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Spain staggered through to the World Cup last 16 on Thursday despite a 2-1 defeat by Japan, who remarkably won Group E on a rollercoaster night which saw four-time champions Germany eliminated.
Japan secured another incredible triumph after beating Germany in their opening game, with their progression from the “group of death” one of the greatest achievements in the country’s footballing history.
For a few heart-stopping minutes Spain were poised to head out when Costa Rica were leading in the other game, but the 2010 champions squeezed through after Germany did them a favour by coming back to beat Los Ticos.
Spain and Germany ended on four points each, but La Roja progressed on goal difference.
Alvaro Morata sent Spain ahead early on with a towering header, but Japan dramatically struck back at the start of the second half.
Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka’s goals saw them mount a sensational comeback, just as they did against Germany.
Tanaka’s goal was highly controversial after the officials relied on VAR to decide Kaoru Mitoma had kept the ball in play by a hair’s breadth to set him up.
Spain struggled to create chances against a staunch Japanese defence in the final stages, with the Asian side aware that conceding another goal would see them eliminated.
Japanese players collapsed at full-time in celebration, exhausted and elated, while the substitutes raced on to celebrate.
Spain face Morocco in the last 16, while Japan play Croatia.
Rollercoaster night
Both sides made five changes, with Luis Enrique bringing in Morata to lead the line, and handing Alejandro Balde and Nico Williams their full debuts.
Japan started with five at the back, hoping to keep Spain at bay, but pressed high in attack to try and capitalise on any mistakes.
Spain are sometimes guilty of glaring defensive errors and Pau Torres exemplified that with a sloppy touch which led to Japan’s first chance, fired into the side-netting by Junya Ito.
Morata sent La Roja ahead in the 12th minute with a towering header from Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross, rekindling the connection which occasionally worked at Chelsea after the striker’s arrival in 2017.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu replaced the ineffective Takefuso Kubo and Yuto Nagatomo at the break with Mitoma and Doan, and it paid instant dividends.
Balde lost the ball under pressure and from the edge of the box winger Doan hammered past Unai Simon, who might have done more to keep it out.
Three minutes later and Japan had turned the game on its head, Tanaka bundling home from on the goalline after Mitoma had miraculously kept the ball in play as he crossed it — according to VAR.
Spain were shellshocked and struggled to react, with Luis Enrique making a raft of substitutions to try and regain control.
The coach, alone and perched on the edge of his technical area, was unaware that for a few moments his team faced elimination, when Costa Rica took the lead against Germany in the other game to go 2-1 ahead.
Spain survived, progressing thanks to their superior goal difference, on a night that was far more terrifying than they had anticipated — and Japan secured a hugely unlikely achievement.
Germany crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage for the second time in succession despite a 4-2 win against Costa Rica on Thursday.
The four-time World Cup winners came into the match needing a win but were also relying on the result of Japan’s game with Spain to progress.
But the Germans were eliminated due to goal difference as Japan followed up their defeat of Germany with another shock result by beating Spain 2-1.
Germany took an early lead but briefly fell behind in the second half as coach Hansi Flick made a flurry of changes, reacting to the live score of the Japan v Spain fixture.
The Germans started positively, with Flick’s all-Bayern Munich front line turning the screws early, battering the Costa Rica defence before Serge Gnabry got his head to a curling cross from Leipzig defender David Raum after 10 minutes to open the scoring.
Midfielder Leon Goretzka almost doubled Germany’s lead just five minutes later but his header was directly at Keylor Navas.
Complacency began to creep into Germany’s game.
Keysher Fuller, Costa Rica’s goal-scoring hero in a 1-0 win against Japan, forced Manuel Neuer into a fingertip save after some half-hearted defending from Raum and Antonio Ruediger.
Flick moved Kimmich back to his familiar defensive midfield position at half-time, bringing on Lukas Klostermann at the expense of Goretzka, who like Kimmich started the match on a yellow.
Just seven minutes into the second half, word crept around the vast Lusail Stadium that Japan had scored two quick goals to take the lead against Spain, a result which would force Germany out of the tournament.
Flick reacted immediately, bringing on Niclas Fuellkrug and taking off another midfielder in Ilkay Gundogan.
Germany appeared disjointed as Costa Rica went on the counter on the 58-minute mark, the ball rebounding off Neuer and into the path of Yeltsin Tejeda, who slammed it home.
