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| Battling Siki the first African born world champion.... |
Louis Mbarick Fall (16 September 1897 – 15 December 1925), known as Battling Siki, was a Senegalese light heavyweight boxer.
Born in Senegal and fought from 1912 to 1925, and briefly reigned as the world light heavyweight champion after knocking out Georges Carpentier.
In-form Jamal Musiala bagged a first half hat trick to steer Bayern Munich to a 4-0 victory over hosts Mainz on Wednesday and into the German Cup third round.
Germany midfielder Musiala, who also scored in their 5-0 league win over VfL Bochum on Sunday, slotted in from a Harry Kane pass for a second-minute lead after a powerful run down the left by Alphonso Davies.
Musiala headed in the second goal in the 37th from close range.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern, who had lost in the second round in three of the last four German Cup competitions, struck twice more in first-half stoppage time through Leroy Sane and Musiala to kill off the tie.
The visitors took their foot off the gas after the break, but Mainz still found no way past the Bayern defence.
Substitute Leon Goretzka thought he had scored another for Bayern with a glancing header but Mainz keeper Robin Zentner pulled off a sensational save to deny the midfielder.
Eintracht Frankfurt also advanced with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach as did Werder Bremen following their 1-0 win over second division's Paderborn.
Fellow Bundesliga club Union Berlin, however, crashed out of the competition after losing 2-0 at third-tier club Arminia Bielefeld.
Game Information
MEWA ARENA
10:45 PM, 30 October 2024
Mainz, Germany
Referees: Sascha Stegemann
- Reuters
Real Madrid's LaLiga match at Valencia on Saturday has been postponed because of the deadly flash floods in Spain.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Thursday that all games this weekend in the Valencian region will be rescheduled as per LaLiga's request.
The Spanish government declared three days of mourning with at least 150 people dead and "many people" missing following the worst natural disaster to hit Spain this century.
Saturday's LaLiga game between Villarreal and Rayo Vallecano and Levante's second division home game against Malaga on Monday have also been postponed.
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| Valencia's city centre was affected by the flash floods. Alex Juarez/Anadolu via Getty Images |
Two games in Liga F have also been cancelled, including Real Madrid's game against Levante.
LaLiga and its clubs pledged on Thursday to help raise funds for the Red Cross to support those affected by the flash floods, publicising a campaign during match broadcasts this weekend and through their social media accounts.
"Spain's professional football joins the condolences and expresses its solidarity with the families of the victims and the missing," LaLiga said in a statement on Thursday.
Real Madrid announced they would also collaborate with the Red Cross and donate €1 million ($1.09 million).
"The Real Madrid Foundation and the Red Cross have today launched a fundraising campaign to support those affected by the storm and the club have decide to support this campaign with a donation of one million euros to help the many families who are in a critical situation and need all our help and solidarity," the Spanish champions said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the RFEF rescheduled Valencia's Copa del Rey match at Parla that was due to be played on Wednesday.
Before Valencia's training session on Wednesday, the squad observed a moment of silence at its training center in honour of the victims. Some of the team's players were absent because of the transportation difficulties caused by the storms.
The club said they joined forces with the Valencia Food Bank, and their stadium became "a deposit for food and basic needs."
"Mestalla will be at the service of the city to cope with the emergency caused by the [floods]."
The death toll was expected to rise as an unknown number of people were still missing. Search efforts were ongoing and some vehicles with bodies were yet to be reached. The aftermath of the floods from late Tuesday to early Wednesday looked eerily similar to the damage left by a hurricane or tsunami, with cars piled up alongside uprooted trees and downed power lines.
LaLiga announced that a minute's silence will be observed ahead of all games to be played this weekend to show respect for the victims of the devastating flash floods.
Madrid are second in LaLiga, six points adrift of Barcelona, who host Espanyol in Sunday's city derby.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- Adriana Garcia
Borussia Dortmund have again dominated the German football headlines this week, and sadly not for the right reasons.
The sense that Schwarzgelben are falling hard continues apace on the back of successive defeats at FC Augsburg and VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, respectively. That, after under-fire first-year coach Nuri Şahin had been widely criticised -- including in this space -- for his second-half tactical and personnel switches at Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League that helped turn a 2-0 advantage into a 5-2 defeat.
Saturday's performance in the Fuggerstadt lacked tempo and punch, and BVB got what their uninspiring play deserved after Donyell Malen had given them an early lead. To be charitable, the Wolfsburg trip always looked likely to be laced with difficulties for Şahin, who could barely cobble together a team of fit players and had to improvise by, for example, deploying Pascal Gross at right-back and Julian Brandt as a sitting midfielder.
The fact is, though, Dortmund, after conceding to Wolfsburg substitute Jonas Wind on 117 minutes, have lost lost out on the short route to a trophy and there is scant evidence that the longer journeys necessary to win the Meisterschale or Henkelpott (the German name for the Champions League trophy) will bear any fruit.
