One weekend, three games, Worldwide. All the information.
It’s obvious that this week I’m going to write about the African Cup of Nations final on Sunday, but as you have already seen – nothing is obvious. After all, this is a BabaGol weekend guide!
This week we will fly to Latin America to see the origins of the last World Cup sensation, we’ll hop over to Asia to visit one of its emerging football nations and finally, we will arrive in Africa, in a country that is trying to return to the forefront of the African football stage.
(All the times are in CET)
Sunday, 03:00, Herediano – Alajuelense (Costa Rican Primera División)
At the last World Cup we were all witnessed the big surprise that was the Costa Rican national team. The fascinating fact is that nine players of the squad play in the Costa Rican domestic league, which is not so common in most successful Latin American national teams. Football in Costa Rica has made great progress in recent years. On Sunday, two of Costa Rica’s greatest clubs, Herediano and Alajuelense, will meet for an important league fixture and we can see the progress for ourselves.
In the last Campeonato de Invierno (Winter Championship), Herediano finished as the runner-up, after a tragic defeat against Saprissa. Their aspirations are to win the title, but they are now in 4th position, with 8 points out of 4 games.
The head coach is Mauricio Wright, who was capped 67 times for the national team. Several players in the squad were also part of their national team squad in Brazil like Óscar Granados, Dave Myrie and Daniel Cambronero. Gabriel Gómez, the Panamanian who played for years in Europe and the United States is also there, as are Leonel Moreira, who has played for Herediano since 2009 and Cristian Montero, who knows both of the teams very well, as he has been with Herediano since 2009, but was a part of the Alajuelense squad for eight seasons.
Alajuelense finished the Campeonato de Invierno with a disappointing result. Even though they finished in the top place of the regular season, they were eliminated in the semi-finals, once again by Saprissa. This season they want to go one step further and qualify to the play-offs final.
Up to now, they seem to be going about it the right way, as they have picked up 10 points and are in 1st place. In order to win their 30th title, Alajuelense is led by experienced coach, Óscar Ramírez, who won 8 domestic titles as a player (4 of them with Alajuelense) and 5 domestic titles as a coach (all with Alajuelense).
Some players who are considered to be key players are Patrick Pemberton, the team’s captain, Jonathan McDonald, who returned to Costa Rica after a season with Kalmar in the Swedish league, and Ramon Nuñez, the Honduran international who has also played in the United States and England.
We all saw the passion of the Costa Rican players at the World Cup, so now it’s time to see where this passion comees from, in a big, local match.
Sunday, 10:30, Long An – Binh Duong (Vietnamese V-League)
The Asian Cup concluded last week, but we haven’t finished our journey through Asian football. Vietnam is not considered to be one of the strongest sides on the continent, but it has developed rapidly in recent years. Its improvement is rooted in the decision by the AFC for the Vietnamese champions to qualify automatically for the AFC Champions League group stage.
This weekend, reigning champions Binh Duong will travel to Long An for the main event in East Asian football. Long An is a new club with little tradition. The team was established in 2000 through the merger of an old team, also named Long An, with another team, Dong Tam.
The unification was successful, as the team became one of the richest in Vietnam and won the title twice. In the last few years, they have failed to repeat their achievement and even spent a season in the second division. This year, they returned to their place near the top of the table, as they ranked in the 4th place with 10 points and they still didn’t lose in their first six matches. The main players are the two Vietnamese internationals, Phan Van Tai Em (50 caps) and Huynh Quang Thanh (45 caps), alongside with Pham Hoang Lam, a current U-23 national team squad member and Souleymane Diabate, a Malian who has been playing in Vietnam for the last three years.
Binh Dong is an old club, but for years they haven’t been a part of the elite teams in local football. The big change came in 2002, when the local company Becamex took over the team. The team became the richest club in the country, now known for their nickname the "Chelsea of Vietnam". The team had a great start to the season, with 5 wins out of 6 games. Now they are aspiring league leaders and hope to win back-to-back championships.
In order to fulfill this dream, Binh Duong have recruited several leadings players: the Senegalese Abass Cheikh Dieng, who is the current top scorer in the league, Ganiyu Oseni, who won the U-17 world title with Nigeria and local lad Le Tan Tai, who has made 63 appearances for the Vietnam national football team.
When western people think about Vietnam, they imagine American war movies or battles in the jungles. The real picture shows tons of passion for football and a different battle, a battle for the title.
Sunday, 18:30, Zamalek – ENPPI (Egyptian Premier League)
This week, Egypt mourned the event that killed Egyptian football. Three years ago, after the match between Al Ahly and Al Ismaily in Port Said, huge riots began, 74 people were killed and many more injured. Those responsible were sentenced to the death penalty and the season was abandoned, a decision that harmed the league badly. After two years, last season a full season was completed in Egypt. The leaders and organisers of the Egyptian league will face each other in the match between Zamalek and ENPPI.
Zamalek is one of the biggest clubs in Egypt. They have 11 domestic championships, 23 domestic cups and five CAF Champions League titles, but their last league title was a long time ago in 2004. This season they lead the table with 44 points. Even though the team is succeeding, three coaches have already been replaced. Mido left in July to be part of the Zamalek youth system, Hussam Hassan left in November for the national team and Spaniard Jaime Pacheco left because he didn't settle in Egypt.
The key players are Moamen Zakaria, who was on loan from ENPPI last season, but completed his transfer to Zamalek at the start of the season, Ibrahim Salah, who came back to Zamalek after one season in Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Eid, who has played 51 matches for the Egyptian national team and Abdoulaye Cissé, who played for French side Montpelliere for five seasons.
ENPPI is a much smaller club. They were first promoted to the top division in 2003 and except for two national cups, they have no other honours. Their name is the name of the main sponsors of the team, a major industrial engineering company, specialising in gas and petroleum. This year they are one of the surprise packages in the league, as they are in second place, only three points behind Zamalek. The major players of the team are goalkeeper Abdel Monsef, who has been with the club for 11 seasons, defender Salah Soliman, who was a part of the 2013 winning squad of the U-23 African Championships and Amr El Halwani, the team’s current top scorer who also played in Greece for four years.
Egyptian football is still trying to recover from the ‘Port Said Events’ and return to the top levels of African football, so this match is a big symbolic part of the process.