Team News

This is no fairy tale, but the story of a great striker, who is back doing what he knows best: scoring heavy goals. Really, really heavy. Sebastien Haller is undoubtedly the national hero of Ivory Coast, capable of winning the Africa Cup of Nations at home, defeating Nigeria in an upset.

The Borussia Dortmund striker had a dream night. All just a few months after I went through the worst nightmare of my life. Haller had just arrived in Germany when he discovered the grim diagnosis: testicular cancer. The striker was forced to stop to fight the most important battle of his life, the one against cancer.

An uphill battle, which saw him undergo two surgeries and face four rounds of chemotherapy before he was finally able to return to the field. After returning to the field, Haller experienced another nightmare, albeit only on a sports level, last season.

In fact, his penalty miss on the final day of the Bundesliga cost Borussia Dortmund the title. A sensational mistake, given that Haller’s previous penalty miss was in 2017. This season, Haller has played just 13 games for Borussia Dortmund between the Bundesliga and the Champions League, without scoring a single goal.

Not the best way to face the Africa Cup of Nations at home, to say the least. Haller was not at his best at the Africa Cup of Nations either, missing the first three group stage matches through injury.

Therefore, his debut came only in the 1/8 finals, but the Borussia Dortmund striker was practically not seen until the semi-finals. So that’s where his decisive goal against Congo came, and the very heavy one in the final, when his classy shot allowed Ivory Coast to overcome Nigeria and win an almost unexpected trophy.

On the other hand, Haller’s career is already full of records. The Ivory Coast striker, for example, was the first player to score in his first six Champions League appearances, as well as the fastest player to reach 10 Champions League goals, in just 6 games.

Furthermore, Haller is one of two players to have scored more than 4 goals on his Champions League debut, along with Marco van Basten. Finally, as of last night, Haller is also the first player to score the winning goal in an African Cup of Nations final for Ivory Coast.

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China has announced that it will cancel hosting two friendlies that were scheduled for Argentina’s national team.

This decision came after protests over the absence and behavior of Messi, who did not take the field in Hong Kong with Inter Miami, provoking the anger of the local government which is effectively controlled by the Chinese.

As well as the fact that just 3 days later, Messi played in Inter Miami’s challenge against Vissel Kobe in Tokyo.

Argentina’s national team had announced a tour of the Asian country from March 18 to 26, during which they would face Nigeria in Hangzhou and Ivory Coast in Beijing. But the controversy surrounding the world champion, who until a few days ago was very popular in China, has intensified in recent days.

Spectators in Hong Kong who had paid up to 570 euros for a ticket to see Messi on the field, expressed their indignation for Messi’s absence but also for his behavior, as he did not address the public to apologize.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Football Federation published a statement announcing that the Asian country will not host Argentina’s scheduled friendlies for March.

“Many football fans have recently been looking for information about Lionel Messi’s match in Beijing. “After the verifications made by our services, Beijing does not currently plan to organize a match in which Lionel Messi would participate,” reads the statement of the Chinese Federation.

The cancellation of the tour in China is a blow to the Argentine Federation, which considers the Asian colossus a strategic market and where it has numerous sponsorship or cooperation contracts with local companies.

Meanwhile, the Chinese daily “Global Times”, known for its nationalist positioning, in an editorial published this week implied that the behavior of Inter Miami and Messi in Hong Kong were politically motivated.

Hong Kong authorities have been regularly targeted by the United States and the United Kingdom since the semi-autonomous territory adopted a national security law that helps silence political opposition.

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The semi-final match of the Africa Cup between DR Congo and Ivory Coast, has presented a special episode before the ball rolled on the field of play.

The DR Congo footballers have decided to hold a unique protest in front of the cameras, in a message of awareness about what is happening in their country.

The players, instead of singing their country’s anthem, put a gun-like hand to their head and covered their mouths with the other.

They had decided this as a way of raising public awareness of what is happening in the African country, which is facing a humanitarian crisis after the massacres of the M23 rebel group.

The Tutsi ethnic group is at war with the government and is responsible for many massacres in different areas of the country, including women and children.

Most recently, he attacked the city of Sake, displacing an estimated 1 million people from the countryside and surrounding areas in an unprecedented crisis.

Therefore, the players thought that by appearing on the continent’s most important football stage in this way, they would show the world what their country was currently suffering, in an armed conflict that has lasted for many years.

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