Manchester United came from behind to pick a point in a 2-2 draw with Leeds at Old Trafford. Sancho came from the bench to snatch a point.

Jason Sancho has been exiled from the man utd squad for nearly four months as Erik Ten Haag claims that the attacker is not physically and mentally ready.

Two games after his return Sancho bags a vital goal and do Rashford’s trending celebration.

Rashford was in a similar situation last year when he performed woefully by only delivering 5 goals and 2 assists in 32 appearances. He took a regime in the United States before the preseason and has been providing goals ever since.

Some say that his new celebration points to the importance of mental health in a player.

Jason Sancho takes a similar regime in the Netherlands, and he's become a live wire.

Is this the beginning of something new, and just how important is mental health to a player's performance?

Manchester City was shockingly eliminated as Manchester United remains the only Big six in the carabao cup.

The Quarter Final ended in shock as Manchester City got eliminated by Southampton 2-0 at the St Mary’s stadium through goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo.

Relegation-struggling Nottingham Forest defeat the Wolves through penalties and Rashford continues his revival as Man. United thumps Charlton Athletic 3-0. Newcastle won their fixture 2-0.

In the semi-final, Manchester United will face Nottingham Forest and Newcastle will meet with Southampton in a two-legged tie that runs between 23rd of January and 30th January 2023.

Who wins the cup?
Nottingham Forest are four times winner. The last time Manchester United won the cup was against Southampton and Newcastle are looking to end their long cup drought for their new owners.

Who will get to the final and eventually win the Cup?

Cristiano Ronaldo replaced two bottles of coke with a bottle of water during a press conference in 2021.

This simple action led to billions of dollars in loss for Coca-Cola.

Soon, Lee Grant and other Manchester United players began to gush about Ronaldo's diet, his abstinence from sugar and the effect on his body and his performance and so on.

I got the message so I waved goodbye to Coca-Cola and substance with added sugar.

That's the power of influence.
My Transition Stage
In the past, anything entered in and out of my body.

I was polluting and weakening my immune system with lots of junk and soda. I didn't realize my body is a city and myself, the custodian.

Those meals were like the rebels at Martinsburgh who entered Chambersburgh nicely dressed, wearing good smiles and scents only to burn down the town.

Added sugar in junks and sodas does the same to your body.

After this enlightenment, I subconsciously began to nauseate over any sight of added sugar until I remembered seeing a boy gulping down an orange juice with high calories down the street.

I cringed and then I realized how much I'd changed.

It looked to me like the kid was gulping down a bottle of poison down his throat and was going to end up like Romeo's Juliet.

That's the way I began seeing people and the fact remains:

Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of added sugar, a total of 10 teaspoons. Pepsi contains 41 grams while Orange Fanta contains 44 grams and they do not have the highest sugar content in soda drinks.

These numbers may not seem much but when you consider that these drinks are usually taken with complements like junks. Putting into consideration that the average sugar limit for men and women is 9 and 6 teaspoons respectively.

You'd realise that's not just dangerous. That's poisonous.

Statistics
A 2012 study shows the use of caloric and noncaloric sweeteners in some 85,000 food and beverage products, 74% contain added sugar.

During the 2017-2018 NSSRI, the results from a study accounted for 70% of children and youth in the United States have added sugar intake.

Adult men take in an average of 24 teaspoons of added sugar per day, according to the National Cancer Institute. That's equal to 384 calories.

Staggering!
What is Added sugar?

Added sugar, also referred to as free sugar, is sugar carbohydrates added to food and beverages at some point of consumption.

They include sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup.

They are empty calories that contribute little nutritional value to food.

Foods that are common with added sugar may include sweetened beverages and desserts e.g soft drinks, sweet snacks, cakes, cookies, cereal, candy, bread, and most processed foods.

Sugar can be found naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates that offer a supply of energy to the cells.

But the danger of added sugar includes tooth decay, inflammation, skin aging, wrinkles, and overeating.

Danger Of Added Sugar

"Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease," says Dr. Hu.

"High amounts of sugar overload the liver. "Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat," says Dr. Hu.

Over time, this can lead to a greater accumulation of fat, which may turn into fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes, which raises your risk for heart disease.

Sugar also causes your body to turn off its appetite control system which makes you overeat and thereby leads to weight gain and obesity.

Most people that suffer from obesity are known to be consumers of large junk and sugary substances.

Bottom Line

Sugar from natural sources is not harmful. What to avoid is added sugar or caloric sweeteners instead.

Check the Nutritional Value Table in every product you buy to keep track of how much sugar you'd be consuming.

Other sodas with less added sugar include Diet Coke, Coke Zero Sugar, Dasani,Gold Peak Unsweetened Tea, Smartwater, Sprite Zero and Vitamin Water Zero.

Or you can replace them totally with plain unsweetened yogurt, fruit juice and water.

The more you reduce added sugar intake, the more your taste bud adjusts its sweetness level and you begin to notice that certain food or products you once consumed become too sweet.

