CONGO OUTFOX NIGERIA SENDING SHOCKWAVES IN AFCON QUALIFIERS

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

CONGO OUTFOX NIGERIA SENDING SHOCKWAVES IN AFCON QUALIFIER

Thievy Bifouma was a live wire and gave Nigeria a game they'll long remember

The Republic of Congo’s national football team better known as The Diables Rouges (the Red Devils) lived up to their name and gave defending African Champions and World Cup representatives, The Super Eagles of Nigeria a nightmare of game. The Ogas will probably require some “exorcism” for the men in green to overcome the mental trauma of their 3-2 lose at the now popular home venue of U.J Esuene Stadium in the Port City of Calabar, Cross Rivers State. Not to offer excuses but in a classic David vs Goliath match up, if one considers that Congo are only in contention because Rwanda were disqualified for playing an ineligible player in the earlier round, then you can understand why the Super Eagles grossly underestimated their opponents.

The Super Eagles were uncharacteristically outsmarted, outplayed and out-muscled by their less fancied opponents who ran rings around them in front of their disbelieving fans. Even the Nigerian football commentators who are known to routinely taunt visiting teams were left to eat humble pie as they gave plaudits and heaped praise on the deserving Congolese visitors at the end of the game.

The Red Devils’ win pivoted upon two players; Ferebore Dore and Thievy Bifouma who gave the Super Eagles a torrid time during the entire game. 

Towering midfielder Doree was like a brick wall

At 6ft 4inches, the towering midfielder Ferebore Doree who plies his trade with Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv out-muscled and dominated his opposite number, Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel winning most aerial tussles, held the ball well to set up his team mates and thus dictated the game from the middle of the park. One would have to jog their memory hard to come up with occasions where the Super Eagles were the diminutive side! Well, eeehmm maybe when they've played the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the three AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) finals they've met in the past, all of which Cameroon won.
The burly, clever and quick footed French born Bifouma gave a virtuoso performance, was the live wire who tormented the Super Eagles at will as well, as the architect who created all the three goals.

The Super Eagles dictated proceedings in the early exchanges and rightfully took the lead from a header by Captain Efe Ambrose off a goalmouth scramble from a corner in the 14^th minute. Instead of subduing the visitors, the goal only roused and stung them from their slumber where they quickly equalized moments later, then took control of the game.

For the Red Devil’s first goal, Bifouma, donning an outrageous Mohawk hair style that would turn Mario Balotelli red with envy, took advantage of a mix-up between two Nigerian defenders; Chelsea apprentice Kenneth Omerua and Godfrey Oboabona and made a darting run on the right.  On getting to by-line, Bifouma made a cut back that took out the chasing Omerua leaving him sprawled. This act of trickery availed him the opportunity to pick the advancing team Captain Prince Oniangue with a diagonal pass who subsequently made no mistake with a first time volley.

Their second came off an unnecessary foul by Obi Mikel and from the resultant foul kick the home side conceded a corner after Ejide parried a thunderous strike. From the corner, a deflected cross found Bifouma who played a lightning quick one-two triangular play in the box that froze the entire Nigerian defense who were left ball watching as Bifouma from a threaded through pass and with acres of space beat the advancing Ejide at the near post to silence the partisan crowd.

With a courageous move that belies his tender age of 22 years, Bifouma currently on contract with Espanyol but on a loan stint with Almeria in Spain was at it again when he made an audacious run taking on two Nigerian players Echiejile and Ogenyi Onazi from a through pass, in the 52^nd minute. From the subsequent nutmeg, a move straight from Latin America or the Spanish league, he twisted and spun away from his two opponents with Onazi’s trailing leg, a knee jerk reaction tripping him in the box for a subsequent penalty which he slotted comfortably to pile the misery on the home side for a 3-1 lead!

A frustrated Obi Mikel had a terrible game and was culpable for the second goal

The frustrated Super Eagles fought hard and pulled one back at the stroke of the 90^th minute having survived several sucker punches as the Congolese sat back and played off the counter attack as the game drew to a close.

The Nigerian ploy of taking visiting teams to the far flung Port town of Calabar where they are reputed to host visitors in deplorable accommodations and training facilities all meant to psychologically pound opponents into submission even before they take the field on game day, failed miserably as the Congolese strutted out the winners with a comfortable win. 
Nigeria now travel to South Africa needing nothing short of an outright win against the Bafana Bafana next Wednesday to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Morocco finals alive.

