Month: May 2020

The 1985 African Player of the Year. Naturally, the list reflects on success, so those excelling in the African international scene came on top. European-based players were not strongly presented: only 4 in the top 10 list. Roger Milla (St. Etienne and Cameroon) shared 10th position with Wa Mbati Mobati (AS Bilima and Zaire). Jules-Francois Bocande (Metz and Senegal) was 9th, Youssouf Fofana (Monaco and Cote d’Ivoir) was 6th, and Rabah Madjer (FC Porto and Algeria) – 2nd. However strange, the great Cameroonian goalkeepers ended very low: N’Kono (Espanol Barcelona) shared 22nd position with 6 other players and 4 points. Bell (Olympique Marseille) was 33rd with 2 points, along with 6 others. It is highly unlikely that the European based players – especially Madjer, playing already key role in soaring FC Porto – were weaker than African-based players, but all depends on what is in front of the eye. Madjer was very distant 2nd with his 45 points: the winner got 113 points, there was no contest.

 

The undisputed winner was Mohammed Timoumi.

Mohammed Timoumi deserved to be number one, though – the 25-years old Moroccan played for FAR Rabat and was instrumental for its African Champions Cup triumph. He debuted in 1975 and already had 10 years of competitive football, having been regular for FAR since 1981. He already had about 50 caps for the national team of Morocco and since Morocco was playing strong football and going to the 1986 World Cup finals, it was not just club-football success. Timoumi was the second Moroccan player voted the best in Africa, but it could be said that Timoumi’s impact was greater than the 1975 winner Ahmed Faras. Yet, there is remaining question mark – winners did not last for some reason. Only Thomas N’Kono was voted best twice. Great and historically important players like Salif Keita, Jean Manga Onguene, and Cherif Souleymane won once each and in the case of Manga Onguene, a bit too late. Was it inconsistency, or Africa was bursting with talent, every year one better than those before? The Algerian Lakhdar Belloumi was number 1 in 1981 and now distant 7th. But he did not move to Europe, which could be seen in two ways as well: may be he was not all that good to attract European interest, or he chose to play at home for the glory of Algerian football. The eternal African dillema… promote local based talent or bow to European-based professionals, who nobody sees at home. One thing was certain, though: FC Porto was much stronger than FAR Rabat and playing for it was recognition of class – playing for an African club, however successful, could be only a stepping stone to real career. But no matter – at the end it was great day for Timoumi, a fine ending of wonderful season and more was to come. Including European recognition.

Cup Winners Cup. A bit more exotic than the Champions Cup – withdrawals and penalties, of course, but on somewhat another level. Waxool (Somalia) was disqualified for fielding an ineligible player and Racing Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Fasu) withdrew at the preliminary round. In the first round perhaps the most unusual penalty in the whole histroy of football was given: following crowd trouble at the end of the 2nd leg against Dragons de l’Oueme (Benin), Zairian CS Imana were forced by the African Football Federation to rename themselves DC Motema Pembe. What exactly happened remains hidden behind fairly innocent words ‘crowd trouble’. CS Imana lost the tie, but to whom the crowd’s wrath was directed? To their own team? To the visitors? To the referrees? Whatever happened, the punishment was extremely unusual. And finally there was purely political withdawal – it happened in the semi-finals, where Al-Nasr (Lybia) had to meet Al-Ahly (Egypt). Al-Nasr withdrew, no doubt following government orders and one can only guess what could have been, if these two teams were finalists: no final. The rest of the competition was normal – whatever ‘normal’ means in Africa. Al-Ahly (Egypt) and Leventis United (Nigeria) reached the final. On the way, Al-Ahly eliminated AS Marsa (Tunisia) 0-0 and 4-0, SC Simba (Tanzania) 1-2 and 2-0, Dragons de l’Oueme (Benin) 1-1 and 4-0 and reached the final after Al-Nasr refused to play in the 1/2 finals. Leventis United eliminated Old Edwardians (Sierra Leone) 0-0 and 4-1, Nga Horoya AC (Guinea) 0-0 and 1-1 – here thanks to away goal, ASC Jeanne d’Arc (senegal) 1-0 and 1-0, and AFC Leopards (Kenya) 2-0 and 0-1.

