Sports
2010 W/Cup: Whither Africa’s Soccer?
The ongoing World Cup football tournament in South Africa entered its crucial stage on June 27 when 16 nations qualified into the second round of the global soccer competition.
The thrills and excitements of the world’s foremost soccer tourney have been remarkable, although the performances of five out of the six African nations that started the 32-nation championship have been dismal, resulting in their early exit.
Only the “Black Stars” of Ghana qualified into the round of 16 and carried the banner to the last seconds of the quarter final clash with Uruguay.
Expectedly, the crash of Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and South Africa has dominated discussions and analyses by soccer pundits on radio and TV talk shows in Pretoria, South Africa.
Many of them — former soccer stars who played for their countries at different points in time — are quite unhappy about the fate of African teams at the championships.
Lucas Radebe, a former captain of the South African national team, “Bafana Bafana’’, could not hide his feelings about the poor performance of African teams at the World Cup competition.
According to him, the dismal showing reveals that African countries have not prepared well for the championship.
“It’s indeed a sad commentary for the continent that only Ghana could make it to the next group stage.
“May be, we should start re-thinking our strategy for future tournaments through early preparations,’’ he says.
Abedi “Pele’’ Ayew, a former captain of the “Black Stars’’, Ghana’s national team, says that most African teams lacked tactical discipline.
“The teams lack the ability to finish in front of open nets. The players created so many chances to score but wasted them eventually.
“It is a different thing for the South American and European teams who made good use of their own chances,” he says.
Abedi suggests that handlers of the African teams should improve on their tactical approach to the game, to make them excel in the future.
Former Super Eagles captain, Austin “Jay-Jay’’ Okocha, shares the sentiments of Radebe and Pele regarding the shortcomings of the African teams.
To him, early preparations and harnessing the potential of the abundant young talents constitute one way of ensuring that African teams excel in international tournaments like the World Cup.
“We need to prepare early for this kind of tournament. We also need to hunt for young talents on the continent and groom them in good time to mature for this kind of engagement,’’ Okocha says.
Another problem area identified by these analysts is soccer maladministration which, they say, has negatively affected the development of the game of football in Africa.
Mr Oliver Madiba, a resident of Durban in Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa, laments that football administrators in Africa do not initiate and operate follow-up programmes to develop the game.
“Football administrators lack continuity in their planning. In the period of ten years, for instance, some countries have had ten managers or coaches who handled their national teams.
“Also, you find a situation where youth programmes are not followed up and talents discovered from such programmes are sometimes left to roam around, seriously wasted,’’ he says.
Ike Anyene, Chairman of the Nigerian Union in Gauteng Province in South Africa, re-echoes Madiba’s sentiments.
He says that Nigeria, in particular, lacks the spirit of continuity in football administration.
“Can you imagine that a new manager was recruited to handle the national team just three months to the World Cup? Were we then expecting him to perform wonders?’’ he asks.
“Certainly, it is not possible to expect much from him,’’ he asserts.
Anyene also regrets that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has not been able to effectively mobilise the abundant soccer talents that had been discovered in the past and groom them for future championships.
“I am aware that members of the national Under-17 team that represented the country in the last FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament, which was hosted by Nigeria, remain largely unutilised.
“I urge the NFF to keep these boys together for the next CAF and FIFA U-20 tournaments and possibly use them for the 2014 World Cup that is scheduled to hold in Brazil.
“It looks like an uphill task but any purposeful football federation can do it and I bet you, they will get good results from the strategy,’’ Anyene says.
Another Nigerian, Osadebe Ibegbu, who is Chairman of the Nigerian Union in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, says that the poor outing of the Super Eagles calls for sober reflections, with a view to ensuring better planning in the future.
“Indeed, the entire Nigerian community in Durban was not happy that the team could not win its last match against Korea, to qualify to the round of 16.
“It is now up to the NFF to re-plan their strategy for all future international engagements and the time to do it is now,’’ Ibegbu says.
Radebe, the ex-skipper of “Bafana Bafana’’, wants the issue of coaches and technical managers for Africa’s national teams to be decisively addressed
While some support the deployment of indigenous coaches, others express preference for foreign ones, who they think are technically superior and better exposed.
A female analyst, Christiana Buthulezi from Bloemfontein in the
Free State Province, says that she prefers indigenous coaches who could communicate with their players in languages that their opponents would not understand.
Other analysts, however, say that there are brighter prospects for African teams in future championships, if they learn to put their acts together through early preparations.
They also underscore the wisdom in grooming young talents for the national teams of countries.
They point at the Ghanaian example of harnessing young talents as an illustration, stressing that the young footballers collectively saw Ghana through to the second round of the ongoing World Cup tournament.
Nine of the Black Stars graduated into squad from Ghana’s U-20 team, the analysts note.
Mboye writes for NAN
Mike Mbonye
Tottenham fought back from two-goals down to secure a deserved point against Brighton.
The Seagulls were second best for much of the match but found themselves 2-0 up after 31 minutes thanks to Yankuba Minteh’s early strike and Yasin Ayari’s powerful drive.
However, Richarlison halved the deficit just before half-time when he stopped a shot by Mohammed Kudus before slotting in.
Spurs dominated the second half but their finishing let them down as Richarlison and substitute Xavi Simons were both unable to make the most of promising opportunities.
But the equaliser came eight minutes from time when Jan Paul van Hecke turned Kudus’ cross into his own net.