Congo's Coach Claude Le Roy gets a thumbs up for a tactical masterstroke

  

With Nigerian football in disarray due to political infighting, national Coach Stephen Keshi looked baffled and clueless throughout as he helplessly watched the carnage unfold in front of his eyes as the game progressed.
In contrast, Congo’s jubilant Coach Frenchman Claude Le Roy retained his impeccable record over the Super Eagles that dates back 26 years when he coached Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions to a 1-0 win over Nigeria in the 1988 AFCON finals in Morocco, a game where Keshi was coincidentally the Super Eagles' Captain. Le Roy, the most widely acclaimed coach in African football history having traversed the length and breadth of the continent on numerous coaching assignments with different nations, sustained his record over Nigeria on prior coaching stints with Senegal’s Teranga Lions and the Black Stars of Ghana. Congo is the fifth African nation he’s coaching having led Cameroon on two different occasions, Senegal, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo and currently the Republic of Congo.

In another game Ghana's Black Stars needed a second half penalty to tie the game and save their blushes in a one all draw against the Uganda Cranes in Kumasi.
Tunisia gave a good account of themselves fighting from a goal down to overcome a resilient Botwana 2-1 who had taken a first half lead against the run of play.
In Dakar Senegal, the once invisible Pharaohs of Egypt continued their tumble with another disappointing show when they went down 2-0 to the pacy West Africans from two quick first half goals.  

GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!

Written by Patrick Kamanga

GAME OF THE WEEK: BLUES OVERCOME TOFFEES IN NINE GOAL THRILLER!





Diego Costa's aggressive play and clever runs were a handful

In the EPL’s first London versus Merseyside matchup of the season, Chelsea drew first blood and overcame a doggedly determined Everton side 6-3.
Despite the huge score line, this was a game that Chelsea never really had control until the last ten minutes with Blues' Coach Jose Mourinho and every Chelsea fan apprehensive and on edge throughout considering the misery that the Toffees have repeatedly inflicted on the Blues the last few seasons with Goodison Park a terribly difficult hunting ground for the London side. The end to end action with goals raining in on either end uncannily resembled a similar fixture between these two teams at Goodison Park in the December 2006 during the 06/07 season save for the fact that on that occasion it was Chelsea who did the chasing coming from behind twice to tie the game before Didier Drogba scored arguably the goal of his career, a 40 yard volley over and beyond a retreating Tim Howard to complete a famous comeback and save Chelsea’s blushes. 

This time round it was the Blues who dropped the gauntlet early by shocking the Toffees with two quick goals in the opening 3 minutes of the game. Diego Costa opened his goal account and increased his haul for the season by beating Sylvain Distin from a through pass and clinically sliced the ball under an advancing Howard.

Costa,  a tailor made remedy for Chelsea’s goal scoring malaise from last season, was a menacing threat throughout with his intelligent runs into space a dream for any midfielder, with his ability to hold the ball well and also constantly harassing and bullying defenders into either making mistakes or surrendering possession.
If he stays healthy and maintains his fitness it’s not hard to imagine him terrorizing defenses in the division throughout the season with most Premier League managers probably already scratching their heads trying to formulate solutions on how to stop him. Despite missing two clear chances, his second goal was a beauty! He shuffled the ball under his feet; a nutmeg that took out and left both an advancing Howard and the chasing Distin sprawled on the turf off an Obi Mikel through ball for Chelsea’s sixth goal.

Coming off a great World cup in Brazil, American Tim Howard was guilty of poor goalkeeping and displayed one of his worst performances in recent memory with 3 of the 6 goals he conceded simply coming off poor spatial awareness and positioning, mistakes that Costa and company only gladly took advantage of!

Tim Howard had a game to forget, here losing his cool with Diego Costa

Chelsea on their part however were guilty of switching off when they sat back on going two up early which only played into Everton’s strengths. They ceded space and possession which the Toffees only gladly took advantage of camping on Chelsea’s half at the end of the first half before Kevin Mirallas' header from a cross flew beyond Courtois' flailing hands to half the deficit at the stroke of half time.

On a fair assessment both teams uncharacteristically made horrendous mistakes defensively and to be honest, all the nine goals scored were basically conceded off basic defensive lapses and blunders with the match seemingly resembling a Play Station game!

Diouf orchestrated the season's first major upset

In an earlier game involving the other title favourites, defending EPL Champions Manchester City simply had a bad day in office! They lost by a solitary goal to Stoke City from a solo run by Senegalese international Mame Biram Diouf for the first major upset of the season.
After a demolition job that saw them  crush Liverpool earlier in the week, this was simply one of those days that no matter how good a team is, every endeavor simply fails or falls short and in this case whatever Man City threw at Stoke simply wasn’t effective enough and the little that Stoke did offensively, well worked!