Flick continued to chase the game, making more changes but it was Costa Rica who scored next when Juan Pablo Vargas tapped a free kick past Neuer to put his side past Spain and into the Round of 16.
The goal was later recorded as an own goal.
Germany hit back minutes later through Chelsea forward Kai Havertz to draw level.
Havertz scored again in the 86th minute and Fuellkrug added another in the 89th minute to bring the score to 4-2, but the side’s focus remained nervously fixed on the group’s parallel fixture.
The night ended with Germany losing out to second-placed Spain on goal difference.
It means Germany, who had not missed out on the knockout stages of a World Cup for 80 years until the 2018 tournament in Russia, have been bundled out in the group stage for the second World Cup in a row.
UEFA on Thursday said it was starting its own investigation into the finances of Serie A club Juventus.
Earlier in the day, Italian media reported that Italian prosecutors have requested that ex-chairman Andrea Agnelli and 12 other defendants stand trial on charges of false accounting and other crimes.
UEFA, the government body of European football, then released a statement saying that the investigative chamber of its Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) had opened a formal investigation into whether Juventus had misled them and broken rules.
It is the second time this year UEFA has launched an investigation into Juventus.
Its brief statement Thursday said it would be looking into whether the Turin club had provided misleading information to get the first case resolved with a “settlement agreement” in August.
Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and the rest of the board of the Serie A club resigned on Monday after investigations by the Italian authorities into accounting irregularities.
UEFA said its own “investigation will focus on the alleged financial violations that were recently made public as a result of the proceedings led by the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) and the public prosecutor in Turin.
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Juventus were among a group of clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, who in August reached an agreement to pay a fine following an investigation into breaches of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play.
The CFCB had found the clubs failed to comply with the “break-even requirement” in the financial years from 2018 to 2022.
Juventus agreed to pay 3.
5 million euros.
Announcing the new investigation, UEFA said that if it found that “the club’s financial situation was significantly different from that…at the time the settlement agreement was concluded, or if new and substantial facts arise,” the CFCB “reserves the right to terminate the settlement agreement, take any legal step it may deem appropriate, and impose disciplinary measures.
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Agnelli was one of the architects of the proposed Super League that would have competed with UEFA’s Champions League.
After most declared members dropped out in the face of a public backlash, Juventus was one of three holdouts, along with Barcelona and Real Madrid, that argued the competition was financially necessary.
Earlier, Italian media reported that prosecutors in Turin had formally asked a judge to send the case to trial.
The CONSOB investigation centred on whether Juve, who are listed on the Italian stock exchange, presented false accounting information to investors while producing invoices for non-existent transactions related to the years 2019 to 2021.
– Salary cuts –At issue are more than 282 million euros ($296 million) of capital gains from transactions related to players booked in Juve’s financial results for those years.
Prosecutors are also investigating how the club accounted for salary reductions taken by Juventus players during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Juventus, which prosecutors have also named as a defendant, said in a statement Wednesday that the allegations in the case “do not appear to be substantiated”.
It defended the way it had accounted for the salary cuts, equal to four months of pay.
Agnelli became club chairman in 2010 in the aftermath of the calciopoli scandal.
Juventus were relegated in 2006 for influencing the appointment of referees.
He is a scion of the powerful family which has run the club for nearly a century.
He is also on the boards of car manufacturer Stellantis, which includes Turin-based Fiat, and its holding company Exor, which also owns Juventus.
Both those companies are run by Agnelli’s cousin John Elkann.
Prosecutors in Turin did not immediately respond to a request for information from AFP.
Matric rage events will kick off in the Western Cape and other provinces this weekend, and we urge all of our candidates to celebrate safely and responsibly this year.
While 44 039 candidates still need to write Afrikaans Paper 3 on Friday, as well as a number of smaller exams that will be written next week, two large matric rage events will take place in Plettenberg Bay and Ballito this weekend.
We are pleased that large gatherings can now take place again, as tourism is a major contributor to our provincial economy, and coming together is an important part of growing up and acknowledging the next stage in our candidates’ lives.
For the past two years, the focus has been on the risk of Covid-19 super-spreader events, after large clusters of cases occurred during such events in 2020 and 2021.
