cuadrat who has since parted ways with the club after a poor run of form.

However, the Blues haven't picked a win in three matches under interim coach Naushad Moosa as well.

"It's always difficult to know how a team is going to react after a coach leaves. Sometimes they become enthusiastic, sometimes there is a little chaos, and sometimes it's not a great difference," Baxter opined.

"But I think the coach has got a job on his hands because it's a big club. The coach comes in now and tries to put his own spin on things. He doesn't always want to do the same things, and that's always a difficult task. So I think he is tackling it well at the moment but it's always a problem," he added.

Bengaluru are currently enduring their longest winless run of six matches (D1, L5) and Baxter feels that his side can beat any team.

"We had chances to beat bigger clubs like ATK [Mohun Bagan] but to do that against anybody - not just Bengaluru - we have to defend well, take our chances and play our own game. If we do that with quality, I think we have shown that we can run everybody close," he said.

Odisha have roped in Rakesh Pradhan on loan from NorthEast United for the rest of the season. The left back made his debut in the 1-1 draw against Hyderabad last Tuesday.

"I thought he (Pradhan) made a confident debut. He got forward a lot more and exploited that flank maybe more than Hendry (Antonay) has been doing. He's gotta know the balances within our team but he got forward and his natural left foot helped us. So I thought it (Pradhan's Odisha debut) was a good one and we have to see what we do in the next game. 

"We have been best when we tried to make a few changes. We'll look at the energy levels of the players and make a decision based on that but we don't want to make a lot of changes. The team that we've been putting together has been coming together," Baxter felt.

The team has relied heavily on Diego Mauricio for goals. The Brazilian has scored half of Odisha's 12 goals so far this season.

"Football is a team sport and there are individuals in that team. I want every individual of our team to feel that he has the right to be himself. Diego is best when he's part of the team but he does best what he does well. So my job is to get Diego into a situation on the field where he's good, and to get him in a frame of mind that feels he can express himself. When we do that, Diego is a valuable player for us," the Odisha coach stated.

Kenya international Victor Wanyama is among the four players Comoros Football Federation claimed had tested positive for Covid-19 before their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

During the game played in Moroni on November 15, 2020, reports emerged four Harambee Stars players were set to miss the match after the Comoros Federation claimed they had returned positive results hours before the match kicked off.

After the decision by Caf to ban FKF CEO Barry Otieno and Harambee Stars team manager Ronny Oyando on Saturday after they were accused of tearing the PCR tests, Goal can now reveal the four players who were supposed to miss the match include captain Victor Wanyama, Brian Mandela, Ayub Timbe and Eric Johanna.

“Caf regulations clearly state when you leave your country for any away match you must test your players with Covid-19 and this must be done 48 hours before the match, and when we left Kenya, we had tested the same and no player returned positive results,” Otieno told Goal on Saturday after learning of his ban from Caf.

“When we arrived in Comoros and during the pre-match meeting, we asked that our players are tested again for Covid-19, but Comoros clearly told us they don’t have the capacity to test Covid, so we told them we will use the results which we had received while in Kenya.

“We moved to the hotel and on the day of the match, the match commissioner came to our hotel while the players are sleeping and he asked that we test the players, we told him how can you test players on matchday? Regulations don’t allow and you don’t need to bring us a doctor, you need to show us three facilities with testing kits and we will choose one for the exercise.

“Comoros and the match commissioner insisted they only have one hospital but we also told them our players are now sleeping and we could not want to disturb the programme of the team, we asked them to wait until they wake up but they argued and we moved to awake the players.

“They tested the players, but I asked them, now that you have tested these players, what time should we expect the results? They responded, by 4 pm the results will be ready.

“At 4 pm, there was no results yet, and we asked them but they insisted the results are coming, we left the hotel for the match venue and we entered the dressing room, as we prepared to walk to the warm-up, [Comoros had already done their warm-up], we were now told the results have come in and four of our players were positive.”

Otieno continued: “If you ask me, some of our players were already targeted, because the affected players were Victor [Wanyama], Ayub [Timbe], Brian [Mandela] and Eric [Johanna], if you look at the list, it was just malice and the players were targeted, they were our key players.

“Regulations allowed us to seek for another date, I went to the match commissioner and told him it is not a must we play this game now if indeed four of our players are positive, because it means even the entire squad could be positive now that they have been interacting together and the game should be called off.

“We asked for the game to be rescheduled and we also wanted to get another alternative hospital and test the players again because the Comoros Federation was the one having issues, and they want our key players to miss the match, but the match referee stood with Kenya, he said the tests had been conducted late and we can use the results we had from Kenya."

On whether he moved to tear apart the PCR tests in front of the match commissioner, Otieno said, “I did not tear anything, I did nothing like that, in fact, I walked straight to the stands to watch the match.”

The game ended 2-1 in favour of Comoros denting Kenya’s hopes of making it to the finals.

Hyderabad FC are fourth on the Indian Super League (ISL) and on Sunday, they will face Jamshedpur FC, who have suffered three consecutive defeats.

The Nizams too have picked a point each from their last two matches against Mumbai City FC and Odisha FC. Coach Manuel Marquez hoped that Nerijus Valskis doesn’t get back to his best form on Sunday after not scoring after not finding the back of the net in their last two outings.

