Articles and Analysies
Sudan 1-0 Gabon ( bad team coming good) by Ayman Yamani
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Feb 5, 2011 - 8:52:56 AM

Sudan 1-0 Gabon  ( bad team coming good)

The omen were bad, the fans came early to the stadium in numbers and were singing , but the opening ceremony left a lot to be desire , their were no vision or obvious slogan, only a lot of lighting and looked embarrassing.  he team has come of the back of bad show in Egypt between the teams in Nile Valley tournament where they were expected to make the final against Egypt but lost their first two games and came fifth after beating Tanzania, after that they went to camp in Zambia where they could not arrange a game with the Zambian team and end up played a club with the Sudanese dining that in a big scandal that was exposed in the papers after it was reported in Zambian website

Even the team sheet was strange with the best player in last season (Raji Abd alAtti) missing and three defensive midfielders (Omer, Yousef and Alshegil) when you are playing at home .

The game started with bad pictures coming in TV, cameras were very narrow but the Sudan  players were up to the task,  high tempo , pressuring the opponent early on, players playing two touch football with Haitham Mustafa starring at the middle distributing balls to wide areas , specially the outstanding left back Musaab who was up and down all day.  The chances came and gone with Alshegil missing one on one with the Keeper, and inevitably the goal came in the 18 minutes with Omer Bakheet shooting from range and the fast Bakri crossing the rebound after the keeper saved, Haitham heading the ball wide but Modather Karika finished off the move in the back of the net.  The first goal for Sudan in African competition in 34 years.  

Everyone expected a rout after that never really materialized but the play continued to be good and Sudan missed many chances and the fans got behind them and it looked like a big festival. Second half was not as good as the first and player looked alittle bit exhausted after the big 45 minutes they played but they managed to hold up the results and add the first three points to their account  and looked they could go the whole way in this tournament. Gabon improved in second half but they had after abysmal first half where their player looked like the met in Khartoum for the first time. 

Football has improved considerably in Sudan in the last 5 years a lot of money has been invested in the two big clubs who have done well in African championship. The Stadiums has been renovated and players earning a good wages.     Sudan has drown with Ghana 0/0 in their last competitive match and second in their group only in goal difference to Ghana  and today display was improvement of that

Sudan goal  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVnGpzW6Gn0

Ayman Yamani head Coach for Hilal Academy in London

Www. Hilaluk.net