Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr is upbeat the Super Eagles can pull off a positive result as the West Africans head to the Island of Mindelo for their MatchDay 2 away tie to Cape Verde on Tuesday.

The Super Eagles took command of their Group C following a 2-0 home win against the Lone Star of Liberia courtesy of Kelechi Iheanacho’s brace at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos last Friday.

But the team is depleted ahead of the trip to Cape Verde, due to Covid-19 red alert UK restrictions on the Island country, and Rohr will be without all the Britain-based players, including Man of the match against Liberia and Leicester City forward Iheanacho.

Others who would not be available for Tuesday’s tie include defenders Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers); William Ekong (Watford FC); midfielders Oghenekaro Etebo (Watford FC); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers) and striker Alex Iwobi (Everton FC).

Rohr, who described his side’s home win against Liberia as heart-warming despite ‘difficult conditions’, admitted that the three-time African Champions have a huge game in their hands against the Blue Sharks at Estadio Municipal Aderito Sena on the island of Mindelo. “Some players are leaving because they cannot travel to Cape Verde and it’s not going to be easy to build a new team in two days.

“We are going to play under two extreme conditions after playing on a heavy grass due to the rain (at the Teslim Balogun Stadium) and then another game on a dry pitch (against Cape Verde).We are going to play with another defence, another midfield and without the goal scorer (Kelechi).

“It is a challenge for the staff and the players but we have to show our solidarity, and with the 20 players going to Cape Verde, we would be able to make a good team.

“We have to manage the situation without searching for alibis if it is not going well and that our team is able to bring about good performance even when we know it is going to be more difficult,” explained the 68-year-old Rohr.

Amusan put behind her the disappointment of not getting any medal in Tokyo with a win in Poland.

Nigeria’s Tobiloba Amusan has claimed another win at a global meeting weeks after putting behind her Tokyo 2020 Olympics isappointment.

Amusan at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at the Stadion Slaski in Chorzow, Poland on Sunday, September 5, emerged winner in the women’s 100m Hurdles event.

Amusan won with a time of 12.64s ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Megan Tapper who clocked 12.75. The USA’s Christina Clemons was third in 12.92.

Before this latest win, Amusan had also claimed victory at the Citius Meeting, Bern, Switzerland in August where she set a new Meet Record.

Her winning time at the Citius Meeting was 12.80s, ahead of Poland’s Klaudia Siciarz and Australia’s Clay Liz.

Apart from Amusan, some of the other winners at Sunday’s Continental Tour Gold meeting included Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who was running her first race since her lifetime best 10.60 in Lausanne, Switzerland on August 26.

The Jamaican sped to a Meet Record of 10.81 to win way ahead of Swiss athlete Mujinga Kambundji who returned a time of 11.08.

England secured a predictably comfortable win over Andorra at Wembley as the smooth path to next year’s World Cup in Qatar continued with a fifth successive victory in their qualifying group.

Manager Gareth Southgate made 11 changes from the side that won 4-0 in Hungary in readiness for arguably the toughest test in European Group I, in Poland on Wednesday.

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford was given a debut but was unable to find the net in the usual one-sided contest against Andorra, although their damage limitation exercise was relatively successful until the last 20 minutes.

Jesse Lingard gave England the lead with a left-foot finish after 18 minutes but it then took then until the 72nd minute to double their advantage when Harry Kane, on as substitute for Bamford, scored his 40th goal for his country from the penalty spot after Christian Garcia fouled Mason Mount.

Andorra, inevitably, tired and Lingard got his second and England’s third with a low shot that the evaded the grasp of Andorra keeper Josep Gomes.

And in a moment greeted with real joy around Wembley, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, whose last Wembley experience was missing the decisive penalty in England’s Euro 2020 Final loss to Italy, celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring with a neat header five minutes from time.

Bellingham a class act

England’s performances, both individual and as a team, must all be shaped by the context of an Andorran opposition that currently nestles neatly between New Caledonia and the Dominican Republic in 156th place in the current Fifa rankings.

What is surely beyond dispute, however, is that England have a genuine rising star in their ranks in Borussia Dortmund’s 18-year-old Jude Bellingham.

The youngster who emerged at Birmingham City before following England team-mate and new Manchester United signing Jadon Sancho to Dortmund carries the hallmark of quality in everything he does.

And while this opposition may be low in the rankings, it should also be noted that Bellingham has also looked as extraordinarily composed and at home in an England shirt in pretty much every international he has played.

One early moment of sleight of foot had the Wembley crowd on their feet in appreciation and he subsequently cruised around looking unflustered and a cut above everyone else on the pitch until he was removed from the action by Southgate.

Bellingham has been earmarked as a youngster destined for an outstanding career as soon as he came to prominence at Birmingham and he has done nothing since to change the widely-held view that England have a performer of the very highest stature on their hands.

