Supporters of Manchester United worldwide are never short of their Christmas boxes. Alex Ferguson has always seen to it that tradition does not lose its bearings. Despite the unusually huge loss of points at this point of the league by their own standards, United have proved that they are the real masters of the game during the yuletide and they will not surrender the title without a good fight.

Wigan Athletic mauled 5-0 at Old Trafford yesterday were unfortunate to have met a wounded Manchester United at a period when their spirits are traditionally high.  The days are gone when they had those gaping holes at the back and could lose miserably to Aston Villa (no disrespect to Villa).

Chelsea must feel most uncomfortable with United and Arsenal breathing so closely on their neck. It is hoped the absence of their Africa Cup Stars especially Essien and Drogba, would not unduly disrupt their rhythm and they should still be able to make life at the top interesting. On paper, Arsene Wenger’s so called Arsenal youthful team have a good chance of snatching the second spot if they successfully clear their outstanding match against Bolton on January 6. The league would then have entered what is termed in horse racing as the home stretch. In view of the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, many of the international stars might be unconsciously tempted to save their limbs for the Mundial and it would be interesting to watch how they pace themselves for crowded programme.

Cleary there are exciting days ahead. Cheers everybody, happy New Year to all my readers and keep loving sports. 

FROM MY ARCHIVES

Dec 20th 1999: Zambia’s national soccer team has flown home after cutting short a horrible tour of the Americas.Players and officials complained about over-crowded accommodation, bad food and poor training facilities on the trip to Miami which had been planned in preparation for the 2000 Cup of Nations.

Kumasi Asante Kotoko’s beleaguered coach Paa Kwasi Fabin joins his two other counterparts in the English Premiership, Benitez of Liverpool and Manchester City’s Roberto Mancini in celebrating very momentous victories during the yuletide.

Whilst Mancini passed a crucial test by winning his first match as manager of Manchester City courtesy a 2-0 win over Stoke City, Benitez brought back Liverpool on the winning trail after a disastrous run of defeats in the first half of the season. As for Paa Kwasi he has been such a disappointment that Kotoko supporters had reportedly planned to physically remove him from the bench in the club’s next match if Kotoko had lost to Aduana Stars. Thanks to Nii Adjei’s injury time goal, Kotoko bagged maximum points and are beginning to move away from a most unfamiliar relegation zone having bagged a paltry 15 points from 12 matches.

Sunday was Kotoko’s first win since the 6th week narrow 2-1 home victory over Real Tamale United in a league that has seen Paa Kwasi change starting line ups like you would change your underwear. The Kotoko coach is most likely to go into Ghana league history as the coach with the most assorted line ups.The triumph over Real Tamale United has been followed by a 1-0 loss to Kpando Heart of Lions; 1-1 draw with King Faisal, 1-0 defeat at the hands of Accra Hearts of Oak; 1-1 draw with bottom club Sekondi Hasaacas and another 3-3 draw with new comers Edubiase Stars The high expectation of relived supporters of the Porcupine is that this victory would be the open sesame to unlock the key to good fortune for the 21 times league champions and twice Africa’s best.  For better or for worse Paa Kwasi will continue to attract the media spotlight like Benitez and Mancini.

Some Ghanaians are already trying to compare the English Premiership with the Ghana league because of the powerful emergence of new title aspirants like Kessben, Berekum Arsenals and Wa All Stars but I don’t really see it. The English top three is still intact featuring Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal .It is the race for the fourth spot that is in doubt.  The exciting aspect is the way the fixtures are arranged in such a way you can never bet safe on a clear winner until the concluding stages.

One moment, Chelsea would look like tearing away from the rest but suddenly they are struck by series of unlikely draws. Another moment Arsenal with a couple of outstanding matches appears the favourites but disappointingly start dropping valuable points. The old horses, Manchester United give the impression of no hopers as they lose heavily to clubs they used to whip with minimum effort but suddenly show real championship stuff. You can never tell. Oh it’s so exciting.

