Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

photo credit: BBC  La Albiceleste captain Lionel Messi, gave Argentina a lifeline with his 14th minute strike. It took him a while to get warmed up but he's back. Tuesday's must win clash saw a revived Argentina after their previous match struggles against Iceland and Croatia, with Messi rediscovering his best form. The Argentinian forward received a decisive pass from Ever Banega - Sevilla midfielder, with the ball falling right at Messi's feet. Messi handled the ball with three synchronized touches with three different parts of his body to score, delivering a thumping shot with his 'less active' right foot and finished past the Nigerian goalkeeper. photo credit: Getty and Reuters Nigeria was given an opportunity to equalize thanks to Maraschino's terrible mistake. He held Nigeria's Balogun at Nigeria's first corner in the 2nd half of the game, earning Nigeria a penalty. Victor Moses calmly beat Argentina's debutante goalke...

Geneva Ayala - XXXTentacion's ex-girlfriend - broke her silence on Tuesday, June 19, following X's death on Monday. Ayala uploaded a drawing of two people, seemingly X and herself, and captioned it, " i want to scream at the top of my lungs until i can't then keep screaming. i don't want to believe this. no one knows. the shit. i feel. for you. " She posted a short clip on her Instagram, and wrote, " It isn't real. Come back. " She wrote on Twitter, " I  know y’all don’t f**k w me, but this isn’t about me. Just please stop tagging me in disrespectful threads and arguments. I honestly don’t care for any of the hype. I lost someone close to me. leave me alone. "  She found it disgusting that people focused on the abuse she allegedly suffered from the rapper, as she said in another tweet," It’s disgusting that people are speaking for me. I don’t care if no one cared about me however many months ago, I didn’t lose my life. he did...

photo credit: Billboard Rapper XXXTentacion's sensational blooming musical career came to brutal end on Monday June 18. XXX, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was shot by at least one of two armed suspects as he left a motorcycle dealership in South Florida. As he was leaving the motorcycle dealer, an armed masked man ran up to his car and shot him. The assailant and his partner fled in a black Dodge Journey after shooting XXX. Investigators report the young rapper was driving a black BMW after leaving RIVA Motorsports. Witnesses told police officers a Louis Vuitton bag was taken from XXX's vehicle. The rapper was rushed - in a comatose state - in an ambulance to Broward Health North at 1:35 p.m. According to a report by TMZ, XXXTentacion was pronounced dead by Broward County Sheriff's Department at 2:40 p.m.  XXXTentaacion's car at the crime scene Renowned rappers J. Cole and Kanye West among thousands of fans reacted quickly to the tragic news on so...

Swedish EDM prodigy Avicii, was laid to rest eleven days ago (seven weeks after his death). A private funeral attended by only Avicii's family and closest friends, held in Stockholm on June 8. Avicii, whose real name is Tim Bergling, "was buried on Friday at the Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm", said Ebba Lindqvist - Avicii's publicist, on Tuesday. She further added, "Only his family and closest friends were present."  Avicii was found dead on April 20 in Muscat Oman, where he was vacationing with friends. No official cause of death has been revealed but an open letter written by Avicii's parents several days after his death suggest suicide. Avicii's brother-in-law Joakim Sterner was in attendance, and he posted a picture of himself posing in front of a crucifix at  Skogskyrkogården.  Jesse Waits, an American entrepreneur who was a good friend of the "Levels" hitmaker also attended, and posted an image of the funeral ord...

It's finally World Cup 2018! 32 teams categorized into 8 groups are in for 65 matches, to be played in 12 venues.  ·         Group A teams are: Russia, Uruguay, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. ·         Group B teams are: Portugal, Spain, Iran and Morocco. ·         Group C teams are: France, Peru, Denmark and Australia. ·         Group D teams are: Argentina, Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria. ·         Group E teams are: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia. ·         Group F teams are: Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea. ·         Group G teams are: Belgium, England, Tunisia and Panama. ·         Group H teams are: Poland, Colombia, Senegal and Japan. This is the full schedule for t...

Cameroon, officially known as the Republic of Cameroon, "Africa in miniature", is a country in Central Africa. The largest towns in Cameroon in terms of population are Douala - the economic capital and Yaounde - the political capital. Cameroon is well known for its native music styles like Bikutsi and Makossa, and for its football exploits. These are other interesting things you should know about Cameroon. 1. Cameroon became an independent republic on January 1, 1960. 2. Cameroon attained UN membership on September 20, 1960. 3. Cameroon is referred to as "the hinge of Africa" and as "Africa in miniature" because of its geographical and cultural diversity. 4. Aside French and English which are the country's official languages, 230 other local languages are spoken in Cameroon. 5. Sanaga River is the longest river in Cameroon. There are two hydroelectric power stations on the banks of River Sanaga. 6. One of the m...