Zach Lowy speaks to @lfcels and @_NOMICS about Wilfried Zaha's move to Galatasaray, Marseille's transfer window, the ongoing Kylian Mbappe transfer saga, Manchester United's capture of Andre Onana, and plenty more on the latest episode of Zach Lowy's European Football Show.

1. Transfers

• SuperSport Utd has been active in the transfer market of late

• Terrence Dzvukamanja / Etiosa Ighodaro / Abdulrazack Hamza / Grant Margeman / Siphesihle Ndlovu / Washington Arubi Phathutshedzo Nange / Ronald Pfumbidzai

• AmaZulu look to be beating Chiefs and SS United to signing Rowan Human - like him as a player - chance to step-up to the next level at Usuthu

• SuperSport averaged almost 20 crosses per game (a league 1st)

• took the most shots via headers last season (2.5 per game)

2. WWC in general

• What we’ve seen so far

3. Banyana v Sweden

          The Possession Question

• Banyana were not expected to have much of the ball

• 32% possession was expected even by the coach

  Low possession needs

• Reading the game well

• Keeping the ball well (thin read/small sample)?

• Be careful with receptions

  This resulted in an improved attack overall.. but

• 40 minutes without a shot allowed the Swedes back in the game

• The height question (danger of jumping from a stationary position)

The scene is set for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix as Red Bull chases a record 12th consecutive victory. The Hungaroring is often called 'Monaco without sidewalks' because of its plethora of slow to medium corners. Max Verstappen starts as the favourite, but who will stand tall between Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin?

Bet Central F1 host Sean Parker is joined by Mary-Anne Wakefield to preview the race.

1. Intro

Transfer news/updates - any transfer that has surprised you since last week? ○ Caleb Bimenyimana & Andile Jali?

Women's World Cup

• Three days from the start of the competition

• 32 countries taking part - largest ever / USA are defending champions

2. Banyana’s group at the 2023 World Cup

    Rankings in Group G - Sweden 3rd, Argentina 28th, Italy 16th, Banyana 54th

• It’s a tough group

• Must win at least one game and get a result in another (D/W)

2019 WC

• Banyana overawed on their debut four years ago, lost every game

• 4 shots on target at the 2019 World Cup (a joint-low with New Zealand)

• 17 touches in the opposition box, the fewest for any team

• But come into this one as African champs, + experience from the last WC

• Top scorers at AFCON too, but the attack was an issue at France2019

• Possession-based AFCON, not here (others will have more control)

AFCON v WC STATS

AFCON

WC2019

Passes per game

400

1st

283

8th lowest

Final 3rd passes

64

1st

32

3rd lowest

Possession

56%

2nd

38%

7th lowest

Shots

13

2nd

5

3rd bottom

Box touches

17

1st

4

lowest

xG

0.77 xG

2nd bottom

Sweden

• World Ranking: 3rd

• World Cup Appearances: 9th

• Best Finish: Final (2003)

• Key Player (s): Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona), Lina Hurtig (Arsenal)

Argentina

• World Ranking: 28th

• World Cup Appearances: 4th

• Best Finish: Group Stages (2003, 2007, 2019)

• Key Players: Vanina Correa (Rosario Central), Yamila Rodríguez (Palmeiras)

  Italy

• World Ranking: 16th

• World Cup Appearances: 4th

• Best Finish: Quarter Finals (1991, 2019)

• Key Player(s): Cristina Girelli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma)

  3.Other African teams

Zambia

• Only Olympic reps, WAFCON semis, and COSAFA holders

• Beat Germany in preps

• Racheal Kundananji 25-goals in La Liga/Liga Femi

Nigeria

• One of seven teams that have been in every single edition, along USA, Germany, Norway, Brazil, Japan, and Sweden

• The highest-ranked African team

• Asisat Oshoala is a UEFA CL winner & recent Ballon d’Or nominee

Morocco

• Debutants; 8th different African team

• Reynald Pedros, the Lionesses of Atlas are being coached by a two-time

  UWCL-winning manager and 2018 winner of The Best FIFA Women's Coach

• 60% average for possession was the highest at WAFCON, but things will likely

  be very different in New Zealand.

