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Too Good, Too Bad: How African stars performed in Europe last weekend

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The last weekend was a mixed bag for African soccer stars in their various European clubs with some of them churning out superlative performances while some could not live up to expectations.

Across different leagues in England, the Bundesliga, La Liga, the Belgian Jupiler League, the Serie A and even the EFL Championship, African players strutted their stuff and Africannewswatch brings you a review of the continent’s best and worse performers of the last weekend.

Too Good

Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal/Egypt)

Arsenal and Egyptian midfield star, Mohamed Elneny tops the Too Good list after he helped the Gunners maintain her unbeaten run in the English Premier League and remain top of the table with a 2-1 defeat of Fulham on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Egypt international made the matchday squad as a replacement for Ghanaian star Thomas Partey who picked up a thigh injury during the warm up.

Mohamed Elneny points the way forward as Arsenal romped to a 2-1 victory over Fulham (Photo Credit: Arsenal FC)

Mohamed Elneny points the way forward as Arsenal romped to a 2-1 victory over Fulham (Photo Credit: Arsenal FC)

Elneny lived up to what was expected of him as he did not disappoint by putting up a solid display to help the team come from behind to beat their opponents following an Aleksandar Mitrovic goal.

Elneny put up a man of the match display as goals from captain Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Meghalaes to put the Cottagers to the sword.

The mercurial midfielder successfully completed 50 passes, 98 percent of them accurate, including 54 touches and with Partey still sidelined, could be in line for another start when Arsenal welcome Aston Villa on Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium.

Brian Brobbey (Ajax/Ghana)

Brian Brobbey gave his chances of breaking into the Ghanaian team a huge lift when he led Ajax to a comfortable 2-0 victory against Utrecht at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday in their Eredivisie fixture.

After strike partner Steven Berghuis had put the perennial Dutch champions ahead, the 20-year-old Brobbey got the second goal for the home side shortly after.

The Ghanaian prospect who has scored two goals from four appearances with two assists, after opening his goal account in Ajax’s of 3-2 victory against Fortuna Sittard on August 6.

Albert Adomah (Queens Park Rangers/Ghana)

Albert Adomah was the star for Qyeens Park Rangers as he scored in a decisive goal as QPR defeated Watford in their EFL Championship game played at the Vicarage Road on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Black Star international who previously played for Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, has featured in every game for QPR in this campaign, snatched a late winner as QPR handed Watford its first defeat of the season to stun the vociferous home crowd

Joseph Paintsil (Genk/Ghana)

Another Ghanaian international who made the Too Good list was ageless John Paintsil who scored one goal and provided an assist as Genk trounced RFC Seraing 4-0 in a Belgian Jupiler League fixture on Saturday.

John Psintsil was at his best last weekend (Photo Credit:Getty Images)

John Psintsil was at his best last weekend (Photo Credit:Getty Images)

Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye had opened the scores for Genk after receiving a split pass from Paintsil before the Black Star grabbed the second of the night in the fixture played at the Stade du Pairay.

So far, Paintsil has scored three goals from six appearances with two assists. He scored his first two goals against AS Eupen on August 6 when he grabbed a brace in a 4-2 victory.

Too Bad

Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich/Senegal)

After a blistering start for his new club, the Senegalese forward had a game to forget as Bayern Munich managed to hold Borussia Monchengladbach to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Though Mane had a goal disallowed after he hit the back of the net in the 35th minute after connecting a cross from Thomas Muller, but the goal was ruled out for offside after referee Daniel Schlager reviewed the build-up using VAR.

The former Liverpool star was subbed off for Serge Gnabry in the 68th minute after he could not replicate the form that has seen him score three goals for his Bundesliga club.

Edouard Mendy (Chelsea/Senegal)

The Senegalese safe hands also makes the Too Bad list yet again as he failed to keep a clean sheet as Chelsea managed to defeat Leicester City 2-1 at the Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

After his calamitous howler against Leeds United the previous week, Mendy failed to be as stellar as he has always been in the past as Harvey Barnes breached his net in the 66th minute after Raheem Sterling had grabbed a brace.

Mendy is no longer at his best for Chelsea *Photo Credit: Chelsea FC)

Since the new season kicked off, the Afcon winner has managed only one clean sheet which came in the 1-0 victory against Everton at Goodison Park on the first day of the season.

Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace/Ghana)

Jordan Ayew endured a frustrating afternoon as Manchester City came from two goals down to thrash Crystal Palace 4-2 courtesy of an Erling Haaland’s hat trick on Saturday at Etihad Stadium.

