The Egyptian took a touch before firing past keeper Wayne Hennessey after Andy Robertson had crossed in from the left.

Luka Milivojevic had converted from the spot early in the first half to give Palace the lead after Liverpool keeper Loris Karius took out Wilfried Zaha.

And Sadio Mane turned in James Milner’s cross shortly after the break to level.

Liverpool had plenty of chances to score in the first half at Selhurst Park as Salah’s curling effort tested Hennessey and Mane came close with two headed efforts.

Karius’ early error looked costly as Palace clung on until half-time but Liverpool responded within four minutes of the restart when Milner and Robertson combined down the left to set up Mane.

Christian Benteke then missed two clear goalscoring chances in as many minutes before Patrick van Aanholt’s fizzing free-kick was palmed away by Karius.

There were appeals for Mane to be shown a second yellow card – he was booked for diving in the first half – after he picked up the ball on the edge of the area but referee Neil Swarbrick settled for a free-kick.

The Reds then completed the comeback when Salah scored his 29th Premier League goal of the season – equalling the league record of scoring in 21 matches in a 38-game season.

Liverpool headed to Selhurst Park knowing they have an important week ahead.

The Reds host Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday before making the short trip to Merseyside rivals Everton in next Saturday’s Premier League derby.

But Jurgen Klopp named a strong starting line-up in his 100th Premier League game in charge despite expectations he would rest several key players.

But Liverpool’s first-half performance did not match the boldness of Klopp’s selection as they lacked intensity and imagination against a stubborn Palace defence.

Mane’s equaliser early in the second half was a good response but Benteke missed two great chances moments later to regain Palace’s lead.

Liverpool had further chances and so did Palace but it was Salah who once again came to the rescue – saving the visitors’ blushes.

Victory takes Liverpool up to second place in the Premier League table – at least for a few hours as Manchester United host Swansea at 15:00 BST.

More missed opportunities for Palace
Roy Hodgson’s side suffered yet another defeat against a team in the top six and, having taken an early lead, this was a missed opportunity.

Palace were the better side in the first half and deserved to be in front after Zaha had won a penalty when he was clattered by Karius.

They then defended well – keeping Salah out of action and frustrating Mane.

Even after Liverpool had responded and equalised, Palace grew in confidence and started to create more in attack.

But Benteke missed two golden opportunities to regain the lead and it ultimately proved costly as Salah showed the required prolificacy at the other end.

Former Liverpool striker Benteke has missed 20 of the 22 big chances he has had in the Premier League this season, more than any other player.

Palace have now suffered five defeats in their last six games and are two points above the relegation zone – with their rivals all yet to play.

After throwing away leads against both Manchester United and Liverpool in the space of a month, Salah’s late winner will come as yet another blow to the south London side.

Major blow for Adam Lallana
Adam Lallana has started just one game for Liverpool this season after struggling with injury.

He came on as a second-half substitute at Selhurst Park in the hope of gaining more match fitness following a 30-minute cameo for England on Tuesday.

But it was not what he or Klopp had hoped for when he hobbled off within three minutes of his introduction.

The 29-year-old midfielder has played just 215 minutes of Premier League football this season and now looks set to spend more time on the sidelines.

“It is not good, he is really down in the dressing room,” Klopp said. “It is really difficult, whatever injury it looks like a muscle one.”

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson, speaking to Sky Sports: “It’s very disappointing for them to get the winning goal so close to the end of the game. It’s tough to take.

“It feels like a groundhog day when we play against the top teams. In the second half we played well and controlled the ball and created better chances but we also conceded both goals.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, speaking to BBC Sport: “It is usual for us that we need to fight here, especially after a difficult start, but it makes it more special at the end. The win was deserved.

On Mane’s booking for diving: “For me, it’s a penalty, it’s clear. He is 0.1 seconds too late going down, but it’s a penalty. With contact, how can that be a dive? I spoke to the referee at half-time.

“There were a few strange situations today and Mane had to go through 80 minutes of being whistled. It was not a Sadio Mane day today. I thought he would be sent off for handling the ball. I did not understand it but am happy he didn’t.”

–

Source: BBC

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“If we want to be fair to football, this is not the type of weather that a team from West Africa should be made to play in if only we all want to learn the game.