While the level of risk in terms of the pandemic is now lower, this does not mean that matrics should let their guard down completely.
It is understandable that the Class of 2022 would like to let their hair down and celebrate the end of a difficult few years at school, but we urge them to do so responsibly and in moderation, especially in terms of alcohol consumption.
We urge all matrics attending these events to:
Familiarise themselves with the safety measures at the event itself, and the relevant local emergency phone numbers;
Keep a close eye on their valuables at all times;
Similarly keep a close eye on their beverages at all times, and not leave them unattended;
Report anything suspicious to SAPS or the event organisers immediately;
Avoid drinking and driving; and
Set up a buddy system for their own safely, as well as keep in regular contact with their parents.
We do not want to have our candidates’ end-of-year holidays spoiled by becoming targets of crime or being involved in a serious accident.
We appeal to parents to make sure that their children understand the risks associated with large social events, and impress upon them the need to behave responsibly so that everyone can enjoy themselves in a safe and respectful manner.
International Aids Day, 1 December, was observed today, at the national level at Orotta Hospital Hall here in Asmara under the theme “All Round Impartiality for Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic”.
Indicating that commendable intervention has been exerted to control the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the international, national, and community levels, Mr. Amanuel Ghirmatsion, head of the Information and Training unit at the Ministry of Health, called for more integrated efforts for a better outcome.
Sister Negisti Tesfamicael, head of HIV/AIDS Control in the Ministry, on her part called on the public and concerned institutions to play a due role in the effort to meet the global program to eradicate HIV/AIDS.
Indicating that the Ministry of Health is working in cooperation with partners to control the prevalence of the disease in the country, Sister Negisti said that sustainable training programs are being organized for health practitioners and antiretroviral drugs are being distributed across the country.
The event featured promotional and counseling messages by members of the Bidho association and general knowledge contests and discourses.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development has assured Parliament of Government plans to rationalise tax incentives to realize its efficient and effective implementation.
This was revealed by officials from the Finance Ministry led by the State Minister for Planning, Amos Lugoloobi, who were appearing before the Committee on Finance over Uganda Tax Expenditures Report for FY 2020/2021 to 2021/2022 on Thursday, 01 December 2022.
Over time, Parliament has been concerned about the rising tax expenditures and called for a legal tax review and comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of tax exemptions given to investors for the last 10 years.
The Permanent Secretary/ Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, told the committee that government is implementing a Tax Expenditures Rationalisation Plan over the medium term to streamline tax incentives.
“We are aware of the weaknesses we have been having in the way we have been managing these tax expenditures and we have put in place a tax expenditure rationalization plan with the help of our development partners, specifically the International Monetary Fund,” Ggoobi said.
AUDIO: Ggoobi
According to Ggoobi, the rationalisation plan will entail criteria of choosing beneficiaries, timeframe, and the purpose of the tax incentive and also sunset clauses which will inform the investors who intend to benefit of their obligations which must be met on time.
“This rationalisation plan will also help in cost-benefit analysis.
We shall be able to tell the number and nature of jobs provided through the tax incentives and also contribute to our import substitution strategy,” he said.
However, Ggoobi noted that this tax expenditure rationalization plan is not to stop tax incentives, but to ensure that they are actually effective and beneficial to the economy.
In FY 2023/2024, Government proposes to review tax expenditures on capital incomes, unify tax rate on capital income, and review exemptions on supplies of some machinery, tools, and input suitable for use in agriculture.
For the last three financial years, Government has forgone revenue amounting to Shs11.7 trillion on tax incentives.
According to the Finance Committee, this is extremely high and could be disastrous to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“We need the Ministry of Finance to lay evidence that we are having benefits as a result of these tax expenditures.
We need to reduce tax expenditures like Kenya has done so in the past five years,” Committee Chairperson, Hon Keefa Kiwanuka, said.
Minister Lugoloobi said since Government introduced tax incentives in the 1990s, key objectives of the Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Strategy have been met such as reduced importation of products, employment, and an increase in locally manufactured products among others.
Hon Jane Avur Pacuto (NRM, Pakwach district) said whereas the rationalization plan is a move in the right direction, the Ministry of Finance needs to tighten the grip on investors who receive incentives but do not show tangible results over time.
AUDIO: Hon. Pacuto
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated the kitchen of the Mother and Adult Training Center within SOS Children’s Villages in Gambia.