Maduka's absence a blessing or curse?

https://www.nairaland.com/7042009/ghana-vs-nigeria-maduka-okoyes

The Nigeria Football Federation has confirmed that Super Eagles shot-stopper, Maduka Okoye, will play no part in Ghana Vs Nigeria's crunch tie due to illness.

The battle between the two West African Giants intensifies as they try to produce a full-strength squad for their world cup qualification match.

If nothing else is important, the rivalry between both countries is enough rating for the match.

The Super Eagles camp has been hit with mixed feelings with exciting news like the return of red-hot striker, Victor Osimhen and newly added Ademola Lookman to the squad.

Other news like the absence of Wilfred Ndidi and Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye will definitely hit the camp.

However, after Maduka Okoye's last display for the Super Eagles, whose costly error led to the elimination of the competition's favorite at the earliest stage of the knockout, it remains unsure whether the Super Sagles' fanbase will miss him.

The player who has put some fine display in the Super Eagles shirt after taking the position from Frank Uzoho remains the only reliable shot-stopper for the team.

However, after his costly error in the Afcon tournament which led to wide criticism, many concluded it's time the team sought better goalkeepers.

When the team list for the qualifiers came out, it seemed the team was going to repeat another cycle.

But with this latest development do you think his injury news is a blessing or curse to the Super Eagles camp?

One of the beautiful souls we have left, gives up. The beautiful ones die early.

Man United is far behind in their season's expectations and things couldn't get worse after their consecutive draws.

The team that has nothing less than 9 world-class players still finds it hard to break into the top four.

This team has unmatchable attacking talents yet still misfire in front of the goal.

The problem seemed to be from tactless Solkjaer but a few months after his sacking Manchester United are yet to improve.

Several pundits say the team does not perform due to over-reliance on Ronaldo. Some tie the problem to the lack of a good holding midfielder to piece the team together.

Paddy Kenny says there are many egos at the club but David De Gea's statement sums it up.

David De Gea said, “We don’t know what’s happening.”

“The truth is I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t. People always ask me and we talk about it as team-mates and we just say ‘we don’t know what’s happening."

“We should have competed for more trophies, bigger titles, but I just don’t know why this team doesn’t function."

The problem can't be identified.

Over to you, what do you think is Man United's problem?

Nicklas Süle becomes the latest football player to transfer between Bayern and Dortmund.

The two teams have a great history of rivalry between them. Winning and contending for titles among themselves yet still transfer their most prized assets to strengthen their rivalry.

Sick isn't it?

Technically, it doesn't make sense to transfer players to rival clubs. Clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool and so many others don't sell players to themselves.

Even players get booed when they directly or indirectly make such a switch.

Why then do Bayern and Dortmund sell their valuable players between themselves?

List of Players that have switched between Bayern and Dortmund
Ottmar Hitzfeld
Ottmar Hitzfeld is the first player to make this switch. He played for Dortmund and Bayern but made no impact in both clubs as a player.

However, he coached Dortmund once and went on to coach Bayern on two occasions thereby inspiring both of them to many trophy wins.

Matthias Sammer
Another name is Matthias Sammer, a 1996 Ballon D'Or winner. Sammer inspired Dortmund into Bundesliga's dominance as a player and coach.

Ten years after coaching Dortmund, he became Bayern's sporting director and ended Dortmund dominance. He was responsible for the raid on Dortmund's most prized assets- Lewandowski and Gotze.

He later returned as Dortmund external advisor a few years later.
Matts Hummels
Matts Hummels came from Bayern's rank but left for Dortmund after making a few appearances for the club.

After Dortmund's dominant spell during the Jurgen Klopp era, Hummels left for Bayern and won seven trophies including three successive Bundesliga titles.

He returned to Dortmund again after seeing his playing time cut short by Niklas Süle.
Mario Gotze
Mario Gotze, the 2014 World Cup winner, is another notable name on this list.

He was one of the catalysts of Dortmund's dominance during Jurgen Klopp's era.

He moved to Bayern after enjoying a successful spell with Dortmund and won some trophies with Bayern but his form began to drop and he returned to Dortmund a few years later.

Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski may be the most successful man on this list after making history with both Dortmund and Bayern.

Lewandoski scored a record of 103 goals in 187 appearances for Dortmund then moved to Bayern.

After his move to Bayern, he didn't stop bagging the goals. His 329 goals in 358 games is a milestone especially when he's scored at least 40 goals in the past six seasons.

He's broken a lot of records and won a lot of trophies, even individual prizes like Five Bundesliga Top scorer cannon, Two Fifa men's gongs and so many others.

"He should be the awarded winner of 2020 Ballon D'Or", says Lionel Messi.

Niklas Süle
Niklas Sule becomes the latest addition to this list after he agreed to join Dortmund on a free transfer.

He's arguably Bayern's best defender but it's surprising to see Bayern let him go.