“If one wants to take advantage of this weather, I don’t think it helps the game.

“If they also feel that this is the strategy they will employ to win matches then they will be in trouble one day if they are paired against a team that plays in extremely hot conditions.

“They are not a bad team, but CAF have to look at some of these things,” he whined after their embarrassing 4 – 0 thrashing.

Like a man whose ears had been burnt, I unplugged my earphones with such alarm after listening to the first few minutes of Aduana Stars head coach Yusif Aboubakar’s post-game comments.

Not only was I embarrassed for man, but I was equally disappointed by his lack of grace in defeat.

Even in the absence of an active league and quality preparatory matches I had firmly placed the underdog tag around the necks of the Dormaa based side.

The abysmal record of Ghanaian clubs in continental competitions against North African sides is well documented and only character and tactical astuteness like we have never seen Aduana produce was going to see them through.

However, after succumbing to such a humbling defeat in a game where poor officiating was not a factor, I expected the gaffer to pick up lessons worth sharing with his players.

It is essential that the team sits to dissect the honest reasons for their poor showing to aid them successfully sail through the playoff round of the Caf Confederations Cup in which they will now engage.

First among their shortcomings has been their inability to score more than one goal in many an encounter, be it local or continental.

One can attempt to understand their pain, due to the massive investment that has been made in the short spell in anticipation of bigger things.

Elimination in the second preliminary round represents an improvement on their first round exit in 2010 but of course is little consolation.

ES Setif were overwhelming favourtites going into the second preliminary match against the Ghanaian champions and at home rightly exerted that dominance.

The game is about learning from shortcomings and making the right adjustments and I do honestly hope that when they look at that 4-1 aggregate scoreline against ES Setif in the near future they will be provoked to plug their leaks instead of blaming the elements. I wish them well in the Caf Confederation Cup Playoff draw which comes off on March 21.

Red Legion of Four

Off the pitch he has the temperament of a new born baby, but that all makes way to a business like attitude which is not only relentless in nature but also cold when Mohammed Salah steps unto the pitch.

When he defied the odds to grab his hat-trick, my brain shut down to the possibility that the man would actually go ahead to seek a fourth, but that is exactly what he did.

I am convinced that with more time on the clock he would have scored a fifth and a sixth if the opportunity presented itself.

That beginner’s hunger is absolutely priceless for a player who has already been crowned Africa’s best player.

He now also joins Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Luis Suarez as the only Liverpool players in history to net four in a single game.

Didier Drogba’s 29 goal record for an African player in the Premier League is also set to fall with Salah now on 28 goals with 7 matches left to play.

I will waste little time boring you with what the man is capable of doing, but with all the talk over the years on how unforgiving the Premier League is to undersized players the man is presently in hallowed territory.

He remains my prime candidate to win the Premier League player of the year.

Salah’s spotlight will only grow brighter and wider with the World Cup fast approaching.

Placed in the right situation I have no doubts that the Egyptian maestro will have the rest of the world under his spell.

Thunder Struck

From the moment the team was assembled I have read one gloomy write up after the other on the OKC Thunder.

The biggest fear of many remained if Russell Westbrook would finally be able to express his game fully while allowing other stars to thrive around him.

With the Thunder entering their toughest stretch for the season and indeed the toughest stretch for any team in the association, the group have rallied around each other and look every bit the genuine threat I perceived from the start.

That stretch that heavily features teams over the .500 win percentage mark will perhaps be the biggest test Westbrook and his army have faced.

So competitive is the Western Conference that the 3rd seed and 8th seed are only separated by four games.

Missing the Playoffs is a nightmare reality that faces this group, and if all the rumors that have swirled around him all season are true, Paul George will likely be packing his bags.

Occupying the 4th seed slot, OKC can however confidently say that they are playing better as a team.

Westbrook has managed to rope in his teammates while recording triple double number 101 for his career.

His poise for running the right plays down the stretch in big games towards the end of the season bodes well as witnessed in the performance that snapped the 13 game winning streak of the Raptors.

He finally looks like a man who is at the point of putting all his qualities together for a worthy operation.

The slow starts in games remain a problem and the loss of Andre Robertson might give them some unanticipated headaches.

The relationship that exists between coach Billy Donovan and Corey Brewer from their days with the Florida Gators looks like one that will have a huge impact for the Thunder.