It is aimed to improve the cooking and food serving skills of the individuals with the Catering and Hotel Management Program in the Mother and Adult Training Center, the target audience of which is orphans and single parents.
The kitchen section of the center, renovated for that purpose, was furnished with high-performance equipment.
Speaking about the renovated and equipped Mother and Adult Training Center, TİKA’s Coordinator in Banjul, Şule Bayar stated that vocational training is an alternative for academic education offering opportunities not only for education and career but also for personal development and the reduction of poverty.
Manager of SOS Children’s Villages Mother and Adult Training Center, Ellen Maraizu thanked TİKA and noticed that they now have an equipped kitchen owing to the provided equipment.
Maraizu added that a quality training in the field of cookery will be provided for the individuals.
One of the students in the cookery department, Patience Richard said that he was raised in the SOS Children’s Village and that he will be able to stand on his own feet thanks to this training and thanked TİKA for its support.
Each year, 200 people are trained theoretically and practically in different fields and these individuals are supported in terms of employment in the center which has been operating since 1982 and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), in cooperation with the Agriculture and Industry Institute in Moamba and the Directorate of Social Affairs in Maputo, carried out the “Project for the Installation of the Greenhouse for Seedling Production”.
Although 45% of the surface area of Mozambique is suitable for agricultural activities, only 16% of its land (36 million hectares) is cultivated.
Irrigated agriculture is carried out in only 3% of the cultivated land and 5% of the farmers use fertilizers.
In line with the purpose of improving the capacity of the agricultural production of Mozambique, the project for the installation of the seedling greenhouse with a production capacity of 175.000 seedlings was carried out by TİKA in cooperation with the Agriculture and Industry Institute in Moamba.
The “Project for the Installation of the Greenhouse for Seedling Production” aims to produce the seedlings needed by farmers in the region and to provide an adequate amount of seedling supply for an average of 70-decare area per harvest.
Accordingly, it will be possible to produce an adequate amount of various vegetable and fruit seedlings, like tomatoes, onions, cabbages, peppers, watermelons, lemons etc., for an average of 280-decare farming land per year and to provide them to farmers in the region.
Speaking at the inauguration of the project held by TİKA, State Minister of the Republic of Mozambique, Vitoria Dias Diogo said, “I think that the project for the seedling production greenhouse in the Moamba region carried out by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency will offer a vital service in increasing the production capacity of farmers in the region.
Accordingly, I wish for the continuity of the infrastructural and educational projects in agricultural production and express my sincere thanks to the Republic of Türkiye.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Turkish Ambassador in Maputo, Avni Aksoy stated, “The Republic of Türkiye, through its institutions, will continue to contribute to the cooperation and development projects between the two countries.
I congratulate the people and the farmers in the region for this project which is a perfect example of achieving great successes with micro-scale projects.”
Eighty women residents of Khartoum met over two workshops to discuss women’s priorities for the transition and beyond.
The workshops in Khartoum launched a nation-wide consultative process organized by the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission (UNITAMS) in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The process will consist of two consultations in every state, with each consultation bringing together women from civil society organizations, political parties, women’s groups, armed movements, internally displaced persons as well as academics, experts and active members of professional associations and networks.
The consultations will also target the women working in informal sectors, such as tea and food sellers, domestic workers, as well as home caretakers.
“Building on the outcomes of the series of dialogues we organized last August and September, this project is designed to lay the foundation for an inclusive national women’s agenda.
This will enable the protection of the gains women have made since the December revolution, ensure their priorities are reflected in the agenda of any upcoming transitional period, and support the design of transitional arrangements conducive to this objective,” said Christina Shahin, UNITAMS’s Senior Gender Adviser.
Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the formulation of a unified women’s agenda, including lessons learnt from the previous transitional period, generational gaps between women rights’ advocates, and the absence of platforms for diverse women’s groups to engage in constructive dialogues.
Participants highlighted the centrality of women’s meaningful participation to achieve these priorities, whether in legislative bodies or the executive government.
They further emphasized the impact of supporting women’s presence and representation in other areas.
“When there are more women in law enforcement bodies, more women will be encouraged to report violence.
When there are more women doctors, more women will be encouraged to seek medical assistance when they need it,” one participant said.
