NFL, Soccer: The Kansas City Chiefs won their playoff duel with the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21, ending the 18-year career of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for good. The Steelers’ playmaker had already said at the end of the main round that his NFL career would probably end after this season and that he would stop with the Steelers after two Super Bowl titles. In his last appearance in the National Football League, Roethlisberger’s performance on Sunday evening (local time) was far from enough to give his team a chance against the Chiefs, which were far too strong. The veteran made 29 of his 44 tries to a teammate and finished the game with 215 yards and two touchdowns. He was clearly overshadowed by Patrick Mahomes, who had an outstanding five touchdown passes and a total of 404 yards. Even Travis Kelce threw a touchdown pass for the Chiefs.
Kansas City, 2020 winners and 2021 defeated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl, now meets the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round next weekend (Monday 12:30 a.m. CET). The Chiefs are the favorites in this game as well, although not as clearly as against the Steelers. After a slow start from both teams and a 7-0 lead for the Steelers, the Chiefs came back with power and scored 35 points in a row.
The German football professional Mark Nzeocha can also continue to hope for a return to the Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. Against the favored Dallas Cowboys, the team won a hard-fought 23:17 on Sunday (local time) and thus made it into the divisional round. Next weekend it’s against the Green Bay Packers with the German-American Equanimeous St. Brown. Nzeocha had been unemployed for most of the NFL season and was only recently re-signed by the 49ers – the team he stood with in the 2020 Super Bowl and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Nzeocha played for the Cowboys in 2015 and 2016. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo gave his team a 23-7 lead after three quarters without a touchdown pass of his own before the Cowboys added excitement with a field goal and touchdown early in the last quarter. Numerous penalties for both teams in the final minutes of the game then strained the nerves of all fans. The Cowboys got one last chance, but took too much risk and couldn’t crown the comeback.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers around quarterback superstar Tom Brady also won their first playoff game of the season and still have the chance to win the Super Bowl again. In front of their own fans, the Bucs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 31:15 on Sunday and are in the divisional round next weekend. By half-time Brady had led his team to a comfortable 17-0 lead.
Soccer, Africa Cup: Defending champions Algeria are surprisingly on the verge of being eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. The team around the Gladbach Bundesliga professional Ramy Bensebaini lost to the blatant outsider Equatorial Guinea 0-1 (0-0) on Sunday evening and is after two games with only one point at the bottom of the group E. Esteban Orozco (70th) scored the decisive goal . Algeria had not lost in 35 games – the reigning African champions were just two games short of the Italian world record. At the end of the group, the Algerians meet the Ivory Coast.
The group leader around ex-Frankfurt Sebastien Haller had previously missed making it into the round of 16 early. The striker of the Dutch football record champions Ajax Amsterdam scored the first goal himself in the 2: 2 (1: 0) against Sierra Leone and prepared the second goal, but it was not enough for the second win in the second game. The two-time African champions have four points before their last game against Algeria. Haller made it 1-0 in the 25th minute before Musa Kamara equalized for the outsider (55′). Then the former Bundesliga striker initiated the 2-1 through Nicolas Pepe (65th). But Alhaji Kamara (90+3) prevented the Ivorians from winning.
Mali is no further along with Bundesliga professionals Amadou Haidara (RB Leipzig) and Diadie Samassekou (TSG Hoffenheim), who each played one half in the 1-1 (0-0) win against Gambia. Both teams have four points each in Group F. Tunisia saved their chance of progressing with Cologne’s Ellyes Skhiri. After beating Mauritania 4-0 (2-0), the 2004 African champions are third with three points.
Soccer, Spain: Real Madrid secured their first title of 2022 at the Supercup in the desert. The royals defeated defending champions Athletic Bilbao 2-0 (1-0) in Sunday’s final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For the team around former world champion Toni Kroos, the Croatian superstar Luka Modric (38th) and striker Karim Benzema scored the goals with a hand penalty (52nd). Bilbao missed a penalty by Raul Garcia shortly before the end (89th) after Reals Eder Militao saw the red card (87th).
For Carlo Ancelotti it was also the first title win with Real since he returned to the Madrilenians’ bench in the summer. The Italian coached Real between 2013 and 2015, winning the 2014 Champions League in the process. Ancelotti is currently leading the table in LaLiga with the record champions. In addition, the Madrilenians are still represented in the Champions League and in the national cup. After a year’s break, the Spanish Supercup was played again in Saudi Arabia. In the semi-finals, Real defeated arch-rivals FC Barcelona. Bilbao knocked out Atlético Madrid.