January 14, 2008
Sergeant Katongo earns his stripes for Zambia
African stars have received varied rewards for heroic acts on the football field.
Popular items include plots of land, houses and cash, but when Christopher Katongo scored a hat-trick to defeat South Africa and propel Zambia into the 2008 African Nations Cup his ‘prize’ was out of the ordinary.
While the three-goal hero and his team-mates celebrated the Houdini act that rescued a sometimes disastrous qualifying campaign, the commander of the Zambia army promoted Katongo from corporal to sergeant.
Although no longer an active soldier as he pursues a professional football career in Denmark, the army says he will be welcomed back into uniform should he return to the military when he hangs up his boots.
But as a 25-year-old footballer, parade squares and weapons are the last things on the mind of Katongo as he plots the downfall of Group C favourites Cameroon and Egypt in Ghana with Sudan the other first round rivals.
A spate of injuries has sidelined Collins Mbesuma, leaving the Zambia strike force blunt and much rests on the shoulders of Katongo as Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) bid to move beyond the first round for the first time in 12 years.
When Zambia last made an impression by finishing third at the 1996 Nations Cup in South Africa, Zambian Kalusha Bwalya finished leading scorer with five goals.
South Africa is a happy hunting ground for Zambian marksmen as Katongo made his mark at club level there with Jomo Cosmos after spells at Butondo Western Tigers, Kalulushi Modern Stars and army team Green Buffaloes.
He spent four years being coached by South Africa legend Jomo Sono, a star who would have become a household name around Africa had it not been for the apartheid system.
Katongo scored 15 times for Johannesburg-based Cosmos in the first half of the 2006-2007 league season before signing a four-year contract with Danish club Brondby.
And despite his absence from the 15-round second half of the South African championship, no other goal poacher climbed above the Zambian on the scorers ladder.
How Katongo must wish South Africa were in Group C as he thrives against them, scoring the lone goal when they clashed at the 2006 Nations Cup group stage to decide who finished last on the standings.
And then there was the hat-trick in Cape Town last September which took just 12 first-half minutes to execute and humiliated Brazil 1994 World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and his South Africa side.
Victory gave Zambia, who had lost to Bafana Bafana (The Boys) and been held by featherweights Chad at home, top spot in Group 11 and South Africa sneaked through as one of the best three runners-up.
Aside from his predatory instincts, Katongo is not afraid to swim against the public tide and refused to join in the clamour for the dismissal of caretaker coach Patrick Phiri when Zambia were down and almost out.
“I insist that Phiri must finish what he started,” said Katongo.
Predator Agab lifts Sudan out of the dark ages
Faisal Agab was just five years old when Sudan last appeared at the African Nations Cup.
Now, in the twilight of his illustrious career at the age of 37, the humble star with an instinct for goals carries the hopes of the huge east Africa country finally rediscovering the pleasure of international success.
While coaches never tire of preaching that football is a team game, it is debatable whether Sudan would have ended a 32-year absence from the Nations Cup without their arch predator.
After failing to score in the first two qualifiers for the 2008 African Nations Cup – against Seychelles in Omdurman and Tunisia in Tunis – Agab notched five in four matches.
The Sudanese scorer-in-chief first made his mark away to Mauritius, giving the ‘Desert Hawks’ a late first-half lead and snatching the winner 14 minutes from full-time.
In the return match, Agab scored the second of three Sudanese goals as half-time approached and the dream of a place at the Nations Cup was rapidly becoming a reality.
Sudan travelled to Seychelles in the penultimate round knowing a maximum three points would secure a place in Ghana either as Group 4 winners or as one of the best three runners-up.
It was too good an opportunity to squander and the ‘Hawks’ swooped to win 2-0 with Agab scoring 60 seconds before half-time to extinguish the brave resistance of an outclassed home team.
Riot police dashed to Khartoum airport when a Sudanese squad composed exclusively of local league players, returned to a rapturous welcome from thousands of success-starved supporters.
And there was even greater joy to come as Sudan completed their six-round group schedule with a thrilling 3-2 home victory over 2004 champions Tunisia and Agab maintained his scoring consistency by converting a penalty.
The goal haul of the veteran in the qualifying competition was bettered only by Issam Jomaa, a young France-based Tunisia striker who managed one more thanks largely to a hat-trick in Seychelles.
In a memorable 2007 for Agab – full name Faisal Agab Sido – he also claimed five goals in the second-tier African Confederation Cup as Al-Merreikh exceeded expectations by finishing runners-up to Tunisian club CS Sfaxien.
He wants this year to be even better and to do that Sudan must cast aside disastrous pre-tournament form and finish among the top two in Group C where giants Cameroon and Egypt and unpredictable Zambia lurk.
“We are aware that it is going to be a tough challenge against some of the most powerful national teams on the continent, but we do not fear them,” said Agab as he echoed the words of coach and former Sudan star Mohamed Abdallah.
“Sudan want to go beyond the first round and we are ready to put our country back on the African football map. We have been away too long to let this chance slip.”
