Icardi ends goal drought as PSG win at reims
Paris, France (AFP) — Mauro icardi broke a long scoring drought by netting both goals in Paris saint-germain’s (PSG) comfortable 2-0 Ligue 1 win at reims yesterday.
Earlier, Monaco hung on desperately to beat Strasbourg 3-2 after having two players sent off and Lille moved into second place with a more straightforward 2-0 win over Nantes.
PSG, who opened the league season with two losses, won 2-0 for a third-straight league game and are now seventh, four points behind leaders Rennes.
“It’s important for a striker to score goals,” said Icardi after making the scoresheet for the first time since February.
“Today we lacked the efficiency to kill the match earlier, but we are happy with the result.”
For the first time since the French Cup final on July 24, PSG started their all their ‘Fantastic Four’, of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Angel di Maria and Icardi.
The quartet have been kept apart by positive COVID-19 tests, an injury to Mbappe, a suspension to Neymar and coach Thomas Tuchel’s decision to drop Icardi to the bench for the Champions League semi-final and final.
Even so PSG exercised their option to turn Icardi’s loan from Inter Milan into a permanent deal and the Argentine
in its drive to make sport and its governance increasingly successful and marketable, the Jamaica Olympic association (JOA) continues to improve the capabilities of stakeholders by utilising educational platforms, specific in this instance to the recently-concluded advance sport management course.
The six-module course is offered on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under its Olympic Solidarity Programme for capacity-building to member states globally. Importantly, it is a professional diploma course in advanced sport management. Also, it is not designed to be a replacement or a substitute for the basic sports administration course for national federations.
“The advanced sports management course is one of the main avenues within which the JOA has advanced our educational perspective and our mandate to create opportunities for all to embrace the advancements made in sport and the various roles we are playing in the process of change management,” said Ryan Foster, the JOA’S general secretary/ceo.
He added: “Our eyes should be not only focused on the things that are tenuous, but things that can enhance the way we deliver sports administration and the took over the number nine shirt from the departed Edinson Cavani.
Icardi stayed cool after nine minutes when Mbappe’s pass was a little behind him, defying his long dry spell by controlling the ball neatly with his heel and then driving a low shot inside the far post.
PSG dominated but failed to convert their chances.
Reims, who went to extra time on Thursday as they were eliminated from the Europa League on penalties by Hungarians Fehervar, almost levelled when substitute Boulaye Dia hit the post in the 61st minute.
But seconds later Icardi struck to seal the points. After a neat move, Mbappe rolled a pass to the unmarked forward, who tapped the ball in.
Heroic Monaco
Monaco Coach Niko Kovac described his side as “heroic” as they resisted a comeback from battling Strasbourg, despite the dismissals of Aurelien Tchouameni and Axel Disasi at the Stade Louis II.
Wissam Ben Yedder put Monaco ahead with a ninth-minute strike before Ruben Aguilar made it 2-0 late in first-half stoppage time.
Mehdi Chahiri pulled Strasbourg back into conten- tion just after the break before Ben Yedder struck again on 47 minutes.
But the Monaco sendings off put Strasbourg on the front foot.
Disasi was dismissed for bringing down Ludovic Ajorque, who scored from the penalty spot to make it 3-2, setting up a breathless last 20 minutes.
“My players were heroic,” Kovac said. “When we were down to nine and the young players came on they showed a lot of character.”
Seeking to stay in touch with Rennes, who beat Saint Etienne 3-0 away on Saturday, Lille went ahead through a Nicolas Pallois own goal before Turkish international Burak Yilmaz wrapped up the three points with an 87th minute spot kick.
Montpellier wasted the chance to go second when they drew 2-2 at Dijon.
Patrick Vieira’s Nice side showed they are struggling for form as they were held to a goalless draw at Bordeaux, despite hitting the woodwork three times. The southern side have seven points from five games.
Lyon continued their poor start to the season with a 1-1 draw at newly promoted Lorient that extended their winless run to four games.
Lens, who came up with Lorient, maintained their positive start to life in the top flight with a 1-1 draw at Nimes that keeps them at the top end of the table.
tennis, and the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA).
“Sport not only impacts lives, but it also impacts livelihoods. This, of course, is a critical deliverable of this new administration, as we see it as a way we can continue the professionalism of sport and the reach we can have,” noted Foster.
“We are big on the wholesome athlete, coach and administrator, but also on sport journalism. All areas have a critical role to play in how sport is administered and delivered to the various stakeholders,” he further assessed.
“The advanced sports management course is just one of the many ways we are changing the landscape of the traditional ways of delivering service to our stakeholders, as it follows immediately after the successful launch of both our JOA Internship Programme, as well as our JOA Scholarship Programme.
“In the coming months we will be launching our landmark Crowd Funding Project — geared towards the Tokyo Games — and the planning process has started,” said Foster. “We will officially launch this project shortly.”
Also on the horizon is the next staging of the advanced sport management course, which is set to begin in November and run through to May in 2021.