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Argentina kills Africa’s Second gold hopes

Angel Di Maria Scored a stunning 58th minute goal to give Argentina a 1-0 win over Nigeria in the finals of the Olympics on last Saturday. Angel, who was guilty of missing two remarkable penalties in an earlier preliminary rounds match against Serbia got a very sweet through pass from Barcelona’s Lionel Messi to tuck the ball into an empty net, chipping it past an advancing Ambruse Vanzekin and sending Argentinian fans into an ecstatic celebration.

The match was played at the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing China. The win denied Nigeria a second gold medal in the Olympics Football Finals. Nigeria coincidentally won the gold medal in 1996 when they beat Argentina 3-2 in the finals.

The hot weather conditions in Beijing did little to take away the entertaining final which saw both teams playing an attacking game with so much flair and purpose. But the Nigerian defence was caught very high up in the pitch in the second half allowing Messi’s split pass on the left side set up Angel Di Maria for a date with Amruse. He did not dissapoint. He was the instant hero after scoring the only goal of the match which proved very valuable as Argentina walked away with the gold medal.

Nigerian Coach, Samson Siassia and his entire technical bench and playing unit were so devastated by the defeat but had to contend with settling for a silver medal.

Hooliganism comes back to haunt Kenyan Football

We had thought that the days of crowd trouble were gone! We said it too soon. Yesterday, Sunday saw the monster, that is hooliganism came back to haunt our Kenyan Premier League. That was the ugly scene that brought the KPL league match between Mathare United and Gor Mahia at the Nyayo National Stadium to a premature end.

Trouble started when Gor Mahia fans accused the referee of making decisions which they thought were unfair towards their team. They threatened to rough him up and started streaming dowm the stands.

This happened when Mathare was leading by a goal to nil courtesy of a free kick scored by Austin Makacha in the first half. Gor supporters protested against what they termed as poor officiating.

The referees failed to come out of their dressing room in the second half citing insecurity. The home team is normally responsible for making sure that security measures are put in place and regular policemen available during all their Premier League matches. Gor were the home team. The match commissioner Mr Anangwe had no choice but to discontinue the game. Both teams had gone back to the field for the second half but after waiting for the whistlers for the more than 25 minutes they were told that the game had been called off.

On his part, the Mathare United Coach, Francis Kimanzi told journalists in an interview after the game how dissapointed and sad he was that crowd trouble had come back to haunt our local league. He wanted a result after 90 minutes and never expected this to happen. He urged Club supporters to stop causing abandonment of matches through crowd trouble. Kimanzi maintains a slim lead at the top of the Premier League and it seems the title will be decided in the last matches as Sony Sugar is trailing them by a point.

Now the Kenyan Premier League Independent Disciplinary and Appeals Committee on Appeals will decide on the next course of action about the match. Most likely Gor Mahia will be heavily fined for failing to arrange for security and for the trouble caused by their fans.

Sher Karuturi Hits KCB

In the KPL last Saturday’s fixtures Sher Karuturi grabbed a vital three points in a match against Kenya Commercial Bank Played at the Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday. The only goal of the match was scored through a penalty after KCB’s dependable defender, Pascal Ochieng handled the ball in the penalty area when he tried to stop a header from Sher’s Jacob Omondi.

Sher’s Peter Juma maintained a cool head when he stepped forward and converted the penalty in the 41st minute. Sher’s Coach, James Nandwa who is also the Harambee Stars’ assistant coach praised his players for a well fought out match. Yusuf Chippo, the KCB coach rued missed chances in  a hotly contested game.

It was a match that saw the two current assistant coaches of the Kenyan national team assistant coaches face each other. The match was played at neckbreaking speed and kept the few fans that came to the match on their feet throughout the whole game.

In another Premier League match, Mathare Youth continued their downward spiral while they fell 3-1 against a Bandari side which played with more purpose. The match was played at the Kasarani Stadium. Bandari’s goals were scored by Kevin Ngugi, Andeso Evans and Musa Abdul. Mathare got their consolation goal through Phillip Ouma. The loss left Mathare youth hanging dangerously in the second bottom. But the Mathare Youth Coach, Gabriel Njoroge says his team will bounce back and will never be relegated. Mathare Youth has not been lucky of late as they have one of the most entertaining and very young players in the current Kenya Premier League.

KNVB, Kalusha Foundation, KISE and MYSA train Mozambican Female Coaches

Curtains fell on the 13th of August 2008 on a day that saw the closing ceremony of two very successful coaching courses in Mozambique. The courses made history as they were the first ever female coaching courses to be held in Mozambique. A total of 59 coaches were trained in two different courses.

The courses were organised courtesy of the Royal Netherlands Football Association, Women Win, Nike, The Mutola Foundation, the Olympic Solidarity and the Mozambican Football Association.

Hesterine de Reus and Sandra Awondatu from the Royal Netherlands Football Association, Peter Serry from Kenya Institute of Soccer Education, Enala Phiri from Kalusha Foundation of Zambia and Martha Karimi from Mathare Youth Sports Association formed a very strong instructors team which led the courses.

