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.  

THE MOST INTRIGUING PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON YET!

Story written by Patrick Kamanga

MOST INTRIGUING PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON YET!

Jubilant Arsenal players after their Community Shield triumph over Man City

Arsenal won their second major title in 3 months when they systematically demolished and buried the defending English Premier League Champions Manchester City in the season opening Community Shield game last Sunday. Arsenal’s resounding 3-0 defeat of their more illustrious opponents not only asked many a question of the other title challengers but sent out their strongest statement of intent since their record setting title triumph way back in 2004.

With Manchester City winning the title last season at the wire, after a busy summer transfer period however, Chelsea comes in as many Premier League pundits’ title favourites and the team to beat in the new season. 

Chelsea's summer transfer bounty

Adding five big signings to a squad already bursting at the seams with a host of world class players, the blues have by far been the EPL’s busiest bodies at the transfer market bringing in Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Luiz Filipe, with loanee goalkeeper Thibout Courtois and club legend Didier Drogba both making a return to the club, which saw the Blues spend a staggering £80 million.

In the 25 year old Diego Costa, the blues have brought on board one of the top strikers in world football, whom along with Drogba and Fernando Torres complete a formidable trio giving the club plenty of options upfront and expected to curtail their impotence in front of goal last season. So deep was Jose Mourinho’s admiration of the Atletico Madrid squad and the compact nature of their Argentine Coach Diego Simeone’s style that if he could, he would have brought over most of the squad. He raided the Atletico camp and made off with left back Filipe Luiz, who comes in as a replacement for left back Ashley Cole who left for Italy’s Roma after an 8 year stint with Jose’s eyes still trained on Atletico’s central defender Miranda before the transfer market comes to a close. 

Blues in safe hands

 

Chelsea’s squad also boasts of three of the best goalkeepers in the world with the return of young Belgian Thibout Courtois who joins Peter Cech and Aussie Mark Schwazer thus ending his three year loan stint at Atletico, where he broke several records as well as ensured the title returned to the red side of the Spanish capital after an 18 year hiatus at Real and Barcelona. Mourinho’s predatory nature served the club well when he snapped up perhaps their biggest and most important purchase in former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas. Cesc is one of the best box to box midfielder in Europe, with a keen eye for goals and is one of the best passers of the ball in the modern game. He may well be the missing link, a creative spark that was so sorely missed throughout last season by the Stamford Bridge outfit as the Blues struggled to break down teams that sat deep and defended in numbers.

With the albatross of the “Financial Fair Play rule” hanging over their neck, Chelsea also maneuvered the high wire of the balance sheet by selling off world cup flop David Luiz for a record breaking £50million and ridding themselves of a nagging problem in the unpredictable and blunder prone defender as well as young Belgian Romelo Lukaku. Lukaku who has had run-ins with Jose as well as Belgium’s World cup coach Marc Wilmots was sold off to Everton for £28 million.

With Mourinho giving plenty of excuses last season, his “Little Horse” as he repeatedly referred to his team, is surely now a Championship winning “thoroughbred race horse” in the run up to the new season and he’ll have no-where to hide this time round if he fails to deliver on the ruthlessly demanding club owner, Russian Oligarch, Roman Abramovich’s huge investement!

No room for failure, there will be no-where to hide for the "special one"

Manchester City will be Chelsea’s biggest challengers with a squad oozing class and beaming with world class players. Adding to an already potent squad, the Sky Blue’s Chilean Coach Manuel Pelligrini snapped up the chance to bring former Gunner right back Bacary Sagna on a free, who deferred on a contract extension at Arsenal. 

 

Sagna’s quality will surely improve City’s back line which shipped in a huge amount of goals last season affecting their overall goal difference, partly due to their ultra-offensive style that mostly ensured they outscored most of their opponents. Though missing a few of their star players such as Captain Vincent Kompany and deadly striker Sergio Aguero, the team that paraded out for the Community Shield game was good enough to have given the Gunners a game to think about, many would argue but the manner and ease with which Arsenal carved open City implied something else. 

City's ageing squad in need of revamping

Under the Al Mansour family, the Abu Dhabi oil tycoons’ millions have continuously bankrolled City’s big money signings over the past several seasons, engendering their meteoric rise from also runs to the EPL’s summit in record time ensuring their second title in three years. Their preferred pickings have largely been the experienced, mature and proven players of quality from other teams at a premium. This simple tactic has however come back to bite them with the club incurring continental body U.E.F.A’s wrath, with heavy financial penalties and even transfer restrictions on new signings after defaulting on the Financial Fair Play rule.

