BERLIN: Record-breaking Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy said England captain Harry Kane’s arrival in Germany has “pushed a lot of strikers in the Bundesliga to raise their level to try and compete with him.”
Guirassy, who scored a record 14 goals in the opening eight league matches this season before injuring his hamstring, told English newspaper The Guardian in an interview published Thursday he relished the competition.
“It’s something big to be competing with Harry Kane, who is a world-class striker.”
Despite his blistering start, Guirassy is not currently atop the Bundesliga goalscoring charts, after the Guinean’s injury allowed Kane to overtake him.
Kane has 15 league goals since joining Bayern Munich from Tottenham in the summer, having played two more matches than Guirassy.
Last season, Niclas Fuellkrug and Christopher Nkunku shared the Torjaegerkanone, the award given to the top goalscorer, with each scoring 16 goals, indicating how dramatic the turnaround has been.
Guirassy, who scored 11 league goals in total last season, credited a more mature game understanding as the reason for his boosted output, while trying to “learn from the best.”
“When I was younger, I liked to run everywhere on the pitch but I’ve learned about myself. I watch a lot of football on TV and I like to watch players like (Robert) Lewandowski, Kane or (Erling) Haaland and analyze what they are doing.”
“I’m always trying to be in the right place at the right time.”
After missing two games, Guirassy returned to team training on Wednesday and is in line to return for Saturday’s clash with Borussia Dortmund.
Stuttgart, who needed to win a two-legged playoff to avoid relegation last season, sit third on the table, one spot ahead of Dortmund.
Stuttgart striker Guirassy credits Kane for record-breaking start
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Stuttgart striker Guirassy credits Kane for record-breaking start
- “It’s something big to be competing with Harry Kane, who is a world-class striker,” Guirassy told The Guardian
- Despite his blistering start, Guirassy is not currently atop the Bundesliga goalscoring charts
Africa Cup of Nations moved to every four years
- The tournament, which brings in an estimated 80 percent of CAF’s revenue, has traditionally been held every two years since its inception in 1957
RABAT: The Africa Cup of Nations will in future be held every four years instead of every two years, the Confederation of African Football said on Saturday.
The surprise decision was made at the body’s executive committee meeting in the Moroccan capital and announced at a press conference by CAF President Patrice Motsepe.
The tournament, which brings in an estimated 80 percent of CAF’s revenue, has traditionally been held every two years since its inception in 1957.
Sunday marks the start of the 35th edition, hosted in Morocco with the home team taking on Comoros.
Motsepe said the next Cup of Nations finals, scheduled for 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, will go ahead and then another tournament would be held in 2028 but after that it will be hosted every four years.
Motsepe announced the launch of an African Nations League annually from 2029 to fill the gap, following the example of Europe which holds its championship every four years.
“Historically the Nations Cup was the prime resource for us but now we will get financial resources every year,” he said.
“It is an exciting new structure which will contribute to sustainable financial independence and ensure more synchronization with the FIFA calendar.”
Holding the Cup of Nations every four years had been previously proposed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino but this had been rebuffed by CAF because of their reliance on the revenues that the tournament generates.
The timing of AFCON has long courted controversy because it has usually been hosted in the middle of the European season, forcing clubs to release their African players.
This tug of loyalty was supposed to be solved by moving the Cup of Nations to mid-year from 2019 but later tournaments in Cameroon in 2022 and Ivory Coast in 2024 were again hosted at the start of the year.
This year’s tournament in Morocco was moved back six months when FIFA introduced a new-look Club World Cup, which was hosted in the US in June and July.
