2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup: Africans are failure magnets.

Cameroon boarded the plane to the 2014 Brazil Fifa World Cup late due to the issue of bonuses. Ghana bonuses were airlifted to South America late. Nigeria met over the bonuses until late and skipped training as a result. The Ghanaians hoped to be better than Cameroon in the way they handled the players and their grievances. The Nigerians are hoping to be way better than Cameroon and a little better than Ghana. What is the difference here, really? The administrations of these associations would argue that theirs would either be appearance fees and not bonuses, or allowances and the like. If that is where the difference lies, then we expect different results.

Cameroon were a disaster as they even fought amongst themselves on the field of play. Ghanaians fought at training and in the hotels. Nigerians fought in the bus as they failed to attend the scheduled training. Who is better here? Will the results differ? Ok, forget about about this World Cup. African administrators are skilled in this kind of behaviour. Give me one nation that has never been hit by the players’ strike and over and over again. We thrive in failure. We smell failure and get attracted to it. We are failure magnets. I am not even sure what the word Africa means. It could be something to do with folly. You may think this is being heartless but ‘who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?’ Moreover, how many hearts can one have only to be broken? I am just fed up about celebrating mediocrity and then nursing heartbreak after heartbreak. Leaders of our football just suck and big time. After that, they fire coaches and hire expats.

Let me change the subject. Twenty years ago, Italia ’90, many thought African football has come of age when Cameroon bamboozled the reigning world champions, Argentina, at the prime of one Diego Maradona. The performance led to the famous prophesy by Pele, that Africa will win the World Cup by the turn of the millennium. He had good reason and man of us believed. That team reached the quarterfinals and were in the semis until one referee decided that African participation was enough. England was the recipient of two penalties converted by Gary Lieneker for their 2-1 lead. From an African point of view, there was a cry of conspiracy.

In 1994, Nigeria had Africa’s greatest team of all time. Under the tutelage of Clemens Westerhof, they progressed through the USA ’94 tournament with authority. They attracted the world with their beautiful football. In the quarterfinal against Italy, they fell to a late penalty that took the match to extra time, which they eventually lost. The conspiracy theories flew everywhere, albeit a bit subdued to the excitement the Africans brought.

France ’98 went fairly well, but Nigeria could have had a case to cry foul. Senegal rose to the occasion in Korea/Japan ’02. Germany ’06 was modest and then came South Africa 2010. Ghana went all the way to face Uruguay in the quarterfinals. Before that point, there was already much cry about how Luis Suarez’s Uruguay beat South Africa. That was a huge glaring home-made victory over the hosts. Suarez blocked a last second goal by had to force the match into a penalty shoot-out. Ghana lost.

This is Brazil 2014 and the game has evolved since, with Goal Line Technology ad all. The African demise is static. The continent has leant nothing over time about the game and officiating. This is despite the fact that the motherland saw the rise of its son to be the best player in the world since those days. George Weah remains the only player to win that accolade. However, the French triumph has since been dubbed Pele’s prophesy but I will not go there for now.

At this moment is time, we have the best players in the world as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. It would be unfair to actually compare anyone with the two. Do not mention Neymar yet. He is a new kid on the block and he still needs to show the world and Europe what he is made of. So far, he has given us an idea of football player ideality. Besides that, the best players in the world in the past five years are African. The best teams in the world over the past ten years depended on the African contingent. They grace the palaces and all high places representing their paymasters. They dine and wine with the kings and queens. Many have adopted countries that feed their families.

Playing in the elite leagues for these great clubs has a distinct advantage of plying their trade with the best and against the best in the world. It exposed them to the live the world envies. They win a lot of respect from peers and foes, referees and coaches. Their statuses remain a beacon of hope for many, but becomes their downfall at the World Cup when they come home to their national teams.

Referees will respect and protect Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o as long as they play for Manchester City, Chelsea or Barcelona respectively. As soon as they don the Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana or Cameroon shirts, they are on their own. The problem is that they do not see that. They carry their superstar tag on wrong ground. It may not be the will of the officials to act that way. African teams look strong and act robust when in tussles and duels. Their combats are physical and no matter how fair, they attract the wrath of the officials. Some of the referees feel like blowing the whistle just by looking at the muscles. The assistant referees find their hands up for offside even if the ball has not been played or is behind the centre line.

How do players deal with this? Common sense is not common. The referees compensate for these either before or after match-changing decisions. The officials drag the carrots by awarding questionable decisions lie throw-ins and free-kicks at points of the field and of the game where there is no advantage or benefit. They will caution useless opposition players to massage the minds of African players. After receiving those fringe benefits that do not count, they come with the big one. They will award a penalty against the teams where there is minimum contact; give a red-card without merit, well with little but no reasonable doubt.

Basically, the African players from the big leagues get frustrated when they cannot get away with what they normally get away with in European leagues. That naivety leads to basic errors, both in attack and in defence. In attack, a shove at the back when one plays for Chelsea, a penalty is awarded by the officials. In the World Cup, when representing the nation, one may have to be amputated by a tackle to get one. In defence, the speedy and strong tackle to clear the ball will see the officials set the ball on the whitewash, and a bonus red-card of course. It must be remembered that many African strikers have strength and try to stay on their feet despite heavy and brute tackling. Penalties are not awarded for falling, but for committed fouls. Non-Africans commit these fouls against Africans but the officials take it like, ‘You are an African, that shouldn’t hurt, no penalty for you. Play on’.

The conceived violence of these players make referees ignore protecting them. The African players never get the doubt of the benefit from officials. They seem not to appreciate that officials will never give favours in productive areas unless in glaring cases, and even then, once in a while usually before the centre line or in areas that do not threaten the opposition sensitive areas.

All said and done, in the Fifa World Cup, if you are an African, never play the ball square at the back. Short passes should be prohibited, cover and balance at the back are mandatory. It is always fatal to play without support. There is no defending nicely. The ball should stay as far away from the goalkeeper as possible, not some of the time, but all of the time. Iran parked the bus and maybe it is high time African teams parked one and let the world complain. Too much respect of non-African teams because one solicits for the jersey after the match does not work. Africans need to prove that under any coach, and anywhere in the universe, they are the master of the game. They should deliver without with African or European teammates.