On Episode 4 of the A2d Podcast, Lwanele and Keagan each rank their top 5 current Premier League managers and their top 5 managers of all time. They also discuss the Saudi Pro League, with more players on the verge of joining the league after receiving big money offers.

1. General Transfer Market Review

• Very busy window

• Players coming from all over the world - Ghana, Brazil, Venezuela etc

• Players transferring to all over the world - Morocco, Romania, Israel etc

• No big squad overhauls like last season - releasing players (AmaZulu, Kaizer

  Chiefs, Sekhukhune Utd)

• Kennedy Mweene (Sundowns) retiring?

  • Won literally everything in South Africa with Sundowns

  • Continental champions for club & country

  • 5 times in league match day squad last season - no appearances

2. Lot’s of coaching changes as well.

• 6 teams already have a coaching change - 2 more changes will see half the league make coaching changes

• How does a coach (Pablo Franco Martin - AmaZulu) adopt to a new league - ambitious club like AmaZulu?

• How does that affect an old player/new player?

  • What formation does a coach prefer?

  • Can a player play in that formation?

  • Some coaching travel with their pieces

• Signings are like a jigsaw puzzle

• Individual pieces must fit together and the system works

   

  3. A trend - the popularity of wide-forwards.

  The PSL's big three teams Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns have all invested differently this off-season, but one area they all doubled up on is wide attackers. Coincidence or tactical evolution?

  Lesiba Nku & Junior Mendieta at Sundowns
  Pule Mmodi & Tebogo Potsane at Chiefs
  Katelgo Oltadisa & Patrick Maswanganyi at Pirates

What do they bring? Types of wide player

• Unlockers - Mmodi / Otladisa / Mount, Neymar

• Wide goal threat - Saleng, Mendieta / Salah, Mbappe

• Outlet - Saleng, Mendieta / Grealish, Sancho

• + other metrics on a wide-attacker radar...

4. What could that mean tactically?

• General trend has been Less 4-4-2, more 4-3-3, and other formations

• Advantages & disadvantages of 2 & 3-man mids.

  1. Moremidfielders=retain&advancepossession

  2. Moremidfielders=lessdefenders?

  3. CF must be able to hold up play without a strike partner (and partner with

     wide players).

  4. Moregoalsfromotherpartsofthefield?

  5. WhattypeofpassesshouldbeplayedtoCF(flatpasses=morecontrol)

  6. Will we see more goalkeepers play out from the back (instead of hoofing

     to a target man who loses the ball immediately)

  7. Lesslongballsasameansofballprogression(Sundownsontheup?)

  8. Touchlinehuggers(ononeorbothsides?)

Max Verstappen scored Red Bull’s first victory at Silverstone since 2012, but it was Lando
Norris’ second place finish that had the British capacity crowd off their feet.

The McLaren driver completed a phenomenal weekend after qualifying on the front row and
overtook Verstappen at the start. Lewis Hamilton finished third recording his 13th podium on
home turf.

Zach Lowy speaks to ESPN's Herculez Gomez and content creator Aaron Cikaya about the action in the Gold Cup, David De Gea's departure, Lionel Messi's Inter Miami move, PSV's latest attacking signings and more.

Lwanele and Asher are back with another UFC podcast for the stacked UFC 290 card, headlined by two title fights. Alexander Volkanovski takes on Yair Rodriguez for the featherweight title while Brandon Moreno squares off against Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title.The pair also preview South Africa’s two stars in Dricus du Plessis and Cameron Saaiman as they look to extend their unbeaten runs in the UFC.

Mastos and David are back for another #Masterclass powered by Bet.co.za. In this week's edition, our two favourite punters mainly focussed on Norway, Sweden and Iceland for this week's multi, which came to 48.57 odds. As usual, they share and discuss their research behind the selections and also give some general betting advice. Good luck, and stay tuned for the next one.