Samuel Eto’o grabbed the headlines with his excellent play in Barcelona’s 3-0 home win over arch rivals Real Madrid but Rudolph Douala in Portugal and Pierre Boya in Serbia & Montenegro also made their mark with their goals this weekend. Also shining were Jean Michel Tchouga who scored twice in the Swiss Cup and Thomas Job Iyock who scored in Italy’s Serie B.
Spain
Samuel Eto’o played a big role in Barcelona’s 3-0 win at home over Real Madrid in the first « superclasico » of the Spanish season. In the 29th minute Eto’o scored the first goal of the game as Ronaldinho chipped the
Eto’o’s speed, dribbling ability, movement and collective play was a constant danger for Real Madrid’s defence. Ronaldinho was likely the man of the match for Barcelona but Eto’o was right there with him as Barcleona’s star performer on the day. The only bad news for Barcelona is that Henrik Larsson injured his knee and likely will miss the rest of the season which will only increase the playing demands on Eto’o as he is now Barcelona’s only out and out striker.
Elsewhere in Spain, Carlos Kameni was in goal as Espanyol lost 1-0 to Sevilla. The loss drops Espanyol to fourth in La Liga as Sevilla jumped ahead of them into third place behind leaders Barcelona and second place Real Madrid. Sevilla’s only goal came when their forward Julio Baptista and Kameni were racing towards a through ball outside of the penalty area, they arrived at the ball at about the same time and as Kameni tried slide tackling the ball away, it popped up and Julio Baptista was able to run onto and knock it into the empty net. Later in the match Kameni got his revenge as he saved a penalty kick by Julio Baptista, turning his shot around the post for a corner kick.
Pierre Webo started at forward for Osasuna in their 1-1 draw with Racing Santander before he was subbed out after 70 minutes.
Portugal
Yohanna Buba had a solid game at centerback for Estoril despite his club losing 2-0 to Sporting Braga. Albert Meyong had a tough time of it at forward for Vitoria Setubal in their 2-1 loss to Gil Vicnete before he was replaced in the 71st minute.
Turkey
Galatasaray moved into second place in Turkey after drawing 1-1 with Malatyaspor. Rigobert Song started at centerback for Galatasaray and countryman Alioum Saidou was in midfield. Saidou set up Galatasaray’s only goal before he was subbed out in the 70th minute. Souleymanou Hamidou started at goalkeeper for Denizlispor in their 2-1 win over Kayserispor. Claude Bakadal was at forward as bottom club Sebatspor drew 1-1 with Genclerbirligi and Herve Zengue was in midfield as Ankaragucu beat Diyabarkispor 1-0.
Germany
Raymond Kalla started at centerback and had an average outing as Bochum lost 1-0 to Mainz. Bill Tchato was at left back and struggled as Kaiserslautern were beaten 3-1 by Bayern Munich. In Bundesliga 2, Cyrille Florent Bella started at forward for LR Ahlen in their 0-0 draw with Saarbrucken before he left the game in the 72nd minute. Daniel Wansi came on as a sub in the 83rd minute for Dynamo Dresden in his club’s 1-0 win over Unterhaching. Francis Kioyo’s Rot Weiss Essen plays their league game this coming Wednesday.
France
In France’s Ligue 1, Modeste Mbami played a solid game in central midfield as PSG drew 0-0 with league leaders Lyon. Mbami won a lot of balls from his central midfield position but struggled a bit connecting with his team’s attackers. Lille and Lens drew 1-1 in their northern French derby. Benoit Angbwa had a pretty good match at right back while Jean Makoun was in midfield for Lille. Lens’ Benoit Assou Ekotto missed the match due to injury.
Jean Joel Perrier Doumbe started at right back for Rennes in their 1-0 loss to St. Etienne. In Toulouse’s 1-0 win over Bastia, Achille Emana started in midfield for Toulouse. He showed his physical strength in the game but at times made the wrong decisions with the ball. For Bastia, Paul Essola started in midfield and showed good technique but was overly individualistic and was subbed out after 72 minutes. Youngster Alexandre Song was once again in central defense for Bastia and showed his great promise in his one on one defensive duels.
England
Elsewhere in Europe, in Serbia & Montenegro, Pierre Boya got his Partizan Belgrade team off to a good start in their 3-2 win over title challengers Zeta. Boya, started at forward and scored a goal in the 4th minute of the match. In the Czech Republic, Patrice Abanda started at centerback but had a below average performance compared to his recent outings as his club Drnovice’ drew 2-2 with Banik Ostrava. In Romania, Jeremie Njock was at forward for Universitatea Craiova but he and his teammates were held scoreless in their 1-0 loss to Dinamo Bucharest.
In Italy’s Serie B, Thomas Job Iyock played at right side midfield for Pescara in their 2-2 draw with Catania. Job Iyock scored his club’s 2nd goal of the match in the 22nd minute. Job Iyock was replaced in the 82nd minute of the game. In Greece, Pierre Ebede was in goal for Chalkidona as they defeated PAOK Salonika 2-0. Guy Feutchine started for PAOK at right side midfield.
In Switzerland it was Cup day and several Cameroonians saw action. Jean Michel Tchouga was the star of the weekend. He started at forward and scored 2 goals as Luzerne beat Concordia Basel 4-1. Armand Deumi started at centerback as FC Thun defeated league leaders FC Basel 4-3 on penalties. Samuel Ojong entered as a sub at forward in the 69th minute of that match for Thun. Ze Francis entered as a halftime sub in midfield for Chiasso as they defeated Yverdon 1-0. Jean Francois Bell started in defence as Bellinzona defeated YF Juventus 2-0.
Martin COUTLER, martin@camfoot.com