As for the leadership of the game, the involved people mess up the spirit of the people, waste the money and hire white European expatriate whom they pay huge salaries to come and fail. For the record, all World Cup winners did so with indigenous coaches. Many African countries qualified or won continental success with local coaches, but none earned as much as the expats. There is still hope in Nigeria and Algeria, but otherwise Africa deserves to shed the tears of their own making at this 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Cote D’Ivorie succumb to Greece 1-2 in 2014 Fifa World Cup

There was just one more moment of a speculative and very wild shot before the final whistle. The tears of both players and fans confirmed how one can trust Africans to mess things up in the least likely of match situation. No single shot on target for Cote D’Ivoire in the entire first half despite a few forays to their account just to give you an idea. They probed from left, right and centre but the final ball strayed, eluded the Africans or just stuck in the defence. On few occasions, The Elephants squandered possession and lacked the cutting ruthless edge when entering the enemy territory due to poor decision-making.

Greece slowed things down as they nursed and eventually lost two men due to injury. Those moments were enough to disrupt the rhythm of Didier Drogba and company. Their porous defence began to gel and kept tight in key moments.

The key moment of the half, came when a simple looking situation brought pressure to Cote D’Ivoire. Deep in defence on the right, Aurier played the ball to Tiote in central midfield position. Tiote touched the ball for Koloe Toure, but the pass was too short. Samaras stole the ball creating a two versus one situation as he played the ball to Samaris. That swift move attracted Barry out of his goal line but Samaris kept calm and fired the ball over the body of the slanting goalkeeper who tried to make himself large and narrow the angle.

The Elephants of Africa started the second half stronger with opportunities to restore parity, but like in the earlier half, the midfield stayed too much behind to pick up the second ball when strikers ran into defenders. The Greeks utilised winning the loose ball to mount very threatening counter attacks.  The midfield remained stuck at the back when the team attacked and stuck upfront without tracking their opponents.

Greece defenders started to feel the heat as the Africans turned on the gas. They launched their attacks well due to the large numbers of Ivorians thrown forward in search of the elusive equaliser. They created the clearer of the opportunities of the match, hitting the crossbar with thunderous shots twice with the goalkeeper beaten.

Cometh the moment, cometh the man. Bony Wilfreid came in for Tiote and caused anxious moments for the Greek defence. Salmon Kalou picked up a ball in midfield and quickly fed Gervinho on the left side of the penalty box. The speedy winger played the ball square to Bony who stabbed a side-footed ball home. They were caught flat-footed, as they looked comfortable on the way forward. Their marking was extremely bad as three men could not intercept the ball or close down on Gervinho.

The failure in match management resulted in a freak penalty after Yaya Toure missed a clearer chance in a four versus two in the penalty box. From that situation, Greece attacked from the left wing and delivered a cross into the penalty spot. In an attempt to shoot at goal, Georgio Samaras’ foot hooked a defender’s leg and he tumbled to the ground. The referee had no hesitation but point to the white spot. The Greek picked up his frame and dusted himself before sending his spot kick to the right bottom corner of the net, despite the fair attempt by the diving Barry.

Naïve piece of football.

Columbia beat Cote D’ Ivoire 2-1 in 2014 Fifa World Cup

The match began balanced at a fast pace. Columbia counter-attacked after winning balls in midfield as Cote D’Ivoire carelessly lost possession. They very easily found spaces in the middle of the park and attacked the right flank with pace. They missed the best chance when Rodriguez fed Gutierrez from the right after the South Americans played a diagonal ball on stealing possession in their own half.

The Africans defence cleared the crosses from either wing efficiently. That was a bad sign of poor defensive behaviour as their wing backs failed to shut out the crosses. The wing defenders pushed too much up field and played in front of the ball. This exposed the spaces behind them and the Columbians exploited these spaces reasonably well by dropping long diagonal passes that stretched the central defence.

The distance between the midfield and the defence also increased the susceptibility to counter-attacks. Yaya Toure played too much in front of the action as much of the game was played behind him, nullifying his trademark runs from deep towards goal. As Cote D’Ivoire found spaces in their slow attacks, they squandered possession easily by atrocious decision-making. Ball retention was not at its best for both teams who appeared to be too cagey in their approach.

The match pace stepped up in the second half as Columbia sought to capitalise on the indecisive defensive shape of the Cote D’Ivoire who had their wing defenders up high and the central defenders playing far apart. In one swift move by Columbia, the two clashed and caused a corner kick. Rodriguez was unmarked and powered his free-header past a static Barry. There was no man-marking, no jumping and no pressure by the defence who were content ball-watching.

Prior to the goal, Bony Wilfred missed a gilt-edged opportunity that was followed by a clearer goal-scoring chance. As The Elephants pressed hard for looking parity, and got caught by a counter assisted by naïve defending. Serie Die was almost the last man in defence but tried a dribble. He lost the ball to Gutierrez who was stalking him. The Columbian raced towards goal creating a three versus one, and then unselfishly passed the ball to his right to Quintero who made no mistake.

Yaya Toure moved to his normal position and began to dictate the game. The impact was instant and visible as he tried to feed Didier Drogba, Gervinho and Salomon Kalou. The only moment The Elephants shifted a little faster on the right after winning the ball. Gervinho received the ball and quickly took off charging goal ward. He swept past four defenders and fired a parried shot into the net. The South American rear guard froze as the nibble-footed striker waltzed past them for a beautiful goal.

Despite the beauty of the show, the lack of discipline of the strategy; the tactical awareness, it was a bitter pill to swallow as Cote D’Ivoire carried the hopes of the continent after the disaster of that Cameroon embarrassment.   

Ivory Coast beat Japan 2-1 in 2014 Fifa World Cup

A game of two halves by Ivory Coast and a flat performance by Japan seemed evenly contested until the Asians took an unlikely lead against the run of play. The Africans scored twice in their worst half of the match. With similar 1-4-4-2 formations at the start, the difference was the enviable technique of The Elephants and the tactical discipline of the Blue Samurai.

Not so long into the match, just when one thought both teams had settled, more so the Ivorians who had better possession and clear cut chances to open their account, a corner on the left was cleared by the defence conceding a throw-in near the corner flag. A throw in was played first touch slightly back and the ball passed into the edge of the penalty area.

