TIME RUNNING OUT FOR NIZAR KHALFAN.

Nizar Khalfan is currently a Yanga FC midfielder. He played with success in about last 7 years of his carrier. he started to be known when he played for Mtibwa Sugar FC. at times he was able to move outside Tanzania to look for more success and exposure. He has played in some teams in Kuwait before going to America where he joined the Canadian side Vancouver White Caps FC. After staying for some time(estimated to be less than 2 years) he returned home and joined Yanga FC. 

Nizar in Yanga jersey.

Being a very good player, he is facing a serious challenge of getting regular appearances in the team. At times he was facing serious and frequent injuries. He has been continuously being out of the 1st 18 players. He is just underutilized. With the presence of some new players life for him is not easy at Yanga FC. He should probably try to find another team where he can get time to play and show his talent.

Nizar when Yanga played Tusker FC from Kenya in Dec. 2012

Nizar for Taifa Stars when Tanzania played Morrocco

Nizar for Vancouver Whitecaps against Makubuya of Toronto FC.

Nizar vs Ballotelli

  

CAN LEVANTE RUN FROM RELEGATION?

Levante hosted Espanyol on April 17th, 2015. Being at their home ground the expectations were so high because they know how important it is for them to win. It was in the 18th position before the Friday game. After the match is over Levante has jumped into the 16th position. The match has just ended some few hours ago. To remain at that position Levante has to wait for other teams to play on saturday.

Lucas Vasquez scored an opener for Espanyol in the 18th minute. This could have created a lot of pressure for the hosts as well as frustrations. To make sure they come back into business Simao equalized after an assist from Nabil El Zhar. Again at  the end of the 1st half Espanyol added another goal to make it 2-1. Victor who came in to replace Nabil in the 74th minute, rescued Levante from loosing another match after he scored an equalizer in the 87th minute. Final result was 2-2.

THE CATALANS SHINE IN FRANCE.

Barcelona seems not to play their tiki-taka style as it happened to be during Guardiola's era. They have modified their footballing style. once they go to the half of the opponents, you can see some short passes mixed with some quick long passes. May be that is the reason PSG was not able to withstand the pressure from the catalans. 

An opener volley from Neymar marked a good start of their 3-1 victory. Suarez showed to us as to why Barca bought him from Liverpool.

HOW GHANA STUMBLED TO SENEGAL.

In their 1st match against Senegal, in January 19th 2015, Ghana seemed to play well only in the first half. In the second half Senegal looked more determine than Ghana. There was a mentality of remaining behind to wait for the Senegalese to come and attack them. This provided Senegal with Many options to penetrate the Ghanaian defence. The kind of football played by Ghana in the 2nd half was counter attack minded. It was a quiet different Ghana as compared to the other previous years squads.

Ghana-Senegal in action. Photo: www.fourfourtwo.com

Ghana normally play a possession football which is attack minded. Remaining behind to defend the 1-0 victory cost Ghana a lot. After many attacks Senegal equalized. Ghana was tempted to come in front to try to top up the score, but Senegal was very intact and played cautiously in their defence. At last the substitute player Sow, gave Senegal a winner in the last minutes. Surely Ghana will have to improve their footballing style to win the AFCON 2015.

YANGA FC SACKS COACH MAXIMO

More drama continues as usual. In the great Dar es Salaam derby, we have seen what our eyes can't believe. Do you chase out the coach of the team which is 2nd in league tables because of a defeat in a friendly match? May be this can happen in very few countries if not only Tanzania. Marcio Maximo was employed in June, 2014. For Yanga FC this time is enough for success. Yanga went down by 2-0 in this Dar es Salaam derby. It was actually a friendly match which has been used to strongly criticize the technical bench and judge that it is unworthy. 

In other places the coach can not be sacked because of a defeat in a friendly match. The team is still contending for the title, and the coach is just re-organizing the squad. More time was needed for this Brazilian tactician for better results. It could be better to judge him at the end of the season. How can you ripe success if you did not invest in a considerable length of time like 2 years or three? Drama, drama, drama in Tanzanian football.

 Yanga FC is in the 2nd position in the league tables just after Mtibwa Sugar. The fans seemed intolerant of the defeat in Saturday of 13th December. Different people have been criticizing the Brazilian players which were brought by the coach. It has been observed by the fans that the players are so normal and they don't have anything strange to bring in the team. They want a player with many qualities like Jay Jay Okocha.

Yanga(yellow) and Simba(red) fans in action

Sherman the new Yanga striker from Liberia

Elius Maguri in red as he scores for Simba.

MANCHESTER CITY ADVANCES TO LAST 16

Manchester City has managed to go through in the round of 16 after a hard work. The English Premier League champions were back in business after a wonderful goal from Sami Nasri. The game started and as the time went on AS Roma dominated the possession almost all the time of the game. The main problem of AS Roma was in the midfield. 

Their midfielders were continuously interrupted by Man City players who were very creative and disciplined in the middle of the ground. The Ivorian superstar for Roma Gervinho dribbled the ball very well for some time, but the Man City defenders were so keen to block him. AS Roma team seemed not to have an efficient plan B to penetrate the Man City defence. 

 AS Roma Killer Nasri

Photo by: www.bbc.co.uk

Francesco Totti as expected played very well but he was not getting good services from the AS Roma midfielders. It seems money can buy a good game for Man City. Their soccer was really entertaining. They have played in the alien soil but were confident enough to get a 2-0 victory. Sami Nasri played so eagerly for Man City. After scoring the 1st goal with a tremendous strike on the AS Roma goal, the Frenchman created a good goal with his clever pass, which was netted by Zabaleta. This means that Bayern Munich and Man City are through to the round of 16. Aguero and Yaya Toure did not play but we have seen the presence of good players like David Silva, Jovetic, Navas and Edin Dzeko.

ARSENAL STUMBLES AT EMIRATES

The gunners. Theirs is a clear sad story. Wenger is trying to ripe from his investments on plans. Will he go to buy players in January? Only God knows what Wenger is thinking on his heart. To be beaten at your own ground is a very sad thing. Man U is not that much good because it had many injured players in their list. Van Gaal's side is not balanced at the defence. Man United's wingers were determined to win I can say. The pace of Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia was a big challenge to Arsenal defence. This encounter should tell Wenger a very important message that he should really change his attitude of not signing key players at the right time. He has managed to build a new stadium and the club has a lot of cash by now. Trophies is everything in football. No trophies no value.