Common priorities emerged in the workshops for women in Khartoum including the need for inclusive security, equitable economic development, and improved access to basic services such as health and education.
Participants also stressed the necessity of prioritizing gender-sensitive legislation and budgeting to address the distinct needs and suffering of women in light of the ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
For example, participants in both workshops raised period poverty and recommended measures to make available menstrual hygiene products.
They also explored ways to extend legal protections to women in the informal economy.
Discussions across consultations highlighted the issue of violence against women, especially domestic violence and the urgent need to set in place legislative and institutional support.
The dialogue also tackled the protection needs of particularly vulnerable women in the communities of internally displaced persons and refugees, and in the parts of Sudan that are emerging from armed conflict.
The participants further prioritized achieving comprehensive peace and the need to combat hate speech, racism, and ethnic discrimination, and highlighted the disproportional impact of these practices on women.
Participants linked the success of a women’s agenda to the political willingness of a new transitional government, but also underscored the need for solidarity between women’s groups within a larger movement to lead effective advocacy.
“The agenda does not have to only consist of common issues related to mutual suffering.
Instead, it must be a rights-based agenda that includes all women’s rights issues even when localized to a culture or a context or a region,” said one young participant.
“The causes don’t have to be shared.
We don’t need consensus.
There is a sisterhood that forces us to recognize all women’s rights issues as part of our agenda,” another participant added.
Romelu Lukaku missed a string of late chances as Belgium crashed out of the World Cup in the group stage after a 0-0 draw with Croatia on Thursday which sent the 2018 runners-up into the knockout phase.
Roberto Martinez announced after the game he was stepping down as Belgium coach after a six-year spell in charge.
Croatia had a penalty award controversially cancelled by VAR early in a largely uneventful first half.
The introduction of Lukaku at the interval changed the game, but he was guilty of three dreadful misses as Zlatko Dalic’s side rode their luck to hold on.
Croatia progressed as runners-up in Group F behind winners Morocco who beat Canada 2-1 to also qualify for the last 16.
The Croatians will face the winners of Group E, containing Spain, Germany, Japan and Costa Rica, for a quarter-final place.
“We had some chances against us but it didn’t change our mindset,” said coach Dalic.
“We were lucky they didn’t take their chances.
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Belgium, the world’s second-ranked side, saw their run of reaching at least the quarter-finals at four straight major tournaments come to an abrupt end.
Martinez’s men managed just one goal in the tournament in a fortunate opening 1-0 win over Canada.
It may have been the final chance for several of their ageing stars to win a major title.
“Today, if we would’ve gone through I think we would’ve seen the real Belgium and could’ve been very competitive in the next rounds,” said Martinez, whose contract was due to run out after the World Cup.
Martinez dropped captain Eden Hazard to the bench as one of four changes which also saw Leandro Trossard and Dries Mertens start for the first time in Qatar.
The build-up to the match had been dominated by rumours of an altercation between senior Belgian players, involving Eden Hazard, which Martinez described as “fake news”.
Croatia almost took the lead inside the first 10 seconds, as the ball was played forward to Ivan Perisic after kick-off and the Tottenham man cut inside and drilled a shot just wide of the far post.
The likelihood of Belgium needing to win was increased when Morocco scored an early goal across Doha. Yannick Carrasco had a chance to open the scoring but his shot was blocked.
Penalty overturned
Mertens curled over after a trademark Kevin De Bruyne run and pass, before Croatia were awarded a penalty seconds later when Carrasco tripped Andrej Kramaric in the box.
But the decision was overturned following a lengthy VAR check which detected that a tiny fraction of Dejan Lovren’s shoulder was offside.
Desperate for the goal which would have sent them through after a first half in which neither side mustered a shot on target, Martinez sent on Lukaku, Belgium’s record scorer, for Mertens at half-time.
They immediately carried more threat, with Lukaku, who struggled with injury in the lead-up to the tournament, heading straight at Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Thibaut Courtois was then called into action for the first time, stretching to tip over Mateo Kovacic’s curling effort as the game opened up.
That also suited the Croatian attackers though and Courtois had to twice get down to keep out low shots from Marcelo Brozovic and Luka Modric.
Belgium should have taken the lead on the hour mark.
Carrasco almost bundled the ball in but was denied by Livakovic, before Lukaku contrived to hit
