Avant Argentine-Espagne : trois finales aux tirs au but, un seul 0-0,…

Ce dimanche, l’Argentine et l’Espagne s’affronteront en finale de la Coupe du monde 2026. Il s’agira de la 23ᵉ finale de l’histoire de la compétition. Avant ce rendez-vous, retour sur les 22 finales disputées depuis la première édition en 1930. sportbet.reviews

Une seule finale sans le moindre but

L’histoire des finales de Coupe du monde montre qu’elles offrent le plus souvent du spectacle. Une seule d’entre elles s’est achevée sur un score de 0-0, après le temps réglementaire et les prolongations. C’était en 1994, aux États-Unis, lorsque le Brésil avait remporté le trophée face à l’Italie à l’issue de la séance des tirs au but.

À l’exception de cette finale, toutes les autres ont vu au moins un but être inscrit. De quoi laisser espérer une rencontre animée entre l’Argentine et l’Espagne, même si l’exemple de 1994 rappelle qu’une finale peut aussi se jouer sur les détails et la rigueur tactique.

Seulement trois finales décidées aux tirs au but

Depuis la création de la Coupe du monde, seules trois finales se sont conclues par une séance de tirs au but.

La première remonte à 1994 avec le succès du Brésil face à l’Italie. La deuxième a eu lieu en 2006, lorsque l’Italie a pris le meilleur sur la France après un match nul (1-1). Enfin, la plus récente reste la spectaculaire finale de 2022, conclue sur un score de 3-3 avant le sacre de l’Argentine face à la France aux tirs au but.

Des finales souvent riches en buts

Au total, 83 buts ont été inscrits lors des 22 finales déjà disputées, soit une moyenne de près de 3,8 buts par rencontre.

La finale la plus prolifique demeure celle de 1958, remportée par le Brésil face à la Suède (5-2), avec sept buts inscrits. D’autres affiches sont également restées dans les mémoires, comme le 4-2 de l’Uruguay contre l’Argentine lors de la toute première finale en 1930, le succès 4-2 de l’Italie face à la Hongrie en 1938 ou encore l’incroyable 3-3 entre l’Argentine et la France en 2022.

Le Brésil reste la référence

Au palmarès, le Brésil demeure la sélection la plus titrée de l’histoire de la Coupe du monde avec cinq sacres. L’Argentine tentera dimanche de se rapprocher un peu plus de cette référence en cas de victoire face à l’Espagne.

The post Avant Argentine-Espagne : trois finales aux tirs au but, un seul 0-0, retour sur les précédents dénouements appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.

Several players turned back their biological clocks at Wimbledon 2026, but it took one of the world’s toughest endurance races to really demonstrate that ‘age is just a number’.

Swiss tennis pro, Stanislas Warinka at 41 and Serena Williams at 44 returned to Wimbledon in attempts to turn back the clock, but although they played impressively, they lost in the first round.

Novic Djokovic at 39 is nine years older than the next oldest player in the world’s top 30, and advanced to the semi-finals before losing to the World Number 1, Jannik Sinner.

But among the most impressive sporting endeavours by ‘senior citizens’ in recent times was French ultra-trail athlete, Ludovic Pommeret’s feat in winning the Hardrock Endurance Run in the American state of Colorado in record time last weekend (11 July).

Just ten days short of his 51^st birthday, the French ultra-trail athlete returned to his happy hunting ground to race to a record-breaking victory around the 100-mile circuit through the San Juan Range and historic mining hills of Southern Colorado.

The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run is an ultra-marathon, close to 100 miles (162.0 km) in length, including 10,000 m of elevation gain at an average elevation of over 3,400 m with a lung-searing high point of 4281 metres at Handies Peak, two thirds of the way into the counter-clockwise direction race.

The race is dedicated to the memory of the miners who settled in the area and who built the mining trails on which much of the race is run.

The run starts and ends in the regional centre of Silverton, passes through the towns of Telluride, Ouray and the ghost town of Sherman and crosses thirteen major passes in the 3700m to 4000m range. Runners must overcome extremely rugged terrain including steep scree climbs and descents, snowpacks, river crossings, and boulder fields.