Patrick Vieira ‘s men had raced into a 2-0 lead by half-time after an own goal from John Stones and a header from Joachim Andersen the Citizens roared back and turned the match on its head in the second half through Bernardo Silva and Haaland to complete the comeback.

Jordan Ayew had a weekend to forget at the Etihad  (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Jordan Ayew had a weekend to forget at the Etihad (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Ayew was saved from his myseries in the 74th minute when he was replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta.

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Liverpool legend Graham Souness wants ‘selfish’ Salah to leave club

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One of the legends of English Premier League club, Liverpool, Graeme Souness, wants Egyptian star, Mohamed Salah, to leave the club due to his “extreme selfish” nature.

Souness who was reacting to the celebrated touchline dispute between Salah and manager Jurgen Klopp during the club’s league match against West Ham last weekend, described Salah as the most selfish player he has ever seen.

Salah got into trouble with Liverpool fans when he was preparing to come on as a substitute, having been selected on the bench for the second time in three games.

Video footage that captured the scene showed Klopp walking up to the Egyptian and whisper something in his ear but whatever the manager said seemed to infuriate Salah who flared up leading to an exchange of words between the duo.

The two have played down the confrontation with Klopp insisting that whatever issue they had has been “completely resolved.”

Klopp who spoke on Friday at a press conference ahead of Liverpool’s home match with Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, insisted that his spat with the star forward would not damage to their relationship going forward.

“If we wouldn’t know each other for that long, I don’t know how we would deal with it, but we know each other for that long and respect each other too much that it’s really no problem,” Klopp said.

“In general, the best situation would be everybody is in the best possible place, we win games, we score lots of goals.

“Yes, then the situation with Salah would probably not have been exactly like that. Then Mo wouldn’t have been on the bench in the first place,” the manager said.

However, while speaking on William Hill’s Three Up Front podcast on Friday, Souness called Salah a selfish player and expects him to leave Liverpool.

“Salah is the most selfish player I have ever witnessed. Even before that game, whenever Klopp takes him off, he is never happy about it,” Souness said.

“That is what you want from your players; if you take them off on two goals, they should want to stay on to score a third. When Sadio Mane was there, they’d fall out all the time,” Souness added.

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Sports

Why Zambia’s women national team could miss Olympics

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Zambia’s women national football team is on the verge of missing out on playing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This is after world football governing body, FIFA, threatened to suspend the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) following accusations of money laundering offences levelled against its president, Andrew Kamanga, as well as allegations of “undue influence by third parties”.

Kamanga who has be the FAZ president since 2016, was last week, arrested by the country’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) along with the Secretary-General, Reuben Kamanga and two other persons, over an alleged money laundering running into K341,902.

The arrested officials have already been charged by the DEC for allegedly obtaining government funds under false pretences and being part of a conspiracy to defraud.

The anti-graft agency alleged that Kamanga used the money to fund trips for two associates to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast early this year.

Kamanga and Reuben were charged along with Madalitso Kamanga and Jairous Siame, who travelled to the tournament as part of FAZ’s support staff though are not working with FAZ.

Indications that the Zambian football association could face the hammer came via a letter by FIFA Member Associations Officer, Kenny Jean-Marie, addressed to FAZ that the world football’s governing body had “taken interest” in the arrests of the football officials.

In the letter, Jean-Marie requested for copies of any documents received in relation to the accusations and also directed FAZ to hold its scheduled AGM despite an injunction brought by a suspended club owner which accused Kamanga of changing the association’s constitution without following due procedure, being filed in Zambia’s high court to stop it taking place.

The letter also warned that failure to hold the AGM would provide possible grounds for suspension.

Part of the letter reads:

“The order of the High Court of Zambia dated 24 April, 2024, appears to clearly amount to undue influence by third parties which could be considered as a violation of Article 19 paragraph 1 of the Fifa Statutes and Article 7 paragraph 1.g. of the CAF Statutes.

“For the avoidance of doubt, please note that the infringement of the aforementioned provisions of the FIFA and CAF Statutes may give rise to grounds for the suspension of FAZ irrespective of whether the infringement was attributed to FAZ or not.

“We would like to remind you that a suspended member association may not exercise any of its membership rights.

“The representative teams as well as the affiliated clubs of this federation can no longer take part in international competitions until the suspension has been lifted. In view of the foregoing, FAZ is directed to conduct its Annual General Meeting.”

However, a ruling by a judge upheld the injunction on and scheduled another hearing for Thursday, meaning the AGM was not allowed to take place which has placed the participation of the women’s team in the forthcoming Olympics in jeopardy.

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