Honda made a run onto the ball, took a touch and fired a left footed screamer to the roof of the net. The marking from the throw in was suspect, and no one picked up Honda’s run and there was no pressure to close him down as he took a shot at goal. Obscured, the goalkeeper did not even move as the ball whistled past him at the near post.

Japan contested every duel in midfield, with Kagawa and Honda growing in stature and trying to impose their game against the revered Yaya Toure and Tiote. The Africans attempt to make amends opened up their rear-guard as Japan began to carve openings and seeking to extend their lead. They let in crosses and shots from left, right and centre, quickly winning the balls back by excellent combative work and anticipation in the middle third.

It was at the front where their strikers did not pressurise the defence of Ivory Coast. This overloaded their midfield badly and they failed to utilise the possession and penetration they enjoyed. Toure’s compatriots took as much as they gave, being guilty of failing to beat the Japanese goalkeeper on numerous occasions. The Asians did not close down the crossers of the ball, neither did they charge at the shooters.

Due to the push forward, their central defenders played too far apart, but the score-line remained the same due to poor decision-making. One good thing from Ivory Coast was the versatility of the shape of their midfield, as they could play flat or with Tiote at the bottom of the diamond. This made their movements to be fluid in transition as they moved early into spaces and contracted quickly enough when they lost the ball.

There were devastating challenges in the second half as the Japanese upped their game and Ivory Coast turned amateurish. They produced a poor display that was characterised by carelessness, sloppy midfield play and wastage in front of goal. Japan did not have to fight much for the ball as Ivory Coast always wrapped it nicely and delivered to their adversaries.

That lack of impetus saw the introduction of Didier Drogba. His first contribution was a strong run on the right into the penalty box. The Elephants looked a different kettle of fish already and a ball won in the centre of the park was sent to the middle of the attacking third and then wide. The right back managed to deliver an inch perfect cross for Wilfred Bony to head the ball to the far post under a token challenge from a man behind him. The marking was pathetic

 It was before the Japanese came to terms with the current events that the Africans produced their best passing spell of the half, from the defending third until they squeezed that ball to the right wing for a duplicate delivery of the cross. In similar fashion, Gervinho dived to head the ball in at the near post. The marking was again suspect, as was the goalkeeping. In both goals, no one made a consented effort to shut out the cross. The scorers had free headers and the goalkeeper did not command his back-line well enough.

What followed was a mature match management to kill off the match by winding the clock. Ivory Coast played a professional game, but lacked a killer punch that could have given the score-line representative of their dominance. They look a force to reckon with, but only time will tell.   

Why Chelsea are not in it

As one of the many people skeptical about the return of Jose Mourinho to Chelsea, reason wound around the material that was at his disposal in his first stint, both what he found and brought in. There was no Didier Drogba, the pair Frank Lampard and John Terry of old. There has never been a question of The Special One’s tactics and proven by his track record. Neither would one doubt the squad he was inheriting at the time, but no one really thought The Blues would be the same, except the die hards.

Traditionally, Mourinho is a natural man-manager who believes in his wits and enjoys calculations and juicy controversy and soft propaganda. That has been the key to get water from rocks at times. With a certain set of players and the conducive environment, that worked wonders in that fruitful year at Chelsea and previously at Porto.

The same momentum and quality for his use saw him conquer Italy and Europe. It was however the gritty work ethic that spelt his unsavory moments in Real Madrid and that is exactly were my skepticism comes from. The Only One got blessed with an array of talent that could be divided into departments to perform a winning act, but he always chose to be a work in a way Sepp Blatter described Cristiano Ronaldo – a commander-in-chief.  That is how coaches work but here is the problem.  

In an environment littered with an array of talent, not all artists are workaholic. While few may try to please their master, it is not everybody who is capable, exactly the reason Chelsea sold Juan Mata to United. He was accused of not working for the team and at this rate, Edin Hazard is getting praises for fighting for each and every ball. If he can cope with the workload, he will be a greater player, but this may end his promising career.

The reason Mourinho was not as successful in Madrid as expected, is exactly the willingness of sacrificing the careers for the Special One. He felt betrayed and the relationships soured. Usually, Jose manages such cases but there is a limit of how far he can go and that is determined by how much he is allowed in the personal spheres of the individuals.

At this moment in time, Chelsea plays with good tactical discipline associated with his previous team, showing a consistent management style. Their solid defensive work coupled with grit to grind out results and points is borne out of the desire to earn the hard to get complement from the man considered the best in the game right now. How much this will continue will be determined with how much they get out of this campaign.

As it is, they play like a team that has hit the ceiling but still pushing. That is what you do not want in a team halfway through a grueling season. It would not matter with five or so matches left. Chelsea will accumulate many good wins and points but are far from being the best. This was strangely recognized and admitted by the manager himself who confessed that they are just good enough for Champions’ League spot. He said this in his prayers for Manchester City to beat Tottenham Hotspur, and not for his victory over West Ham United. His prayers were answered word for word and all they have left is a battle with Liverpool, Spurs and Manchester United, if the Red Devils themselves enter a revival mode.

Within his revered tactics, Mourinho should find it in himself to be flexible enough to work around his material and acquire certain specialist to suit his taste. At the moment, his situation is dire and nobody can pick out who is suitable for what he intends, neither is it possible to see if what he intends is achievable. It is a game of football after all and the goals count. Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Torres are scorers of note and neither has been utilized to their potential. If it continues like this, despite the personal friendship, Roman Abrahimovic‘s patience will be tested, not now but soon.

Real outclass Barca again as Ba sets bar

Rafa Benitez endured a rough week after his tough talk about the realities at Stanford Bridge given the rant of Chelsea fan. Short of showing them a middle finger, he stressed how ridiculously ungrateful the fans were, and that they should spend energy spurring the team forward rather than pulling them down.

While his hostile stay in London may be a fruitful one, it may be one to forget - a sour-sweet experience. No human being deserves such treatment and the team performance vindicated him with a Demba Ba strike bringing smile to his face on a day protests about his presence as Chelsea manager were supposed to be fever-high.

Harry Redknapp also had to deal with malicious reports questioning his management skills after he took the team to Dubai where they were reportedly too drunk to train the next morning after an all-night out. To prove a point, his Queens Park Rangers ran away with maximum points at Southampton with a 2-1 win, their third of the season. Redknapp was a happy man who hoped the win would work well for the confidence of the team as they fight for their top-flight life.

