Africa expected more from Mazembe
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 December 19, 2009
The Fifa Club World Cup comes to an end tonight with a dream finale between Barcelona and Estudiantes.
All of the soccer fraternity is expecting a feast of action as is the custom whenever representatives of Europe face their counterparts from South America.
And while almost everyone is busy with the final, Gulf News got a call from an angry African reader in Kenya who was not at all happy with the performances of Mazembe, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the championship. He said that they humiliated African soccer and did not show the real standards of the game in Africa, which boasts of hosting all Fifa major tournaments this year and next year — with Egypt hosting the Under-20 World Cup, Nigeria the Under-17 World Cup and South Africa the 2010 World Cup.
"Mazembe lost against minor teams from New Zealand, a country where soccer is rated third after rugby and cricket. The players of Auckland City club were semi-professional and the Oceania Zone have got only half a seat in the finals of the World Cup compared with five seats for Africa. It is very humiliating to see the CAF Champions losing to them," our reader said.
Repeating mistakes
"They say experience allows you to learn from your mistakes, but Mazembe have repeated all the mistakes they committed in their first match against Pohang, especially in regards to applying the one-line defence which was penetrated by both the Koreans and the New Zealanders dozens of times without their technical staff changing the strategy. It was frustrating to see the team lose its lead twice in both matches and fail to represent the real progress African soccer has achieved in recent years.
"Yes, they played with a man less, and the referee was unfair in sending their custodian, but that is not an excuse for losing to Oceania. They should have been able to beat them despite that. All the African clubs in the previous versions of the tournament have done better. I hope that the CAF will investigate the real reasons behind the poor results and performances of their representatives in this championship," he said.
===
To the reader, I say this:
Ever heard of rugby sevens? Lay off the coffee and divert your interest to your national team. Because nobody cares.
Wanker.
All of the soccer fraternity is expecting a feast of action as is the custom whenever representatives of Europe face their counterparts from South America.
And while almost everyone is busy with the final, Gulf News got a call from an angry African reader in Kenya who was not at all happy with the performances of Mazembe, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the championship. He said that they humiliated African soccer and did not show the real standards of the game in Africa, which boasts of hosting all Fifa major tournaments this year and next year — with Egypt hosting the Under-20 World Cup, Nigeria the Under-17 World Cup and South Africa the 2010 World Cup.
"Mazembe lost against minor teams from New Zealand, a country where soccer is rated third after rugby and cricket. The players of Auckland City club were semi-professional and the Oceania Zone have got only half a seat in the finals of the World Cup compared with five seats for Africa. It is very humiliating to see the CAF Champions losing to them," our reader said.
Repeating mistakes
"They say experience allows you to learn from your mistakes, but Mazembe have repeated all the mistakes they committed in their first match against Pohang, especially in regards to applying the one-line defence which was penetrated by both the Koreans and the New Zealanders dozens of times without their technical staff changing the strategy. It was frustrating to see the team lose its lead twice in both matches and fail to represent the real progress African soccer has achieved in recent years.
"Yes, they played with a man less, and the referee was unfair in sending their custodian, but that is not an excuse for losing to Oceania. They should have been able to beat them despite that. All the African clubs in the previous versions of the tournament have done better. I hope that the CAF will investigate the real reasons behind the poor results and performances of their representatives in this championship," he said.
===
To the reader, I say this:
Ever heard of rugby sevens? Lay off the coffee and divert your interest to your national team. Because nobody cares.
Wanker.
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