Brewer’s defensive versatility and 3 point shooting will be much appreciated.

With 3 All Stars in their fold and a playoff starved Carmelo Anthony in their midst, the rest of the association should take notice that the Thunder are as legit a title contender as your favourite team.

By:Benjamin Nketsia/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post FINAL WHISTLE: Aduana manhandled, Salah untouchable, OKC legit appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Every year, the Confederation Of African Football (CAF) organizes awards to, inter alia, award those football players and football administrators, who distinguished themselves in their various fields in the course of the year. This year’s event took place right here in Ghana, in the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC). The event took place on January 4, 2018.

The CAF Awards usually come along with performances from very distinguished artistes in Africa. It was not surprising, therefore, that some distinguished artistes from Africa had to perform at the said award.

Most often, CAF insists that since these awards are African Awards, as much as possible, the artistes that perform at these awards must be a fair representation of African acts. Artistes were, therefore, chosen from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Congo to perform. Nigerian artistes that performed were; Wizkid, Patoranking, Phyno, Flavour, Tiwa Savage, Olamide among others. Kidi and Shatta Wale were billed to perform from the Ghanaian side. The Togolese artiste was Toofan and Fally Ipupa represented Congo for the performance that night. (myjoyonline.com).

The AITEO CAF Awards that night eventually came to a successful end with President Akufo Addo and the President-elect of Liberia, both receiving various awards.

The event which took place on January 4, 2018, however, stirred up some controversy and dissatisfaction among many Ghanaians, both home and abroad.

Some notable Ghanaians like Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, who is the founder of the Danquah Institute, took to Twitter, to express his dissatisfaction about how Ghanaian artistes were under represented during the awards.  He posited that ‘almost a perfect program at the CAF awards soiled by lack of local content: But, why they couldn’t find any Ghanaian musician, pathetic’. (myjoyonline.com).

On the other hand, some people also took to social media to try to justify the dominance of Nigerians on stage that night, saying among other things that Ghanaians must not be envious or jealous of Nigerians and that they did not see anything wrong with the dominance of the Nigerian artistes.

Since ‘theories are always for someone and for some purpose’, I will try and bring my perspective to bear on this issue.

First and foremost, we should be minded that whether we like it or not, we live in a ‘self-help’ system and ‘survival’ is the ultimate (Hans Morgenthau). Again, it is worth noting that in foreign policy decision making, the interest of the state at any point in time is paramount and must be protected.  And like Niccolo Machiavelli said in his Book, the Prince and the Discourses, that there is no morality in politics, I will try and justify or otherwise whether the people crying foul have legit concerns.

The main concern as we may already know is about Nigeria’s dominance on stage during the Awards night. Nigeria presented seven artistes to perform that night (citifmonline.com). This was in contravention to what CAF instructed the organizers of the Awards to do. I said so because, in a letter written a day after the AITEO CAF Awards night by the CAF boss, Ahmad Ahmad, CAF said it instructed the main sponsors AITEO to ‘ensure a regional balance and a strong local representation of at least two musicians from the host nation. The Ghanaian artistes billed to perform were Kidi and Shatta Wale’. (citifmonline.com).

From the above, we can say that those who think Ghana was under represented have a case.

Ghanaian acts, Efya and Kidi would later perform because Shatta Wale could not perform because he said he was not approached well for the deal. Efya sang the Ghanaian National Anthem and Kidi performed after the event had closed and everybody was leaving the auditorium. (citifmonline.com).

Methinks this was total disrespect to the Ghanaian artiste, Kidi, seeing that he was asked to perform when the program was almost ended and everybody was leaving the auditorium. I even understand that Kidi was booked to perform only because he may have had some collaboration with Davido.

As for the Shatta Wale not being approached well (in his words) for the deal, one may attribute it to the fact that he has in recent days come strongly at some Nigerian artistes including Wizkid.

It is worth noting that the main headline sponsor for the CAF Awards, AITEO, is a Nigerian company based in Lagos and Port Harcourt and so it is obvious that their biases would be towards their own.

Gregory Ankrah, who works with BookMe World Agency alleged that, ‘even the person sharing the water was Nigerian’. He continued by saying that he was constantly reminding the production crew about when his Ghanaian artistes would be on stage and the production crew kept telling him that the artistes would be on stage soon (citifmonline.com).