I strongly believe the Ghana league this year will really see an exciting finish depending on these two factors- when the old warriors are able to catch up with the pace setters or when the pace setters manage to stay on top.

From all indications, the New Year will witness a lot of quality football worldwide especially in the south of Africa -Angola CAN 2010 and the FIFA Mundial in “Mandelakrom”.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

Now one can make a good guess of what’s on the mind of new Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini following his team’s magnificent 2-0 victory over Stoke City. The Italian had been suiting on thorns prior to his debut with City but now he is definitely on cloud nine and his pan to place City in the top four is on course.

Never mind the hot pursuit by Aston Villa to be among the elite four, Mancini believes he has got the winning formula to move up from the 6th position and the coming days should see an improved Manchester City who wont concede many goals.Mancini was particularly happy that his team did not concede a goal and he is joined in the celebration with chairman Khaldim al-Mubarak and Chief Executive Garry Cook.

Hurray! The city of Manchester on both sides could soon become the Mecca of English football. What a great expectation.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

FROM MY ARCHIVES

Dec 27th 1999: Brazilian international forward Rivaldo of Barcelona has been voted World player of the year by readers of World Soccer Magazine.

I just trying to figure out what is agitating the mind of Roberto Mancini, the newly signed on Italian coach of Manchester City as he faces Stoke City in his first match at home on Saturday, December 26th 2009. There has been so much fuss about his rather quick replacement of Mark Hughes that the Italian would need a tough skin to survive in the English football terrain if he fails to make an impressive start.

The English media and a number of top class managers including Sir Alex Ferguson of city rivals Manchester United, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger, Martin O’Neill of Aston Villa and former City manager  David Berstein have all publicly criticized the harsh manner in which Hughes was sacked . Their concern is that it gives the impression Premier league coaches are an endangered species and clubs are not behaving professionally and with dignity. Indeed, some of the newspapers were so strong in their views of the dramatic change at Eastlands that the newspapers were banned at City’s training grounds.

The official explanation was that players could be unsettled by negative headlines. One could argue that the new kid on the block, Roberto Mancini, could also be unsettled by those negative headlines but I am told on authority that he has a robust background, and a tough skin. The former Inter Milan coach was himself sacked at short notice in May 2008 because of comments he made after losing a Champions league match to Liverpool.  He had said he would quit the club at the end of the season but he changed his mind a day after. The club owners were however not enthused and he was booted out and an attempt was made to tarnish his reputation.

Mancini did not take kindly to a statement by Inter Milan that his dismissal was the result of “events that emerged recently in the news.” The story is that there had been a drugs probe involving a person known to Mancini and some players but there was never any suggestion anyone at Inter had done anything wrong. He was therefore baffled that his dismissal should have any connection with the drugs probe. The embattled Mancini gave the matter to his lawyer to protect his image. Indeed, he was extremely angry at the manner of his departure after leading Inter to a third consecutive Serie A title. The world surely goes round.

Mark Hughes, the man Mancini is replacing at Manchester City had lost lesser games in the Premier league than anyone else. That is why I am interested to find out what’s going on his mind as he faces four tough pairings up to the first week of the New Year.

After the Stoke City match on Boxing Day, Manchester City will travel to meet Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday Dec 28. Then on Jan 2, 2010 there is an away FA Cup fixture against Middlesbrough paving the way for a crucial Carling Cup semi-finals first leg against neighbours, Manchester United at the City grounds.

There is no doubt that Roberto Mancini, for better or for worse, will be hitting the media headlines in the coming weeks and your guess as to what is going on his mind at the moment is as good as mine.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports


FROM MY ARCHIVES

Dec 25th 1993: Italy and Juventus star Roberto Baggio has been voted the world’s best player. Brazilian Romario and Dennis Bergkamp of Holland followed in that order. The world ratings are Germany, Italy and Brazil.

