Day: August 29, 2020

Arsenal Win Community Shield 2020

- Roshan

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a superb goal and netted the winning penalty in a shootout as Arsenal beat Premier League champions Liverpool in the Community Shield at an empty Wembley Stadium.His curling strike gave FA Cup winners Arsenal the lead in the first half before Liverpool substitute Takumi Minamino equalised after the break. Minamino’s flicked pass to Mohamed Salah bounced back kindly for him to slot home from close range. There was a quick VAR check for handball by Salah but the replay showed no clear contact. It is the second year in a row Liverpool have lost on penalties after Manchester City’s victory in 2019.

Aubameyang’s importance to Arsenal was once again shown in another impressive performance. The Gabon international, who scored twice in the FA Cup final at the same stadium this month, cut inside from the left and whipped the ball into the far corner in emphatic style to open the scoring. He continued to terrorise Liverpool’s defence, exposing young right-back Neco Williams. And when Aubameyang stepped up to take the final penalty, with the score 4-4 in the shootout, there was no way he was going to miss. He has netted 71 goals in 110 Arsenal appearances and no Gunners player has scored more than his five goals at the venue.

After lifting their second piece of silverware in a month, it would cap off a very pleasing summer for Arsenal if Aubameyang does eventually put pen to paper. Liverpool were without regular starters Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson but they fielded a side many would feel were capable of overthrowing Arsenal. They started off on the front foot, with Sadio Mane getting in behind on numerous occasions on the left and linking up with full-back Andy Robertson. But sloppiness crept into their game as the first half wore on – Virgil van Dijk had words with Georginio Wijnaldum and Fabinho on separate occasions for giving the ball away too easily in midfield. Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles was impressive and caused problems, while Bukayo Saka was busy in and around the Liverpool box.

RIP Chadwick Boseman

- Roshan

Actor Chadwick Boseman, who brought the movie “Black Panther” to life with his charismatic intensity and regal performance, has died. Boseman has battled colon cancer since 2016 and died at home with his family and wife by his side, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. He was 43. With his role as King T’Challa in the boundary-breaking film “Black Panther,” he became a global icon and an inspiring symbol of Black power.

A South Carolina native, Boseman graduated in 2000 from Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, DC. While there, he also attended the British American Drama Academy at Oxford in 1998. He has played several historical figures, such as Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013), James Brown in Get on Up (2014), and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017). His role as the superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including in Black Panther (2018 ), made him an international star, winning him a NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Boseman got his first television role in 2003, in an episode of Third Watch. That same year, Boseman portrayed Reggie Montgomery in the daytime soap opera All My Children, but stated that he was fired after voicing concerns to producers about racist stereotypes in the script; the role was subsequently re-cast, with Boseman’s future Black Panther co-star Michael B. Jordan assuming the role. His early work included episodes of the series Law & Order, CSI:NY, and ER. He also continued to write plays, with his script for Deep Azure performed at the Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago; it was nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. In 2008, he played a recurring role on the television series Lincoln Heights and appeared in his first feature film, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. He landed a regular role in 2010 in another television series, Persons Unknown.

Boseman had his first starring role in the 2013 film 42, in which he portrayed baseball pioneer and star Jackie Robinson. He had been directing an off-Broadway play in East Village when he auditioned for the role, and was considering giving up acting and pursuing directing full-time at the time. About 25 other actors had been seriously considered for the role, but director Brian Helgeland liked Boseman’s bravery and cast him after he had auditioned twice. In 2013, Boseman also starred in the indie film The Kill Hole, which was released in theaters a few weeks before the film 42 In 2014, Boseman appeared opposite Kevin Costner in Draft Day, in which he played an NFL draft prospect. Later that year, he starred as James Brown in Get on Up. In 2016, he starred as Thoth, a deity from Egyptian mythology, in Gods of Egypt.

In 2016, he started portraying the Marvel Comics character T’Challa / Black Panther, with Captain America: Civil War being his first film in a five-picture deal with Marvel. He headlined Black Panther in 2018, which focused on his character and his home country of Wakanda in Africa. The film opened to great anticipation, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year in the United States. He reprised the role in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which were released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Both films were the highest grossing of the year they were released, with Endgame going on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.

Also in 2019, he starred in 21 Bridges, an American action thriller film directed by Brian Kirk, as an NYPD detective who shuts down the eponymous 21 bridges of Manhattan to find two suspected cop killers. In 2019, it was announced that Boseman was cast in the Netflix war drama film Da 5 Bloods, directed by Spike Lee. After several years of dating, Boseman became engaged to singer Taylor Simone Ledward in October 2019, and they later married in the same year. Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, which eventually progressed to a stage IV before 2020. He had not spoken publicly about his cancer diagnosis. During treatment (multiple surgeries and chemotherapy), he continued to work and completed filming for several films, Boseman died at his home of complications related to colon cancer on August 28, 2020, with his wife and family by his side.