WEEKLY BULLETIN & PRESS RELEASES
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS Qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations resumed this weekend. Amongst the winners were Ghana, Guinea, Zambia, Cameroon, Botswana, Ivory Coast and South Africa. North African teams Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia could only manage home draws.
PLAYER NEWS & GOSSIP Pape Diakhate (Senegal) goes to Lyon (France) on loan and Joseph Yobo (Nigeria) joins Turkish giants Fenerbahce. Mamadou Bah (Guinea) moves to Stuttgart of the German Bundesliga and Kazenga LuaLua (DR Congo) has a loan deal with Brighton of the English League One.
Asamoah Gyan (Ghana) completed his transfer to Premier League Sunderland and Siaka Tiene (Ivory Coast) moves within France to Paris St Germain. Nabil El Zhar (Morocco) goes on loan to PAOK (Greece) and Amadou Rabihu (Cameroon) joins League Two Hereford Utd. Top Belgian club Standard Liege have signed Meme Tchite (Burundi) and Aloys Nong (Cameroon). Laryea Kingston (Ghana) joins Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem on a free transfer and Yakubu Alfa (Nigeria) will play for Metalurg Donetsk in Ukraine. Possibly moving to the Premier League - Bongani Khumalo (South Africa) Possibly moving to Scotland - Danny Shittu (Nigeria)
The main European transfer window closed on Tuesday evening.
GENERAL In the UEFA European Championships qualifying there was a surprising home defeat of France by Belarus. Jean-Marc Nobilo (France) is the new coach of Benin but Rabah Saadane has resigned as coach of Algeria.
AFRICA WAITS ON FITNESS OF DROGBA - AS BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGERS NAME HIM AS THE CONTINENT'S BEST
Barclays Premier League managers believe that if Chelsea's Didier Drogba regains full fitness he will be the stand-out African player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa according to a survey of England's top flight managers by sponsor Barclays.
According to the survey, completed by 17 of the 20 Barclays Premier League managers, 71 per cent think that Drogba, who won the Barclays Golden Boot as the Barclays Premier League's top scorer in 2009/10, will enjoy the best World Cup of all the African players currently plying their trade in England's top flight. Arsenal and Cameroon midfielder Alex Song and Everton's South African star Steven Pienaar were also tipped to perform well.
Ivory Coast striker Drogba (71%) is also seen by managers as the best African player in the world currently, followed by Ghana's Michael Essien (11%) and Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o (6%). In addition, Drogba was chosen as the African player to have had the biggest impact on the Barclays Premier League since its inception, ahead of other legends from the continent such as Jay Jay Okocha and Kanu.
Eto'o is the African player that English top-flight managers would most like to see play in the Barclays Premier League (47%), with new Arsenal signing Marouane Chamakh (23%) and Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure (23%) also tipped as being the best African players not yet playing in the Barclays Premier League.
Barclays Premier League managers are also looking to Africa to provide the future stars of world football. They now rate Africa on a par with Europe (both 29%) as a future source for producing the best footballers in the world over the next decade, only South America will produce more (41%) according to the managers.
RESULTS
Which player do you think is the most important for England’s hopes in the World Cup?
1. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 100%
Which Barclays Premier League forward do you think has the best chance of winning the World Cup’s Golden Boot?
1. Fernando Torres (Liverpool & Spain) 47%
2. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United & England) 41%
3. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City & Argentina) 12%
Which players do you think will be the ‘stand-out’ players at the World Cup?
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina) 82%
2 = David Villa (Spain) 6%
2 = Carlos Tevez (Argentina) 6%
2 = Andres Iniesta (Spain) 6%
Which Barclays Premier League player representing an African nation will be the ‘stand-out’ performer?
1. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast & Chelsea) 71%
2. Michael Essien (Ghana & Chelsea) 23%
3. Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast & Manchester City) 6%
Which African player not currently playing in the Barclays Premier League do you think would make the most positive impact on the Barclays Premier League?
1. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) 47%
2 = Maroune Chamakh (Morocco) 23%
2 = Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast) 23%
4. Mamadou Niang (Senegal) 6%
Which African player do you think is the best in the world at the moment?
1. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) 71%
2. Michael Essien (Ghana) 11%
3 = Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) 6%
3 = Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast) 6%
3 = Marouane Chamakh (Morocco) 6%
Which African player do you feel has made the biggest impact on the Premier League since its inception?
1. Didier Drogba (Chelsea) 94%
2. Michael Essien (Chelsea) 6%
Who do you think will win the World Cup?
1. Brazil 53%
2. Spain 24%
3. Argentina 12%
Outside FIFA’s top seven seeded teams, who do you think will be the tournament’s ‘surprise package’?
1. France 41%
2. Ivory Coast 18%
3. Serbia 12%
4 = Portugal 6%
4 = USA 6%
4 = Honduras 6%
4 = Paraguay 6%
4 = South Korea 6%
At this moment which country do you think is producing the best football players?
1. Brazil 53%
2 = Spain 18%
2 = Argentina 18%
4 = France 6%
5 = Italy 6%
Over the coming decade which continent do you think will produce the best top class footballers?
1. South America 41%
2 = Africa 29%
2 = Europe 29%
|
