Mark's World of Sports

  Enner Valencia scoring twice After 12 years of controversy, questions and numerous reports of terrible conditions and how Qatar would accept the world. Also, this will be the last World Cup to feature 32 teams as the next one jumps to 48 teams. The World Cup started with the hosts playing Ecuador in a tough group A which also feature Holland and AFCON Winners Senegal. Qatar decided to play with a 5-3-2 formation with players that had not played in their league campaign this season which would come into the showing during the second half. Meanwhile, Ecuador came out in the classic 4-4-2 formation.  The controversial moment in the game  While Ecuador had to go through qualification in South America and barely survived appeals by both Peru and Chile because Qatar being the host and guaranteed a spot, they needed tournament practice, so in 2019, they were granted an invite to the Copa America and won the Asian Cup and then last year, they got to the semifinal of the Gold Cu...

Good start for Italy Friday night saw the start of the delayed Euro 2020 competition. Turkey played Italy in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome as a revised tournament that was supposed to be played in 12 cities but was reduced after Dublin and Bilbao announced they weren't eligible to host fans in the stadium. Hence, Seville took over from Bilbao for half of the games in Group E and St Petersberg, taking up the matches intended to be played in Dublin, overtaking the previous long-distance group from Group A, which is being played in Rome and Baku, Azerbaijan. Mancini leading a revolution Italy came into the tournament with high hopes after missing out on the World Cup 2 years ago but appointed former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini and went undefeated in their qualifying campaign and are seen as outsiders with a chance. Meanwhile, Turkey is looking to emulate the underdog tale that followed them in Japan and South Korea in 2002 and getting to the semi-finals in Euro 2008. Italy w...

Brady is Back Sunday night saw America's top sporting event take place in Tampa, Florida. The teams were the Kansas City Chiefs looking to repeat winning a Super Bowl back to back for the first time since the New England Patriots did in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Their opponents were the home team Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the quarterback who did the repeat win with those Patriots Tom Brady. The Buccaneers had become the first-ever team to play in their home stadium in the Super Bowl's history after 54 years of it being considered bad luck. One of the biggest headlines was that Sarah Thomas would become the first-ever woman to officiate a Super Bowl. Also because of the pandemic, the NFL allowed 7500 people in and 17,500 cardboard cutouts making it the least attended Super Bowl ever with the lowest being at the first-ever Super Bowl which had just under 62,00 fans in attendance. The Chiefs came in with a 14-2 record, but they didn't have the confidence of a team that were c...

Despite all the headlines of 2020 offseason and all the headlines of covid testing and reshuffling of matches, the NFL season has played its 256 regular-season games despite concerns that some people thought we might still be looking at a delayed Super Bowl. The Playoffs have come round, and they are different as they have now changed how the playoffs work. The NFL now has 14 teams in the playoffs 7 in each conference. How does it work simply put the Number 1 seeds, in this case in the AFC it's the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs, and in the NFC the Green Bay Packers will get a bye to the next round. And they had earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs to the Super Bowl. The remaining 6 teams in each conference play this weekend with the highest seed playing lowest seed. The AFC matches are the Buffalo Bills vs the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Cleveland Browns, and the rematch of last-years' divisional match between the Tennesse Titans v...

Joshua and Pulev in the pre-match face-off Saturday night saw one of the top boxers in the world Anthony Joshua going up against Kubrat Pulev for the IBO, WBA, IBF and WBO World Heavyweight titles in his only fight of 2020 at London's Wembley Arena and looking to set up a dream match against Tyson Fury. When the match was declared, everyone thought it was the chance to do the match that should have happened in 2017 at the Principality Stadium. It was originally supposed to be fought in June at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but it got cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. What made it more interesting was that Tyson's brother Hughie was on the undercard and was this was meant to be a sign of things to come in the future. The first round was a classic close fight to get the feel of the match while trying to get rid of ring rust from the last 12 months off. Round 2 started off with more jabs, but Joshua was starting to get his range in on Pulev. Joshua was dominating Pulev in ro...

 Saturday saw the end of the elongated 2020 Six Nations championship and next week sees the start of the one-off Autumn Cup. Ireland and Italy started last week as they were catching up with the rest of the teams as Italy went into lockdown before everyone is in the competition. Ireland turned over Italy 50-17 leaving them at the top of the table on points difference and left it as a three-horse race between Ireland, England and France. Earlier in the day Wales and Scotland were playing not at Cardiff's Principality Stadium but at Llanneli's Scarlets stadium and want to finish off what has been a terrible Six Nations tournament for both teams. Wales were celebrating one legend as Alun Wyn Jones ran out for his record 149th test match but also mourned the loss of another legend in JJ Williams who passed away at the age of 72 in the week. Both teams had to contend with swirling winds and sporadic showers. This showed as they struggled with the lineouts as they couldn't keep t...