Di Maria gave a good account of himself

If Man City were having a bad day, cross town rivals Manchester United had agony piled on top of their misery when they were held to a nil nil draw away to the newly promoted Burnley. After a humiliating 4-0 midweek lose to third tier MK Dons, Red Devil fans cannot be blamed for expecting some redemption especially after the record breaking signing of Argentine forward Angel Di Maria from Spanish giants Real Madrid. Di Maria had a great game but it was the defensive side of things as has now become the norm that gave Man U fans anxious moments and probably has had them rushing to the pharmacy for anti-acids and painkillers to counteract the emotional stress caused by their beloved team.
Man U never looked like winning this tie and was lucky to have walked away with a draw. With the fear factor that was the Red Devil’s trademark for eons under Sir Alex Ferguson now a thing of the past, nowadays even minnows fancy their chances and routinely come ready to trade punches and take the game to Old Trafford outfit.

The entire Manchester United fraternity simply has no choice but to be patient and accord new manager Louis Van Gaal time and support to maneuver the team out of the current quagmire.

After their lose to MK Dons, the entire British Press trained their ire and threw barbs at Man U’s former iconic Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson blaming him for the club’s current situation and rightfully so. His post Cristiano Ronaldo signings were castigated, with his transfer policy in particular coming to question and is the reason, most now believe, that the club finds itself in its current predicament. 

Roy Keane's harsh inclinations and vilification of his boss' policies finally vindicated

Former iconic Captain and club legend, Irishman Roy Keane has thus been proven right, albeit a decade later. His harsh criticism then of his manager’s transfer policy deemed as treason was the reason for their fallout which led to his being booted out of the side engendering his early retirement from the game. His tough vilification at the time was due to signings which he deemed of low quality and undeserving of a place in a club of Manchester United’s caliber such as Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher, Wes Brown, O’Shea etc.
While I agree with this assessment Man U’s last signing of real quality was Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov although he flopped during his time at the club and didn’t live up to expectation.

With Sir Alex’s signings and transfer policy to blame which set up his successors for failure, it’s still a mystery how he was able to continuously milk out the best off the same squad, winning four Premier League titles and a Champions League within the period in question. Was he simply a great man manager and a motivator who brought out the best in his charges even the poorest of talent, or was it the so called “Fergie time” and the fear he instilled upon referees who yielded to his every wish and whim among other advantages as most rival managers long implied? 

LVG requires all the patience that Man U fans can muster

Only time will tell, in the mean time patience is of the essence as LVG masterminds a revival against near impossible odds and shepherds the club back to glorious ways.
In my humble opinion, even though Sir Alex Ferguson played a big part in the creating the current problems, I believe the acquisition of Manchester United PLC by the Glazer family was the root of the whole problem. On buying out the majority shares, they transferred all their debts from across the Atlantic putting Man U in a precarious position which limited Sir Alex Ferguson's options in the transfer market as far as having the ability to regularly fight it out with likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and later Man City (whom he christened the noisy neighbours) and PSG.

Liverpool did further damage at the White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspurs’ fans must by now be sick at the sight of Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool team that once again strutted into the White Hart Lane with their chins high and took the home side to the cleaners with a controlled performance, winning 3-0.
The return fixture last season which ended 5-0 in favour of the Merseyside outfit was the final straw that broke Tottenham’s back forcing the club to end Andres Villas Boas short tenure after a series of humiliating defeats. For a team seeking to redeem its pride, Spurs’ defending was simply shambolic and the Londoners were lucky not have conceded more goals. The mercurial Mario Balotelli made his long awaited debut missing a few close chances. On their part the Liverpool defense produced an improved performance from their horrors against Man City, shutting shop and providing Spurs with little space to maneuver. 

Leicester celebrate their shock equalizer

In the weekend's last EPL game before the league sojourns for the international break, despite having most of the possession Arsenal were held to a one all draw by one of newly promoted sides, Leicester away at the King Power Stadium. Leicester looked comfortable and seemed the least threatened or intimidated by their more fancied opponents. Leicester have proven a hard nut to crack in their first two games drawing Everton and pushing Chelsea all the way at Stamford Bridge so Arsenal's draw is not such a bad result.
With Giroud out due to an ankle injury that may see him make a return no sooner than November, a young Yaya Sanogo led the line and with Alexis Sanchez assuming a wide role on the right, a combination that didn't offer much of a punch and went cold after Sanchez's opener. The result and manner with which the game panned out however was further proof of Arsenal’s frailties and need to add strength and further depth with Arsene Wenger’s lack of urgency at the transfer market confounding most Gunners’ fans.