“It will be a difficult game. They will try to win after losing three games. They have a coach (Owen Coyle) with lots of experience. They have got new players. It was our third match (when the two teams faced each other earlier in the season which ended in a 1-1 draw) back then. We had a short pre-season. 

“For me, Valskis is one of the players who can score in different ways. He is a good free-kick taker.  It happens that you don't score for two-three matches and then you score a hat-trick. Hope the day isn't tomorrow,” said Marquez.

Hyderabad FC dominated the proceedings against Odisha FC in the first half and should have at least taken a three-goal lead. However, wastefulness in front of goal came to hurt them as Odisha bossed the second half and got the equaliser. In fact, they could have even clinched full points against a tired Hyderabad team, who were playing their second game in four days.

“It was one half for every team. We could have won the match 3-0 in the first half and could have conceded three goals in the second half. It was a fair result. 

“You look at the scores of every day. You saw Mumbai City against East Bengal and even FC Goa and Kerala Blasters. They have all won in the last minute. The second leg is always very difficult as all teams are fighting to arrive in the top four.

“Odisha are last on the table but they will give a tough fight to BFC (Bengaluru FC). So, all matches are different and tough,” he opined.

Marquez pointed that teams with fewer injury concerns can be expected to perform better. It must be noted that Hyderabad have done considerably well to be in top four despite having several injury issues throughout the campaign.

“We don't feel any pressure. The second half against Odisha was not good for us. It is very difficult to play amidst the pandemic. I respect the league. Many players are getting injured. The team with fewer injuries will have more options and can finish better. We played well against Mumbai and the first half against Odisha. It is part of the game,” he explained.

The former Las Palmas coach was asked to speak on Hyderabad’s chances to qualify for the play-offs and in response, he pointed that his team have played an attacking brand of football and backed the claim with statistics.

“We have to play eight games, we will fight till the end. In January, we have played four games, two wins, two draws. The goalkeeper and the post have also come into action. Hali (Halicharan Narzary) struck the post in the previous match. We have played good football. We are creating chances. It isn’t normal to score eight goals in two matches. But these kinds of things are normal, scoring one or two, maybe you don't score in some,” he elaborated.

The likes of Akash Mishra, Asish Rai, Hitesh Sharma, Mohammad Yasir and Liston Colaco have excelled for Hyderabad. Marquez reasoned that for young players to develop, they need competitive game-time – which is the only way to improve.

“I watch them in every training session. I know their potential and quality. We are happy with them. This season has been fantastic. Many players are playing first time in the ISL. The young players if you want them to improve, they have to play. They are showing their level regularly. They are playing very good and we are happy. 

“Hali (Narzary) is not worrying about the defensive part. In modern football, you have to do both. But now he is closer to the goal than he was at the beginning. He is a very good player,” said Marquez.

Adil Khan parted ways with the club to join FC Goa and Marquez only had good things to speak about the former Churchill Brothers player.

“Adil was the real captain of this team. He is one of the players who is very professional. He has a very good attitude. If he doesn't play, then he doesn't have the option to go to the national team. I hope he plays in Goa and has a shot at the national team. I was happy to train him. I had a good relationship with Adil,” he mentioned.

Tanzania head coach Etienne Ndayiragije believes a change of approach is vital for his team to stand a chance of winning their Group D game in the African Nations Championship against Namibia on Saturday night.

Taifa Stars started their campaign with a 2-0 loss to Zambia while the Brave Warriors fell 3-0 to Guinea. It will be vital for the East Africans to collect maximum points against the Southwest Africans to stand a chance of advancing.

The former Azam FC tactician conceded it will be the match that will determine their destiny in Chan.

"It is a very important match because it decides what happens next for us in the tournament," Ndayiragije told Cafonline.

"After losing the opening game, we are certainly going to change our approach against Namibia."

Captain John Raphael Bocco is still out owing to an injury, but veteran defender Erasto Nyoni will be available for the game. The Burundian has explained why it will be important to have the latter available for his team.

"It is always good to have experienced players like Nyoni on the pitch because they motivate the team to push harder and not to give up," Ndayiragije concluded.

Meanwhile, the Brave Warriors head coach Richard Bobby Samaria is optimistic his charges will bounce back after their defeat against the National Elephants. 

"There are teams that lost their opening matches in big tournaments like Spain at the 2010 World Cup but went on to win the title," Samaria told the same portal. 

"So other teams should watch out for us because we could have some surprises."

The 50-year-old has further insisted his team will be playing as a unit and take their chances created.

"We are in a situation where there is no room for errors, but [we have] to play as a team and also take our chances that we create in-front of the opponents’ goal." 

This is the second time both Taifa Stars and the Brave Warriors are taking part in the biennial competition.

In another Group D game, leaders Guinea will be playing Zambia. The winner of this game will seal a place in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Fenerbahce-bound Mesut Ozil wasn't given "fair opportunity" in his final year at Arsenal, according to Jack Wilshere.

Ozil is about to call time on his seven-and-a-half-year career at Emirates Stadium.

Goal has reported that Arsenal have agreed to terminate the 32-year-old's contract six months early so that he can seal a free transfer to Fenerbahce.

