Michel slams Tunisia

Ghana expels Kuffour from Nations Cup for indiscipline

BAMAKO (Reuters) -- Ghanaian defender Samuel Osei Kuffour departed from the African Nations Cup on Tuesday, expelled by team coach Fred Osam Duodu for "indiscipline," officials told Reuters.

The Bayern Munich defender, who is expected to be named as the new African Footballer of the Year in April, left Bamako on a flight for Accra.

He is the third player sent home from the tournament after both Egypt and Morocco expelled a player each over the weekend under similar circumstances.

Few details were available about the circumstance of Osei Kuffour's departure but the player had several run-ins with the coach on the eve of the tournament.

Osei Kuffour, who won the UEFA Champions League with his German club last year and scored the only goal of the World Club Championship match in Tokyo in November, had been severely critical of Osam Duodu's decision to drop captain Charles Akonnor for the Nations Cup finals.

Akonnor also plays in the German Bundesliga with VfL Wolfsburg and is a close friend of Osei Kuffour, who has refused to take over the team's captaincy.

He had also been critical of Ghana's preparations and the coaching style of the veteran Osam Duodu, who took Ghana to the Nations Cup title in 1982.

Osei Kuffour, one of the three candidates for the 2001 African Footballer of the Year award, had to be persuaded to play in Mali by Ghana's president John Kufour, who called the player in Germany last month, officials said.

Osei Kuffour played for Ghana in their opening match of Group B on Monday but did not impress in a scoreless draw against Morocco.

After the match, he was still positive about his team's chances of making the quarterfinals, saying: "We could have done better, but it's the first time many of us have played together."

The 25-year-old defender was one of the few established internationals who escaped a clear-out of the team by Osam Duodu, who has preferred many of the country's rising junior stars in the final squad of 22.

Osei Kuffour said his team mates needed more concentration after the game against Morocco in Segou where both sides squandered a series of chances.

Ghana now face group seeds South Africa in their next match in Segou on Thursday while Osei, Kuffour told officials he would return to play for Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Morocco sent home defender Abdesslam Ouaddou and Egypt expelled Ibrahim Said for indiscipline at the weekend. Both have also left Mali.

Michel slams Tunisia players after false start

BAMAKO -- Tunisia's French coach Henri Michel has severely criticized his players on Tuesday after a lackluster performance in their opening African Nations Cup game against Zambia.

Michel, who will be going to his fourth World Cup finals with his fourth team this year, said the Tunisia players showed their limitations in Monday's scoreless draw in Mali's capital of Bamako.

"There was a lack of lucidity, a lack of experience, they were perhaps a little clumsy and they didn't take the risks needed at certain times -- that's quite a lot," Michel, who took the Tunisia job at the end of November, told reporters.

"If that was the worst they can do then we have a lot of hope, if that was the best then we are going to have plenty of concerns.

"I think the team is capable of playing well but it has its limits -- and it showed [on Monday] in both attack and defense.

"What else can I tell you? I don't know how you can succeed with anything other than hard work and talent. We don't have time to work, so they will just have to play with their qualities and faults."

Tunisia are competing in their fifth successive African Nations Cup finals but have never won the tournament, besides hosting it twice.

Monday's stalemate also means they have failed to win the opening game at the last five attempts.

Psychological condition

The north African nation now faces traditional rivals Egypt before taking on fellow World Cup finalists and group leaders Senegal in the final match.

"The problem now is that we're not in the best psychological condition as we pretty much have to win, and it's Egypt, a long-standing adversary for Tunisia," he said.

"It will be very hard and very difficult to win and we'll have to be good."

Michel was particularly critical of Tunisia's defense.

In fact, the only player he praised by name was Zambia's lively forward Dennis Lota, who caused problems and could well have won the tie at the death.

Michel said: "Defense is one of Tunisia's major faults. We have quality players but we have some with major problems of position, speed and tackling.

"We have to try and improve, but it's going to be difficult. I can't be satisfied with the defense when we nearly lost the match."

