With the whirlwind start of the European football season and the impending second round of the World Cup qualifiers, there will definitely be pressure on the African professional stars to maintain consistent form and also contain the drastic climatic changes and the long flights to and from home for the numerous assignments.

Criss-crossing venues for international friendlies and combining this with the highly competitive European leagues can be energy sapping and it is to their credit that Michael Essien , Sulley Muntari, Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and the many African international stars are living up to expectation.

I would like to make special mention here of Michael Essien who has made a tremendous impact on both the Black Stars and his club Chelsea since his return to action after injury. He played a major role in the Black Stars recent friendly against Zambia in the UK which the Stars won 4-1. His contribution was also quite noticeable in Chelsea’s opening premier league 2-0 victory over Hull City that saw his African colleague Drogba scoring both goals.

It is healthy to observe that most of these African stars are not carried away by fame and money and they seem prepared to give of their best for the national cause.Essien for instance, does not want to be distracted by the Black Stars captainship politics being played in a section of the Ghanaian media. Much as skipper Stephen Appiah’s lack of active club football is a general concern, Essien appears to share the view that this must not be allowed to take precedence over the Black Stars forward march to South Africa 2010. In other words, the less we made it an issue the better.

I noticed how Essien sportingly handed over the captain’s band to Appiah when he was brought in the second half of the friendly against Zambia. That was comradeship at its best and Coach Milovan Rajevac must be lucky to have such goodliness among his players.

I trust that the arm -chair critics who are not too happy about Rajevac’s selection of players for the various trial matches would give him a break. The Serbian has proved to be a good tactician and he is entitled to be given the free hand to operate.

The Black Stars, and for that matter any national team is not a place to groom players. It is for those who have already made it. In this regard those players with so many rough edges would have to get them straightened at the club level before they get the national call.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not become an automatic choice for Portugal by chance. He had all his rough edges and pranks trimmed to size by the commander in chief at Old Trafford before becoming the world’s number one .Just like the way Arsene Wenger is polishing those teenagers at the Emirates to deliver the goods.

The way Arsenal demolished the hitherto fast improving Everton in front of their home crowd on the opening day of the premier league must have even exceeded Wenger’s expectation. People say the early bird catches the worm which may not be applicable in a marathon race but all the same the 6-1 win is very impressive. Everton must have displayed a lot of defensive frailties, but any team capable of scoring six goals must not be underrated no matter the opposition.

By this excellent show, Arsenal have set a very high standard for themselves and fans would naturally expect more of those. On the other hand, Everton would need to fight hard to recover their shattered nerves. And this is football for you the most unpredictable sport in the universe.

As for Manchester United, since their trade mark slow start is common knowledge, their narrow 1-0 win over Birmingham City at Old Trafford did not surprise keen observers of the Premier league even though substitute Michael Owen should have made it 2-0 with that open chance in the dying minutes.

Maybe the surprise result was the 2-1 defeat of Liverpool by Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the only casualty in the so called top four comprising Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. Will the new season see a new top four?

Your guess is as good as mine but what is certain is that with the numerous transfers of key players this season, there is every indication that another exciting league is in the offing

.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.