The ex-Germany international has already touched down in Istanbul to thrash out the final terms of the deal and it is likely he will be officially unveiled at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium over the weekend.

Mikel Arteta left Ozil out of his Premier League and Europa League squads at the start of the season, which was the final straw for a player whose last appearance for Arsenal came way back in March.

He questioned the club's loyalty in the wake of that decision, and Wilshere says he can relate to how his old team-mate must have felt after being frozen out.

The former Gunners playmaker, whose ten-year spell in north London was overshadowed by injuries, was asked after signing for Championship outfit Bournemouth on Friday if he had spoken to Ozil about his struggles, to which he responded: "No. I was friends with Mesut during my time at Arsenal and we had a really good relationship on and off the pitch, I thought.

"But no, I didn’t speak to him. I’m sure it was as difficult for him [to not be playing] as it was for me. It’s not nice to be in a position where you’re not given that opportunity – a fair opportunity – to try and challenge for a place in the team.

"Listen, people can have bad games and miss out on the team, but to not be given an opportunity is tough, and was tough, to take.

"So I’m happy that he has found happiness and hopefully he can go on to be successful in Turkey."

Wilshere added on the legacy Ozil leaves behind at Emirates Stadium: "It’s a difficult one because I’m not at the club anymore and I’m like every other fan looking in.

"All I remember from him is what a joy it was to play with him. A top, top player. One of the best I played with.

"It’s a shame the way it went at Arsenal, but I’m sure a lot of the fans will remember him for his early days there when we had a really good team and we should have probably won a little bit more.

"But we won a couple of FA Cups and it was a pleasure to play with him."

Football Kenya Federation has reacted to the move by the Confederation of African Football to ban CEO Barry Otieno and fine the body after the official allegedly tore apart PCR tests for Covid-19 before their away match against Comoros.

On Saturday, Caf issued a statement stating they had banned Otieno and Harambee Stars team manager Ronny Oyando for six months each and also fined the federation (USD 20, 000 approximately Ksh2million) for their conduct during the African Cup of Nations qualifier in Moroni.

Caf accused Otieno and Oyando of tearing apart the report which indicated four Kenyan players had tested positive for Covid-19.

FKF President Nick Mwendwa has now told Goal they will not appeal.

“It is all lies,” Mwendwa told Goal on Saturday. “Caf should have given us a chance to defend ourselves but they have already come out with a ruling.

“Secondly, we tested our players for Covid-19 before we left Kenya and they were all negative, we landed after four hours later and they now say four of our players were positive.

“Anyway, we will take the ban and fine, it is not worth appealing.”

On banning the two officials, Caf stated: “On the day of the match the General Secretary of the Comoros Football Federation came in early to take their PCR tests, and he was met with refusal from the Kenyan national team’s management, they delayed the process for three hours until they finally gave in.

“The test results arrived just a few minutes before kick-off, during warm-up, due to the said delay. The Commissioner did not get the chance to check the results himself as Barry Otieno, the General Secretary of the Football Kenya Federation, and Ronny Oyando, the Kenyan team manager disputed the results as soon as they have become aware of them and snatched them from his hands and tore them apart.

“According to the PCR tests copies that were acquired after the match, four players have all tested positive before the match yet took part in the game and risked the contamination of the opposing team as well as their fellow teammates and all officials that were involved in match 94 of the Total African Cup of Nations Qualifiers.”

The statement continued: “In terms of Caf Statutes and Regulations, in terms of the Covid-19 FAQs and in terms of Articles 82, 83, 133, 134 and 98 of Caf Disciplinary Code, the Caf Disciplinary Board has decided to: impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Otieno from all football activities relating to Caf, impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Oyando from all football activities relating to Caf and impose upon your Federation a financial sanction of 20.000 USD [Twenty Thousand US Dollars approximately Ksh2million].”

Kenya lost the game 2-1 with Cliff Nyakeya scoring the lone goal.

Rwanda were able to come out with a point against the reigning champions Morocco during an African Nations Championship tie on Friday.

The point could prove vital for the Amavubi especially after Uganda fell 2-1 to Togo in the other Group C game. Rwanda were able to frustrate the title-holders who now have four points as they had recorded a 1-0 win over Claude Le Roy’s side.

The Atlas Lions were left to rue chances that were wasted by Walid El Karti and Ayoud El Kaabi in either half. The East Africans, who deployed a defensive-minded approach, created one open chance but Muhadjiri Hakizimana’s strike was parried over the bar by Morocco’s Anas Zniti who got no major tests to deal with for the better part of the game.  

Rwanda’s goalkeeper Olivier Kwizera had to be alert to deny Morocco El Kaabi with a fine save seven minutes after the resumption of the second half as the champions exerted more pressure.

The Sparrowhawks, who are debuting in the tournament, moved second courtesy of a maiden 2-1 win against the Cecafa champions.

Meanwhile, an own goal from Paul Mbowa in the 48th minute contributed big in handing Le Roy a win in Cameroon. Uganda were not discouraged by the goal as they equalised three minutes later when Saidi Kyeyune scored a classic goal.

Togo fought and restored the lead when Yendoutie Nane’s curling effort from some 20 yards out beat Charles Lukwago in Uganda’s goal in the 57th minute.

