On this day 3 March 1989(Exactly 30 years ago) Portugal defeated Nigeria 2-0 to win the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship at the King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.
Goals Scored
Abel Silva (44)
Jorge Couto (76)
Portugal: Jose Bizarro,Pedro Valido, Abel Silva, Paulo Madeira, Mario Morgado, Helio Sousa , Toze’, Filipe Ramos , Jorge Couto, Amaral (Paulo Alves), Joao Pinto (Antonio Folha).
Referee: Schmidhuber (West Germany).
Attendance: 70,000.
On this day 3 March 2013 (Exactly 6 years ago) Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon were on the scoresheet in a North London derby 2-1 victory for the home side
Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon slotted in two carbon copy goals in three first-half minutes after defence-splitting passes to put Spurs in control.
It was Bale’s ninth goal in seven games but Per Mertesacker’s header went in off the Welshman to give Arsenal hope.
On this day 3 March 1953 (Exactly 66 years ago) James Jackson Jeffries, former boxing heavyweight champion , died at the age of 77.
James J. Jeffries, byname the Boilermaker, was American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from June 9, 1899, when he knocked out Bob Fitzsimmons in 11 rounds at Coney Island, New York City, until 1905, when he retired undefeated. Among his six successful title defenses were two knockouts of former champion James J. Corbett and a second victory over Fitzsimmons.
After several years in retirement, Jeffries was encouraged to make a comeback with the hope that he would be the white man,“the Great White Hope,” who could beat the first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. Jeffries attempted to regain the championship but was knocked out by Johnson in 15 rounds at Reno, Nevada, on July 4, 1910. Jeffries was inducted into Ring magazine’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.
On this day 3 March 2017 (Exactly 2 years ago) Raymond Kopa, one of the first major French soccer stars and a former Real Madrid attacking midfielder who, small of stature, was known as the Napoleon of football, died in Angers, France. He was 85.
The French soccer federation confirmed his death. Family members told Le Courrier de l’Ouest, a newspaper in western France, that Kopa had been hospitalized for a week. No cause of death was given.
President François Hollande said in a statement that Kopa was “one of the most admired sportsmen in France.” World Soccer magazine had ranked Kopa as one of the greatest 100 players of the 20th century.
A graceful player with a magnificent eye for passing and for goals, Kopa, about 5 feet 6 inches, earned the Napoleon nickname after a superb performance for France in a 2-1 victory over Spain in 1955.
He was later part of the great Real Madrid team that dominated Europe at the end of the 1950s, playing alongside Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskas. He won the European Cup with Real Madrid in all three of his seasons with the team.
Kopa was recognized as the most outstanding player in Europe when he won the prestigious Ballon d’Or, or Golden Ball, in 1958, while playing for Real Madrid. (The award was originally bestowed only on European players but is now given to players from around the world.)
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
