Athletico Madrid Ends Barcelona's Unbeaten Runs

Pin It Now! I was completely speechless as I watched Atletico Madrid post 2 great goals into the yawning net of Barcelona FC to end their unbeaten runs in this current league season. Barca had gone unbeaten in 22 matches in this current campaign, but all that came to an end yesterday courtesy of fantastic, artistic soccer display and determination of the Madrid players.

The match had started on a fair note for both teams, with the players showing the classic flair characteristic of the Spanish football. I was confident Josep Guardiola’s boys would win the match even though I knew that the Athletico Madrid players were no push-over. I had given the match to Barca based on their current form and record (22 matches without a loss) and felt the result was not going to be different from what we had seen in their past matches. Surprisingly, the Madrid boys struck first before the 10th minute of the match making me feel a little tensed for the first time. Before I knew it they were already 2 goals up; and from that moment Barcelona’s fate hanged in the balance. All effort to sustain their record was futile as they were only able to pull one back.

Ibrahimovic (though scored their only goal) and Lionel Messi were wasteful in front of Madrid’s goal giving their goal keeper little or nothing to worry about. It was quite unlike FC Barcelona. Guardiola watched in utter disbelief as the referee blew final whistle to signify that the match had indeed been won by Athletico. By this record the gap between FC Barcelona and real Madrid has now been reduced to just 2 points, meaning that Barcelona has to do everything possible to ensure they do not lose any match again if they must keep their hope of winning the league this season alive.

Real Madrid had earlier on Saturday beaten Xerex by 3-0 in an away match to signal a warning to Barca of their intent to win the LaLiga this season. The tension in Barcelona FC is rising as Real Madrid close the gap on them. Real players are very hungry for victory this time, especially after the club has invested much on great players like Christiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Kaka, Xavi Alonso, etc. The battle at the top is clearly between Barcelona and Real Madrid. A little more has to be done to maintain the top spot and be sure that at the end of the season they have some trophies to add to their previous ones even though they are not able to win the six which they did the last season.

Athletico Madrid Ends Barcelona's Unbeaten Runs

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The Case Against Arsene Wenger

Pin It Now! My friend walked into my office looking dejected, frustrated and tired; he was furious and desperate. Why had he come to my office that early Monday morning? He had come to ask if I had Coach Arsene Wenger’s telephone number through which he could call him to express his disgust about Wenger’s indifference towards getting the services of world class strikers to improve the dwindling fortunes of the club.

Why would an ardent Arsenal fan come to ask of the coach’s telephone number from a Chelsea fan like me? I asked myself. Things were certainly falling apart and the centre could no longer hold for Arsenal fans. My friend could no longer pretend about the lingering dissatisfaction in the club and poor results for the past years; he was willing to seek help from anywhere. Chelsea had just added to the woes of the club after they were taken to the cleaners by Manchester United previous week.

His grudge was that the team’s manager/coach did not care to buy established world class players but kept going for cheap ones and was refusing to spend the club’s money even when given the go ahead to shop for good players. But are Wenger’s players really inexperienced and cheap? I do not think so myself. Cez Fabregas was FIFA best player at the U-16 world cup in Finland 2003 and for & years now he has really grown to maturity. He became popular before Lionel Messi who became the revelation of the FIFA U-20 world cup in the Netherlands in 2005.

Andrei Arshavin was already doing very well for his club side Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia and had a classic performance at the UEFA cup where he was spotted by Arsene Wenger. Van Persie is also not amateur; he has been playing with the big boys for sometime now. Alexander Song made the CAF team list at the just concluded African Nations’ Cup tournament in Angola. William Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Nasri, Theo Walcott, Arshavin, Fabregas, Song, Van Persie, Emmanuel Eboue, etc all play for their national teams.

But why did Arsene Wenger dispose of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure when they were an asset to the team? Now he’s going for Sol Campbell because it is obvious that he does not have reliable defenders even though he had told the world he had a list of reserved defenders when he asked Toure to go. Wenger is losing grip of the premiership and he may end up without hardware this season again. He needs to spend more money to get good players so as to get a better result and then my friend and other Arsenal fans would be happy again.

The Case Against Arsene Wenger

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Josep Guardiola; World's Best Soccer Coach