Shingi Kagawa's hatrick is talk of the town as Manchester United managed a 4-0 ahead of the UEFA Champions League tie with Real Madrid. It was the first Asian to score a hatrick in the Barclays Premier League. As a milestone, Ba had his - the first Africa to score 15 goals or more in successive seasons, somehow something the great Didier Drogba did not achieve.

Talking of Real Madrid, they rubber-stamped their superiority over Barcelona this season by yet another victory, a 2-1 La Liga win after their Copa Dela Rey a few days back. It may be that Madrid's dominance over bitter arch-rivals who proved to be bad losers has been made permanent. One thing for sure, it will be for Jose Mourinho to savour to seasons to come. As less significant as it was for Real since they can not expect to win the league, rubbing it in was all it was, salt, chillies and all. Winning the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League may atone for what had been turning out to be a dismal season for Mourinho.

The two giants, United and Real, will battle it out after their contrasting successful respective league confidence booster encounters, in which key players were rested.

Ivory Coast qualify as Togo eliminates Algeria

Yaya Toure did not need my endorsement to pull off a coup, in a match in which Gevinho was man-of-the-match and Didier Drogba started from the bench. The three-gun salute handed to the Tunisians followed the four goal salvo we saw 24 hours ago when Burkina Faso blasted Ethiopia.

The African Footballer of the Year does not need me as a fan, but nonetheless, he is making good progress in impressing me. I don't doubt his quality but the problem is me. A few flashes of tactical awareness as well as unquestioned individual brilliance did not convince me that Africans can compete outside their sphere of influence.

There were pockets of good decision-making, obviously a result of the experience these players gained in the Barclays English Premier League and the French League. Where decisions were bad, the execution of technique cancelled matters out, given the opposition did not capitalise to punish the wrong decisions.

It was a solid and round performance by African standards, but still lacked the tactical maturity of the game at national levels. Tunisia had hoped to steal something out of the match with Drogba benched.

The former Chelsea cult hero came on and nearly registered his first 2013 Afcon goal. He proved a thorn as his presence led to that Yaya goal after Gervinho had short the Elephants ahead in the first half, and when Tiote scored with his first touch after coming on, it was a master stroke.

Algeria huffed and puffed firing blanks as they have done in their build-up to the tournament, as well as the 2010 Fifa World Cup. I cannot remember the last time they hit the net in a tournament. Their adversaries, Togo, started slowly, sizing up their way up.

The Togolese always played the inaccurate long ball, which was spot on just on one occasion and Emmanuel Adebayour punished them, beating the goalkeeper on a one versus one.

It was a basic route one football, a long ball from the back and then a ping-pong heading tennis from Adebayour to  Romao onhis left and then to Adebayour’s path. The tall Tottenham Hotspur striker outpaced the defender and slotted the ball under advancing goalie.

A physical battle in midfield ensued and that brutality led to several claims by the North Africans for penalties. The referees did not bow down to pressure. Algeria forced their way into the final third often but failed to direct the final pass or the shots.

As the attack swarmed the Togolese penalty area, it seemed the desperate attempts would yield something for the Algerians but it was vain attempts. It was until the drama of the broken goalpost that stole the show in the last five minutes.

The upright post broke at the base and the wobbling posts and nets had to be replaced, though it took far too long. To add unsolicited drama, the match officials played the five minutes and then added thirteen more minutes.

That gave Togo one more counter-attacking opportunity. A through pass from the centre circle was chased by substitute Wome, who had a few touches and slotted the ball once again, under the advancing goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

The Algerians became the first team to be eliminated while the Ivoirians were the first to qualify with their 100% records each.

Is this the death of national team football?

As death of test cricket owing to Twenty-20 version, the last two AFCON versions were dull lull. Some think the last two FIFA World Cups were boring too. 

I would agree much with the Euro 2008. I can only remember the exploits of the co-hosts, Turkey, who even surprised themselves about how much they progressed in the tourney. 
 
Could it be a justifiable end of the Drogba, Etos, Yakubus, Kanutes, Keitas, Toures have been hot elsewhere and average playing for their countries? They could have taken it from Europe, or took it to the World to be just so-so at that bid stage.

With the less anticipated Euro 2012, as spectators, there should be means to sue. Having been taken for a ride for a while now, one wonders how long it will go.

It may the dead end of the game, or just the death of national team football. This comes after it was reported how Italy have been scandalised by bribery and match-fixing scandals in the Serie A.

Their squad to travel, if ever, will be subject of much speculation. Just like in the example of Africa Cup of Nations, it may take away the sparkle of eventual winners, in my opinion at this point, Holland. 

The reigning AFCON champions, Zambia, truly deserved it, and should have won it at any other time in their history. There will never be any doubt about it. The same will be said by the Dutch, should they capture it.

Why the Dutch? They have a point to prove after South Africa 2010. Spain took it under their guard and most probably to them, unduly. Even Barcelona is said to thrive on the Dutch tiki-taka philosophy. They will want that total football to work for them now.

England just hired a mediocre manager and have a squad selected from probably the fewest options in their history. Their lukewarm friendlies are failing to increase the interest anywhere. 

Their league contributes the majority of the participants and that is all. Many of their gifted players withdrew on fears of racial attacks and abuse. There will be general security concerns.

The English Premier League performers in the Euro 2012, will no doubt be cause of interest as others from the rival leagues will be trekking there in the summer. 

The earning powers given that Manchester City, Chelsea contribute a significant number of the highest paid players. 

Barcelona and Real Madrid have a fair share of millionaires. Will they break a leg for their countries or they are fulfilling just another fixture?

Elsewhere, there is Bayern Munich and Borrusia Dortmund of Germany while Paris St German of France contributes as well. These teams pay big money.

There is enough insurance for whatever eventualities and their futures are easily protected by both country and clubs, but it is not the same.

Lionel Messi fails to compare well with players he outclasses with ball manipulation and understanding, but his country contribution has not qualified him to earn the respect of fans, pundits and fellow footballers alike.

The same goes for Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o. They needed to lift something for their nations. After that generation of the African golden greats, is there another to follow? I wonder. 

As for now, with less anticipation and interest, we await what may make or break the confederation football, the Euro 2012. Under normal circumstance, new TV sales and satellite decoders and subscription sales would sore at this point. The old versions will do until we see the need for something speciial.