At the final, Al-Ahly won the first leg in Cairo 2-0 (Magdy Abdelghani and Zakaria Nassef scored) and lost the away match 0-1 (Bunmi Adigun scored for Leventis), thus winning the Cup Winners Cup on 2-1 aggregate.

This was the peak of the short-lived Nigerian club Leventis United – they existed only few years and left little information of themselves. Whether the foto is from 1985 or not is impossible to affirm, but it is ‘about there’.

The winners present similar problem – this could be a foto of them, but may be

this is more reliable picture of Al-ahly at least from year 1985, if not from the triumphal final. It was significant victory in many respects: first of all, Al-Ahly equalled the record of fellow rivals Al Mokauolom in two consecutive years. Second, they equalled the record of same Al Mokauolom, winning the trophy twice. Third, it was 4th year in a row the Cup Winners Cup was won by Egyptian club. Fifth, Arabic domination of African club tournaments was firmly established in the 1980s: teams from Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco won the Champions Cup in 1981, 1982, 1984, and 1985. Al-Ahly itself won it in 1982 and lost the final in 1983. The Cup Winners Cup was entirely Egyptian possession four year already – 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. Al-Ahly itself was rapidly becoming one of the most African clubs too: 1 Champions Cup, 2 Cup Winners Cup, and one lost Champions Cup final. It was different time and old leaders lost gound – especially the successful Congolese/Zairian teams from the 1960s and the Cameroonians and Guineans from the 1970s.

African Champions Cup. Unlike CONCACAF, Africa had full records of its tournaments, yet, without solving mysteries and outright weirdness along the way. The international tournaments were becoming more orderly, but old problems did not end – the biggest traditional one was appearences: withdrawals continued as ever. In the preliminary round ASFA Ouagadougou (Burkina Fasu) withdrew before the first leg and Port Authority (Gambia) qualified without playing even a game, only to withdrew before the second leg of the first round after losing the opening match 0-8 to Moroccan FAR. It was not the only withdrawal in the first round: Marine Club (Somalia) also withdrew, but without playing even one leg. And Invincible Eleven (Liberia) was disqualified for fielding ineligible player. From this stage on, the tournament proceeded normally to its very end. In the semifinals AS Bilima (Zaire) eliminated US Goree (Senegal) 2-0 and 0-1, and FAR Rabat eliminated Zamalek (Egypt) 0-1, 1-0, and finally 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out.

The two-legged final opposed AS Bilima (Zaire) vs FAR Rabat (Morocco) and at this point all depends on point of view: the peak of Zairian football was 10 years ago, but that would be the view from the outside. In the country itself there was nothing wrong and the reputation of Zairian clubs seemed to be strong in Africa. However, such a view was more typical for the Southern parts of the continent – on the Mediterranian coast the picture was different and perhaps truer one: Arabic football was at least better organized than the rest of the continent, had better players and stronger clubs. All relative, but the final supports the Arabic view: FAR destroyed AS Bilima in Rabat 5-2. Then tied the second leg at gloriously named after the glorious dictator of Zaire Mobuto Stadium in Lubumbashi – 1-1. FAR Rabat won the African Champions Cup.

AS Bilima was obviously weaker at the final. It had a French coach – no surprise, African teams constantly employed European coaches, then blamed them for everything – but that was not a great help. AS Bilima reached the final only one match, consecutively eliminating Township Rollers (Botswana) 3-0 and 1-0, CARA Brazaville (Congo Brazaville) 1-1 and 1-0, GCR Mascara (Algeria) 0-0 and 3-0, and US Goree (senegal) 2-0 and 0-1. But the Moroccans were too strong. This was the second final AS Bilima lost – the first in 1980, when they lost at home to Canon (Cameroon). And they were the last club from Zaire reaching the final for some time – the next one will be in 1991, equally unsuccessful.