Hesterine de Reus, an experiences female instructor and Head Coach of the Dutch Female U17 national team was the course leader in the first course while Peter Serry, the Founder and instructor of the Kenya Institute of Soccer Education led the second course.

Most of the participants who attended the courses were primary and secondary school teachers. The first course was done in the Province of Nampula from the 25th of July to the 1st August 2008 of and drew coaches from over 5 provinces. The provinces included Tete, Zambezia, Cape Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa.

The courses were conducted in English and translated into Portuguese by Mr Martinho Fernandes from the Mozambican FA.

The second course was done in the Province of Inhambane and drew coaches from Inhambane, Maputo, Maputo Province, Manica, Sofala, Gaza and Maputo Cidade Provinces.

The female coaches showed a lot of enthusiasm and, given the support they can be able to become very good coaches in future. Not many female coaches are involved in coaching teams in Mozambique. These newly trained coaches have vowed to put what they learnt in the courses into practice by taking the lead in starting to coach teams of different age groups.

The participants were given footballs at the end of the course to enable them have at least a few balls to use in coaching their teams. They were also awarded with participation certificates from the Royal Netherlands Football Association.

The Standard: “Tusker out to reclaim title”

Regional club champions, Tusker FC, announced they would now shift focus on the local league.

The brewers announced this upon arrival from Dar es Salaam on Tuesday night.

Tusker, who won the Kenya Premier League (KPL) last season, are placed sixth, but coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee believes he has what it takes to reclaim the top spot and clinch the KPL title.

“We have missed a number of matches while we were away for the East and Central Africa Club Championships. We are now shifting our focus to the local league.

“Mathare United have only been warming the seat. I believe we are going to reclaim the top spot in a few weeks,” said Mulee.

Tusker have 21 points from 13 matches behind leaders Mathare United, Sony Sugar, World Hope, Sher Karuturi and KCB. The brewers will take on Naivasha-based Sher Karuturi in their next fixture on Saturday.

“Having been crowned the regional champions, we expect stiff challenge from our opponents. We are ready for the challenges ahead and I am sure our first match against Sher on Saturday will be tricky since the players are fatigued. We expect to dominate the rest of our fixtures,” said Mulee. Mulee added he had discovered a winning team and lauded his new signings for fitting well in the team to steer them to victory in the regional event after seven years.

Tusker signed international midfielder Osborne Monday from Oman’s Al Shabaab, Oscar Kadenge from Uganda’s SC Villa, Bonface Otieno from Rwanda’s APR and Kenneth Wendo from Mathare Youth, all who played a major role at the Championships.

“I have a young team with an average age of 23. We have discovered a winning formula and we are now not going to look back,” added Mulee.

Meanwhile, Tanzania champions, Yanga, have shown interest in signing Tusker’s defender, Joseph Shikokoti. According to the club’s secretary, Lucas Kisasa, they are offering Tsh 50 million (Sh2.9m) for the Kenyan international. When contacted for comment, Shikokoti said the club had not contacted him.

“We had scouts during the regional tournament and one of the impressive players spotted is Joseph Shikokoti. Since we are preparing for the CAF Champions League, we will need quality players in the team,” said Kisasa.

By James Waindi

Source: http://www.eastandard.net/sports/InsidePage.php?id=1143991264&cid=38&

Ghost’s Eyes

- Underdogs Tusker surprised many by clinching Cecafa Cup

By JACOB MULEE

When Tusker left Nairobi for the Cecafa tournament nobody expected them to go past the first round.

Perhaps with the recent performances in the Kenyan Premier League coupled with the replacement of their coach in the national team little was expected of them.

When they beat Simba Sports Club in the opening match it was perceived as a fluke and the doubting Thomases had their doubts confirmed when Tusker lost 3-1 to Vital’O of Burundi.

After the first round matches in group A, all the teams were at three points and were all faced with the risk of elimination in the case they lost the next match.

Benadir of Somalia were the surprise winners in the first match against Vital O and at some point they were dubbed favorites to qualify from the group.

Simba struggled to overcome Benadir but got it right towards the end of first half though the goal was said to have been scored through the ‘hand of god’.

Then it was Tusker’s turn to dispatch Benadir by the same margin and it was a clear statement that what Simba does Tusker could also do.

Simba showed their experience and intentions of going all to way by eliminating the strong Vital’O 2-0 in the final group match to top the group with the same number of points as Tusker but with a superior goal difference.

The quarters were very interesting in the sense that by coincidence the two Tanzanian teams (Simba and Yanga) avoided each.

Simba were the first qualifiers to the semis and Yanga, their fierce archrivals also made it to the last four by eliminating APR of Rwanda. URA of Uganda and Tusker completed the list of the last four. The first upset was the elimination of Simba by URA followed by the heartbreaking defeat of Yanga by Tusker, who were improving in every match.

The mood in Dar es Saalam changed from a very noisy and vibrant football crazy town to a quiet solemn city after reality dawned that no Tanzanian team would be in the finals. That meant the Cup was destined for either Uganda or Kenya.

Finally the underdogs Tusker were crowned Kagame Cup champions for the fifth time having been winners in 1988, 1989, 2000 and 2001.

- The writer is Tusker coach and took the national team Harambee Stars to the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.