The fiasco that is being shown as Nigeria 2009.

The FIFA under 17 World Cup started last Saturday. Five African teams started: Nigeria, Gambia, Malawi, Algeria and Burkina Faso.

Of the lot it seems only the host nation are doing ok. Well, they better, especially because of the disgrace they are feeding the world about Africa.

They've messed up Africa's name. As if it ain't already in the doldrums.

Last Monday, the match between Spain and the United States of America was disrupted twice due to failure of the floodlights at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.

Before that, on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday, the game between hosts Nigeria and Germany was delayed by half an hour because the heavy downpour made the Abuja National Stadium pitch unplayable.

What the fuck is wrong with these Nigerians? The artificial pitch at Enugu, if constructed well, would not have had such puddles as to make the pitch unplayable.

My pal Godwin Kotey at the Tema Stadium here in Ghana, which is similar to the one being used in Enugu, says that one the MAIN advantages of the artificail pitch is that during rains, the rain must not soak it, so the game can go on.

Heaven knows that football has seen worse downpours than this that have gone on to the end. And lest I forget, the game was terminated after the 60th minute. Come on Africa, if we want the rest of the world to say good things about us and FIFA has given us four events (the Confed Cup in South Africa, the Under 20 World Cup in Egypt, under 17 World Cup in Nigeri and South Africa 2010) the least we can do is to manke them feel it's been worth it.

Someone asked why on earth FIFA would give Nigeria the rights to host a tournament. Those guys have a proven track record of fiascos. They claim to be the giants of AFrica yet so much of what they do is flawed when given the chance.

This may be a sweeping statement but people should have seen the signs early when Nigeria failed to meet the requirements of Jack Warner and his folks a couple months ago.

I was doing punditry for TV3 when this disgrace occurred. I covered my head in shame at what our big brothers are doing to the name of Africa.

Let's see the explanations they give. You can read more on artificial pitches here.

In the meantime the game went on and it ended 1-1.

Niang and his time to shine: Marseille vs PSG

The star of Olympique Marseille is undoubtedly, Mamadou Niang from Senegal. Big players, as well all know, can only lay claim to that that of 'greatness', when (and only when) they prove to be good consistently in big games.

For Olympique Marseille's Niang, this is it. France has it’s own Le Classique this weekend as the glamour clubs of the south and north, Marseille and PSG, clash at the Stade Veladrome on Sunday night.

Rivalry between the two camps crystalised in the late 80s, with arguably the most famous match taking place on the final day of the 1988/89 Ligue 1 season. Mirroring the epic events over the channel that year which saw Arsenal win the title at Anfield on the final day of season, PSG took on OM with both clubs tied on 70 points at the top of the table.

The winner-takes-all match was on a knife-edge until the closing stages, as Marseille midfielder Franck Sauzee scored a last-gasp 30-yard screamer to give the Southerners the Ligue 1 title. That winning season formed the foundation of a 5-year domination of French football by Marseille, though that ended in disgrace with the Bernard Tapie scandal in the early 1990s.

Violence has also surfaced on several occasions down the years when OM and PSG meet. During a Coupe de France match back in 1995, 146 people and 9 policemen were hospitalised after fighting broke out between the rival supporters, while the start of the 2000 French league season was tainted when an 18-year old Marseille supporter was paralysed for life after being struck by a seat thrown from the Parisians section of the Parc des Princes.



This time, Niang would face a PSG that is looking decidedly bad. Make it big, man. At least for yourself.

Credit to 101GG for the throwback!

Video: The infamous T.B. Joshua Satellites influence

Nigerian pastor T.B Joshua has been in the news for allegedly claiming that Ghana's under 20 world cup triumph was largely his doing. He has a video of himself speaking to the Satellites coach Sellas Tetteh. Here it is.



This video has sparked a furious debate as to whether spirituality should be mixed with football.

Adebayor's first name is Samuel. According to Caf

There is something in journalism and blogging called typographical errors. But some are quite beyond reproach.

If you take a second to see the website of the Confederation of African Football, it says that former Arsenal striker and now Manchester City man Adebayor is called 'Samuel'.

Just scroll to the bottom right part where you can see the opinion poll.

From what I know (and apparently, FIFA agrees with me) the lad is called Emmanuel, not Samuel. Shame on them!

And the even the question for the poll is quite silly: 'Who is currently the best player at the moment?' Too vague.

Africa...would the bigwigs ever learn that attention to detail counts for something?

Hearts lose again, Kotoko, Ashgold win + league round up

Another loss - 2 nil to Faisal - for defending champions Accra Hearts of Oak in the Glo Premier league means that the knives may start coming out for the head of new coach El Yamani very soon.

Sekondi Hasaacas did enough to burst the bubble of confidence pervading through the Heart of Lions camp. They won 3-2.

Asante Kotoko played well to get a narrow 2-1 win over Eleven Wise. The reds' season-end buys were on form as goals from Abdul Ganiyu and Kabiru Imoro settled the matter.

Bechem Chelsea won 2-0 win over Berekum Arsenals in the B/A derby. Arsenals are losing their invincibility.

Liberty Professionals, after winning 5-2 on Monday against Asfa Yennega (Burkina Faso), got a goalless draw at Aduana Stars. The game was played in Dormaa Ahenkro.

AshGold have started this season well as compared to last as they got an away win. They won against All Stars 2-0 in Wa.

AshGold are joined at the top of the league by Kessben FC who also won 2-0 against Great Olympics.

As for New Edubiase United, they have announced their top flight dreams well, winning 1-0 over Real Tamale United at the Len Clay.

And this is what the league table looks like.