To still be improving past fifty is extraordinary, but that’s what Pommeret achieved. He first won the (counter-clockwise) event in 2024 as a sprightly 49-year-old in record time in 21 hrs 33min 06sec before returning last year to win the clockwise version in 22:21:53, 45 minutes outside Kilian Jornet’s 2022 record which marked the Spaniard’s fifth win at Hardrock.

This year Pommeret stunned the trail running world with an outstanding performance, reaching the finish at Silverton well before dawn 21:11:36 – almost 22 minutes inside his 2024 mark and the fastest Hardrock circuit in either direction.

While the majority of full-time trail runners turn professional early in their careers before turning to ‘more conventional’ occupations later in life, Pommeret did it in reverse. A computer engineer who worked for Swiss air traffic control, Pommeret retired in 2025 at age 50 to become a full-time professional athlete.

“I pushed the pace in the beginning as I was feeling cold,” Pommeret remarked, before giving credit to his supporters. “Without my team it would not be possible. I was not sure I could hold the pace but they all helped me – my physio with her quick massages, as I don’t spend much time in the aid stations, and my father-in-law who helped me push the pace in the final section.”

Pommeret’s performance was exceptional, but 41-year-old Courtney Dauwalter’s fourth Hardrock victory in the women’s competition also demonstrated that the potential loss of youthful power and vigour in mature athletes can be more than offset in ultra-trail competition by resilience and experience. Dauwalter’s consistency in elite competition over ever-increasing distances sets her apart as one of the best ever and she shows no sign of slowing.

Dauwalter has achieved record victories with each of her races at Hardrock, starting with 26:44:38 in 2022 (counter-clockwise) which she improved to 26:11:47 in 2024 and 26:03:10 last weekend. Heir-apparent, Katy Schide, won the 2025 (clockwise) race in Dauwalter’s absence in 25:50:23, 24 minutes inside Dauwalter’s 2023 mark.

This year Dauwalter was on course to finish inside Schide’s mark for the fastest time in either direction until she suffered severe gastronomical distress after peaking at Handies, the high point of the race.

“Handies was beautiful but the beginning of the end for me,” Dauwalter reflected. “The climb to the top was very cool but my stomach problems started on the descent. I spent the night ‘fertilizing the course’! It was really hard.

“In the first half I was cruising and just letting miles happen – it felt good. The weather was good and I was running with some fun people. I didn’t have a finish time in mind, but as race unfolded during the day (Katy Schide’s) record seemed possible. But then during the night (after stomach problems) it was plain that it was not possible.”

2026 Hardrock Endurance Run Results

Men

1. Ludovic Pommeret – 21:11:36
2. Jimmy Elam – 23:48:56
3. David Ayala – 24:28:17
4. Ryan Smith – 25:45:37
5. Arlen Glick – 26:41:17
6. Nick Coury – 29:53:39
7. Paul Terranova – 30:48:30
8. Dustin Simoens – 31:37:57
9. Shad Mika – 32:27:55
10. Alex Docta – 32:36:20

Women

1. Courtney Dauwalter – 26:03:10
2. Careth Arnold – 30:32:31
3. Tara Dower – 33:02:04
4. Bailey Eppard – 35:41:59
5. Kaci Lickteig – 36:12:17
6. Erin Shaw – 36:44:55
7. Darla Askew – 36:49:47
8. Jenny Pierce – 37:26:08
9. Jenny Fox – 37:33:26
10. Jordan Armstrong – 38:39:14

The post Performances for the ‘Ages’ from Ludo and Courtney appeared first on Sports Network Africa.

Saki Ishizaka quitte le Japon et le Mynavi Sendai Ladies pour signer en France au Paris FC.

Le Paris FC a dévoilé, ce dimanche, dans un communiqué sur le site du club, l’arrivée d’une nouvelle joueuse. La défenseure japonaise Saki Ishizaka rejoint le club d’Arkema Première Ligue en provenance du Japon et du Mynavi Sendai Ladies (Japon) où elle jouait en équipe première depuis 2023..

La joueuse de 23 ans a paraphé un contrat de trois saisons avec le club parisien, soit jusqu’en 2029. « Reconnue pour sa discipline tactique, sa qualité de lecture du jeu et ses qualités techniques, elle est repositionnée au poste de latérale gauche il y a un an, où elle poursuit sa progression. », a écrit le club parisien sur sa nouvelle recrue.