While Morocco maintained the top spot despite the goalless draw against Rwanda, Togo moved second with three points while Uganda are at the bottom with just one point.

Togo’s assistant coach Franck Dote claimed the victory was historical for his players.

“A historic and satisfying victory for our young players,” Dote told Caf Online. “We pocketed the three points with the manner, extraordinary goals, and spectacular football.

“I thank the group for being able to react. The result shows us that we could have a positive result against Morocco. Now the appetite comes with eating, we must not stop at such a good point.

“It would be a group final against Rwanda. We have to play with our values ​​to win again and get a thrilling qualification.”

The next decisive games for Group C will be played on Tuesday.

Orlando Pirates' bid to stop their Premier Soccer League slide is facing a tricky test when they collide with second-from-bottom Maritzburg United at Harry Gwala Stadium on Saturday.

The Buccaneers are desperate to keep themselves right on course in the title challenge after winning just one match in their last five outings where they have collected just five points out of a possible 15.

Now they come up against a Maritzburg side that held log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns to a 1-1 draw, before recently beating Kaizer Chiefs 2-0.

While Bucs would want to avoid a shocker by the Team of Choice, they are also keen to go up from position six where they are currently sitting on the log.

Victory would see Pirates move to fourth spot, and pray that the two teams just above them, Cape Town City and Golden Arrows draw on Sunday.

For Maritzburg, they are 15th placed but have the same number of points as basement side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila.

TV Channel, Live Score & How To Watch

Squads & Team News

There has been no confirmation of injuries in the Maritzburg United camp. Algerian defender Fares Hachi is suspended after accumulating four yellow cards.

With Hachi absent, coach Ernst Middendorp might deploy Gadinkame Modise at left-back who started the season playing in that position before the arrival of the Algerian.

Forward Frank Mhango is back on the sidelines again after getting injured against Golden Arrows on Wednesday and is expected to be out for two weeks.

Mhango has already missed a number of matches this season due to injury and his latest muscle strain is a blow to coach Josef Zinnbauer’s quest to improve the team’s fortunes.

Left-back Paseka Mako is ruled out with a knee injury and will start training in two weeks time.

The Soweto giants still have forwards Zakhele Lepasa and Tshegofatso Mabasa as well as defender Abel Mabaso as long-term injury absentees.

Match Preview

This is a battle against teams that have been struggling of late.

Winning just once in their last five matches has seen Pirates wasting an opportunity to close in on leaders Sundowns who are eight points better than Bucs.

Zinnbauer’s side goes into Saturday's game on the backdrop of failing to collect maximum points in their last two games.

After they were shocked 2-0 by struggling Black Leopards last weekend, that could give hope to Maritzburg that the Soweto giants can be conquered.

Also, the 0-0 draw against Golden Arrows at home during midweek exposed Pirates.

Saturday's encounter is an unpredictable affair as Maritzburg are struggling and placed second-from-bottom but they frustrated Downs and Chiefs while they were at the bottom of the log.

That they are currently struggling for form might not matter as they have proven they can stun any team on any day.

The Kwa-Zulu Natal side has won two times in their last five matches but go into this game fresh from losing 3-0 to fellow strugglers TS Galaxy.

Pirates won 1-0 in their last encounter against Maritzburg courtesy of a Mhango late strike four months ago in the PSL bio-bubble.

The Team of Choice last beat Pirates in a league match in December 2016 as the Soweto giants have dominated Maritzburg

Previous meetings between the two sides have seen Pirates winning 16 times, while Maritzburg registered six victories and seven games ended in draws.

Bengaluru FC’s Naushad Moosa explained his decision to hand Fran Gonzalez a start ahead of Pratik Chaudhary against Kerala Blasters in their last game which they lost 2-1.

Interestingly, the former Air India coach revealed that Chaudhari doesn’t have the qualities which fit into Bengaluru’s style of play. It must be noted that Chaudhari inked a two-year deal in the summer.

“As I coach I cannot complain about all this, that we don't have Albert (Serran). I have to do with the resources that we have. Fran was injured and then the way he played, he was more commanding. Pratik is not the player who naturally suits Bengaluru's style of playing out from the back. Fran played with Mohun Bagan and won the I-League. But we have to support the players and motivate them. We need to keep pushing them,” said Moosa.

Bengaluru FC suffered their fifth defeat in their last six matches and Moosa urged the players to remain positive despite the results not going in their favour. He also pointed that singling out goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for the two goals wasn’t the best assessment as they switched off in certain moments collectively.

“It was really disappointing to lose. When we watched the game later, we found a lot of positives. If you see the goals, it was conceded due to silly defensive errors. It could have been avoided. We have to remain positive and move forward. It is do or die for us.

“We have to win every game. We have to avoid conceding easy goals. It is a team effort. (We) can’t blame Gurpreet alone. We need to be alert for the whole 90 minutes,” he opined.

Udanta Singh, who has one goal to his name this season, was once again back in reckoning as he started against Kerala Blasters. The Manipuri winger who signed a contract extension with the club over the summer has struggled to make an impact and it remains to be seen if playing under the tutelage of Moosa can revive his form.

“Kerala was giving (leaving) enough space behind. We wanted to use it. We were successful. After that game, Udanta is back in form. He wants to do better. The idea of having four in midfield was to remain compact. Sunil and Udanta were marking their number six (Vicente Gomez). That really helped us,” said Moosa.