Pin It Now! The name Josep Guardiola I. Sala may not have made much impression on so many people years ago, but today it is the name on the lips of every soccer follower. Success, they say, has many friends. His records at FC Barcelona have brought him fame and recognition.
Guardiola’s record has shown that it is not until one has had decades of experience that one could achieve a feat. I am by no means encouraging mediocrity but I wish to say that one should be given an opportunity to prove oneself if there are prospects. Before now Josep Guardiola had not coached any football team except Barcelona team B which he handled between 2007 and 2008.
Coach Josep Guardiola I. Sala was born on the 18th January 1971 in Santpedor, Spain. He rose up to be a defensive midfielder having started his career at about the age of 13. He played for the Spanish U-21 team (1991-92), Spanish U-23 team (1991-92), the national team (1992-2001) scoring 5 goals with 47 caps and Catalonia team (1995-2005) with 7 caps.
He had a very successful club career having played for FC Barcelona (1990-2001), Brescia (2001-2002), Roma (2002-2003), Brescia (2003), Al-Ahli (2003-2005) and Sinaloa (2005-2006) scoring great goals during his campaigns. Apart for playing for clubs he had some individual awards in his playing days which include: Won gold for Spain at the Barcelona 92 Olympics, Olympics Spain best player 1992, won UEFA Champions’ league with FC Barcelona in 1991-92, Bravo award 1992, and UEFA All star team 1992 and 2000.
Guardiola’s first coaching job was with Barca team B (2007-2008), winning their Tercera Division group and qualified for the 2008 Segunda division B playoffs. He finally became the coach of Barceloa in 2008. In 2008/2009 season he won 6 trophies for his club- Laliga 2008-09, Copa del Rey 2009, SuperCopa de Espana 2009, UEFA Champions’ league 2008-09, UEFA Super cup 2009 and FIFA Club World Cup 2009. He won virtually all the titles that were available. I really don’t know of any coach that has achieved this great feat; at least not in this decade.
His personal honours as a coach include: IFFHS World’s Best club coach of the year 2009, Don Balon Award for Best coach of the year 2009, Onze d’Or for Best European coach 2009, Miguel Munoz trophy for Best Coach of the year 2009, World Soccer award for Best coach of the year 2009, and UEFA team of the year for Best coach of the year 2009. What was left for other coaches to claim? This kind of record is not for a non-experienced coach (as some would want to call him), considering he was barely one year as coach of Barca. Josep Guardiola still keeps adding to his records; he has not lost any match in the Spanish Laliga this season. We all salute you and say more power to your elbow Coach Josep Guardiola I. Sala.

Josep Guardiola; World's Best Soccer Coach

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The Way Forward For Nigerian Football (Part 2)

Pin It Now! Zambia came with home based players and almost edged us out of the tournament if not for hard luck. How many players in the Burkina Faso team where professionals? I think a lot of things have actually gone wrong with our team and until these things are corrected our football would not get better.
1.Corruption must stop: The issue of certain players having to settle the authorities for inclusion into the national team has to stop. Apart from that, God-fatherism must also stop. Merit should be the only criterion for justifying one’s inclusion in the team. Besides, when players are promised certain amount as match bonuses that same amount should get to them; nothing should be deducted in the name of settlement.
2.Player welfare: The era of abandoning an injured player to his fate must stop. This reminds me; when Michael Essien was injured and was hospitalized in England, President John Kuffour went to visit him in hospital to show him how much the people of Ghana cared about him. In our own case, once a player is injured he is left to take care of himself. Do you think players would put in their best under such situations?
3.Continuity: There should be a deliberate policy put in place to ensure continuity in our national teams. People should be able to graduate from one team to another. They should not be thrown away immediately after achieving a major feat at the junior level.
4.Our local league: I am beginning to see that in the near future our local league would become the rallying point to deliver us from this present stalemate. Players in the globacom premier league should be given recognition; only then would they be motivated to do well and at the same time prevent them from running from the league to look for greener pasture elsewhere. Some even end up in leagues that are not as good as Nigeria’s. Coach Clemens Westerhoff succeeded here because he was able to blend the home based and the foreign based players together without anybody having a guaranteed shirt. That promotes a fair and healthy competition in the team and brings out their best performance.
5.Soccer Academies: Develop soccer academies where young talents would be groomed.
6.School sports: Secondary school soccer competitions should be encouraged to discover young talents as well.
7.A good coach: There are nice coaches like Carlo Ancelotti, Josep Guardiola, Guus Hiddink, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello, etc whom we can hire to deliver the goods to us.
8.Training: Regular training, including friendly matches would help put the team in proper shape, promote understanding and make them well prepared for any competition at any given time.
When we do the right things we shall surely get the right results.

The Way Forward For Nigerian Football (Part 2)

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The Way Forward For Nigerian Football (Part 1)

Pin It Now! Recently Nigeria participated in the African Soccer Nations’ Cup Tournament in Angola and ended up maintaining it regular Bronze medal (third place) which she just won for the 7th time making her the highest winner of bronze medal in the history of the tournament. We actually got to the semi finals by miracle. I am sure anybody who knew Nigerian football far back in 1994 would agree with me on this, especially those who actually watched the matches in the just concluded tournament.

In 1994 we were 5th on the FIFA ranking and best in Africa, but when Berti Vogts came he took us to 47th position and for the first time we failed to win at least a medal at the biennial event since 1988. Coach Shuaibu Amodu inherited a disjointed, emotionally traumatized and sick team. He managed the team, playing about 23 matches and losing only 3. He did not achieve that feat; his effort has brought Nigeria back to 15th position in the world and 2nd in Africa. That of course is no mean achievement. But Amodu has remained under intense criticism from Nigerians who knew what their football used to be. The coached may have gotten a seemingly great result be not convincingly though.

