This Sunday was a ‘bloody Sunday’ for world football. One after the other, leagues got postponed, but Uri managed to cover the Angolan Girabola matchday and the thrilling Hong Kong FA Cup semifinal. Football is bleeding but still breathing.
Another weekend is here, and you know exactly where you’ll can find the most interesting matches. That’s right, at the BabaGol Weekend recap! This week we will visit a match for the title in Kuwait, we will meet a few familiar faces in China and enjoy an Afro-Brazilian football experience in Angola. Let´s dance!
(All times are in CET local time)
Friday, 19:55, Al Kuwait – Al Arabi (Kuwaiti Premier League)
This is the ‘money time’ of the season in Kuwait. The match between Al Kuwait and Al Arabi, two teams with serious title aspirations, is going to be a decisive one as Al Arabi is top of the table, 5 points ahead of Al Kuwait. Al Kuwait has a glorious history including 11 national championships and ten national cups. Moreover, they have won three AFC Cup titles, the second-tier continental competition in Asia. This year they are once again playing in the AFC Cup, as they are close to qualifying for the round of 16 for the 7th consecutive season.
Keep your eyes on the Brazilian Rogerinho, who has been playing for the team since 2008 and who won the AFC Foreign Player of the Year award in 2012, Waleed Ali, who played 103 matches for Kuwait national team, and Abdulhadi Khamis, the team's top scorer this season, with 7 goals.
Al Arabi are aiming to win their first title since 2002. They have already won the Kuwaiti Cup this year, winning 4:2 against the same Al Kuwait team. They currently have 16 national championships, and winning the title this season means that they will become the most crowned team in the country. Their key players are Firas Al-Khatib, a Syrian player who has scored 16 league goals this season, Mahmoud Dashti, a 22 year-old local talent, Ahmed Hayel who, as well as being one of the club’s greatest scorers, was part of a bizzare moment in the last Asian Cup.
You can feel the pressure and the stress in the closing stages of the league. Which team will come good and win the championship?
Sunday, 11:00, Shanghai SIPG – Beijing Guoan (Chinese Super League)
With the arrival of big money and big stars, it is clear that the Chinese league is developing significantly. Matchday 5 will be played this weekend, and we have a clash between Shanghai SIPG and the league leaders, Beijing Guoan, who haven't lost a game yet.
A few years ago, Shanghai SIPG were known as Shanghai Dongya, an average second division team. In 2013, the team signed a $40m sponsorship deal with the Shanghai International Port Group and the team immediately became one of the strongest teams in China. Last term they finished in 5th place, missing out on the Champions League spot by goal difference and now they aspire to win the title, currently ranked 2nd with 10 points. Shanghai appointed a world class manager, the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson. Among the big names in the squad you can find another Swede, Tobias Hysén, who played 34 times for his national team, Argentine Darío Conca, who came back to China after one season with Fluminense, and Sun Xiang, who has played in the Netherlands and Austria. Beijing Guoan has quite a tradition in the Chinese top flight. Even though they have only won one championship, they usually finish in the league’s top places and play in the AFC Champions League regularly. It is tight at the top, with Shanghai leading the table with 10 points thanks to a better goal difference. Beijing Guoan also have a foreign manager, the veteran Spanish coach Gregorio Manzano, who won the Coach of the Year award in China last year. Look out for Dejan Damjanović, who arrived in China after 6 tremendous seasons in South Korea, Yang Zhi, the China national team’s goalkeeper and Shao Jiayi, who played in Germany for 9 years.
Chinese football is making big progress every day. A high-tempo match from the Super League will give you a feel for it.
Sunday, 16:00, Recreativo de Libolo – Petro de Luanda (Angola Girabola)
Imagine a mix of Portuguese and Brazilian football on the one hand, and African football on the other hand. The combination of both will be our welcome greeting to football in Angola, a former Portuguese colony in Africa. On Sunday, Recreativo de Libolo and Petro de Luanda will face each other in a match between two completely different sides of the local scene.
Recreativo de Libolo was formed in 1942, then was dissolved, but then reformed in 2006. This new era for the team is led by the new president, Rui Campos, who has taken the club to new heights. They were promoted for the first time to the Girabola, and in 2011 won their first championship, which was part of a dynasty of three titles in four seasons. Their manager, Sébastien Desabre, has been in Africa for a while and previously managed teams in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Tunisia. The main players of the team are Rudy, who has played in Belgium and Spain, Fredy, who played in the national youth team of Portugal as a youngster and now plays for the senior team of Angola, and Jusly Boukama-Kaya, who arrived in Angola after two seasons in Cameroon.
Petro de Luanda is the biggest team in the history of Angolan football. They have won 15 championships, which makes them the club with the most titles in the country. Their players always play a big part in the national team. They’re still part of the league’s top flight, but they have failed to win another title since 2009. Their manager, Alexandre Grasseli, is a Brazilian who has managed youth teams in Brazil and is now starting out as a senior team head coach. The stars of the team are Lamá, the team’s goalkeeper since 1999 who was also part of the national squad at the 2006 World Cup, Mabululu, the team's top scorer, and Filhão, a 19 year-old hot prospect of Angolan football who has already played abroad in the South African league.
Africa, Brazil and Portugal all on one pitch, I think that this is going to be a special football experience, just like we all love.