I told you Chelsea will win it

Chelsea Football Club of the Barclays Premier League of England made a historic capture of the UEFA Champions League title with a chess end game of the highest order. It was not magic that they did so and we told you they were going to do it. (Get yourself a copy of The Anatomy of Football)

The Londoners stunned a confident and wasteful Bayern Munich to win a maiden European championship at the Allianz Arena in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw of full-time and a stalemated extra-time. 

It was the man Drogba who had equalised for Chelsea in the 88th minute who became the man of the show, as he tucked in the winning kick to send the English wild.

Thomas Mueller's 83rd minute header past Petr Cech had 'Champions' written all over it until the African from Ivory Coast sang.

The Cup with the Big Ears was last in the Bayern cabinet, who had it four times in their history, in 2001. They had the luxury of having Arjen Robben miss a spot-kick given away by Didier Drogba, as Cech heroically saved it during open play.

It was a sweet victory for Chelsea, who lost to Manchester United in the 2008 final on penalties, and were also undone in 2009's semi-final against Barcelona. Those dark moments were forgotten as the fans cried tears of joy.

Far from being value for money for many, the unpredictability of events made up for wow-factor. The hosts dominated the whole 90 minutes and were quite flat in extra time. The visitors' ultimate plan was not to lose it at any point of the match, which they executed very well.

Manager Rorbeto Di Matteo ensured they defended well against fierce attacks and potential heartbreaking wing-play from the Germans. It was a psychological game which built confidence on each player with each passing moment. 

Chelsea were always going to be a better team as the match wore on, not much as to the manager's prudence, but based on the work ethic of men at work digging for gold.

Without a few of their influential players, it sounded like a suicide mission to enter Germany with a 'rooky' stand-in manager of little experience in Europe.

Tucked away nicely were spot-kicks by David Luiz, captain of the day, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and of course, D Drog. 

Olic had replaced the regulation time scorer and his penalty-kick one-handedly stopped by Cech. It turned out that the usually dependable Bastien Schweinsteiger had no nerves to face the masked Cech as his spot-kick crashed the post. 

Drogba closed the meeting in the only way he knows how. The result became a bitter-sweet victory for Roman Abramovich who began to ponder as to how not to give a full contract to the 'out of contract' 33 year-old Drogba and care-taker manager Di Matteo.

It is a preferred headache than to play second fiddle to every one in everything to the billionaire who pumped in cool cash to his vetaran footballers.

Post mortem: It's what Barca did not do, or not?

Suddenly, everyone think Chelsea FC are the heroes and Roberto Di Mateo the man. It is surely with good reason and man do they deserve it! A friend of mine excellently summed it up well by saying that the only time he saw a team defend with such gusto and with their lives, was way back in 1990, at the Italia '90 Fifa World Cup during the opening match when 9-men Cameroon shut out and beat the world champions, Argentina, 1-0.

I usually fore go my agreements and disagreement with fellow bloggers like Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez. I am tempted to boast about it once in a while. I went through one analysis which showed we wrote it about about the same time, but given our different geographical locations, I will not say they were copying my posts.

Without giving much detail of total agreements we had about how Barcelona lost it, it is suffice to say that the game of football is like that. The odds Chelsea faced from the first leg in London and then Barcelona were almost insurmountable, but when a team stands up to be counted, special things happen.

After the departure of one AVB, I went through his reign that faced resistance of the team's old guard. Much attention was also given to how the Blues could be a very dangerous team. At this point, all can see that they are team that have suddenly ran out games to win the Premiership.

Having said that, some coaching needs to be thrown into the works and so far, Di Mateo's philosophy has not come in to the fore. What has been exhibited is what African township footballers call a 'money game mentality'. Tactics and talent count for nothing.

Defending with one's life and body is one acceptance mode if one is devoid of necessary qualification to compete. That drove Chelsea. Al things equal and pound for pound, they knew they were no match for Barcelona.

What the Catalan faithfuls and the technical department will now defend with their lives, is the answer to the question flying throughout the media at this moment -  that they have no plan B, but then, one must understand the footballing meaning of their plan A to start with.

Those privileged to have accessed my book, The Anatomy of Football will know by now, the obvious facts that a team to score goals, they need to have the ball. The defence philosophy becomes easy to deduce, given that you must not concede if you keep it, well of course.

Barcelona kept the ball to themselves and got carried away too much in doing that. It is how keep it and what you do with it next that will matter more.

The Spanish team, despite their shining record and statistics, never passed their quarter-final status, save for 3 minutes. This was after the Andreas Iniesta's goal and the Ramirez's strike. The rest of the 200 minutes of the matches, they were either either at par or chasing the game.

Their comfort lay in sharing the deal with the Londoners before Didier Drogba hit the net at Stanford Bridge, after which they were over and out, and then at the point Busquets scored at the Camp Nou. As afore-mentioned, they only momentarily took the initiative with Iniesta's superb strike. With the magical Brazilian's deft touch, they were doomed once more, albeit permanently.

For their efforts, Chelsea were on the back foot from the front. Much of the fixture depended on what they did, and how well they would continue to do it. They needed to close down attacks and stop conceding the ball they could not have. That called for discipline and character.

Knowing how difficult that can be in real life, John Terry became human and nearly cost the team dearly when he was red-carded for an offence he really did not need to commit. Under the circumstances, it was not about numbers, statistics or tactics as already said. It was a different ball game.

While I attracted hate from Barca fans as a 'hater' of the Catalans, it may start to make sense what I always tried to put across. I love football and Barcelona. Lionel Messi is my favourite footballer and, of course, the best player ever. My point has been, and always be, the team is finished. How?

With their incredible ability to possess, pass and play the ball, they should have the ability to play in frontal lines and even more. Many saw as the only option for Chelsea to park the bus in front of the Barcelona goal, and surely, so did Barca themselves.

The Spanish giants used the same eyes to look at their own available solutions to the problems; to plummet the bus to total destruction. They wanted to ride over the flat remains of the steel heap and much over it bare-footed. They have successfully done that before against Real Madrid and other big European teams. Maybe the size of the competitions warranted it.

This one was a different kettle of fish altogether. The bus was bigger, Blue and its tyres fully inflated. Their easiest option, which I have seen them fail to implement well now than they did before, was to tow the bus away. Hook up a tow-bar and drive away the thing and slot balls in.