GAME OF THE WEEK: MANCITY DISPATCH BELOW PAR LIVERPOOL

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

MANCITY DISPATCH BELOW PAR LIVERPOOL

The red hot Stevan Jovetic flaunted City's embarrassing riches upfront

Manchester City subdued an enterprising Liverpool team dispatching them to the curb with a 3-1 win in the much awaited clash between last seasons’ top two EPL finishers.

Despite the score line, Liverpool were the more attacking of the two sides for most of the game and to emphasize how important Luiz Suarez had been to the Reds, they posed little threat offensively because they lacked the devastating focal point that the Uruguayan provided.

From the back on forward Liverpool’s movement was fluid and flawless for large swathes of the game but disintegrated in the last third largely due to City’s defensive formation and also new signing Fernando who as anchorman alongside Yahya Toure did quick work of disrupting the Red’s forays.

To emphasize City’s attacking strength, their first two goals scored by Stevan Jovetic came against the run of play with City on the back foot with the Reds pushing forward. 

Lovren's defending was woeful

Another interesting observation that should obviously unnerve Reds’ Coach Brendan Rodgers was the fact that his new central defensive signing Dejan Lovren, brought in to instill some steel was partly to blame or straight up culpable in all the three goals Liverpool conceded which would imply that they are far from resolving the defensive frailties that dogged them last season. Liverpool also urgently requires the services of a natural defensive midfielder as Captain Steven Gerrard is simply not a cut out for this role. If new signing, the mercurial Italian Mario Balotelli settles in and is able to keep his focus on the game, it will go a long way in providing the lethal precision required of a striker playing for a team at this level, Daniel Sturridge will simply not be able to carry the team on his own and provide goals the way Suarez did. 

Balotelli's signing should go a long way in helping Liverpool infront of goal

The one positive that Liverpool can take from this lose is that theirs is a team of the near future and the choice of bringing in a handful of new signings provides more of a potential than an instant readymade solution to their current situation. Lazar Markovic’s late substitution for Coutinho in particular sharpened the Red’s attack and instantly brought life. He showed plenty of promise with his intelligent runs as well as passes and his inclusion was the reason they got the consolation goal via Ricky Lambert who missed the opportunity to further cut City’s lead with easiest of chances when he came one on one against Joe Hart.

City barely shifted gears and the manner with which they won this clash implies that it will take a massive effort from the other title contenders to dethrone them from the summit.

Diego Costa broke down a stubborn Leicester

In other matches involving the other top four contenders Chelsea overcame a stubborn Leicester with two second half goals. After a subdued first half, the Blues came out firing on all cylinders after a half time dress down by Jose Mourinho.

Giroud scored the late equalizer but was guilty of many near misses

Arsenal gave a late fight coming from the jaws of death after conceding two first half goals away to Everton at the Goodison Park. With Lukaku as the tormentor in chief, the ease with which the Gunners conceded both goals suggests that further urgent work needs to be done in the transfer market before the close of the transfer window. A lumbering Jack Wilshire as anchorman in particular provided plenty of anxious moment with his lethargic play often losing concentration, barely provided accurate passes or any surge and was quite lucky not to have received a straight red card for a late studded lunge on Everton’s Garreth Barry. 

Wilshire's erratic form a problem area for the Gunners

Olivier Giroud’s inclusion for new signing Alexis Sanchez created focus with a big target man upfront but despite scoring the Gunners second goal and late equalizer, he fluffed three clear chances, two of which were one on one against Tim Howard in goal. If Arsenal is to challenge for the title, Wenger urgently and unreservedly needs to open the coffers and bring in more signings to strengthen his squad.

The one positive that the Gunners can take from this game is a new found fighting spirit and resolve which saw them come back from a near impossible position and salvage a point, important for the team’s overall character. If you consider the fact that Naysmith's second goal for Everton was a clear offside, Arsenal could perhaps have boasted of a famous comeback at the hostile Goodison Park!

Jack Rodwell's free header highlighted the Red Devil's defensive frailties

Manchester United on their part fought tooth and nail to achieve a one all draw away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Lights. Juan Mata scored an early goal against the run of play but it was the manner and ease with which the Black Cats equalized via a Jack Rodwell header from a corner that ominously illustrated how far Man U has fallen. A couple of seasons ago it would have been unfathomable to imagine scoring a free header against a resolute Red Devil defense.

Despite the impending signing of Real Madrid’s Argentine forward Angel Di Maria who will obviously add class and quality upfront, it’s the Red Devil’s defense that is giving Coach Louis Van Gaal sleepless nights and should be the priority before the close of the transfer window. What Manchester United requires urgently is a box to box midfielder, a holding midfielder and one more world class defender.