It's interesting to see what he'd achieve in the Yellow and Black shirt especially considering that players tend to win trophies anytime they make this switch.

The Begging Question
The begging question remains why do both clubs keep strengthening themselves especially considering their rivalry?

During last summer's transfer window Barcelona's financial woes came into the limelight. But in just less than six months they've begun to turn things around.

Last year, the club's financial woes meant they were going to lose their number one superstar, Lionel Messi. No one ever saw that coming but this was the beginning of crumbling for one of football's greatest clubs.

Other players like Griezmann, Junior Firpo, Emerson Royal, Ilaix Moriba, Jean-Clair Todibo, Miralem Pjanic and Francisco Trincao had to leave for Barcelona to generate around €130m (£111.5m) in sales.

Fast forward to this current season, a lot of bad performances spelled doom for Barcelona, and the breaking point was Ronald Koeman's sacking and Barcelona's group stage UEFA Champions League exit. These scenarios showed how badly the mighty had fallen.

The Rebuilding

Xavi had to begin a rebuild for the club to bring back the Barcelona ways.

After several attempts to instill the Barcelona style and mentality into the players, his biggest challenge was the fact that the current squad contained players who had no business with the team in the first place.

As soon as the January transfer window opened, Xavi swung into action by bringing in Ferran Torres from Manchester City for £55million, a little too much for a club stricken with debts. Barcelona was now tasked with the responsibility of axing out some players to make room for Ferran's registration.

In response to this, Coutinho was shipped to England's Aston Villa on loan while Samuel Umtiti signed a new contract. This meant Ferran Torres could be registered along with Dani Alves.

Barcelona, who had already agreed to bring in Dani Alves before the window, bolstered their squad in January with four new additions in the form of Dani Alves, Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang.

This has offered a lot of varieties for Xavi Hernandez. Three of these players are familiar with the Barcelona style of play while Aubameyang represents a goal-scoring threat which Barcelona always possess in the mold of Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luiz Suarez.

The addition of Adama Traore, Ferran Torres and Aubameyang gives Xavi a whole new attacking perspective. Aubameyang becomes Barca's go-to striker, a natural number nine while the former two play on the wings. Ferran can also play as a false nine if Xavi decides to make a tactical switch.

However, these players face stiff competition from the likes of Ez Abde, Ousmane Dembele, Memphis Depay, Ansu Fati, Luuk de Jong, Martin Braithwaite, Ferran Jutgla. A whole lot of attacking options for Xavi.

Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, Nico, Riqui Puig, Sergi Roberto and Sergio Busquets stays in the engine room.

Fullbacks include Dani Alves, Jordi Alba, Sergino Dest. Ez Abde, Adama Traore and Alejandro Balde can be selected together with the full-backs just in case Xavi decides to use a three three-man defense and wing backs instead.

While Araujo, Pique, Lenglet, Eric Garcia, Mingueza, Umtiti and Mika Marmol plays in central defense.

Xavi Hernandez heads into the crucial second half of the campaign with a lot of options at his disposal. The strength of this squad is its versatility and blend of experienced and youthful players.

Xavi, a good tactician himself, has little or no pressure on his shoulders as he focuses on Europa League and finishing within the top four of the La Liga. This will give Xavi time to implement his philosophy and get to know his best squad as well as switch between the 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations.

Barcelona Rise from their Ruins?

Questions were asked whether Barcelona could recover from this fall? But it seems Barcelona has taken advantage of their fall after their Post-Messi era came earlier than expected which many already spelled as doom due to Barca's over-reliance on Messi.

They take advantage by removing their fringe stars who were underperforming yet stacking big salaries and getting players that focus on team play which is Barca's way.

They're able to cut short their outrageous budget and get players on free and on loan. Barcelona took advantage of the January transfer window by getting players who can set them back on the road to rediscovery. This is a way to correct their outlandish spending.

Who could have thought the fallen ones would rise so quickly?

The Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has done what the United State Government is struggling to achieve

During a conversation series of the ruling All Progressive Congress APC in Kano, the minister highlighted the records of the present administration in comparison with the US Government. He went as far as highlighting how the People Democratic Party failed and how the current administration is keeping to their promise.

The Minister said, “I can assure you that the present APC administration of President Buhari has achieved what even the US government is trying to do in terms of infrastructure.

“As of December 2021, we have completed no fewer than 941 kilometres of roads across all states and geopolitical zones in the country.

“For instance, in Kano State here, there are 21 road projects either in, around or in the neighbouring communities by this administration.

“Before the APC administration, when last do you remember the Federal Government completing even a 50-kilometre road in any part of Nigeria?

“So, this is the positive change we promised Nigerians in 2015 and it is already happening. They say we are the same as them, but we are not. They stole money and took it abroad, but we are taking this money back and investing it in the area of infrastructure”.

The minister went on to highlight how several projects are in progress across 34 states and asked for the state government to cooperate with the ministry.