Dortmund have put together a strange sequence of results this season: perfect at home in all competitions, while dismal away. On-pitch leadership has been in short supply, whether from goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and club captain Emre Can, which speaks to a certain overall Verunsicherung (uncertainty.)
The good news is Saturday's Topspiel will be in front of 81,365 and of course BVB's famous Gelbe Wand (yellow wall). The bad news is Dortmund's opponents are a very capable RB Leipzig side, coached by Marco Rose. Yes, the same Rose who oversaw the Schwarzgelben in 2021-22 before being unceremoniously dismissed in a move that took many of us by surprise.
Rose, a Leipziger by birth, has been at the RBL helm for more than two years and the fit -- style and personality wise -- just feels right, helped to by a considerable background working at sister club, RB Salzburg.
Level at the top with Bayern Munich are the Bundesliga's Bollwerk (bulwark) with only three goals conceded. Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi is enjoying one of his best starts to a season, while Willi Orban remains of the most able defensive leaders in the Bundesliga -- in addition to offering a genuine attacking threat at set plays.
Even without Xavi Simons and Xaver Schlager, both out for the medium- to long term, there are enough component parts to put the fear in BVB. Lois Openda, with five league goals to his name this term, was clocked as the fastest player across all Bundesliga games played last week.
Leipzig prevailed in both meetings with Dortmund last season and have been victorious in two of their past three visits to the Signal Iduna Park.
Injuries may again mean a patchwork-quilt quality to BVB, with the possibility of the struggling Can having to line up at right-back in place of Julian Ryerson.
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| Dortmund fell to their third straight defeat across all competitions on Tuesday with the DFB-Pokal loss at Wolfsburg. Hendrik Deckers/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images |
BVB failed the first test they faced against a German Champions League team when thumped 5-1 by VfB Stuttgart. If it goes completely awry for them on Saturday evening, how much patience will managing director for sport Lars Ricken and CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke have with Şahin? The signals I'm getting are that they still feel it's still too early to make a change, but another defeat would have the alarm bells ringing loudly.
Can Leverkusen-Stuttgart deliver more fireworks?
Ask anyone who avidly follows the Bundesliga which games last season brought the most entertainment, verve and general excitement, and they'll tell you: the epics between Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart.
It's no overstatement. Die Schwaben gave the eventual champions the runaround at times in all three competitive meetings, and only a late Jonathan Tah headed winner for Leverkusen in the wild DFB-Pokal quarterfinal the separated them.
Back in August, I witnessed first-hand while commentating for viewers around the world at the BayArena, another night of DFL-Supercup intensity. Again, Leverkusen left it late, this time a Patrik Schick leveller sending the curtain raiser to penalties before die Werkself got to hold aloft their third trophy in 2024.
So, Friday night again under the Bayer-Kreuz promises to be a can't-miss experience.
Xabi Alonso has heavily rotated his squad recently, making eight changes ahead of the past two competitive matches. Tuesday's 3-0 Pokal win over Elversberg saw Leverkusen conserve energy in the second half, clearly with Friday in mind.
It's hard to imagine this not being a night of attacking fireworks with Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka and Victor Boniface on one side and then Deniz Undav plus the in-form Jamie Leweling and El Bilal Toure on the other.
Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro told me a few weeks ago, they always have a shortlist of potential future coaches as a matter of professionalism. If this happensto be Alonso's last season -- and that's by no means definite -- it would be logical to imagine Stuttgart's Sebastian Hoeness appearing at the top of that list.
Bielefeld are, in fact, very real
In the past 30 years in German life, it has become a matter of satire to say that the city of Bielefeld doesn't actually exist. Well, its existence was very real in the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday night as Arminia Bielefeld, now in the 3. Liga, put Union Berlin, currently fourth in the Bundesliga, to the sword.It was my personal favourite Pokal match or the week in front of 26,117 at the Bielefelder Alm.
Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat promised a game auf Augenhöhe (at eye level) in terms of willingness to run and working against the ball. His players made an energetic start and Marius Wörl's outrageous long-range finish, after an errant pass by Andras Schäfer, put Arminia on their way. Andre Becker added a second goal -- set up by the impressive Wörl -- with just under 20 minutes to go.
You might remember Bielefeld were in the Bundesliga before the Abstieg (demotion) struck in 2022. Thereafter they went sliding straight down to the 3. Liga.
Now they'll fly the flag for the league they play in when the draw for the Pokal third round is made in Dortmund on Sunday by Andre Schnura, who delighted fans all over Germany with his saxophone music during Euro 2024.
- Derek Rae
A bunch of F1 drivers in a giant Ayrton Senna helmet 😁 The next part of Sebastian Vettel’s tribute to the legendary Brazilian driver.
The helmet art piece, which is made of recycled materials, also showcases the importance of sustainability and environmental change 💚
- Mercedes-AMG
