Confederations Cup Round-up

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The African Champions League took place this week but we're going to focus instead on the 'little brother' of African continental competitions, the Confederations Cup.

Here's a quick re-cap of this weekend's African Confederations Cup action, thanks to our friends at the BBC.

A Nigerian club coach had to be rescued by police and another quit on a disastrous weekend for the country in the Confederation Cup.

Police smuggled Kwara United coach Kafaru Alabi away from the Township Stadium in the central town of Ilorin as supporters vented their anger at a 1-1 Group B draw with Ismailia of Egypt.

Dolphin were humiliated 6-1 in the same pool away to Al-Merreikh of Sudan, prompting coach Ifeanyi Onyedika to resign while travelling to the team hotel in Khartoum.

CS Sfaxien of Tunisia appear the team to beat in Group A after whipping Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa 4-0 with Ivorian striker Blaise Kouassi scoring twice.

And the deadliest finisher in African club football, Mbuti Mapi from TP Mazembe of the DR Congo, raised his goal tally to 15 by scoring twice in a 2-1 home win over Astres Douala of Cameroon.

Merreikh lead Group B with four points followed by Dolphin (three), Ismailia (two) and Kwara (one) while it is even closer in Group A with Sfaxien (four) just ahead of Mazembe and Sundowns (three each) and Astres have one.

Group winners after the six-round mini-leagues advance to the final and early form suggests Merreikh and Sfaxien could contest the US$300,000 first prize over two legs in November.

Edward Weng gave Kwara a first-half lead only for Mohamed Fadl to level 15 minutes from full-time and although the visitors lacked sacked French coach Patrice Neveu they came close to securing maximum points in a frenetic finish.

When the final whistle sounded police raced to protect Alabi and took him away in a heavily guarded truck as Ilorin once again witnessed the ugly side of African football.

Kwara defeated Mouloudia Alger of Algeria and Union Douala of Cameroon in ill-tempered qualifiers at the Township Stadium with match officials attacked by visiting players.

Former Dolphin stars Endurance Idahor and Efosa Eguakun sparkled as a multi-national Merreikh team guided by Togo 2006 World Cup coach Otto Pfister ran riot in the second half to score three times within five minutes.

After cutting the deficit to 2-1 via a Victor Ezeji header two minutes after half-time, Dolphin had leading scorer Bola Bello sent off for elbowing an opponent.

Merreikh captain and Sudan international Faisal Ajab led the goal charge with two and Mujahid Mohamed, Musa al-Tayeb, Idahor and Mohamed Ali were also on target.

Sundowns did not know what hit them in the Mediterranean city of Sfax with Kouassi scoring after 90 seconds and Blaise Mbele from the DR of Congo adding a second in the eighth minute.

Kouassi took advantage of slack marking to head a third Sfaxien goal with 29 minutes gone and second-half pressure Sundowns was thwarted by goalkeeper Lotfi Saidi before Naby Soumah added the fourth in stoppage time.

Mabi gave Mazembe a first-minute lead in Kinshasa, Amia Ekanga levelled midway thorugh the first half and the prolific Congolese scorer hit the 61st-minute winner.

South African Football

2010 World Cup, football, soccer, USA, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Uruguay, Paraguay, Italy, Côte d'Ivoire, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Ghana, Brazil, Germany, France, England, Slovenia, Korea Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Korea DPR, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Portugal, USA, Uruguay, Switzerland, Honduras, Greece, New Zealand, Spain, Nigeria

We all know the World Cup is coming to South Africa in 2010.
What we don't talk much about is the South African domestic game.

The South African season opens on August 4th with the Charity Cup, an exhausting four-team event that traditionally attracts crowds over 70,000.

Four clubs, voted for in a month-long telephone poll, will compete in two morning semi-finals with the winners given just a short break before returning for the final, later the same day. Talk about a double dip.

The country's two most popular teams, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, have been drawn against each other a week after they clashed in a pre-season tournament won by English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.

Saturday's opening match pits Bloemfontein Celtic against Silver Stars, last year's league runners-up.

Usually 75,000 fans pack into Johannesburg's Soccer City for the tournament but that stadium is undergoing a major overhaul ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals. The tourney has been moved to Mmabatho, a town near the Botswana border whose stadium has a capacity of 59,000.

Pretoria-based Mamelodi Sundowns were one of the original four teams picked for the tournament.