Joy for Lingard and Saka

Lingard’s chances may be limited at Manchester United this season but his bright and breezy presence, along with two goals, repaid manager Southgate’s faith that he can make an important contribution to England’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

And there was a moment of real elation late on when Saka headed home to make England’s victory even more convincing.

Saka was devastated when he missed the final penalty in the shootout as England lost the Euro 2020 final at Wembley in July, and was subjected to disgraceful racist abuse in the immediate aftermath.

The Arsenal youngster has been welcomed with genuine warmth even on opposition grounds since and his name was greeted with huge cheers every time it was announced at Wembley.

It was the perfect finale for Saka and England when he scored the fourth goal.

His joy was reflected in the reaction of his team-mates, who rushed to celebrate with him in a show of real delight for their young team-mate.

There was a strong sense of synchronicity about Wales’ dramatic win over Belarus.

Gareth Bale was Wales’ saviour once more with a late winner in a qualifier. Against lowly opponents. On a troublesome pitch.

That was the story in Russia on Sunday, as it was in Andorra in 2014 when Wales started their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

Their hopes of reaching a first major tournament since 1958 looked to be over at the first hurdle when Andorra, ranked 199th in the world, took a shock lead by scoring their first competitive goal for four years.

Luckily for Wales, Bale headed them level and then, with nine minutes remaining, he struck a superb free-kick to steal a victory which set them on their way to Euro 2016 and an unforgettable journey to the semi-finals in France.

Wales found themselves in another perilous position on Sunday as they trailed 2-1 against a Belarusian side 70 places below them in the Fifa world rankings.

But up stepped their captain and all-time record goalscorer Bale to convert his second penalty of the match to bring Wales level before completing his hat-trick deep into added time to snatch victory.

“It’s massive,” Bale, 32,said after the game. “Every game counts. We know these types of games are probably the hardest games.

“For one, you’re expected to win and the other teams make it difficult. Everything was against us.

“It was not a good first half whatsoever but I felt in the second half we really changed it; we got on the front foot.

“The pitch was not easy to play on – very dry, very soft – but the boys showed character yet again.

“It was like Andorra in the first Euro qualifier in 2014 – to get that kind of last-minute goal to get the three points and keep the momentum going. Hopefully we can keep that going into the next game.”

The similarities are many between Wales’ Euro 2016 campaign and their attempts to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

Wales’ marquee victory on the road to France five years ago was their 1-0 qualifying win over group favourites and the world’s then second-ranked side Belgium in Cardiff.

The man who scored Wales’ only goal that night? Bale, of course.

The teams met again in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals, when Wales triumphed 3-1 – the greatest night in Welsh football history.

Now, as they aim to qualify for a first World Cup since 1958, Wales find themselves pitted against Belgium once again – this time with their opponents ranked number one in the world.

Belgium are unbeaten in their five matches of this campaign and sit top of Group E, seven points clear of third-placed Wales but having played two games more.

Only the group winners qualify automatically and the runners-up progress to the play-offs, in which Wales are already all but guaranteed a place after finishing top of their Nations League group.

If they are to secure their immediate passage to next year’s World Cup in Qatar, Wales will likely need to overcome Belgium once again.

Wales lost when the teams met in the opening round of this campaign but, with Belgium yet to visit Cardiff City Stadium, Bale still believes automatic qualification is possible.

“Yes, sure. We know we have lost to Belgium, a very good Belgium team, but it is important we keep winning every other game,” the Real Madrid forward said.

“We all know the performance in the first half [against Belarus] was not good enough. We corrected it more in the second half.

“We bounced back and got the three points and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Brazilian health official tried to arrest Argentina players during a live match.

The 2022 World Cup qualifiers qualifier between South America heavyweights-Brazil and Argentina- played for only four minutes on Sunday before the referee stopped it in farcical circumstances.

Brazilian health officials stormed the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo to effect the arrest of three England-based Argentina players – Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia and Giovani Lo Celso and unattached goalkeeper, Cristian Romero- because the players needed to observe quarantine for 14 days after entering Brazil and could not play the match, which was already on.

The Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela attempted to calm the situation by ordering away the officials but with players from both countries joining the argument and to forestall any chaos and violence, the Argentina players walked off the pitch and back to their changing rooms.

Whilst the manner of effecting the ‘arrest’ of players was farcical, Braziliz regulations state that visitors who have been in the United Kingdom 14 days before entering Brazil must quarantine upon arrival for 14 days. The UK advised residents not to visit the red-listed countries or else they will have to quarantine for 14 days on getting back to the UK.

Brazil lead the South America qualifying section with an excellent 100% record from their seven matches with Argentina second, six points behind Brazil, also with an unbeaten record. The last match between these two countries was the Copa America final in July, which Argentina won 1-0.