By Kamusime Barnabas

Uganda Cranes’ Farouk Miya stars as Konyaspor Kulübü wins 7 goal thriller in Turkey

Farouk Miya scored two classic goals as Konyaspor recovered from a goal down to condemn log leaders Istanbul Basaksehir 4-3

Turkey Super Lig: Konyaspor Kulübü 4-3 Istanbul Basaksehir

On form Farouk Miya scored two classic goals as Konyaspor recovered from a goal down to condemn log leaders Istanbul Basaksehir 4-3 during the Turkish Super Lig duel on Monday night under closed doors at the Konya Büyükşehir Belediye stadium in Konya city.

Both Miya’s goals were two brilliant strikes off his flying right foot, taking his personal tally at the club to 8 goals in the season.

Edwin Visca gave Istanbul Basaksehir the lead, converting a third minute penalty when ironically Miya handled the ball in the forbidden area.

Consquently, Miya was booked by referee Cuneyt Cakir. Against the run of play, Miya volleyed home in the 20th minute, thanks to Alper Uludag’s delivery from the left.

Team captain Omer Ali Sahiner gave Konyaspor the lead on the stroke of half time before Miya scored another classic goal to ensure a 3-1 half time lead.

Senegalse international Demba Ba scored Istanbul Basakshir’s second goal with 20 minutes to play and pile more pressure onto the hosts.

Four minutes later, defender Selim Ay replaced a weary Miya in a rather tactical move.

Eljero Elia from the Netherlands scored Istanbul Basakshir’s equalizer, making it 3 all with 12 minutes left on the mark.

There was one more piece of drama in the goal ladden match when Nejc Skubic, a roving right back from Slovakia scored in the 85th minute to lift Konyaspor to a memorable victory for the team coached by the legendary former Turkey’s captain Bülent “Büyük Kaptan” Korkmaz.

Christened as the Anatolian Eagle (Anadolu Kartalı), Konyaspor climbs to 14th with 33 points off 32 games played so far with two games to wind up the season.

Crucial final games:

There is virtually a small margin for error in the final two games for Konyaspor as the season comes to a tense climax.

The 1922 founded club travels to Trabzonspor this Saturday 18th July 2020 before completing the season at home against Alanyaspor the following Sunday 26th July 2020.

Kigongo signs contract extension at URA

Defender Ronald Kigongo has renewed his contact at URA FC, the club confirmed on Monday.

The right back has put pen to paper on a three-year contract that will see him at the club up to 2023. The Tax Collectors confirmed the development on their website.

“Kigongo Ronald has renewed his stay with the tax collectors by further 3 years after his contract expired in June 2020. URA FC has triggered a three-year extension on Kigongo’s contract to keep the right back at the club until 2023.” Confirmed the club.

Kigongo has been at URA FC for six years having joined them from Maroons FC back in 2014 initially as a striker but was transformed to play in the right back position.

Last season, Kigongo failed to make any start for URA FC in the League with Ashraf Mandela who was signed from SC Villa getting ahead of him.

He is the second-longest serving player in the current squad behind Saidi Kyeyune (8 years) who was also signed from Maroons FC.

Manchester United 2-2 Southampton: Late Saints equalizer denies united move into top four

Manchester United missed the chance to move into the top four after conceding a 96th-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Southampton.

After big defeats for Chelsea and Leicester at the weekend, Manchester United were presented with the perfect opportunity to move into the Champions League places, but went behind early on when Stuart Armstrong rifled home (12).

United are now unbeaten in 18 matches in all competitions – matching the same unbeaten run from 2013 under Sir Alex Ferguson – and have not lost in 11 Premier League games.

For Southampton, they are now four matches unbeaten in the top flight and they remain in 12th place, level on 45 points with Everton.

Martial should have opened things up inside 10 minutes, as he raced through on goal after latching onto a poor mistake by James Ward-Prowse. However, Alex McCarthy was out and raised his arms to beat the attempted strike away. David De Gea was then in action at the other end a minute later as he held a stinging effort from Armstrong.

But the goalkeeper was unable to keep the Southampton midfielder out a second time. Paul Pogba could not hold onto a pass from De Gea, with Danny Ings nipping in to feed the ball to Nathan Redmond on the left. He, in turn, picked out the run of Armstrong towards the back post as the Scotland international finished emphatically.

Southampton were lucky to go into the break with a full complement of players as Oriel Romeu caught Mason Greenwood on the ankle with a late, studs-up challenge, but he avoided a booking and VAR did not intervene after a review.

The second half began with a shot from both sides. Southampton hit United on the counter-attack as Armstrong found Redmond on the left, but he dragged his shot wide of the post. At the other end, Rashford went for power but could only skim the side of the net.

United had their chances to put the game to bed as the game wore on. Rashford went close again in the 69th minute, but a mixture of Ryan Bertrand and McCarthy saw the striker sky his effort into the empty Old Trafford stands. Martial then produced a similar finish as he took advantage of some slow play from Jack Stephens, but the Saints defender did well to track the France international back and force his shot wide.

Southampton then fired a late warning shot when Redmond forced a leaping, one-handed save from De Gea with the game going into extended injury time when Walker-Peters and Brandon Williams – who came on for the injured Luke Shaw – collided in the air. The Manchester United youngster came off worse and was forced off, taking the hosts down to 10 men.

Saints took advantage when they equalised in the sixth minute of injury time. Ward-Prowse delivered a trademark in swinging corner, which Jan Bednarek glanced on at the near post. It landed to substitute Obafemi, who turned the ball home with his heel to round off another fine away performance from the Saints.

Manchester United’s front three continue to impress and Martial was the star of the show, with a goal and assist to start things off. His strike was incredibly well taken, notching up his 50th Premier League goal, and it came from a superb solo run, leaving Walker-Peters in his wake.

He made a number of similar runs through the game and had the highest number of dribbles in the game (6) as well as sprints (18). He had eight touches in the opposition box and a passing accuracy of 94 per cent, making it another fine performance from the striker.