Bengaluru FC are in the bottom half of the league table but still have a chance to make it into the top four. Moosa believes that Bengaluru FC need a win under their belt to turn around their fortunes this term.

“Winning and losing are part of the game. But they are performing well. Of course, the points table is something we are not used to. They know the importance of each match now. We are being positive. Apart from the top two (Mumbai City FC and ATK Mohun Bagan), all are very close. We have to keep fighting.

“A win gives you three points and it will push us higher in the table. Just a matter of winning one game. Just that one win is very important for us. The dynamics will change entirely,” he explained.

They will face bottom-placed Odisha FC on Sunday evening and Moosa stated that converting the chances and being disciplined at the back are crucial elements which could decide the game.

“If you ask Odisha, they will say that BFC is not in good form. But if we maintain that (the level against Kerala), we can win against Odisha. It depends on converting those chances. We keep trying and take advantage of it and remain disciplined at the back.  It is important that we don't allow them to play,” said the 49-year-old.

Arsenal appear to have firmly turned the corner under Mikel Arteta following a difficult winter for the London strugglers.

However, they’ve now six games unbeaten, and romped to victory against Newcastle United in midweek in one of the team’s strongest recent performances under the Spaniard.

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Despite their strong form, it could all come crashing down quickly—just look at how Chelsea’s strong form has fallen away—and Arteta will be desperate for his side to extend their strong form when they face Southampton away in the FA Cup this weekend.

Southampton vs Arsenal: Team News

Arteta has a wealth of options available to him, although not—of course—Mesut Ozil, who has finally left the club.

Dani Ceballos and Pablo Mari are both injured and miss out, but expect the Spaniard to shuffle his pack as he looks to keep everyone fresh after the victory over Newcastle.

Willian, Hector Bellerin and Nicolas Pepe are some of those players who could come into the team.

Things are much less rosy for Ralph Hasenhuttl, who is facing a series of injury problems across the park.

Oriol Romeu and Mohammed Salisu are both doubts, although the former is an outsider to return to the fold.

Moussa Djenepo, Michael Obafemi, Nathan Redmond and Jannik Vestergaard are among six players who are definitely absent, although attacking options such as Danny Ings, Che Adam and Theo Walcott can create problems for the visitors.

Southampton vs Arsenal: Key facts & stats

Ominously for Southampton, they’ve won just one of their last nine matches in all competitions against the Gunners, while they’ve never ousted Arsenal in the four FA Cup meetings between the two clubs.

Indeed, Saints have a poor record against Premier League opponents overall in the competition having won just three of their last 17 FA Cup ties against top flight foe.

There must be a winner, of course, on Saturday, with replays abolished in this year’s edition of the cup.

The dangerman for Arsenal could well be captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The Gabon striker returned to form in style against Newcastle, netting twice, and has scored in all of his last four FA Cup appearances, with six strikes across that period.

Can he extend his hot streak in the competition against Saints?

Southampton vs Arsenal: Predictions

Despite their burgeoning form in recent weeks, Arsenal have their work cut out to get past a Southampton team who are a strong prospect under Hassenhuttl.

They’ve lost just one of their last five—against Leicester City—and their recent 1-0 victory over Liverpool was a blueprint for how they can get results from the big teams.

Defensively, Southampton should be a much stronger prospect that Newcastle—they’ve kept clean sheets in four of their last five games, and were unlucky not to have taken all three points from Arsenal when the two sides met in mid-December.

Prediction: Southampton 2-1 Arsenal

Confederation of African Football has imposed a ban on Football Kenya Federation CEO Barry Otieno after he allegedly tore apart PCR tests copies of the Kenyan team during their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros.

According to a statement from Caf and obtained by Goal, the African body has handed the Kenyan CEO a six-month ban from all football-related activities and also imposed the same on the team’s team manager Ronny Oyando.

“On the day of the match the General Secretary of the Comoros Football Federation came in early to take their PCR tests, and he was met with refusal from the Kenyan national team’s management, they delayed the process for three hours until they finally gave in,” read the statement from Caf.

“The test results arrived just a few minutes before kick-off, during warm-up, due to the said delay. The Commissioner did not get the chance to check the results himself as Barry Otieno, the General Secretary of the Football Kenya Federation, and Ronny Oyando, the Kenyan team manager disputed the results as soon as they have become aware of them and snatched them from his hands and tore them apart.

“According to the PCR tests copies that were acquired after the match, four players have all tested positive before the match yet took part in the game and risked the contamination of the opposing team as well as their fellow teammates and all officials that were involved in match 94 of the Total African Cup of Nations Qualifiers.”

The statement continued: “In terms of Caf Statutes and Regulations, in terms of the Covid-19 FAQs and in terms of Articles 82, 83, 133, 134 and 98 of Caf Disciplinary Code, the Caf Disciplinary Board has decided to: impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Otieno from all football activities relating to Caf, impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Oyando from all football activities relating to Caf and impose upon your Federation a financial sanction of 20.000 USD [Twenty Thousand US Dollars approximately Ksh2million].”