In football terms, instead of staying years at the edge of the Chelsea penalty box, they could have kept the ball further out, slowly and inch by inch. Players, no matter how old and how mature, they will always follow the ball. It does not have to make sense whatever they do, as seen by the red card Terry received, they always get attracted to the leather.

The obvious space created between Petr Cech and his third class central defenders in wing defenders, Ivanovic and Bosingwa, was where their money was. It is common knowledge how the fast-paced Messi intrinsically interweaves passes with Iniesta and Xavi into the box at great speed.

All Barca did, was failed to slide away a bus they tried to grind to powder when it was ready to roll. For their good part, they waited for the pounding to finish and efficiently threw precise attacks at very opportune moment with tell composure that their chief architects, Xavi, Messi and Iniesta would be jealous about.

Given 90% of the squad have Fifa World Cup medals to their well-deserved and due credit, failing to see and act on that qualifies me to tell you that they are finished. As the leading team in the world, they are done. Their history and momentum may carry them a little further, but either the coach or some key players will have to go and leave the rebuilding process to commence, the sooner the better.

(The Anatomy of Football is currently available at discounted rates at the Amazon online store.)

Chelsea winning, but why now?

From where I am, it is the Masters. Elsewhere, they call them Social, the Legends or Seniors' league. In these leagues, refreshment and rehydration is the dehydrating bottle of beer or alcohol, usually any time and anyhow. There are no rules, well maybe just.

At Stanford Bridge, it would be just the old guard game. Chelsea players carried this tag of 'old guard' over 5 years ago, even during the adored Jose Mourinho's days, and the players have not changed much.

The senior citizens of that squad have been John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole. Managers came and went amid football politics scandals, but the greatest of them all is the latest. It is borne out of how Andre Villas-Boas was always seen an immature choice to start with.

Let us remember how the game of football started. Today's media is littered with the latest football controversy made by an Englishman claiming England owns the game. He has since apologised for it and we will not even try to defend of crucify him. 

Whoever started the game, the objective, centuries before the 150 years in question, was to drive a pig's head across a rival village, which in turn summoned women and children to close down the humiliating and degrading exercise. So you see tactics started way before technique and physical conditioning.

Even where I grew up, generally, boys across the river were enemies, and for lack of stones, dry cow dung made excellent missiles that we used. Despite gushes of blood, I cannot remember a recorded death. It may have been possible that years earlier, there was one.

In later years, the rivalry developed into a football war, for lack of foliage, as trees and vegetation were depleted as the population boom overtook the natural resources.

Forming a team was therefore very crucial. There was no coach or captain. The bigger bullies build two dunes of sand to represent their mothers' breasts. Whoever had the courage to kick and flatten the boobs of his adversary's mom, would be captain-cum-coach, unless a physical retaliatory response ensued. 

The protagonists duelled and the prevailing warrior led us to 'war'. Only the owner of the letter ball was guaranteed a place in his line up, unless we played an aerodynamically inferior paper ball stuffed with rags. 

The game would resume and tackles would be ruthless and brutal. There would be no referee and disputes were easily settled by punches until an adult would turn up and disperse the crowd,usually just for a while. Usually, sensing trouble, both parties would pretend they were cool with each other to escape the possible canning by the village court headman.

What is interesting is that matches would continue after the adult authority left, and week after week, bleeding after bleeding. Members from either camp ensured they never strayed into another's territory unaccompanied.  

This has been the traits of Stanford Bridge. Managers came and went. All they found when they found, was a set of protagonists with heaps of their mom's sand boobs. Roman Abramovic bought hot talent for huge sums of money, usually coming from where they were leaders and idols. 

Among others, Andre Shevshenko and Michael Ballack. These two never came close to their lethal best. Their idea of having the same impact in England as they had in Germany or Italy was but a dream. There is not need to talk about Fernando Torres. 

Many a times, we are at liberty to wonder and speculate. All the managers that came after The Special One could do, was manage the tempers, and usually not, because the group pretended there was harmony. Year in and year out, like a scratched vinyl LP, the situation repeated itself over and over and, of course, with the same result.

Talking my village football situation, Andre Villas-Boas became an adult we would think is young and weak, and we could team against and man-handle, usually successfully if they were young and/or drunk.

AVB was neither. He had lots of football in his head and wanted  to implement intrinsic and analysed technical and tactical methodologies to produce nice and winning football. He wanted to match the dollar investment of Abramovic with the style Chelsea played.

Those closer to the ground thought there was actually TMI (too much information) on his part, or let's say TMT (too much tactics). So, having worked with a renowned shrewd mentor in Mourinho, what he became was part of the package, to be TA (tactically aware). 

Now that AVB is gone, Chelsea found their rhythm in the league. Everyone seems to be gaining an extra inch in distance, extra ounce of energy, extra year in age and shedding an extra gram in weight. Winning thrice in a row, including the advancement in the UEFA Champions League through an extra time Ivanovic goal against Napoli, as a team, they are finding the extra goal. Roberto Di Mateo is the interim manager and his role is to be seen soon.

Again, as we did back then, it never was how much planning was out in the matches that we would win. It was who had the balls, and who picked the team, usually, the old guard. Playing with the set-up on the ground cost AVB his job.

Forget New Year resolutions, make money.

Happy New Year to our readers and followers. I had enough fruits in 2011 to look for a fruitful year ahead. Samuel Eto'o earns GBP 350 000,00 for a Monday to Sunday regular shift, annually totalling GBP 1 400 000 only, at Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala. You could be making this yourself, or you did, but I will.

Besides printing my book this year, I will be attending a very high-profile coaching course in Europe later in the year, which I hope to fund from the sale of the book. You can order dozens of the book in advance and hopefully I can make the list below.

Dalian Aerbin of China signed Nicolas Anelka and have been said to be trying to Didier Drogba to the Far East for a GBP 200 000 a week over three years. That would be worth £30 million in all. Didier attracted arch-rivals, Super League champions Evergrande who are prepared to give him more than Eto'o earns. 

This is good money, at least for me, because I do not have expensive taste, so amassing some 40 or 50 million would not be an issue with my bank balance, except there would be concerns of security with my local bank.

David Beckam topped the cool buck list for a while with $40 million per year that included deals that are not salary, until the East came forth with the swanky figures. Eto'o's case raised eyebrows but it seems it will be an everyday issue that we are getting used to.

