African football weekly review 21st February – 27th February 2012
Herve Renard’s cheeky grin, bright white shirts and furious bawls at perenially offside strikers are now a distant memory. Nevertheless, the wheels of African football continue to grind along, domestic leagues are in full swing from Lubumbashi to Nairobi, and the heroes (and villains) of the Cup of Nations are back with their respective European, Asian and African clubs. So, here we are, Spirit of Mirko’s second weekly African football review (most likely to return at the start of April as a monthly review!). In the review we take a look at some of the unsung African heroes around the footballing globe.
Team of the Week
African team of the week
An unlikely hero wins a place in goal for the team of the week. Ismail Kouha who plays for Moroccan side Maghreb Fes started the game on the bench for his club in the CAF Super Cup final, but was called into action when Anas Zniti was injured in a collision with an opposition forward. The Moroccan custodian became an unexpected hero with the Moroccan CAF Confederation Cup winners winning a penalty shootout against the CAF Champions League winners Esperance of Tunis.
Ibrahima Gueye scored KSC Lokeren’s fifth goal against KV Kortrijk. The 34 year old Senegalese defender only came on in the 83rd minute but made a quick impact scoring two minutes into injury time.
Tunisian defender Aymen Abdennour scored the opening goal for Toulouse against relegation threatened Sochaux. Toulouse won the game 2-0 and are now 7th in Ligue 1 only six points behind Lille in the third Champions League place.
In the Champions League Senegal’s Souleymane Diawara kept a clean sheet against Italian giants Inter. His French club Marseille won the game 1-0.
Moving into the midfield and we have Monaco’s Morroccan midfielder Nabil Darir. He scored the equaliser for the Ligue 2 side against Laval in the 32nd minute. His club went on to win the tie 2-1 with a goal 8 minutes from the end. It was a much needed victory for Monaco who are struggling in France’s second tier this season.
In the second tier in Germany Marcel N’Djeng scored a late third goal for Ausburg angainst Hertha Berlin in a 3-0 victory for the German side. It was the Cameroonian‘s first goal of the season.
Back into Belguim, and back to Lokeren where South African Ayanda Patosi scored for Lokeren in their win over KV Kortrijk. Patosi opened the scoring in the 16th minute, six goals were to follow in what turned out to be an entertaining 5-2 victory for his club.
As usual we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to African stikers making their mark on the footballing world. And moving back into Africa, a familiar face makes it into the team of the week. Benni McCarthy of Orlando Pirates scored a marvellous overhead kick for his club in a rip-roaring 4-3 victory. The South African is playing back in his homeland of South Africa.
Nigerian international Peter Odimwinge is another obvious choice in the African team of the week. He scored a goal in each half for struggling West Brom against Sunderland at the Hawthorns.
Another Nigerian (this time making waves in France) is John Utaka. His solitary stirke was enough to see Montpellier claim all three points at home to Bordeaux. His side find themselves in a surprising first place in Ligue 1 with a dozen or so games left of the French season.
And completing the line-up is Andre Ayew who scored a late, late goal for Marseille against Inter in the Champions League this week. The Ghanaian international scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to hand his side a narrow 1-0 advantage to take into the second leg at the San Siro.
Goal of the Week
Egypt’s fifth goal against Kenya
List of the week
African clubs with “Sugar” in their name
- Kagera Sugar (Tanzania)
- Mtibwa Sugar (Tanzania)
- Fincha Sugar (Ethiopia)
- Metehara Sugar (Ethiopia)
- Wonji Sugar (Ethiopia)
- Chemelil Sugar (Kenya)
- Sony Sugar (Kenya)
- Kinyara Sugar (Uganda)