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.

PRECISION ENGINEERED GERMAN FOOTBALL FINALLY DISPATCHES WOEFUL BRAZIL!

Story by Patrick Kamanga

PRECISION ENGINEERED GERMAN FOOTBALL FINALLY DISPATCHES WOEFUL BRAZIL!

No where to hide

Records are set to be broken and history can always be re-written!

What the whole world witnessed at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte Brazil can’t be simply described as “earth shaking” but more correctly as a “mass soccer continental plate tectonic shift” that saw the realignment of “the football constellations!”

The last time Brazil suffered such a huge defeat was a 5-0 loss to Uruguay in 1920 while the last home lose was a 3-1 defeat to Peru, coincidentally at Belo Horizente in 1975.

Well Germany had other ideas. 
Both records were under review and the Nationalmannschaft went about ruthlessly ending and shredding Brazil’s 68 game unbeaten run on home soil.

The world cringed in disbelief as the much taunted German machine finally came out firing on all cylinders, producing a breathtaking show on cold calculated passing, precise execution and ruthless finishing. 

A nation in mourning, the ghosts of 1950 evoked and their skeletons exhumed

The once mighty Brazilian Selecao which mesmerized and dazzled the world with beautiful football a generation ago, now an ebbing memory, capitulated and got vanquished in a merciless fashion.

Brazil losing the game was not surprising, keen observers had sensed it coming but it’s the manner and ease with which the German Juggernaut went about executing its show of carnage.

This eon ending show was symbolic similar, to Spain’s crash landing fiasco earlier in the tournament.

In hind sight, even if talismanic Neymar and the resolute Thiago Silva had been in the field it would have mattered little nor made much difference; the result would have still been the same, albeit with a much decent score line of 3 or 4 goals.

Brazil survived Croatia by the referee’s graces, rode their luck against Chile via a penalty shootout, and against Colombia won by sheer attrition and distraction but they had nowhere to hide against Germany.

Their every flaw or weakness was exposed then exploited mercilessly and with industrial precision.

The German “Empire” has finally been established. This is the beginning of a long dynasty that is not shy at “laying down the law” or reading “the riot act” to those who dare raise a finger of objection.

On a more serious note, what the world witnessed however was the culmination of 12 years worth of hard work and effort by the Germans.

After what they described as their weakest and most shambolic show by any German team ever at the 2002 World cup in Korea/ Japan where they lost a one sided show to Brazil, with the goalkeeping heroics of Oliver Kahn preventing total annihilation and kept the score line decent, Germany’s soccer fathers had seen enough. The German football authorities and stakeholders went back to the drawing board determined to make deep rooted changes.

They completely reorganized every facet of their game, re-writing and harmonizing the national youth system’s syllabus and streamlining how their club sides across the board managed their finances.

Talk about re-building from the ground up.

The Sami Khedira, Mesut Orzil, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng etc generation were the prototypes and hence first from the production line in this new initiative at South Africa 2010.

In the words of the German Football Federation, the D.F.B’s Chief adviser and former national team Captain of 2 World cup campaigns, Paul Breitner, Germany had to re-evaluate and reconsider their old Sweeper System.

The Sweeper system also known as the Libero system, had been a 1960’s Italian invention that the Germans took to heart in the early 1970’s which served them well and was the system that saw them sweep all opposition as World cup hosts in 1974 and Bayern Munich’s European Club Champions (predecessor to modern day U.E.F.A Champions League) treble winning feat between 1974-76.

This system also saw Germany make it all the way to 3 consecutive World cup finals appearances in 1982 and 1986 culminating in their triumph in Italia 1990.

They struggled through the 90’s decade exiting at the quarter finals stage in 1994 and ’98, finally making it back to the World cup final in 2002 against Brazil.

That loss to Brazil was a “watershed” moment in German football history, which not only signaled the end of an era but an opportunity at re-invention and rejuvenation.

From adversity came re-birth.

With Bayern Munich as the live laboratory where new ideas are tried, tested and perfected before large scale adaptations are made, the next stage of Germany's metamorphosis was when Dutchman Louis Van Gaal was hired as coach in 2009.

Van Gaal’s choice for appointment was not a coincidence but a deliberate and calculated move having served as coach on two separate stints at F.C Barcelona.

The Spaniards had twice humiliated the Germans; first when Spain outplayed Germany in the one sided affair at the finals of the Euro 2008, closely followed by Barcelona’s crushing defeat inflicted upon German Champions Bayern Munich at the quarter finals of the U.E.F.A Champions League in 2008-09 season.

Van Gaal had therefore been hired to stop this pattern and change this trend while addressing Spain’s dominance over Germany. This experiment failed due to Van Gaal’s indomitable personality and insistence on doing things his way culminating in his firing after only one season.

Normal service was resumed when the two sides met yet again at the semi finals of the World cup in South Africa, with Spain exhibiting a show on spot the ball and catch me if you can!

German football redemption finally started taking shape when the nation’s two leading clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund completely pulverized to smithereens both Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid at the semi finals of the Champions league in May 2013.

Bayern Munich subsequently won the continental diadem under Jupp Heinckes but upped the ante by hiring Barcelona’s iconic coach and faithful son of Catalunya, Josep “Pep” Guardiola at the advent of the 2013-14 season.

Germany’s football fathers' vision of merging the natural abilities of their footballers and the sublime technical abilities of the Spaniards, finally saw their dream realized as their baby, the German machine finally took its rightful position by booking the nation’s 8^th World cup final appearance with a resounding 7-1 win over the hosts that can only be described as a massive continental shift of geological proportions at Brazil 2014!

Coach Phil Scolari earnestly begged his nation for forgiveness

There's an adage that says "the night is darkest just before day break"

The question is with their nation in mourning like it did in 1950, will Brazilian football languish in defeat or will it seize this opportunity and deem it as chance at making radical surgery and much needed changes to it's ailing game now on its death bed?