FAR Rabat, the club belonging to the Moroccan Army, reached the final for the first time. It was the first time Moroccan club went that far and successfully at that. As it still is, African squads were fairly anonymous and even on the rare occasions players names are given, they hardly mean anything to most people.

There is general and everlasting problem with African pictorial material – local judgement tends to be arbitrary and highly imaginative, so one cannot be sure what is right and what is just whimsical. To which year a picture belongs is always suspect, if known at all – so, two prictures of winning FAR Rabat. The boys in white are supposed to be a picture of the winners in the final. The one in red is supposed to be a picture from 1985 – the kits differ (not in colour, but from the time period) and faces are rather different. Let assume that at least one photo is a picture of the champions – may be not from the final. May be not the actual winning squad, but at least a line-up from this wonderful season. FAR was supreme all the way to the Cup: against Port Authority (Gambia) 8-0 and no second leg, against CA Bizerte (Tunisia) 4-1 away and 0-1, overcoming in penalty shoot-out AS Kaloum Star (Guinea) after 3-0 and 0-3 and in the semi-finals Zamalek (Egypt) also in a shoot-out after 0-1 and 1-0. Somewhat stronger opponents on the road than the ones AS Bilima met. No doubt who was stronger at the final, though. Well done.

CONCACAF Champions Cup. Well, the tournament was called Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF and involved the champions and vice-champions of the participating countries, although not every one provided two teams. Not every country participated either – Canada was absent, for instance. The structure was clear only in the genaral outline, but not in details. As ever before, a good chunk of information is missing even today and there are wrong names and conflicting information, depending on the source. In general, it was a tournament of direct elimination after 2 legs – home and away – but some games were played on neutral ground: Vida (Honduras) and Deportivo FAS (El Salvador) played both legs in Los Angeles (USA). Where the Mexican leg of the fixture America (Mexico City) and Vida (Honduras) was played remains a mystery: Mexican sources give Queretaro; CONCACAF – Mexico City. Whether 5 teams from the Caribian Section – Mont Joly (Cayman Islands – possibly a confusion with the club from French Guyana, which pariticpated for sure), Violette (Haiti), Boys Town and Tivoli Gardens (both Jamaica) and Aiglons (Martinique) – played at all is unknown. CONCACAF countries were divided into 2 section – Northern/Central Section and Caribian Section. The winners of them met at the final for the cup. Most likely financial and travel reasons led to such division, but the football benefits of it were more than doubtful: the Caribian teams, where the South American members of CONCACAF also played, were much weaker. The whole structure is suspect, in fact: there is no doubt that the Mexican clubs were the strongest in the whole region, but they met between themselves in the first round and automatically were reduced by half. USA was represented by single club – Chicago Croatian – which was champion of what? NASL was gone by now and USA had no recognizable national championship, professional or amateur. The number of teams after the first round were uneven, so there were direct buys in 1/4 and 1/2 finals – thus Aurora (Guatamala) went straight from the first round to the final of Northern/Central Section. It is entirely unknown whether one of semifinals of the Caribian Section was played at all – no results exists and it is only assumed that Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago) beat USL Montjoly (French Guayana). In such circumstances it could assumed that the Mexican clubs had lukewarm interest in the tournament at best, very likely prefering to concentrate on the thoroughly professional domestic championship. Which affected their performance negatively. This and possible ambition of Central American teams to beat the mighty neighbours – direct elimination gave them certain chance, especially if they added various hostile out of field schemes to intimidate their opponents – could be the explanation why Mexican clubs were not constant winners.