The only area I am not too comfortable with Coach Shuiba Amodu is in the area of invitation of players for competitions or tournament as the case may be. While on earth would he invite half fit players to camp when there are so many of them to choose from? Did people Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Joseph Yobo, Taye Taiwo and few others deserve to be in that team? Aside those who now have a guaranteed regular jersey are there no more players Nigeria could make do with? You saw what happened to Ghana national team: they went with half of the U-20 team that won the world cup in Egypt and defeated us with that team. That to me was a total humiliation to our Super Eagles. Where are the boys who won the U-16 world cup for us in Korea in 1997? Has none of them matured? The same thing that has happened to their predecessors has also happened to them. The cabals have held tenaciously to the team’s jerseys with no place left for the up coming players.

Egypt won the tournament 3 consecutive times with over 80% of the players based in their local league. Two Nigerian teams (Kano Pillars and Heartland FC) played in the semi finals of the CAF champions’ league in 2009, with Heartland losing narrowly to TP Mazembe of DRC in the finals, but funny enough no home based player was qualified enough to be in our team.

The Way Forward For Nigerian Football (Part 1)

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Egypt Crowned African Champions For The Third Time in a Roll

Pin It Now! The orange 27th African Nations’ Cup tournament finally came to an end on Sunday 31st January, 2010 at the November 11 stadium in Luanda, Angola. The closing ceremony was capped with the award of this year’s trophy to the Pharaohs for keeps after they won it for 3 consecutive times.
Apart from winning the tournament for 3 times in a roll (2006, 2008 and 2010), Egypt has also won the tournament for a record 7 times making them the country that has won it for the highest number of times. The closest to them are Cameroon and Ghana (four times each). The Pharaohs have also set a record 19 straight unbeaten competition matches. This year’s edition has come and gone but memories linger on as it was filled with several new records. One of the new records set was by the Egyptian captain Ahmed Hassan was became the only player to have won 4 editions of the tournament (1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010). The 30 year old captain also had his 170th cap for his nation in their match against Cameroon at the quarter final stage, thus becoming world’s third most capped player in history (Saudi goal keeper Mohammed al-Deayea holds a record of 180 caps to be world’s number one).
Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon set a new record of 18 goals to break his own record (16 goals set in Ghana 2008), having initially broken Ivorian Laurent Pokou’s 14 goals record to become the all time highest goal scorer of the championship. Rigobert Song also of Cameroon became the player that has attended the highest number of tournaments after appearing for the 8th time.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria won the bronze medal for the 7th time to become the country with the highest Bronze medals in the history of the tournament. Nigeria has also won the championship twice (1980 and 1994).
The 60 year old Egyptian coach, Hassan Shehata (‘The Master’) is the only coach to have won the trophy for 3 consecutive times making him a veteran in this championship. Hassan Shehata has won several laurels for his country, his club sides and the teams he managed as a coach: he is truly a record setting coach. I think his second name should be ‘Football’. He was nick named ‘The Master’ because of his enviable records in the field of soccer. The next edition is full of expectation as the world waits to see old records broken and new one created.

Egypt Crowned African Champions For The Third Time in a Roll

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CAF Banning of Togo, Was it The Right Decision?

Pin It Now! On the 30th of January, 2010 CAF pronounced the Togolese national team banned for the next 2 editions of the Nations’ Cup tournament and also fined them $50,000 for withdrawing from this year’s edition in Angola. They based their reasoning on the premise that Togo’s government interfered with football administration by asking the team to come back home.
Did I just hear you say “good”? Or did I hear you say CAF is exercising her authority? Well, we should ask ourselves what led to the withdrawal of the Togolese team from the tournament before taking sides with the football governing body. For those of you who may not have known what happened, the Togolese national team was attacked by Angolan rebels in Cabinda on the 8th of January on their way from Congo to take part in the tournament; the team’s assistant coach and the spokesman were killed by the random bullets fired at them by the rebels, and the team’s number one goal keeper was in coma for days and was rushed to a South African hospital where he underwent surgery. Having gone through a traumatizing experience and having lost two members of the team with some others injured the government felt the players would not be in their best state of mind to continue with the tournament (though the players indicated interest to continue).
Having known what led to the decision to withdraw, the question we should now ask is was CAF right in their decision to ban Togo from the next 2 editions? I certainly do not think so. We are all people with emotions; Africans have a tradition of being their brothers’ keepers. How would it have looked if after these guys lost their assistant coach and their spokesman just two days to their opening match they went ahead to play in the tournament with some of their key players carrying bullet wounds? The African family system is so closely knit that you even discover some of those players may be from the same extended family. They were certainly not in their best psychological state to participate.
Sometimes we look for flimsy excuses to justify our wrongs. The act of bringing in the name of government to defend their action was wrong on the side of CAF. They may have forgotten that these players came from a country first before they became footballers and that their government owed them the responsibility to protect them and ensure their safety both in and out of the country. So the government did not do badly by recalling their players to ensure they were medically attended to. Article 78 which was invoked was drafted by human beings and any constitution that does not have a provision for the welfare of its citizenry is to the best a bad one.

CAF Banning of Togo, Was it The Right Decision?

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