Awoniyi, who ended Arsenal’s title hope last season and effectively handed the title to Manchester City, needed barely ten minutes on the pitch to make an impact.

Super Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi got off to a promising start in the Premier League scoring a well-taken goal in the season opener against Arsenal on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium.

Unfortunately, the goal scored by Awoniyi was not enough as Arsenal prevailed 2-1 over Nottingham Forest in a game the Gunners dominated almost all the departments.

Several reports had suggested Awoniyi will not be fit for the trip to London to face the Gunners but the 26-year-old surprisingly made it to the bench.

He was finally introduced into the game in the 72nd minute when he came on as a replacement for Brazilian forward, Danilo.

Awoniyi, who ended Arsenal’s title hope last season and effectively handed the title to Manchester City, needed barely ten minutes on the pitch to make an impact.

He combined well with Anthony Elanga, another substitute to score for Forest in the 83rd minute.

Though the visitors pushed to have a share of the spoils with Arsenal, the first-half goals scored by Eddie Nketiah in the 26th minute and Bukayo Saka just after the half-hour mark gave the Gunners maximum points and a somewhat perfect start to the season.

Despite his injury setback, Awoniyi scored 10 goals in 27 EPL games in the 2022-23 season campaign, proving how dangerous he is as a striker.

With a goal from his first game, many are confident Awoniyi with lesser injury spells should get over a dozen goals for Forest this season and also ensure they retain their Premier League status for another season.

While Forest will be counting on Awoniyi for goals upfront, they have added another Nigerian, Ola Aina, to their roster, who will be saddled with ensuring they concede the least number of goals possible.

Aina made his full debut for Forest on Saturday against Arsenal as Steve Copper handed him a starter’s shirt

The former Torino of Italy defender featured for 71 minutes before he was replaced by Neco Williams.

Though Aina was booked in the 28th minute for a foul against Bukayo Saka, he largely had a decent outing for Forest on Saturday.

The next stop for Awonyi and Aina is a home game against the newly promoted Sheffield United.

Australia goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold surely won a legion of fans with her steely-eyed heroics in Saturday’s quarter-final penalty shootout victory at the Women’s World Cup.

Once the target of criticism in the women’s game, goalkeepers have been show-stoppers Down Under with umpteen theatrical game-salvaging saves.

Arnold – known affectionately as “Macca” – saved three spot-kicks against France on Saturday, despite pinging her own penalty kick off the post.

Calling it the “craziest game” she had ever played in, the 29-year-old West Ham keeper had to stop Kenza Dali’s spot-kick twice after the referee whistled Arnold had moved off her line.

“For Macca, missing that penalty and then staying in the game and being that player that wins the game for us, it’s unheard of,” raved Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson. “I mean, that mental strength of hers.”

Of the 60 games played through three rounds, goalkeepers have been named player of the match in nine of them, including Arnold.

Netherlands coach Andries Jonker was full of praise for Daphne van Domselaar after the Aston Villa keeper’s string of saves against South Africa helped secure the Dutch a spot in the quarter-finals.

“Four years ago, there were goalkeepers that could not deal with the ball just under the bar and now we’ve got a whole generation of very athletic goalkeepers, who don’t let in that kind of ball,” Jonker said.

“Daphne is one of that new generation,” the coach added. “They’re athletic, they’re in good shape, they’ve got good positioning, so the developments in that area are incredible and the Netherlands are right along there.”

Nadine Angerer, who kept goal for Germany in their World Cup triumphs of 2003 and 2007, said there were clear signs of improved goal-keeping standards.

“Overall, there’s way better goalkeeper performances,” Angerer said at FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG) press conference on Aug 4. “Especially I want to highlight . . . making the decision to come out and then a decision whether to punch it or to actually catch the ball.

“We saw an absolute increase in decision making to come out and then finally, the punching technique and the punching has improved.”

Forty-six percent of teams have kept a clean sheet in a game, up from 33% from four years ago. And save percentages with the hands have risen from 74% to 78% despite there being more attempts at goal from within the penalty area.

“The positioning of the goalkeepers, they’re way more connected to the defence line, the positioning is higher, and the timing is better,” Angerer added. “They’re coming out more ruthless. And yeah, the technique itself is better, so that’s one area we saw big improvement.”

England’s Mary Earps was named FIFA female goalkeeper of the year for 2022, and the Manchester United player has shown why at the World Cup. She conceded just one goal during a group stage in which the Lionesses outscored opponents 8-1, while leaping and diving in an array of dazzling saves.

“I personally love to see when goalkeepers are doing well,” Earps said. “Obviously, we talk about the ‘goalkeeper union’ and that’s something that might be a bit of a cliche, but it’s really, really true.

“I very much hope (people are) praising goalkeepers, because I think the performances have been fantastic and deserve a lot of credit.”

Days before the World Cup kicked off, Earps voiced her anger in Nike excluding her shirt in the jerseys that were available for fan purchase.

Sixteen-year-old Emmy Somuaroo started a petition on change.org calling on Nike to reverse the decision. It has over 38,000 signatures so far.

Cristiano Ronaldo guided 10-man Al-Nassr to their first ever Arab Club Champions Cup title after scoring twice in a 2-1 extra-time win over fellow Saudi side Al-Hilal on Saturday.

Ronaldo failed to land a trophy last season after his move to Al-Nassr, who finished runners-up in the Saudi Pro League, but the 38-year-old scored six times in the tournament to finish as its top scorer en route to the title.

The tournament is played by top Arab clubs in the region and included teams from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

The star-studded Al-Nassr side had many chances to score in the first half with close season signings Sadio Mane, Seko Fofana and Marcelo Brozovic all denied by goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais.

The game at King Fahd Sports City stadium remained scoreless until six minutes into the second half when Al-Hilal’s Malcom crossed the ball and found fellow Brazilian Michael, who put his side ahead with a free header.

To rub salt into their wounds, the 27-year-old even produced the Ronaldo goal celebration as he ran to the corner flag and leapt into the air.

That seemed to fire up Ronaldo and the Portugal captain equalised in the 74th minute when he got on the end of a low cross from right back Sultan Al-Ghannam to score for a fifth game in a row.

Al-Nassr defender Abdulelah Al-Amri was sent off in the second half before Nawaf Boushal was given his marching orders while on the bench for arguing with an official, but they held on to take the game to extra time.

Ronaldo then doubled the lead in the first half of extra time when he pounced on a rebound off the crossbar and headed home with the goalkeeper off his line.

There were concerns, however, when Ronaldo was carted off the field with an apparent injury after a collision in the second period of extra time — just two days before their Saudi Pro League opener against Al-Ettifaq.