Northern/Central Section. Mexico, USA, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Bermuda played in it. If the record is real, then Canada, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and may be some islands did not participate. In terms of relative strenght, only the absence of Costa Rica may have been important. The Mexican saga was particularly unremarkable: for some reason America and CD Guadalajara met in the first round and America qualified. America reached the 1/2 finals and lost to Olimpia (Honduras) 2-2 and 0-1. It appears they lost their home leg, which is strange, but America underestimated their opponents and lacked real interest, they deserved to lose. Meantime Aurora (Guatemala) played only in the preliminary round, where they eliminated Hotels International (Bermuda) 0-0 and 3-0. After that they qualified by byeis to the final. In the final Aurora won its home leg 1-0, then lost away 0-2 and Olimpia (Honduras) qualified to the CONCACAF final.

Caribian Section. As already mentioned, 5 teams from Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, and Martinique were listed as paricipants, but it is entirely unknown whether they played any games. 11 teams really played, according to existing records – Robinhood (Surinam) qualified by a bye from the first round. 3 teams were eliminated at this stage: RC Conaives (Haiti – there was nothing clear in CONCACAF: Conaives have 2 clubs and this RC most likely reffers to Racing Club and not Roulado, but who really knows?), San Francois National (Trinidad and Tobago), and Jong Holland (Dutch Antilles). In the second round 4 more teams appeared along with the winners in the first round. Here only only match was played between CS Moulien (Guadelupe) and Weymouth Wales (Barbados) – CS Moulien won its home leg 1-0 and no match in Barbados was played. The name of the opponent of Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago) remains practically unknown: it is listed as Tri JSC, but the only club in Guadelupe with similar name is JS Capesterre. And that was all records suplly… it is not even certian that only 8 teams played at the second round. As for the rest, there are resluts for only fixture in the third round: USL Montjoly (French Guayana) eliminated Jong Holland (Dutch Antilles) 3-0 and 1-0. Assuming this round was semi-final round, apparently eliminated CS Moulien (Guadelupe) and then won over USL Montjoly – nothing else explains why Defence Force appeared at the CONCACAF final. And to conclude the big fun CONCACAF was, the last recorded games before the final were August 1985. The final, though, was played in January 1986. Defence Force (Trinidad and Tobago) vs Olimpia (Honduras). On January 19th Andres Kenneth scored twice and provided Defence Force with good cushion for the second leg in Honduras. On January 26th Juan Carlos Escpinoza scored one goal and Olimpia won the second leg, but Defence Force won the cup on 2-1 aggragate.

Unlikely winner at first glance – but this was lunatic tournament, so why not?

And here theyr are – happy winners of CONCACAF Champions Cup. Standing from left: Anthony Delpesh (capt.), Hutson ‘Baba’ Charles, Libert Duncan, Michael Puckerin, Anthony “Goat” Furlonge, Troy Garcia, Errol Lovell, Anthony “Shiggy” Garcia, Miguel Hackette

Front Row: Grantly Maxwell, Dexter Francis, Hayden Thomas, Curtis Murrel, Chris “Pointy” Miguel, Rodrick Gibbs.

To the world at large the names mean absolutely nothing, but it is another matter at home – very likely they are well remembered in Trinidad and Tobago. Heroes and rightly so. More than just heroes: this was the second time Defence Force won CONCACAF Champions Cup – they did already in 1978. This is the only club from this country to win the trophy. As a whole, CONCACAF is quite weak, but there are degrees even among the weak: Trinidad and Tobago never ranked high in CONCACAF, so the achievement of Defence Force is truly remarkable. As for the strenght of the team… one can presume: the club was founded in 1974 as military club. That means the club had power to recruit the best in the country, to provide relatively good and professional training conditions and very likely providing otherwise amateur players with some perks, even some way of paying them – as soldiers or officers of the army. Such scenario explains success: realtively decent and well prepared professional or semi-professional team, spurred to give its best by military orders. Facing an opponent, which was no great power itself, victory was possible. And the boys won – that is all that counts after all.