The La Liga pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi earn $38 000 000 and 32 000 000 respectively with Kaka at $25 000 000. Could these guys be working harder than me and you? Maybe, with maximum efforts, we could come somewhere close.

Ronaldinho at Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro is paid by a private insurance company, a total of $24 000 000, $3 000 000 more than Thierry Henry gets from New York Red Bulls of USA. Frank Lampard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic bank $17 000 000 annually while Wayne Rooney who is claimed to be peeping at Manchester City, pockets $20 000 000.

We have 12 months to catch and please give Facebook a rest, there are millions to be made out there. I will be checking the Forbes List for your names this time next year. e-Diski wishes you money in 2012.

Now, who is the Boss?

Chelsea are like a guy ladies love to hate. He comes across with all the bling and cute smile, strong with a symmetrical shape of a true movie hunk or porn stud. He provides an ideal world and seduces you with romantic moves of a fantasy world, sensitive and a good listener. When it matters the most, he flatters to deceive.

The Barclays Premier League season started with The Blues sweeping us off our feet and dazzling us with crisp movements on and off the ball. They scored willy-nilly and provided top draw entertainment and value. They tore apart teams with mercilessness of Alexander The Great. Die hard fans thought, 'This is it'.

Only yesterday, did Chelsea record a second win in 8 matches. By any standards, it is a bad statistic for reigning champions and title contenders. That as it may, is their worst run in over a decade. Signs have been coming, with their hot/cold fluctuations in which Didier Drogba's scoring touch deserted him.

Initially, Drogba was the top dog, supplying his team-mates with seaters to finish off. They never reciprocated. Technically, Chelsea broke down. Nicolas Anelka and Flourent Malouda became their trump cards, scoring regularly. The reshuffling of the technical staff may be underplayed, but those closer to the dance floor will tell you how much impact it is having.

Manchester United always had their finger on the pulse, monitoring and measuring Chelsea's progress with an eagle's eye. Was that ill advised? Because for them, as they said, Manchester City and Arsenal were never a thread. Today, City are on the throne. As it may only be for a moment, their intentions are clear and United would be well advised to re-adjust their rear view mirrors and the blind spot.

United have a few hours to take the honours away from their bitter blue side with a win at Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon. Negotiating with Harry Redknapp may not be an easy task for Sir Alex Ferguson, but he has to promise him the English management job to grind out a result at White Hart Lane. It remains to be seen if Harry responds to SAF's seduction and flattery.

Spurs have the opportunity to topple Chelsea and keep the 4th spot. It may not be an easy task, but they are capable and you bet, Redknapp will not mind a bit of Scotch whisky after 90 minutes.

Manchester City Burst Chelsea Bubble in A Thrilling Battle Of Wits.

Manchester City 1 - Chelsea 0.

Manchester City started playing not to lose at the City of Manchester Stadium, as if they were the away team. They were very disciplined defensively and well-shaped in midfield. It was always playing to stop Chelsea from scoring. James Milner provided a forward dimension on the left wing going forward.

On their part, Chelsea were patient and dangerous entering the attacking third of the field. Man City fortified the 18 yard area, building a solid wall, a barrier Didier Drogba, Nicholas Anelka and Flourent Malouda kept knocking  with consistent aggression. With a little composure, Michael Essien could have at least forced a save from Hart.

City managed sporadic spells of possession only restricted to the midfield third with very occasional forays into the box. Both teams applied chess-like moves, accelerating forward-looking for opportune moment to catch each other off guard. They made good use of all manpower, getting goalside and leaving Drogba and Carlos Tevez upfront.

Combative duels became a little physical in the preparation zones, with Man City the more aggressive and Chelsea craftier. While not so polished, the match was excessively competitive. To show the balance of play, both Anelka and David Silva found themselves involved in defensive duties once in a while. Chelsea's intentions were very clear as they stroke the post, had 2 penalty situation when Bolata wrapped his arm around Drogba and then shoulder charged dangerously later on.

The second half started with Anelka's effort missing the post after a finger tip touch by Joe Hart. Man City passed the ball better but failed to penetrate. Their first half wing player became less effective as they changed the channel of attack to the right, though when they used the left side, Silva forced Petr Cech to dive low to parry the ball for a corner. The competitiveness of the match was less obvious, probably due to heavy legs from the first half pace and the midweek  Carling Cup losses by the 2 teams.

Carlos Tevez received the ball exactly in the centre circle and ran the entire 55 metres with Ashley Cole backpedaling and then shot low to his left to beat Cech for only the second goal Chelsea have conceded in the league this season. The tempo increased as City looked for the second one while Chelsea hoped for an equaliser. Manchester City defended resolutely and counter-attacked decisively as Tevez began to harass Terry and Alex at will. The goal scorer and captain was eventually replaced by Emmanuel Adebayour with 5 minutes of play remaining.

Anelka had City fans and players' hearts in their mouths when he failed to redirect the ball past Hart from within the 6 yard box. City defended like men possessed throwing all men behind the ball to thin any meaningful threats Chelsea posed. As it turned out, it was a day they would drop the first points of the Backlays Premier League campaign.

Manchester City Burst Chelsea Bubble in A Thrilling Battle Of Wits.

Manchester City 1 - Chelsea 0.

Manchester City started playing not to lose at the City of Manchester Stadium, as if they were the away team. They were very disciplined defensively and well-shaped in midfield. It was always playing to stop Chelsea from scoring. James Milner provided a forward dimension on the left wing going forward.

On their part, Chelsea were patient and dangerous entering the attacking third of the field. Man City fortified the 18 yard area, building a solid wall, a barrier Didier Drogba, Nicholas Anelka and Flourent Malouda kept knocking  with consistent aggression. With a little composure, Michael Essien could have at least forced a save from Hart.

City managed sporadic spells of possession only restricted to the midfield third with very occasional forays into the box. Both teams applied chess-like moves, accelerating forward-looking for opportune moment to catch each other off guard. They made good use of all manpower, getting goalside and leaving Drogba and Carlos Tevez upfront.

Combative duels became a little physical in the preparation zones, with Man City the more aggressive and Chelsea craftier. While not so polished, the match was excessively competitive. To show the balance of play, both Anelka and David Silva found themselves involved in defensive duties once in a while. Chelsea's intentions were very clear as they stroke the post, had 2 penalty situation when Bolata wrapped his arm around Drogba and then shoulder charged dangerously later on.