When reached for comment, FKF CEO Otieno told Goal he was not aware of the decision taken by Caf but will consult internally to come up with the next step.

“I have just learnt about the allegations and will be consulting internally on the next steps,” Otieno told Goal on Saturday.

“Nonetheless, I wish to state that everyone who was present, during the incident, including the Match Commissioner, know that what has been alleged is not true, that notwithstanding Caf has made a decision and as a member, we will comply with it.”

Kenya lost the game 2-1 with Cliff Nyakeya scoring the lone goal.

It is not every day that a Sergio Lobera side manages to enjoy just 40 per cent of ball possession and play fewer passes than their opposition but Friday's match was one of those rare occasions when Mumbai City were not allowed to dictate terms by East Bengal but still the Islanders managed to pick up three points from the tie.

Robbie Fowler is a coach who is not known for sticking to a particular style of play and deploying the same formation in every match. Against Mumbai City, the British coach fielded his team in 4-2-3-1 formation in order to keep a check on the middle third from where the Islanders are extremely dangerous.

The tactics somewhat worked for East Bengal in the initial stage as neither Hugo Boumous nor Ahmed Jahouh were able to penetrate much down the middle. But Mumbai instead tried to exploit the flanks and especially from the left. East Bengal right-back Ankit Mukherjee struggled to keep Bipin Singh and Vignesh Dakshinamurthy at bay as the two players constantly posed threats from his side.

The Red and Golds kept ball possession in the first half and were playing passes among themselves but there was not penetration. There were too many square passes and back passes which meant Mumbai goalkeeper Amrinder Singh was not troubled yet. In fact, the Kolkata club had only one proper goal-scoring chance in the entire first half.

The Islanders, on the other hand, could have finished the game in the first half itself. Other than Mourtada Fall's goal, Mumbai, on three occasions came very close to score, especially Adam Le Fondre who failed to convert a header from a handshaking distance.

Failing to score an insurance goal could have hurt the Islanders badly in the second half as East Bengal were a completely different outfit. Fowler made a couple of changes bringing in Rana Gharami and Mohammed Rafique. With Gharami in, East Bengal opted to field a three-man defence.

In the second half, East Bengal started dictating proceedings, in a role reversal with Mumbai City. They controlled the game for the majority of the time and exchanged passes at will and unlike the first half, they showed intent upfront.

Mourtada Fall was undoubtedly the star of the match who had an excellent outing against the Kolkata side. His all-round performance on the field made sure Mumbai walked out of the game with full points. Other than scoring the all-important goal in the first half, he remained rock solid in defence and dealt with every East Bengal attack calmly.

Sergio Lobera, after the match, admitted that the second half display of his team wasn't the performance he had expected and even suggested that they were lucky not to drop points.

"When you see the stats, we lost the possession of the ball and it is difficult for us when we are playing this way. Obviously, we need to improve. We were lucky about the result in the second half because they played very well," said the Spaniard after the match.

It is true that Mumbai City were far from their usual best but they have set the bar so high for themselves that even a decent performance looks below par. The positive thing (scary for the teams) from this match is that Mumbai even, on their off days, are getting wins. That is how efficient the Islanders have been this season.

There are positives for Robbie Fowler as well from this match. East Bengal have looked to be a confident and it seems the weight of expectations have been lifted off their shoulders. The only thing the Liverpool great must work on now is the finishing as they need to be a lot more clinical in front of the goal. If they can stitch together a winning run, a play-off spot will not be beyond the realms of possibility.

Kerala Blasters will be looking for their fourth win of the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) season when they face FC Goa at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim, on Saturday evening.

TV CHANNELS & LIVE STREAM

The Star Sports Network have the exclusive broadcasting rights of the ISL in India.

Commentary will also be available in vernacular languages across India.

 TEAM NEWS

Kerala Blasters Possible XI:   

Injured - None
Doubtful - None
Suspended - None

Key Players - Gary Hooper, Jordan Murray

FC Goa Possible XI: 

Injured - None
Absent - None
Suspended - None   

Key Players - Igor Angulo, Jorge Ortiz

The U.S. women's national team easily defeated Colombia 6-0 on Friday night in Orlando, following on from Monday's 4-0 win over the same opponent. 

The pair of games capped off the team's January camp, which saw a mostly full-strength USWNT try to impress head coach Vlatko Andonovski ahead of the Olympics this summer in Tokyo (should the tournament go ahead).

Here are three of the biggest takeaways from Friday's match at Exploria Stadium.

Catarina Macario scores first USWNT goal

This week saw the USWNT debut of Catarina Macario, who by all accounts is poised to be the team's next major star. The Brazil-born attacker, who recently signed with European power Lyon straight from Stanford University, earned her first cap on Monday before scoring her first national team goal on Friday in the third minute. 

"Cat is a different kind of player than I think we've ever had. She's a different No.9 than we've ever had," Megan Rapinoe said of the 21-year-old after Friday's game. "She drops in a little bit more, plays more like a false nine. 

"Physically, she's already ready to be at this level and that's a huge jump for a lot of people to go from college to this level to be able to compete physically. 

"She's going to be one of those fun players that you love to see – someone that's going to excite the fans, someone that's going to come out with something creative or a nutmeg."