I will not sit here and blame the AITEO Group for the way and manner in which they conducted themselves because in foreign policy, the interest of the state (in this case, the company) comes first before any other interest. This is not in any way a justification for what AITEO Group did. I am only saying that the average Ghanaian loves to promote somebody else’s rather than his own. This should, however, be a wake-up call to Ghanaian companies to learn to sponsor and also project and promote their own if need be.

Normally, Ghanaians should have been represented more because they are the host of the program and it is only fair that way but we saw Nigeria presenting as many as seven artistes and some Ghanaians felt disrespected by this act. In my view, these Ghanaians are right by expressing their disgusts and all but they should remember what Niccolo Machiavelli said about morality not having a place in politics. The Nigerians at the end of the day, knew what they wanted and so fought for it. They sponsored the program and dominated it with their acts. It’s that simple.

My point is that the Nigerians didn’t do us right. Yes, they ‘disrespected’ us by not signing our very own artistes that we so much cherish and literally worship but truth be told, the world system we operate is about survival of the best adapted (Charles Darwin) and so if you want something, the literature says you have to fight for it and that’s exactly what the Nigerians did; They fought for what they wanted.

The damage has already been caused. AITEO Group has issued an apology to Shatta Wale. The President of CAF says he is demanding an explanation from the organizers of the program as to why things went the way they did among other things, etc. etc.

I would conclude by saying that though the Nigerians sponsored the awards and so dominated it with their own as against our own, as Ghanaian as I am, my biases will always be towards my people because this is the only country I have, at least for now. Hence this urgent need to defend and uphold its image high, hence my verbosity.

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By: Francis Kwabena Adjei (MA student, International Affairs – LECIAD, UG | [email protected])

The post CAF awards brouhaha: From the International Relations Perspective appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The attacking duo are on a three-man shortlist for the Confederation of African Football Player of the Year award which will be named on Thursday.

“We sleep in a hotel, they sleep in a plane. That is all the difference,” said Klopp.

“We have to show them respect.”

The awards take place in Accra on Thursday evening with Liverpool kicking off against local rivals Everton at 19:55 GMT the day after.

Klopp says that his experience of managing the third nominee – Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – during his time at the German club means he understands the importance of the awards.

“If it had been a matchday they wouldn’t have asked,” he added.

“For our side, it is just a sign of respect.

“I had Aubameyang and there is nothing more important than to go there.”

The awards recognise the best male and female players from the continent and organisers expect that all previous winners since their inception in 1992 will be present.

Salah, who scored the goal that took Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990 as well as 23 in 29 appearances for Liverpool this season, won the BBC African Football of the Year award in December.

The 25-year-old missed Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Burnley on Monday with a slight groin strain and Klopp says he is a doubt for the meeting with Everton regardless of his travel.

“If Mo is not fit, it will not be for that,” he added.

–

Source: BBC

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Citi News’ Ashanti regional correspondent, Lauretta Timah had reported that the boy identified as Osman Abdukari, was shot at, by some unknown persons.

According to the police, the events leading to the incidence are not clear, as eyewitnesses have given varied accounts of what happened.

Chief Superintendent Kwaku Buah is the Manhyia Divisional Police Commander.

“Yesterday at around 7:30pm I received information concerning the incident. This guy is about 17-years-old, someone who had just completed JHS and had gone to the place with others to have fun and this unfortunate incident happened. He is now on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, he is not dead.”

Although the Police Commander said no arrest has been made yet, he noted that they’ve had information from some persons who witnessed the event.

“We’ve not yet made any arrest. We’ve spoken to people in the area including eyewitnesses who were. We are still hunting for the perpetrators of this heinous crime. We have a lot of information we are trying to analyze, we’ve had so many varied information and it is our job to investigate and ascertain the truth behind the issue. As I talk to you now the Municipal Security Council had finished meeting on the matter and officials of the council are going to the site of the incident,” he added.

9 die after Salah stampede 

Nine persons died in 2017 in a stampede in Asawase in the Ashanti Region during a jam to climax the Eid-ul Fitr celebration in the area.

An investigation by the security showed that the stampede occurred when an electric meter at the Asawase Community Centre where the event was held caught fire.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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