If Sudan are to upset the form book, Agab and fellow Merreikh striker Haytham Tambal will be pivotal figures as they scored eight of the 13 goals that lifted the ‘Hawks’ out of obscurity and into the limelight.
Hassan, the veteran Pharoah out to rediscover form of 2006
Ahmed Hassan took the 2006 African Nations Cup by storm, his four goals helping hosts Egypt lift the title with his contribution earning him the best player award.
But can ‘the eagle’ as he’s been christened soar to the same heights in the 2008 edition which gets underway in Ghana on Sunday?
That question is preoccupying fans of the Pharoahs after the veteran 32-year-old playmaker’s recent slump in form for his Belgian club Anderlecht.
On the European scene the player whose ability was first harnessed and nurtured in the shadow of the pyramids in Aswan, has struggled to shine.
But for Egypt it’s been an altogether different tale.
He’s been capped a record 130 times and has acquired iconic status and it’s a similar story in Turkey where he played for a eight years from 1998 with Kocaelispor, Denizlispor, Genclerbirligi and Besiktas.
His manager at Besiktas, Jean Tigana, described him as “my irregular prince”.
“Hassan is a hardworking player who is quick and talented,” Tigana explained.
“His only problem is not liking the team play. He wants to be free on the pitch. He is my irregular prince as he doesn’t play in the team-system.”
Hassan’s move to Belgium in 2006 was motivated by a desire to star on the European stage.
He said: “More than anything I want to play in the Champions League, Anderlecht play in it every season.”
But with Europe proving a frustrating illusion – Anderlecht failed to make it past the group stage in 2006 and this season had to settle for the UEFA Cup – Hassan seems to be hankering for a return to Turkey.
Rumours abound of an imminent return to the banks of the Bosphorus.
Whatever Hassan’s club fate this African Nations Cup – his seventh – represents his last major international assignment – motivation if any were needed for his bid to add a third title after those of 1998 and 2006.
Late arrival Eto’o crucial to Cameroon’s title hopes
Barcelona will have felt fully justified in their controversial decision to jealously keep their prize African fighter, Samuel Eto’o, from national service a week longer than allowed.
The attacker’s brace in Saturday’s win over Murcia means Eto’o joins Cameroon having helped his club stay in touch with Spanish league leaders Real Madrid.
Cameroon will be relying on more of the same over the next few weeks in their bid to lift a record-equalling fifth African Nations Cup title.
Drawn favourably in Group C against holders Egypt, Sudan and Zambia they will be eyeing a lengthy stay in Ghana.
Sidelined with a right leg injury for three months earlier this season Eto’o has emerged as one of the star strikers in Spain over the past couple of seasons.
Eto’o, who in October took out Spanish nationality, is the latest in a long line of international stars to emerge from Cameroon, and is at the very heart of coach Otto Pfister’s assault on the 2008 Cup.
Only 26 years old, Eto’o has already been voted African Footballer of the Year a record three consecutive times and finished among top three in a FIFA World Footballer of the Year poll.
He has also helped Barcelona lift the Champions League and was a member of the Cameroon 2000 and 2002 Nations Cup-winning teams.
His prowess in front of goal is only matched by his ability to stir up emotions in the dressing room.
For Eto’o, as Barcelona have come to realise at their cost, is no shrinking violet.
He has kept sports editors in business ever since his arrival in the Catalan capital from arch rivals Real Madrid.
His outspokenness has made him a target for insults and racist attacks at matches in Spain.
But he is quite capable of dishing out similar treatment. The day he was officially presented as a Barcelona player in August 2004 he told the press: “I’m not the sort of guy which promises to score 50 goals in a season but I can say that I’ll run like a Black to live tomorrow like a White.”
And in May the following year, in the heat of celebrations after helping Barcelona to their 17th league title, he grabbed the microphone at the Camp Nou and proceeded to insult his former club.
“Madrid, salaud, salue le champion!” which roughly translated means “Madrid you can go to hell, hail the champions”.
He apologised the next day, but the damage with Real was done.
His confidence, bordering at times some feel on arrogance, has not always come without a price
In 2005 in Cameroon’s crucial 2006 World Cup qualifier against Egypt, Eto’o elected to allow teammate Pierre Wome take a penalty rather than step up to the spot himself.
Wome missed and Cameroon missed out on the finals in Germany, with Eto’o forgetting his responsibility and venting his anger at Wome.
Last season it was his teammate Ronaldinho and manager Frank Rijkaard to feel the sharp edge of his tongue. He accused the former of individualism and the latter of ill will.
According to the Spanish league’s top scorer (with 26 goals) in 2005-06 the Barcelona dressing room is split in two – with one half of the players supporting president Joan Laporta and the other half swearing allegiance to his predecessor, Sandro Rosell.
The furore raised by his comments hardly helped in Barcelona’s pursuit of the title that season, which ended trophyless.
But the good news for Cameroon is that Eto’o is fully fit and firing on all cylinders and Pfister for one will forgive his star striker the odd outburst if he can help deliver up the cup in Accra on February 10.
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