« Au-delà de ses qualités de joueuse, j’ai été marquée par sa personnalité, sa discipline et surtout par le courage dont elle fait preuve en choisissant de quitter son pays pour relever un défi dans une culture totalement différente. », a commenté de son côté, Gaëtane Thiney, Directrice sportive de la section féminine du club, citée dans le communiqué. Depuis ses débuts avec Mynavi Sendai Ladies, elle a disputé 62 matchs officiels pour 6 buts dont 50 en championnat pour 5 réalisations. Sur son compte Instagram, elle a dit au revoir à son club. « Je suis heureux d’avoir pu faire mes débuts en tant que professionnel au sein de cette équipe. Je tiens à remercier tout le monde. Merci de m’avoir toujours soutenu, en toutes circonstances. Je vais tout mettre en œuvre pour continuer à progresser tout en profitant pleinement de ce nouveau défi. », a écrit Saki Ishizaka dans son message.

Nicolas Cotten

The post Le Paris FC (F) engage la défenseure japonaise Saki Ishizaka appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick and captain Pieter-Steph du Toit emphasised that they were preparing for their Nations Championship encounter against Wales in Durban on Saturday with the same seriousness and respect as that with which they approached all Test matches, and predicted a trying encounter.

The Springboks may have a good track record against Wales in recent years, but both Stick and Du Toit said previous results were insignificant going into this encounter. The match kicks off at 17h40 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

“I was there in 2016, 2017, and 2018 when there was a transition in our own system,” said Stick. “We’ve had challenges. In 2018, we had only a 50% winning ratio, but people look at us now and see a world-class team, and Wales are in that same space.

“One or two good results might change everything for them. Back in 2018, our focus was just to beat New Zealand in New Zealand, and then things turned around, and the belief grew.”

Stick added: “I don’t think we were at our best when it came to our kicking game and defence last week. So there’s a lot of room for improvement in how we’re operating as a team, and one of the biggest focus areas this week was the kicking game and how we defend together.

“Wales will probably look at that game and think that if they keep the ball in hand, they’ll pose challenges for us. That said, as long as we keep improving and making our people at home happy, that’s our biggest focus.”

Stick said the team wished to continue building momentum, while planning to build squad depth, with four debutantes in the team – Carlu Sadie (prop), Ruben van Heerden (lock), Vusi Moyo (flyhalf) and Jaco Williams (winger).

“If you look at the team we’ve selected, it tells you how we’re approaching this game,” said Stick.
“A lot of people focus on the debutantes getting their chance, but if you look at the players around them, they are all world-class, and some of them are double Rugby World Cup winners.

“Looking at Wales, they are a world-class team, and people sometimes forget that and focus on results. But we know them very well.
“If you don’t prepare well, they’ll punish you because they also have world-class players, and in my experience from the early days when I started coaching, we used to struggle and lose against them a lot.

“So on a good day for them, if you’re not at your best, it will be tough. We’ve prepared for this game with 100% respect, and that’s the same way we prepare for matches against teams like Ireland or New Zealand.”

Du Toit spoke equally highly of Wales and their loose forwards, saying players such as Jac Morgan and his colleagues were battle hardened and a fierce was expected at the breakdown.
“They have strong ball carriers and are very physical in defence, so we have to get the set pieces right,” said Du Toit.

“We also made some mistakes on defence last weekend, and we’ve tightened that up this week. I’m sure Wales will target those weaknesses, but I’m excited to see if we’ll be able to fix that.”

The duo also shared the excitement about the four debutantes, with Stick saying: “The guys who joined us this year came in open-minded and adapted really fast to how we want to play, how things are done here, how the system works, and what is expected of them.

“The intensity, excitement, and hunger they’ve brought is probably the most important thing. They are thrilled to play and put on the jersey, and for them to get the opportunity to play at Hollywoodbets Kings Park is an unbelievable privilege.”

Issued by SA Rugby Communications

The post Stick, du Toit bracing for full-out Wales battle appeared first on SportsClub.