Sam Mewis goes off injured

The U.S. got a major scare when Sam Mewis collided with a Colombia defender midway through the second half. The Man City midfielder appeared to be in a significant amount of pain on the field after her left ankle rolled underneath her. She was able to slowly walk off the field under her own power before being seen on the bench with ice wrapped around her ankle. 

Mewis has been in stellar form for the USWNT and Man City. Rapinoe called her "the best player in our team right now" after the game, so any injury issue would be a major concern for club and country. 

Andonovski said that Mewis would be examined after the match, adding that her high pain threshold made it hard to determine her prognosis right away.

"She's very strong and very tough," the USWNT coach said. "When we first asked [how she was] she said: 'I'm fine, I'm fine,' but we are doing all the exams and following all the protocol to make sure she's fine. 

"She's tough and we don't know what 'fine' means in her world. Pretty soon we're going to know how she feels."

Crystal Dunn and Midge Purce in attack

Crystal Dunn and Midge Purce are both natural attackers who have been moved to defense with the USWNT. Dunn, most notably, converted from a dynamic attacking midfielder to a rock-solid left-back who starred during the USWNT's run to the 2019 World Cup.

Fans have been clamoring for both players to get a chance in attack for the U.S. and on Friday night, Andonovski obliged. Purce in particular grabbed the headlines by scoring her first USWNT goal with a header from Carli Lloyd's cross in the 86th minute.

"We know that Midge is a good forward," Andonovski said of a player who had been mostly used as a right-back with the national team. 

"Obviously we saw something in her that may help us or help her become a good fullback and we're going to continue working as we go forward. But when we need a forward, obviously she's good enough and she showed that she can do a good job there."

On Dunn, he added: "Crystal has to be the most versatile player on the field. I literally feel comfortable putting Crystal in any position on the field and I know she's going to meet the standard set."

Marco Reus cut a frustrated figure on Friday night as he slammed Borussia Dortmund’s defensive fragility in their 4-2 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Some excellent attacking football and two excellent finishes from Erling Haaland counted for nothing as Dortmund once again proved the architects of their own downfall at Borussia-Park.

Things could have been worse with a Gladbach opener inside the first minute ruled out by VAR but Dortmund looked shaky at the back throughout and were predictably punished from set pieces.

Nico Elvedi scored from two free-kicks, Ramy Bensabaini fired in a superb curling finish and Marcus Thuram netted on his return from suspension.

Gladbach moved ahead of Dortmund into fourth in the Bundesliga table. Reus and his side will finish the weekend 12 points behind Bayern Munich if the leaders beat bottom club Schalke on Sunday.

"If we don't turn things around, it will be difficult," a visibly annoyed Reus told ZDF after full-time.

“It’s always the same mistakes that we make. It absolutely stinks!”

Mats Hummels, by now one of the most experienced defenders at the top level of the game, couldn’t disagree with Reus’ assessment.

“Our defensive standards are a very big thing for us,” he told DAZN. “We can’t criticise anything about the same.”

Since starting 2021 with back-to-back wins over Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig, Dortmund have taken just one point from their following three fixtures.

Interim manager Edin Terzic, at the helm since Lucien Favre was sacked in December, was exasperated to see his side make things so easy for their opponents in attack after they had initially come back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 in the first half.

“The effort we had to put in to score a goal was significantly higher than it was for Gladbach,” he said. “We've now conceded simple goals in the last three games. It's a shame and bitterly disappointing when you play a good attacking game and then you can’t finish the job in defence.”

Dortmund have a week to regroup before their next game, at home to Augsburg next Saturday. A cup game with Paderborn follows before league fixtures against Freiburg and Hoffenheim, and a Champions League action against Sevilla on February 17.

The second half of the 2020/21 LaLiga Santander season begins this weekend.

Almost every team in the division has now played their first 19 fixtures of the 38-match campaign, so Matchday 20 marks the start of the business end of the season.

There are four fixtures on Saturday, the first of which is SD Huesca vs Villarreal CF. It’ll be a tough challenge for the newly promoted side, but they have a new coach in the form of Pacheta and this will be his first home game at El Alcoraz, so optimism will be high.

Considering Huesca earned a draw when these sides met earlier in the season, the visitors can’t take anything for granted.

Saturday’s second match is an Andalusian derby as Cadiz CF make the short trip to take on regional giants Sevilla FC.

It’ll be a particularly special occasion for in-form Sevilla forward Suso as he takes on his hometown club and a team in whose academy he launched his career.

Real Sociedad vs Real Betis is up next and this promises to be a fascinating tactical tussle between two teams in the top six for possession stats this season. They can’t both win the possession battle in this one, though, so it’ll be interesting to see how these coaches adapt their styles and which one wins out.

On Saturday night, at the 21:00 CET time slot, there is a huge game for Deportivo Alaves.

They’re hosting reigning champions Real Madrid and they’re doing so 100 years to the day of their club’s founding. The Babazorros were founded on January 23 rd back in 1921 and will bring in their centenary with one of the biggest fixtures of the season.

They’ll also do so with Abelardo in the dugout, their former coach who returned to the helm last week. He has prior experience of defeating Real Madrid as Alaves coach, so the team from the capital will need to be careful.