Tunisia had the lion's share of possession in a pulsating game but both sides lacked composure in front of goal, fluffing chance after chance in the face of staunch defending, a recurring theme so far at the finals in Mali.

Defensive strategy

In 720 minutes of football, only five goals have been scored -- one every 2-1/2 hours.

The President of the Zambian Football Association, Evaristo Kasunga, said after the game that the southern Africans had played defensively but it was a deliberate strategy.

But Michel said that was no excuse for his strikers.

"At one moment or another, someone has to take responsibility for shooting from long range to draw the defenders out. They didn't do that," he said.

Michel, who has taken France, Morocco, Cameroon and now Tunisia to the World Cup finals, also criticized the state of the pitch and Italian clubs for not respecting the players.

The Tunisian squad has three players based at Serie B club Genoa, including striker Hassen Gabsi.

Michel said: "He [Gabsi] had a problem for months in Italy, but when they don't respect the players and give them injections to play we end up with the situation we're in now...his ankle is in a catastrophic state."

Tunisia are in group H of the World Cup finals, alongside Japan, Russia and Belgium.

Kalou undeterred by grim past experience

SIKASSO, Mali -- Ivory Coast striker Bonaventure Kalou will not turn his back on his country despite being sent to a military camp with the rest of the squad two years ago as punishment for a poor display in the African Nations Cup.

Kalou had no second thoughts about coming back for more despite the frightening and humiliating experience at the hands of the West African nation's then military government.

After their first round exit in Ghana, the Ivory Coast squad was flown straight to a military camp in the center of the country.

In an action widely condemned by the football world, the players were held for a week, frog-marched and given lectures in patriotism.

A number of players from that team, including Marseille striker Ibrahim Bakayoko, have also returned despite the experience.

"Let's say it like this: I love my country and if my country needs me I will always come to defend its colors, no matter what," said Kalou, who plays his club football in the Netherlands with Feyenoord.

"It was a shame that we went to the military camp because we didn't make the second round. But you cannot be angry against your country. No matter how your country treats you, you have to be proud of it.

"It was a different government, a military government, and now things are quite different. I don't think that will happen again in my country.

Military mentality

"Most people think football is a sport but the military mentality is different from what ordinary people think. It was a really difficult moment but we are trying to forget about it and concentrate on this competition."

The Elephants, perennial underachievers at international level, are in danger of repeating their first round elimination after being held to a goalless draw by smaller neighbors Togo on Monday. Their next game is against defending champions Cameroon.

Although they have regularly produced talented players, the Ivory Coast have won the Nations Cup only once -- in 1992 -- and have never played at a World Cup.

They appeared to be on course to make their debut in Japan and South Korea but faltered in their qualifying group and eventually lost out to Tunisia.

Although Kalou was prepared to forgive the military experience, he was still critical of the team's poor organization, which he feels more strongly after coming back from Europe and which he blames for their failure to live up to potential.

"We need another mentality, a winning mentality, I think. If we want to be a really great team we have to be stronger in the mind," Kalou said.

"At Feyenoord things go well but when I come here it is always different, everyone does what they like. It makes you lose your concentration and that's what happens every time."

"It's Africa and you have to deal with it."

Nigeria impress Swedish spies

STOCKHOLM -- Swedish "spies" Thomas Lyth and Tore Lennartsson were impressed by Nigeria's 1-0 win over Algeria in the African Nations Cup, daily Dagens Nyheter reported on Tuesday.

"Their confidence made the biggest impression," Lyth was quoted as saying after Nigeria's win on Monday.

"Even though Algeria had several chances to score, Nigeria never got nervous. They continued keeping the ball to build things up or counter on their own terms.

"Only players with a lot of experience and great confidence do that."

Sweden meet Nigeria, England and Argentina in group F of the finals.

"It will be a challenge [playing Nigeria]," Lennartsson added. "We're not used to facing teams as fast and physically strong as Nigeria."

 

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