So much attention has been focused on the poor performance of traditional league winners Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak that the meteoric rise of unsung Wa All Stars has been ignored by the media. The star starved team from the Upper West capital of Wa, have won four matches on the trot in the past weeks and occupy a respectable third position on the table leaving the veteran league campaigners to struggle for survival.

Indeed, until the tenth week fixtures honoured last Sunday, Hearts and Asante Kotoko who between them have won the league 41 times in its 50 years history, were languishing at the bottom rungs of the table with 11 points apiece from a possible 27 points build up. Hearts however managed to extricate themselves from the no hopers with a clear cut 2-0 win over city rivals Great Olympics whilst Kotoko stuck to their unproductive play and dropped valuable home points to Sekondi Hasaacas in a 1-1 affair and are still fifth from the bottom of the table.

You cannot fault the media for maintaining the focus on Kotoko and Hearts because they are undoubtedly the crowd favourites who on a good day can gross more than one million Ghana cedis. Any news about these crowd pullers therefore sells. But for me, the team of the moment is Wa All Stars. What fascinates me about Wa All Stars is that the club is owned by the president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Kwesi Nyantakyi, the first in Ghana’s premier league history and the added ingredient is that the GFA president is on record as saying that the duo monopoly of the league by Kotoko and Hearts must give way to bring some freshness into the Premiership.

Now that his team is doing so well and looks capable of annexing the title, the ever suspicious Ghanaian football fan could soon be reading meanings into his comments on the Kotoko – Hearts duopoly. I have always wondered whether it could happen in my country that a head of state would own a top division club like we have in Italy where Prime Minister Berlusconi owns the giant A.C.Milan Football Club. I am not a messenger of doom but I can see Kwesi Nyantakyi being suspected by the ever suspicious Ghanaian football fanatics of getting favours from match officials when Wa All Stars seem to be on the edge of becoming champions next year. It is a strange world.

I have followed the progress of Wa Stars in the league this year and it is phenomenal. By the sixth week, they had collected only five points from a possible 18 but as if by magic they have won the last four matches and now have 17 points just two behind league leaders Kessben and one adrift of second placed Berekum Arsenals. Let’s have a look at the progress chart of Wa All Stars in the league so far. They started with a 1-1 home draw with Sekondi Eleven Wise, lost 2-0 at home to Ashgold and lost again 1-0 to Arsenal at Berekum. Their first win was at home1-0 against Liberty Professionals but they lost 2-1 to RTU the following week. It was after the goalless home draw against Heart of Lions that they put their scoring machine into top gear and amassed a massive 12 points to deserve the headlines which is strangely eluding them.

In the Xmas eve pairings on Wednesday, All Stars have a chance of further improving their league standings when they face new entrants Aduana Stars at Dormaa Ahenkro.Aduana Stars, sixth in the table have given an early indication that they intend to remain in the premiership for a long time and a fierce battle is therefore anticipated.

Defending champions Accra Hearts of Oak will host unstable Sekondi Eleven Wise and crest fallen Kumasi Asante Kotoko will make a bold attempt to redeem their sinking image with a way win over another new entrant, New Edubiase at Obuasi.The other fixtures with their peculiar attractions are Real Tamale United v Liberty Professionals in Tamale ;Heart of Lions v Berekum Arsenal at Kpando; King Faisal babies v Ashgold in Kumasi; Sekondi Hasaacas v Accra Great Olympics in Sekondi;  Bechem Chelsea v Kessben at Bechem.

These are all interesting pairings and it is hoped to produce results that would be the topic for discussions during the Yuletide.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports

FROM MY ARCHIVES

DEC 19 1993: Kumasi Asante Kotoko fails to turn up for their first week league match against Real Tamale United at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.FIFA Referee Henry Okai from Tema called off the match at 3.45 pm when Kotoko did not show up. Match commissioner J.O.Odai told newsmen that Kotoko team manager Nana Ameyaw had informed him that many of the club’s players had not yet registered and therefore could not raise a team.Angry Kotoko supporters vowed to attack management for failing to raise a team.  Meanwhile RTU appealed to the GFA to award them the points.