Four more matches follow on Sunday, starting with CA Osasuna vs Granada CF. These two teams actually met as recently as January 12th , when they played their postponed meeting from the first round of the season and when Granada won 2-0.

We’ll soon find out if Osasuna can do any better this time around.

Elche CF take on FC Barcelona next and the pressure is really on the home side to take a positive result away from this match, considering they haven’t won any of their past 12 league games.

Barca, meanwhile, will be looking to overcome the disappointment of their Spanish Super Cup final defeat yet they’ll be without the suspended Lionel Messi for this game and others will have to try to overcome that absence.

The next match on Sunday could be a tense one as RC Celta clash with SD Eibar in Galicia, a game that has finished goalless the last two times they met. This could be a similarly tight game between two sides who are still looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone.

After that, there’s a match that could produce many goals.

Two giants of Spanish football will meet in the capital as Atletico de Madrid face Valencia CF and there have been 14 goals over these sides’ past five meetings.

Atleti are top of the table and will be considered favourites, but Valencia have shown this season that they can raise their game for the biggest occasions.

Los Che have already defeated Real Madrid and Real Sociedad and drawn away at FC Barcelona.

On Sunday night, their next heavyweight bout takes place.

There’s also a Monday night fixture in this round as Spanish Super Cup champions Athletic Club make a triumphant return to San Mames to play Getafe CF.

The Basque side will still be full of confidence after lifting the first trophy of the Spanish football season, but they’ll want to start putting league points on the board too in what will be new coach Marcelino’s fifth match overall, but only his second LaLiga Santander game.

Getafe have been rejuvenated by the loan arrivals of Takefusa Kubo and Carles Alena and this means an excellent contest of skill and physicality should be expected.

Watch LaLiga Santander live this weekend on SuperSport LaLiga on DStv Channel 204.

Jack Wilshere has admitted he never imagined himself playing in the Championship, but he is relishing the challenge of helping Bournemouth win promotion back to the Premier League.

The former Arsenal midfielder dropped down to the second tier to join the Cherries after terminating his contract with previous club West Ham in October.

Wilshere says he could have seen out his £100,000-a-week deal with the Hammers but was desperate to rediscover his spark on the pitch rather than become a spectator off it.

“I haven't played in the Championship or tried to win promotion before. If you had asked me 10 years ago if this was something I thought I'd ever be involved in, I would have said no,” Wilshere said.

“But I'm here now, ready and focused, and keen to help Bournemouth try and win promotion.”

Now 29, the player once touted as the future of English football was without a club for three months after leaving West Ham, but he had no desire to hang up his boots.

“If I felt like I had finished, and done everything I wanted to do in the game, I would have called it a day when I left West Ham,” he said.

“I've been lucky enough to earn good money throughout my career, but being out of the game for three months made me realise I want to play this game for as long as possible.

“When you are at home and training in the park and going through lockdown, sometimes your mind can play games with you and you start thinking about different things.

“It was tough - I am not going to lie, it was tough - but now I am here and I think that inspires me even more and makes me even hungrier because I know what I have come through and now it's down to me to keep myself here.”

Asked whether the decision to terminate his big-money deal at West Ham was down to himself or the club, Wilshere replied: “I think it was a bit of both. For both parties we reached the right decision.

“I wasn't going to play and I didn't want to sit there on big wages at a club like West Ham and just rot, really. I knew that I needed to get out and play some games.

“The most important thing for a footballer is that you believe in yourself, that you're confident in your ability, you're confident in your desire and willingness to deliver when it comes to the big moments. And I've never, ever doubted myself as a player.

“I still feel like I've got something to give in this game. The next four or five months are going to be in the Championship, and I'm just trying to be the best I can individually, which is going to help my team reach our goal.”

Mikel Arteta has said he wants Arsenal to learn their lesson from recently having to offload high-earning duo Mesut Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Ozil, who has been the highest-earning player at the Emirates with his £350,000 ($479,000)-per-week deal, is set to join Fenerbahce after a breakthrough was reached in talks to cancel his contract six months early.

Earlier this week the club confirmed that Sokratis had his contract terminated by mutual consent, with the defender also leaving north London six months prior to the scheduled expiration of his deal.

After having the pair on the club's books this season, despite both being left off the club's Europa League and Premier League squads, Arteta hopes the Gunners can manage their players' contract situations better in the future.

"You don’t want to get into this position again, that’s for sure,” he said. “Not for the player, not for the club.

“But it’s happening more and more at every club and this situation you can see in other clubs things happening like that.

“I think you have to have that communication open, obviously to prevent it as much as possible and if they happen, just make a decision and don’t try to delay a situation that is not working for much longer.

“Sometimes it’s difficult because the contracts are really close and you have to respect them while you sign them and some days it’s difficult to see how things are going to evolve in six months’ time.

“So sometimes it’s impossible to see what’s going to happen in three years’ time. We tried to resolve those situations early in the summer, to try and avoid what we had but sometimes it’s not possible as well."

Arteta hopes that the recent appointment of Richard Garlick as Arsenal's director of football operations will help prevent more situations like those of Ozil and Sokratis in the future.

“Obviously a lot of things happened institutionally at the club and with some of the big decision makers as well,” Arteta said.

“We are trying to create a really strong team with different qualities that hopefully is going to give us more sustainability and success in our decisions.”