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And the African footballer of the year award goes to……

October 17th, 2008 | By: Tamim | 19 Comments »

vs.

This week, confideration africain de football (CAF) announced its shortlist of players nominated for the African footballer of the year award and two Egyptian players are there.

The nominees are: Amr Zaki (Egypt), Mohamed Abu Trika (Egypt), Emmanuel Adeybayour (Togo), Michael Essien (Ghana) and Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire).

This is the first time we have any Egyptian nominee since 2002 when Mido shined with Ajax Amsterdam and took the third place; rather than that Mahmoud El Khatib or simply BIBO was the only Egyptian to win the prize in 1983 – that’s a very long time!!!.

After Drogba announced that he isn’t interested in the award anymore after what happened with him last year and Essien long injury (9 months), we have 3 serious candidates: Zaki, Abu Trika and Adeybayour.

Amr Zaki

It seems that Amr’s move to Wigan has opened him a treasure cave; now he is competing for the top scorer title, nominated for African footballer of the year, gaining more fans around the world everyday, receiving interest from big clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool.

Amr started 2008 with the African cup of nations where he scored 4 vital and beautiful goals 2 of them were in Cote Divoire’s humiliation session (4-1) at the semi final then he returned for his club, Zamalek where he continued to score vital goals; one of them was his goal at Egypt’s cup final to make the final score 2-1 and break a 4 years drought without any title for the club.

Then he moved to Wigan where he continued to impress every match and became the next big thing in England; most probably this is the reason he was nominated

Abu Trika

MVP and the fans’ favorite in Egypt, Abu Trika also started the year with four goals in the African cup; one of them was the winning goal in the final against Cameroon.

After that, he continued to shine with his club Ahly to secure their 4th consecutive league title. This season he led his team to the semi final of the champions league.

Adeybayour

After what you did with your national team and leaving them when they most needed you, you don’t stand a chance young man whatever you did with arsenal;- nothing as much as I know!!; if you win this award then this thing is rigged.

Analysis

My opinion won’t be liked by many of you but I have to say it; I think Zaki deserve this prize more because playing in England is totally, wholly, completely, entirely different than playing in Egypt; I mean the pressure there is huge compared to playing in Egypt especially if you play for the one single major club where you never have hard times and never come under pressure

Second, Zaki’s goals in Ghana 2008 were more difficult and beautiful than Abu Trkia’s whose goal at the final 90% of it goes to Zidan who engaged, battled and earned the ball to pass it easy for Abu Trika who didn’t find any difficulty to put it in the net; similarly is his goal in Cote D’ivoire

Abu Trika could have been a hot nominee 2 years ago when he had a very big impact on his club when he played in the club world cup – although I don’t consider it a real championship, only one more chance for FIFA to gain more money- and the national team in African cup 2006, although Amr scored thee most vital goal against Senegal in the semi final.

Anyway, my opinion doesn’t count much neither is the fans’ because only African national teams managers’ vote for the player they want; rumors has it that Hassan Shehata voted for Zaki.

So what do you think? Who do you prefer?

Tags: abu treika, abu trika, adeybayour, african player award, amr zaki, caf, drogba, egypt, essien, Team News

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Comments

By omar | October 17th, 2008 at 5:12 am

AWESOME blog!

By Rob | October 17th, 2008 at 7:58 am

Adebayour will take it, he was great for Arsenal this season…

By sscouser | October 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=914227

Posted from United States

By Tamim | October 17th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

rob: if adebayor wins this award then caf is supporting his actions of leaving the national team when they needed him badly, not a good role model; however, i think he will win it because africans don’t want a north african to take it so they will favor adebayor even if he doesn’t deserve it!!

By Afshin Afshar | October 17th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

I think Michael Essien and Didier Drogba’s chances are slim. Unfortuntely for them, they have been injured. My personal favorite is Abu Trika, but I think Adeybayour will win it despite his national team troubles.

Posted from United States

By sscouser | October 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Tamim I agree with what you wrote about Ade: “After what you did with your national team and leaving them when they most needed you, you don’t stand a chance young man whatever you did with arsenal;- nothing as much as I know!!; if you win this award then this thing is rigged”

The likes of Didier Drogba, Nwankwo Kanu and George Weah will be honoured in a number of categories such as peace building, health, education and the environment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7671549.stm

Posted from United States

By Kiko | October 17th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

Amr Zaki deserves to take it.
But Adebayor is more likely to take it because he gets more exposure (plays for Arsenal and plays champions league).

Lol Tamim are you saying that North Africans get descriminated by other Africans?

Posted from United Kingdom

By Mo | October 17th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

Aboutreka is arguably the best player of those three but I doubt he wins it as he is stuck in the Egyptian league… Zaki hasnt played in the EPL long but had a huge African Cup. Adebayor played huge for Arsenal… I think Ade will win it but Im hoping for Zaki to pull it off…

Posted from United States

By Brad | October 17th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

I think Adebayor will take it as well, for all the reasons stated in the above comments. And I don’t think the trouble he is having with the Togolese Federation will keep him from winning the award. It’s a bit of a black eye on his reputation but nothing more I don’t think.

Posted from Canada

By Tamim | October 18th, 2008 at 1:47 am

kiko: to a large extent, yes

mo: he didn’t win anything i think

brad: all i am saying is that if you give the award to a player who abandoned his nt when they needed him you are giving the wrong model and actions like these will follow

By Mo | October 18th, 2008 at 3:40 am

That is a good point… Zaki and Treka are the only 2 with trophies… Hopefully they pull it off

Posted from United States

By omar | October 18th, 2008 at 11:17 am

adebayor will take only cuz hes black and zaki and trika r white and the africans dont want a white guy to win…if shikabala was zaki then shika wud win..lol…thts confusing!lol

By sscouser | October 18th, 2008 at 11:27 am

Zaki scores twice against Liverpool. Zaki deserves the award. If he doesn’t win it may just be because he plays for a “small” team.

Posted from United States

By Tamim | October 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

omar: u can’t say that zaki and abu trika are white, they are in the middle (2am7y) and shikabala will never be nominated because he doesn’t have thhe spirit and the desire so we are just watching another talented egyptian player wastes his talent

sscouser: tell the caf!!

By Mo | October 18th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Brilliant goal by Zaki! And Zidan scored the equalizer for Dortmund today too… Im excited to see them both along with Mido in the WC

Posted from United States

By omar | October 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am

shika is good wht u talkin about…plus i hate zamelk so tht shows how good he is!

By omar | October 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am

oh yea and if zaki doesnt win the ttile than this shit is rigged!

By Tamim | October 19th, 2008 at 11:07 am

i didn’t say he is bad, he is great but can he keep like that, i doubt!!!!!

By V. Fofana | October 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm

If we take into consideration performances for both club and country, in my opinion, Amr ZAKI will the “favorite” to be named as African Player of the Year for the Year 2010. Zaki is more “consistant” (for both Egypt and Wigan) than Adebayor (with Togo and Arsenal). What do you think?

Thanks!

Posted from United States

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