The second half started with Anelka's effort missing the post after a finger tip touch by Joe Hart. Man City passed the ball better but failed to penetrate. Their first half wing player became less effective as they changed the channel of attack to the right, though when they used the left side, Silva forced Petr Cech to dive low to parry the ball for a corner. The competitiveness of the match was less obvious, probably due to heavy legs from the first half pace and the midweek  Carling Cup losses by the 2 teams.

Carlos Tevez received the ball exactly in the centre circle and ran the entire 55 metres with Ashley Cole backpedaling and then shot low to his left to beat Cech for only the second goal Chelsea have conceded in the league this season. The tempo increased as City looked for the second one while Chelsea hoped for an equaliser. Manchester City defended resolutely and counter-attacked decisively as Tevez began to harass Terry and Alex at will. The goal scorer and captain was eventually replaced by Emmanuel Adebayour with 5 minutes of play remaining.

Anelka had City fans and players' hearts in their mouths when he failed to redirect the ball past Hart from within the 6 yard box. City defended like men possessed throwing all men behind the ball to thin any meaningful threats Chelsea posed. As it turned out, it was a day they would drop the first points of the Backlays Premier League campaign.

Manchester City Burst Chelsea Bubble in A Thrilling Battle Of Wits.

Manchester City 1 - Chelsea 0.

Manchester City started playing not to lose at the City of Manchester Stadium, as if they were the away team. They were very disciplined defensively and well-shaped in midfield. It was always playing to stop Chelsea from scoring. James Milner provided a forward dimension on the left wing going forward.

On their part, Chelsea were patient and dangerous entering the attacking third of the field. Man City fortified the 18 yard area, building a solid wall, a barrier Didier Drogba, Nicholas Anelka and Flourent Malouda kept knocking  with consistent aggression. With a little composure, Michael Essien could have at least forced a save from Hart.

City managed sporadic spells of possession only restricted to the midfield third with very occasional forays into the box. Both teams applied chess-like moves, accelerating forward-looking for opportune moment to catch each other off guard. They made good use of all manpower, getting goalside and leaving Drogba and Carlos Tevez upfront.

Combative duels became a little physical in the preparation zones, with Man City the more aggressive and Chelsea craftier. While not so polished, the match was excessively competitive. To show the balance of play, both Anelka and David Silva found themselves involved in defensive duties once in a while. Chelsea's intentions were very clear as they stroke the post, had 2 penalty situation when Bolata wrapped his arm around Drogba and then shoulder charged dangerously later on.

The second half started with Anelka's effort missing the post after a finger tip touch by Joe Hart. Man City passed the ball better but failed to penetrate. Their first half wing player became less effective as they changed the channel of attack to the right, though when they used the left side, Silva forced Petr Cech to dive low to parry the ball for a corner. The competitiveness of the match was less obvious, probably due to heavy legs from the first half pace and the midweek  Carling Cup losses by the 2 teams.

Carlos Tevez received the ball exactly in the centre circle and ran the entire 55 metres with Ashley Cole backpedaling and then shot low to his left to beat Cech for only the second goal Chelsea have conceded in the league this season. The tempo increased as City looked for the second one while Chelsea hoped for an equaliser. Manchester City defended resolutely and counter-attacked decisively as Tevez began to harass Terry and Alex at will. The goal scorer and captain was eventually replaced by Emmanuel Adebayour with 5 minutes of play remaining.

Anelka had City fans and players' hearts in their mouths when he failed to redirect the ball past Hart from within the 6 yard box. City defended like men possessed throwing all men behind the ball to thin any meaningful threats Chelsea posed. As it turned out, it was a day they would drop the first points of the Backlays Premier League campaign.

Manchester City Burst Chelsea Bubble in A Thrilling Battle Of Wits.

Manchester City 1 - Chelsea 0.

Manchester City started playing not to lose at the City of Manchester Stadium, as if they were the away team. They were very disciplined defensively and well-shaped in midfield. It was always playing to stop Chelsea from scoring. James Milner provided a forward dimension on the left wing going forward.

On their part, Chelsea were patient and dangerous entering the attacking third of the field. Man City fortified the 18 yard area, building a solid wall, a barrier Didier Drogba, Nicholas Anelka and Flourent Malouda kept knocking  with consistent aggression. With a little composure, Michael Essien could have at least forced a save from Hart.

City managed sporadic spells of possession only restricted to the midfield third with very occasional forays into the box. Both teams applied chess-like moves, accelerating forward-looking for opportune moment to catch each other off guard. They made good use of all manpower, getting goalside and leaving Drogba and Carlos Tevez upfront.

Combative duels became a little physical in the preparation zones, with Man City the more aggressive and Chelsea craftier. While not so polished, the match was excessively competitive. To show the balance of play, both Anelka and David Silva found themselves involved in defensive duties once in a while. Chelsea's intentions were very clear as they stroke the post, had 2 penalty situation when Bolata wrapped his arm around Drogba and then shoulder charged dangerously later on.

The second half started with Anelka's effort missing the post after a finger tip touch by Joe Hart. Man City passed the ball better but failed to penetrate. Their first half wing player became less effective as they changed the channel of attack to the right, though when they used the left side, Silva forced Petr Cech to dive low to parry the ball for a corner. The competitiveness of the match was less obvious, probably due to heavy legs from the first half pace and the midweek  Carling Cup losses by the 2 teams.

Carlos Tevez received the ball exactly in the centre circle and ran the entire 55 metres with Ashley Cole backpedaling and then shot low to his left to beat Cech for only the second goal Chelsea have conceded in the league this season. The tempo increased as City looked for the second one while Chelsea hoped for an equaliser. Manchester City defended resolutely and counter-attacked decisively as Tevez began to harass Terry and Alex at will. The goal scorer and captain was eventually replaced by Emmanuel Adebayour with 5 minutes of play remaining.

Anelka had City fans and players' hearts in their mouths when he failed to redirect the ball past Hart from within the 6 yard box. City defended like men possessed throwing all men behind the ball to thin any meaningful threats Chelsea posed. As it turned out, it was a day they would drop the first points of the Backlays Premier League campaign.

Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.

Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.