TP Mazembe Advances Into Final

Pin It Now! TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo made history on Tuesday as they demolished Internacional Football Club of Brazil 2-0 to become the first African club side to reach the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.

No club side outside South America and Europe has ever gotten to the final of the competition since inception. The tournament has been dominated mostly by South American club sides; but the feat of Mazembe on Tuesday broke the jinx on African clubs and launched them into international stardom.

Mulota Kubangu and Dioko Kaluyituka also made history as their superlative performance and wonderful goals in the 53rd and 85th minutes respectively permanently silenced their opposition.

Internacional started the first half as though they were to carry the day as they displayed their Samba style of play to the delight of the fans, sending a warning signal to their African opponents that they were the South American champions. Mazembe however refused to be intimidated; they held their own, maintained their cool and defended their post heroically. They finally gained confidence and fought back gallantly, playing as a united, compact team.

It was Rafael Sobis who first created an anxious moment as early as the first minute of the first half after destabilizing the defense of TP Mazembe; but the agile Muteba Kidiaba was quickly on hand to deny him the scoring opportunity.

A scintillating performance by Rafael, Alecsandro, Indio and Tinga continued to put the African side on their toes. The speed and accuracy of passes of the Brazilian side was a source of tension for their opponents. Tinga had a great opportunity to put the South Americans ahead, but nodded the ball wide from about seven yards from the post when the goal keeper was already helpless.

The African side had an above average performance in the first half as they did some counter attacks from time to time, putting goal keeper Renan to test. The first half ended on a barren draw. Mazembe went back to the dressing room to try and find a way of overcoming the Internacional onslaught.

They came back stronger and more purposeful; this time they were able to have a better ball control to the delight of their supportive fans. Their determination propelled them on: and in the 53rd minute, Amia Ekanga nodded down the ball for Mulota Kubangu. He intelligently displaced the Internacinal defense line and sent the ball into the back of the net with a terrific shot. The stadium erupted in jubiliation; the African fans could not contain their excitement. The South American side watched in silence and utter disbelief.

In the 59th minute, Rafael Sobis unleashed a terrific left footer but Muteba Kidiaba again denied him the opportunity to equalize for his side. He also denied Giuliano another opportunity in the 70th minute.

The African side continued to produce a counter attack, fighting gallantly to ensure they never surrendered their one goal advantage. They worked assiduously, they played as one united team and just five minutes from full time, they had another breakthrough. This time around, it was Dioko Kaluyituka who worked from the left flank and sent a 20 yard shot that caught goal keeper Renan napping.

Coach Celso Roth was arguably devastated by this second goal; the possibility of Internacional scoring 3 goals in 5 minutes to win the match was remote. He had to settle for a third position match either against Internazinal Milano of Italy or Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma of South Korea.

TP Mazembe was truly great in the encounter; the players gave a good account of themselves and Africa in general. Africa Club side football has now come of age: there is now hope of winning the elusive FIFA Club World Cup trophy for the first time.

TP Mazembe Advances Into Final

Read More ->>

Nigeria lifts 7th CAF Women Championship Trophy

Pin It Now! The Super falcons of Nigeria this afternoon lived up to the expectation of soccer pundits by beating the defending champions Equatorial Guinea 4-2 to lift the CAF 7th women championship trophy in South Africa.

The Falcons made it clear from the commencement of this year’s tournament that they were in South Africa to reclaim the trophy they lost to Equatorial Guinea in 2008; and at the end of 90 minutes of play, they were proved right.

The match was action-packed, with the defending champions having an edge over Nigeria in the area of ball possession; but the Nigerians were ahead in terms of experience having won 5 out of the 6 previous editions. The only goal of the first half was scored by the tournament’s highest goal scorer Perpetual Nkwocha.

5 more goals were scored in the 2nd half. The equatorial Guineans equalized in the middle of the 2nd half but Nigeria went ahead again in the 72nd minute through Ugochi Oparanozie who had been a torn in the flesh of their opponents all through the first half.

In the 78th minute, a pull out from the right wing by Stella Mbachu was nodded by one of the Equatorial Guineans’ defenders into their own net, making it the third goal for the Super falcons.

In the 81st minute, Boho Sayo Jade pulled one back for the defending champions. The ovation that greeted her goal had hardly died down when Nigeria increased the tally to 4 as Ugochi Oparanozie’s pull out from the right flank was pushed into the net once again by another defender for a second own goal. This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The defending champions became completely demoralized as the possibility of scoring 2 more goals in eight minutes was no longer realistic for them.

In the 89th minute, Ugochi Oparanozie was replaced with Francisca Ordega. Soon after that, Glory Iroka hit the upright after beating the defenders and the goal keeper.

At the end of 90 minutes, the Nigerian ladies emerged champions after they made it clear from the inception of the tournament that they were in South Africa for business and that they would not return to Nigeria without the trophy.