This has left them no choice but to bring in Sagna on a free transfer as well as former Chelsea legend Frank Lampard who opted for an interim loan move before he embarks on an M.L.S career in New York next March. The take home message from their Community Shield lose is that City’s squad is ageing and desperately requires some serious infusion of youth, and soon!

Gunners are two players short of a serious title challenge

With their recent treasure trove of trophies, Arsenal comes in as the third best team overall after an impressive pre-season with the long suffering Gunner fans now near bursting with expectation after a long torturous decade that has seen them endure a long trophy drought.

Revenge is a dish best served cold as the saying goes. Arsenal lost out on their coveted signing of controversial Uruguayan striker Louis Suarez from Liverpool at the beginning of last season after Suarez allegedly got talked out of a potential move to the Emirate Stadium by team Captain Steven Gerrard.  Well, Liverpool’s lose in Suarez’s subsequent £70 million sale to Catalan giants Barcelona is Arsenal’s gain because the Uruguayan’s arrival at the Nou Camp meant that there would be no room for talented Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez, who would have fallen further down the pecking order. Sanchez quickly jumped at the opportunity to join Arsenal for £32 million, snubbing a move to Liverpool in the process opting for the glamour of the Capital rather than the Merseyside Port City.

Alexis Sanchez’s signing is a game changer and with Arsenal’s Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis assuring club fans last week that his signing is just but a tip of the ice berg with more movement expected before the close of the transfer market, with cash available after the club paid off the debt owed from the construction of their home ground. 

Alexis Sanchez, Gunner's X factor

Most connoisseurs of the game have assessed that Arsenal are two signings away from a Championship team and I couldn’t agree more! Wenger requires one world class central defender and an anchorman of equal caliber to guarantee a serious title challenge. A tough tackling and robust left back to cover for the feeble Kieran Gibbs would also help matters.

These three signings would ensure that the Gunners match the big boys who took them to the cleaners last season where Arsenal conceded a total of 17 goals against the top 5 teams with the holding midfielder and central defense as their most glaring weakness. Arsenal’s offensive depth will certainly send chills down the spine of most teams with Wenger spoilt for choice. With the likes of Wilshire, Ramsey, Carzola, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Giroud, Sanogo, Campbell and Sanchez, Arsenal’s offense will definitely turn most opposing managers red with envy! 

Acquisition of top fitness expert Forsythe, should resolve Arsenal's perennial injury woes

With nagging and niggling injuries the norm and an impediment in the past, Arsenal’s biggest and most important signing however is their summer acquisition of American fitness and conditioning expert, Shad Forsythe from World Champions the Die Manschafft! Forsythe had been one of a four member backroom team contracted by the German DFB from American Fitness experts EXOS for the World cup in Brazil. EXOS’ decade long association with the German national team introduced personalized systems and revolutionized their fitness, training, nutrition, and recovery methods, a major contributing factor in their World cup win in Brazil.

The Red Devils ready to prove the doubters wrong

Manchester United is an unknown quantity after last season’s tribulations and comes fourth alongside Liverpool. After a successful pre-season, where they won all their matches Man U’s biggest and most significant summer signing is their acquisition of Dutch Coach Louis Van Gaal. LVG brings with him a proven coaching acumen and a winning track record equaled by few. He has been triumphant on two stints at Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Ajax, AZ Alkmaar and the Dutch national team. 

Fresh from a World cup assignment where he masterminded one of Holland’s best ever showing guiding the “Oranje” to the World Cup semi-final, a proven motivator and strict disciplinarian, his rigid and no-nonsense style mirrors that of the long serving Coach Sir Alex Ferguson and is guaranteed to produce results.

With a host of experienced ageing players mainly defenders leaving and others coming on board, LVG has down played the Red Devil’s title credentials and instead emphasized patience on the part of their fans as he embarks on a massive reconstruction project. One area that he urgently needs to work on is rebuilding the defense after losing Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra. The trio’s combined experience surpasses 2000 games and has left a huge vacuum.

What will work to Man U’s favour will be their lack of continental commitments which means that they will garner all their energy on ensuring a top four finish at the very least. It will be interesting to see how LVG executes his preferred 3-5-2 system.

