Referees

BOUAKE — Three-time winners Nigeria were given a scare but reached the Africa Cup of Nations final after goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saved two penalties in the shootout to guide his side to a 4-2 victory over South Africa following a 1-1 draw on Wednesday.

William Troost-Ekong put Nigeria into the lead from the penalty spot midway through the second half, before South Africa earned a spot-kick of their own in the final minute of the 90 and it was converted by Teboho Mokoena.

BOUAKE — Hosts Ivory Coast kept up their incredible escape act at the Africa Cup of Nations as they came from behind to beat Mali 2-1 in Saturday’s quarterfinal, scoring a last-gasp goal in extra time to book a semifinal with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Oumar Diakite got a touch to Seko Fofana’s strike to win the game for the Ivorians, who played with 10 men for most of the match after Odilon Kossounou was sent off shortly before halftime.

MADRID — A Dani Carvajal strike in the ninth-minute of stoppage time rescued Real Madrid, earning them a 3-2 comeback win at home against bottom side Almeria on Sunday in a frantic LaLiga tussle that was marked by VAR controversy.

Real climbed to the top of the LaLiga standings on 51 points, two ahead Girona who host Sevilla later on Sunday.

United States men’s national team defender Chris Richards had a heart-in-mouth moment on Wednesday when he was shown the first red card of his career. Thankfully for the 23-year-old the red card was immediately rescinded.

During Crystal Palace’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea the American defender — who plays a defensive midfielder role for Palace — took one for the team and committed a foul to halt a counterattack.

In the 73rd minute Noni Madueke had successfully dribbled past Richards and the USMNT player tried to pull on the Chelsea forward’s shirt to slow him down. 

French striker Jeremy Menez received two yellow cards in the span of six seconds on Tuesday when the referee wasn’t a fan of his sarcastic clapping.

The incident occurred in stoppage time of the Serie B game between Menez’s Bari FC and Andrea Pirlo’s Sampdoria.

In the 95th minute Menez received a yellow card. Things appeared to be normal. That was until Menez gave the referee a sarcastic round of applause for the booking and in an instant the other yellow card came out.

Jeremy Menez red card vs. Sampdoria

The Lindsey Horan red card in the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Thursday has made the rounds among USWNT fans. The star American was sent off during Lyon’s group stage game vs. Norway’s Brann.

Horan’s red card occurred in the 52nd minute when she was fouled by Brann’s Karoline Haugland. The 29-year-old Colorado native wasn’t pleased about the challenge and gave her opponent a shove.

Tensions continued to rise as words were exchanged with Haugland and then with the referee.

Lindsey Horan red card

LONDON — Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee to officiate a Premier League match when she takes charge of Fulham's home game against Burnley on Dec. 23.

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) confirmed the appointment on Thursday and also said Sam Allison would become the first Black official to take charge of a Premier match for 15 years.

Allison will be the referee for Sheffield United v Luton Town on Dec. 26.

Premier League female referee

We apologize for the extra clickbaity headline, but we’re serious when we say few people can explain the disallowed Rennes goal vs. Villarreal from Thursday’s Europa League action.

For complete transparency, the author writing this story wasn’t part of the 5% of people who could correctly explain why this goal wasn’t counted upon first viewing. Not even CBS’ commentators understood the Rennes’ stoppage time equalizer mystery.

Before we give you the answer, watch the clip for yourself.

Rennes disallowed goal vs. Villarreal