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Hunt praises team’s grit

PRETORIA - SuperSport Head Coach Gavin Hunt praised his team for sticking to their guns after they picked up a fourth win in five DStv Premiership matches with a 3-1 victory over Royal AM on Tuesday evening. Matsatsantsa dominated for much of the game, particularly in the first-half, but couldn’t take their chances. “It was a very frustrating game,” Hunt told SuperSport TV after the match. “Their goal looked offside … and it looked like we were not going to get anything. But fair play to the players, they dug in. It was not our best performance but we need to get as many points as we can before the break (for the 2022 FIFA World Cup) and see where we are.”

Nyatama back at Birds

JOHANNESBURG - Swallows FC have decided to officially give Musa Nyatama the coaching reins ahead of their DStv Premiership match against Kaizer Chiefs yesterday evening. The 4-0 loss to fellow strugglers Golden Arrows in their last game proved to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. While Kerr was conducting media interviews after the loss, Swallows Chairman David Mogashoa phoned and summoned him to a special meeting. He was later released from his duties. The Soweto side were expected to announce Ernst Middendorp as their new coach.

Walusimbi retires

KAMPALA - Former Gor Mahia and Kaizer Chiefs defender Godfrey Walusimbi has retired from active football. Yesterday, the Premier League winner with Gor Mahia announced that he was retiring from football. This brings an end to a career that was launched early in the current century in his native country before signing for his first Uganda Premier League team, SC Villa. Since then, he has moved to play in Kenya, South Africa, and even Europe, although it is in his time with the Kenyan side that he built his reputation. The 33-year-old revealed he is set to launch his managerial career, although he did not state whether it would be in Uganda or elsewhere.

MADRID - Ukraine has joined Spain and Portugal in their bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said yesterday.

The new partnership was confirmed during a news conference at the Swiss headquarters of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body. “Now it’s not an Iberian bid but a European bid,” Spanish FA President Luis Rubiales said from UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. “We’ve taken a step forward today.”

Portugal’s FA President Fernando Gomes said: “It’s an honour to include Ukraine in our bid. The two federations have informed of their intention to UEFA, who have given us the full support. Football is more than football. It’s a logical and natural decision. We’ve had the unconditional support of UEFA. Ukraine cannot disappear from our