LVG's mentorship of Giggs, a big win win for the Red Devils

Another long term win for the Old Trafford outfit will be the positioning of the club’s longest serving player Ryan Giggs as LVG’s assistant. Under Van Gaal’s mentorship, Giggs will be learning from the best as Chelsea’s Mourinho can attest. The Portuguese tactician came out of his mould when he served as LVG’s assistant during his second stint at Barcelona, a transition period that brought on great players such as Xavi and Iniesta ushering in a new era at the Catalan club at the turn of the previous decade.

Liverpool almost brought the house down last season

Liverpool is treading on shaky ground after they sold their best player Louis Suarez to Barcelona. As the EPL’s top scorer and best player, Suarez single handedly carried the team scoring phenomenal goals as well as setting-up numerous assists for Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling. Even though the huge sale facilitated a hefty transfer war chest, replacing a player of Suarez’s quality is impossible!

Suarez impossible to replace

The other challenge for Liverpool will be that the many new players they’ve brought on board will need time to gel into the squad and with the club involved in both domestic and continental duty, the sheer volume of games will be their bane which may see them suffer as the long season takes its toll. Their transfer activities have seen them acquire quality players such as Dejan Lovren, Markovic, Emre Can, Ricky Lambert and most importantly Southampton’s talented England winger Adam Lallana. 

Barkley has thrived under Martinez

Everton and Tottenham will fight it off for the fifth place. Everton had an exceptional season the last time round as they were involved in the dog fight for the top four spots until late in the season. With Spaniard Roberto Martinez revolutionizing their game by building upon predecessor David Moyes’ defensive style and introducing a more care free, expressive and attack laden style that saw players such Belgian pair Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas and England’s best young attacking prospect Ross Barkley thrive and win admirers across the board in the process. 

Chelsea's lose is Everton's gain

Martinez grabbed on a great opportunity during the summer transfer window signing experienced anchorman Gareth Barry and the lethal striker Lukaku after both completed successful loan spells from Manchester City and Chelsea last season. The club’s form will also partly depend on the long term fitness of their ageing core of Gareth Barry, Steven Pienaar, Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin where playing on Thursday night in the Europa cup will surely test their mettle.

Much will depend on the fitness of Everton's ageing core

Tottenham went through one of their most turbulent periods finishing sixth last season. The protracted sale of star player Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a record breaking £85 million facilitated the acquisition of a host of players for the then Coach Andres Villas Boaz. AVB’s attempt at introducing a passing, pressing game with a high defensive line akin to Barcelona was an experiment that went horribly wrong!

 

This saw the Portuguese tactician get fired before the Christmas period with his assistant Tim Sherwood shepherding them to safety.

Their acquisition of Argentine Mauricio Pochettino’s as Coach from Southampton is expected to spark the North-Londoners to a much coveted top four finish. Pochettino recently led Spurs to a successful pre-season where they went undefeated. His relative success at Southampton has created plenty of expectation with Spur’s obvious superior squad quality compared to his previous employers the reason for the new found optimism.

Spurs biggest summer signing, Coach Pochettino

At the other end of the spectrum the newly promoted sides Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City and Burnley will make things quite interesting. The second tier Championship league winners Leicester will bring along a squad short on Premier league experience. If they maintain the form that saw them surmount the Championship scoring a blistering 83 goals, winning 31 games in the process, then they will ask many a question of the more established teams. One of their key players to watch will be Kasper Schmeichel, son of Man U legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who has matured into a fine specimen in his own right.

Burnley will face a baptism of fire when they face the full might of title favourites Chelsea who visit the Turf Moor Stadium on Monday night. Burnley has a strong team mentality and plays a compact pressing game. Considering how Chelsea struggled against teams that sat back and packed numbers, Monday’s game will be quite interesting and will be a strong test and an indicator as to whether the Blues have resolved their striking problems. 

Rednapp and Hoddle two of the best football brains in English football

Of the three promoted teams, Queens Park Rangers have the best prospects with former Manchester United Captain Rio Ferdinand as their big signing reuniting with his former Coach at West Ham Harry Rednapp. Another interesting acquisition is that of former England star and World cup Coach Glenn Hoddle who along with Rednapp completes a formidable bench full of experience that should steward QPR’s return through the turbulent waters of the Premiership.

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?