The reigning South African champions were voted in second place but due to a clash with their commitments in the Confederation Cup were unable to compete in the tie.

Mamelodi Sundowns vs. Barcelona

Barcelona's season isn't over yet. They travel to Pretoria, South Africa for an international friendly against South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow night.

“We have raised the bar and I am proud of my president (Patrice Motsepe) for inviting such a historical team to play here. They are bringing a full-strength team and that augurs well for our preparations for the Confederations Cup next month against TP Mazembe,” said Sundowns spokesman Alex Tshakoane.

“I urge local football fans to come and support this team because we are not doing this for us but for the whole country. With the 2010 coming here, it is about time that we all pull together to realise our ambition.”

Most people know a lot about Barcelona. Let's educate you on Mamelodi, from a press release

-- Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club originated from Marabastad, a cosmopolitan area North West of the Pretoria CBD.

The club was originally formed in the early 1960s by a group of youngsters, among them were Frank Motsepe, Roy Fischer, Ingle Singh and Bernard Hartze, to mention but a few, and it became an official football club in 1970.

The club was affiliated to the Federation Professional Soccer League in 1973 and the same year reached the finals of the Coca Cola Cup where they played against Berea United and lost 5-3.

In 1978, the Federation Professional Soccer League threw their weight behind the then National Professional Soccer League. This meant the end of the Federation Professional Soccer League and the subsequent relegation of Sundowns to the second division.

For five years ‘Downs battled to gain promotion and during that period the Sundowns management resolved to disband the club but instead were approached by the late Boy Mafa who bought the franchise for R2000.00, a transaction facilitated by then lawyer, Dikgang Moseneke. This resulted in the club relocating to Mamelodi in the early 1980s.

In 1984 South African Football was the first sport to become non-racial and the National Soccer League was formed incorporating the top clubs in the country.

Sundowns earned promotion to the NSL in 1985 but in their first season in top-flight soccer, they found the going difficult until Zola Mahobe came on board and appointed Ben Segale as their coach.

In 1988, the ownership of the club fell in the hands of Standard Bank, which repossessed the club from Mr. Zola Mahobe. The Twin Pharmaceutical Group, owned by the Krok brothers, then bought the club from Standard Bank.

Sundowns enjoyed a golden period of success in the late 90s that saw them pick up three consecutive PSL titles (the PSL replaced the NSL at the start of the 1996/97 season) from 1998 to 2000 as well as being Bob Save Super Bowl winners in 1998 and Rothmans Cup winners in 1999.

The club reached the final of the 2001 CAF Champions League, their best performance in continental competition, where they were defeated 4-1 on aggregate by Egyptian club Al Ahly.

In 2003, mining magnate Patrice Motsepe bought 51% shares in the club and in 2004 he took total control of the club by buying the remaining shares and thus became the sole owner and shareholder of the club.

Sundowns picked up their first piece of silverware for six years in May 2006 when co-coaches Miguel Gamondi and Neil Tovey oversaw Sundowns’ triumph in the PSL, the seventh league title in their history.

After a slow start to the current season, Gamondi and Tovey were relieved of their positions and Gordon Igesund took over as head coach. Under Igesund, Sundowns defended their title in emphatic style, running away with the trophy. They unfortunately failed to win the ‘double’ losing to `Ajax in the Absa final.

With Barcelona fielding a full-strength squad, this should be a fun one. Catch it if you can!!

Barcelona defeat Sundowns

This story is from the news wires:

Spanish giants FC Barcelona came from behind to beat South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 in a friendly in Pretoria on Wednesday.

South African international Surprise Moriri handed the home side an early lead but late goals from substitutes Santiago Ezquerro and Marc Crosas secured the win for the visitors.

Sundowns took the lead after just two minutes when Brent Carelse latched onto Vuyo Mere's low cross before setting up Moriri, who shot past Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Calvin Marlin kept Sundowns lead before the break after making point-blank saves from Samuel Eto'o and Ludovic Giuly.

Even though the Spanish side dominated the first half, Carlese, Josta Dladla and Patrick Apataki also spurned good scoring chances for the South Africans.

Barcelona's persistence paid off the in the 74th minute when Ezquerro levelled from a Ronaldinho free kick.

Ronaldinho was again the provider with a superb pass to Crosas, who fired past Marlin with six minutes remaining