FIFA World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago witnessed a historical event, which was that the first African club ever to reach the final. Mazembe broke the monoply of European-South American typical finals, even though they lost the final 0-3.
I was in Stadium, and the image you get about Mazembe is more than great. Nice team, fighting to the last moment, and very friendly fans.
Yet, there is more to the story.
Seems, the hopes were very high back home to win the final game. The defeat in the final sparked a lot of protests and violence back home, which forced the police to intervene and shot over the heads of people to calm them down.
Some fans who watched the game on television in the capital city of Katanga smashed windows and began looting Chinese-owned mobile telephone premises. The reason that during the game, fans didn't like Japanese referee decisions, and mistakingly, they chanted 'Chinese go home'. China has a substantial commercial presence in Lubumbashi and Katanga, with Chinese firms involved in copper mining in the region. Watch protests.
In another tale, Mazembe played the WC without their best player Trésor Mputu, who used to wear shirt#8. He used to be the master-mind of Mazembe in WC 2009, and very skillful. He was described as the "Next Eto".
The reason is because this incident over the referee last April, which made FIFA punish him with a one year ban.
Anyhow, here is some of his skills
No comments:
Post a Comment