Coach Uche Eucharia and her assistant Anne Agunmanu were elated that their team had regained their rightful position as the champions of Africa. Coach Jean Paul Mpila had no choice but to respect the Falcons for their experience.

The most valuable player (MVP) award of the match went to Ugochi Oparanozie. The Golden Boot award of the championship was given to Perpetual Nkwocha who scored a total of 11 goals to set a new African and World record. The Player of the tournament award went to Stella Mbachu, while the Fair play trophy was presented to Nigeria. Goal keeper Precious Dede who is also the captain of the team was full of joy as she lifted the tournament’s Trophy to the delight of the fans. Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea will now represent Africa in the 2011 Women world cup in Germany.

Nigeria lifts 7th CAF Women Championship Trophy

Read More ->>

Samson Siasia Becomes Super Eagles' New Coach

Pin It Now! The Nigeria Football federation has finally appointed Samson Siasia as the Coach of the Super Eagles. He was appointed after series of debate as to who was better between himself and his former team mate Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.

The two candidates that eventually became the preferred ones for the job of coaching the national team were both members of the 1994 African Nations’ Cup winning team and the USA ’94 World Cup, with Stephen Keshi as the captain of the team.

The emergence of Samson Siasia is good news to so many soccer pundits in the country as so many people had actually been clamouring for him to be appointed head coach following the Super Eagles’ abysmal performances in the past 10 years. The fortunes of the team began to dwindle since 1998 World Cup in France where they lost by a scandalous 4-1 to Denmark in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Since France ’98 the team has had over 8 coaches – Bora Milutinovic, Bonfere Jo, Shuaibu Amodu, Festus Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Austine Eguavoen, Berti Vogts, Las Lagerbach, etc. The fortunes of the team have not improved much as none of the coaches had been able to make Nigeria win the Africa Nations’ Cup Gold trophy ever since their last one in Tunisia ’94.

Nigeria is blessed with array of soccer talents; unfortunately, indiscipline, internal squabbles and lack of commitments have made it impossible for the team to achieve much in the past decade. With the emergence of Siasia as the new coach, it is hoped that this problem would be addressed as he is known to be a strict disciplinarian.

Besides, Siasia has the charisma to move the players into giving their best for the country. He was able to achieve success in the 2005 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands with an U-20 team that was made up of mainly home based players. We also saw the commitment put in by the 2008 Beijing Olympic team players under him.

We hope that when the contract is finally wrapped up, either the NFF or Coach Siasia himself should be able to choose an assistant that would work effectively and harmoniously with him to advance the Nigerian football to the next level. Stephen Keshi has said that he’s willing to work with him in the interest of the Nigerian football.

We wish he is able to bring back the discipline, team spirit and commitment needed for the success of the team. He should also not fail to inject fresh legs into the team and make invitations into the team competitive. Once he is able to bring in these basic ingredients, he is bound to succeed more than the previous coaches that have handled the Super Eagles.

Samson Siasia Becomes Super Eagles' New Coach

Read More ->>

Super Falcons set to Reclaim Their Birth Rights

Pin It Now! The Super Falcons of Nigeria are set to reclaim their birth rights as the traditional African female soccer team, as the African Women Championship begins in South Africa. The perennial champions who have won 5 out of 6 editions of the championship lost only the last edition to Equatorial Guinea which was also the host of the last edition.

The Nigerian team may have lost the last edition by underrating their opponent; and partly because the team also had some fitness problems during the time. This time around they are set to bounce back into reckoning.

One of the things that would work in favour of the falcons is the coaching crew led by former African highest goal scorer Uche Eucharia who is highly experienced after being to the first 3 editions of the women world cup. She was also at the first edition of the African Championship held in Abeokuta in Nigeria in 1998 as the assistance coach of the team.

Uche Eucharia is assisted by another experienced former member of the falcons, Anne Agumanu who was the goal keeper during her time. With the team being handled by past players who know the areas of strength and weaknesses of the various teams, it would be easier for them to do well in South Africa and at the end emerge victorious.

The current Nigeria team is a mixture of experience and youth as some of the players were graduated from the U-20 who got the final of the female youth championship in Germany this year.

However, one area the falcons need to work harder is the area of attack; it was evident during the U-20 Championship in Germany that the team was struggling to convert the begging opportunities they had. With a highly experienced striker as the current coach, that should not be a major problem anymore.

The team is very strong in the midfield and defense: they only need to add one or two good strikers to augment he effort of the midfielders. If the team is able to hold its ground the way the U-20 and the U-17 did recently, it would be easy for them to succeed with the addition of the experienced old hands.

The falcons play their opening match against Mali on the 1st of November. The other teams in their group include the host nation South Africa and Tanzania. The only major threat to their ambition is the host team which is equally experienced though they have not won any tournament titles.

Super Falcons set to Reclaim Their Birth Rights

Read More ->>