Spurs then pushed for a winner as they looked to continue their impressive start to the season, but Brighton held on for the point.
Bundesliga: Kane Continues Goal Harvest (5)
Harry Kane scored his second hat-trick of the season as Bayern Munich overcame a shaky start to win at Hoffenheim and continue their 100% start.
The England captain, 32, broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a clinical first-time finish from a cleverly worked low corner, and doubled Bayern’s lead from the spot after Albian Hajdari was harshly penalised for a handball.
That broke Hoffenheim’s resistance and Kane completed his ninth Bundesliga hat-trick with another penalty, given for a foul on substitute Michael Olise after a video assistant referee (VAR) check.
This time Kane sent home keeper Oliver Baumann the wrong way for his 13th Bayern goal in seven matches across all competitions this season, adding to his Champions League double against Chelsea last Wednesday.
“Hat-trick Harry is what they called me in school,” Kane told Tidesports source after the match. “That one kind of stuck when I was younger.”
“Any ball in the box, whether penalty or not, I back myself to hit the target.”
Hoffenheim had the better of the first 45 minutes, Fisnik Asllani only able to hit the post after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer passed straight to the Kosovan.
They eventually got some reward for their efforts, former West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal’s deflected free-kick beating Neuer to earn the Czech his first goal for the club.
Ex-Liverpool winger Luis Diaz hit the top of the bar late on as he failed to continue his record of scoring in every Bundesliga game this season, but Serge Gnabry added a fourth for Bayern with the last kick, converting a rebound from a tight angle after Baumann saved from Joshua Kimmich.
Nicolas Jackson made his first start since joining Bayern on an initial loan deal from Chelsea, but the Senegal striker had a very quiet game before being replaced in the 62nd minute.
In Italy, Lorenzo Pellegrini fired Roma into the Serie A top four as Lazio had two players sent off in a fiery derby.
The midfielder found the bottom corner in the 38th minute as Roma extended their unbeaten run to four games against their city rivals.
Lazio have lost three of their opening games of the season and had Reda Belahyane and former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi dismissed in late drama.
Roma started well and Rome-born Pellegrini claimed the vital goal – his fourth in a Rome derby after being available for transfer in the summer – following good work down the right by Matias Soule.
But the hosts will rue missed opportunities as Boulaye Dia, Mattia Zaccagni and Alessio Romagnoli all had openings.
With four minutes left substitute Belahyane was shown a red card for a late studs-up challenge on Manu Kone.
Danilo Cataldi struck the outside of the post for Lazio in a last-gasp effort to snatch a point, while team-mate Guendouzi was sent off for dissent after the final whistle.
Luca Zidane, the son of France’s World Cup-winning playmaker Zinedine, has switched his international allegiance from France to Algeria.
Born just outside Marseille, the 27-year-old goalkeeper had appeared for France at various youth levels.
The move, which was approved by Fifa, may enable Zidane to follow in his father’s footsteps by appearing at a World Cup, with Algeria expected to secure a place at the 2026 finals in North America in their qualifier against Somalia next month.
Zidane, who is the second of four brothers, all of whom came through the Real Madrid academy, currently plays for Spanish second tier side Granada.
He played two matches for Madrid and has La Liga experience at Rayo Vallecano, but dropped a level in 2022 to play for Eibar before heading to Andalusia in 2024.
Zidane qualifies for the North African country through his father, whose parents hailed from the Kabylie region of Algeria.
Zinedine Zidane, who is regarded as one of the games greatest players scored twice for France in their 1998 World Cup final victory over Brazil, but was famously sent-off in the 2006 final, which was won by Italy after a penalty shootout.
Manchester United capitalised on Robert Sanchez’s fifth-minute red card to secure a crucial victory over Chelsea in torrential rain at Old Trafford.
The first match in Premier League history to see two or more goals, red cards and substitutions in the first half was settled by goals from United skipper Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro, who was the other player sent off before the break.
It was Sanchez’s dismissal that set the course of the game though.
The Spain international raced from his goal to meet Bryan Mbeumo as the striker ran beyond the Chelsea defence.
Sanchez then upended the forward outside his area rather than allow him past to tap the ball into an empty net.
Enzo Maresca’s response to the red card was to take off both Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian and, as Cole Palmer had to be replaced after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury, Chelsea had lost three attacking players in the space of 20 minutes.
Trevor Chalobah pulled one back for Chelsea with a header 10 minutes from time but United kept their nerves at bay to make it to the final whistle with their lead intact.
The victory was United’s second of the season and came in front of minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who gave head coach Ruben Amorim assurances over his future 48 hours earlier.
It also means Chelsea have still not won at Old Trafford since 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson was United manager.
-
Maritime2 days ago
Minister Tasks Academy On Thorough-Bred Professionals
-
Maritime2 days ago
Customs Cautions On Delayed Clearance, Says Consignees May Lose Cargo
-
Maritime2 days ago
NCS Sensitises Stakeholders On Automated Overtime Cargo Clearance System
-
Maritime2 days ago
Lagos Ready For International Boat Race–LASWA
-
Maritime2 days ago
Shoprite Nigeria Gets New Funding to Boost Growth, Retail Turnaround
-
Politics2 days ago
I Would Have Gotten Third Term If I Wanted – Obasanjo
-
Sports2 days ago
Bournemouth, Newcastle Share Points
-
Sports2 days ago
Iwobi Stars As Fulham Overcome Brentford