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Victor Moses Tips His Career Reviver, Conte to Win FIFA Award

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BY BOLAJI OKUNOLA.

 

With the top three of the seven The Best FIFA Awards unveiled on Friday, Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ forward, Victor Moses is excited that his club coach at Chelsea, Antonio Conte made the final list of the original 12 announced last month. The award ceremony will hold in London on October 23.

The Italian Conte who led Chelsea to win the English Premier League last season and also to the final match of The FA Cup is contesting for the Men’s Coach Award with his fellow Italian, Massimiliano Allegry of Serie A side, Juventus and Frenchman, Zinedine Zidane who led Real Madrid to win the UEFA Champions League last May.

Conte had in his first season of handling a top flight English Premiership club led Chelsea to the title in impressive fashion, by setting a new Premier League record of 30 wins in a single season. He also emerged as the

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2016/17 English Premier League Manager of the Season and showed tactical versatility as a player and that has translated into his career in management.

Last season, during Chelsea’s run to lifting the domestic league title; Conte switched the side’s formation to a 3-4-2-1, which proved a masterstroke. Along with his high tactical understanding of the game, Conte’s infectious energy and enthusiasm on the touchline affects every team he coaches. The Italian’s latest challenge is to get Chelsea competing on multiple fronts as they return to European competition.

Expectedly, Victor Moses’ allegiance to Conte will not be a surprise as the Italian is not just his coach, but he also helped the Nigerian to revive his career in club after previous coaches often sent him on loan spells to other clubs where he hardly got playing time.

The lack of playing time also affected his form in the Super Eagles. But all those are history now.

Sports Village Square monitored Moses as he spoke affectionately about his coach on Chelsea TV channel.

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“I will be very happy seeing him (Conte) emerge as the winner. He has done a great job by reshaping the image of his club. For me, I rather go with Conte ahead others”, he remarked.

It appears both Conte and Moses have mutual respect for each other. Earlier in March this year, Conte spoke flowerily on Chelsea website about the Nigerian player.

He believed Moses was deserving of all the praise he received last season for the work he has put in to improve every aspect of his game. The Nigerian international excelled since adopting a wing-back role and was rewarded for his stellar performances in the season when he was handed a new contract by the club.

The Italian manager remarked he was surprised at how well Moses had performed and adapted to his new role at wing back.

“If you asked me before the change if I imagined him in this new position, I would say no, because we started to try to play with the 4-2-4 and I always saw him as a winger, very good one-on-one, but a bit poor defensively,” Conte told the Chelsea website.

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Conte went to praise the Nigerians willingness to learn and develop as a player and the Blues boss later labelled him as a complete player, who has the ability to performance ‘offensively and defensively’.

“When I decided to change the system, I wanted to try him in this role, to work with him in a different situation, and he showed me great commitment to understand and to study the new role, above all in defensive situations. Now we have a complete player, offensively and defensively, ”he added.

Conte admitted that after seeing Moses in action he had no doubt and never considered placing the player on loan or selling him to make a profit.

“I realised, quickly that Victor could stay with us. I spoke with him during pre-season, when we stayed in America, and told him he will stay with us,’ Conte said.

“I’m happy to have this type of player. I knew him before, but to see him in person is very important to judge a player. He deserved to stay with us this season, but also now he deserves to play.

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“Victor was very, very happy when I told him he would stay. He said to me ‘I am ready to stay here, to fight for the club; I need to have my chance to show that I deserve to play with Chelsea’. It happened and we are very happy for this because he’s showing he’s a good player.”

Incidentally, Jose Mourinho who was Chelsea’s manager at the time Moses was in one of his loan spells out of the club did not make the final cut of the 12 original nominees.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Portugal call up same player named in England Under-18 squad

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Mateus Mane in England's colour

Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.

Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.

Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.

He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.

With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.

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Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.

While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.

-Reuters

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Soon Cisse ceases to be Senegal’s Coach

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After 107 matches spanning nine years, Aliou Cisse will not have his contract renewed as Senegal coach, officials confirmed on Wednesday. Of the 107 matches, Cisse’s team won 70, drew 24 and lost 13.

But the impressive scorecard is not enough to impress his employers.

Thus, the end beckons for Cisse’s successful nine-year spell in charge of the side that included a first Africa Cup of Nations title and two World Cup qualifications.

He had been under increasing pressure after Senegal’s surprise last 16 exit at the 2023 Cup of Nations when they lost on penalties to hosts Cote d’Ivoire.

Senegal are unbeaten in six matches since then, but home draws with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso, and criticism from certain quarters over their style of play, made up the mind of the country’s sports ministry, who fund the salary of the national team coach, that a change was needed.

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“The FSF would like to thank Aliou Cisse for his good collaboration and his brilliant results at the head of the various national selections that he has managed since his arrival in 2011 and wish him every success for the future,” the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) said in a statement.

FSF added Cisse’s exit stemmed from a failure to fulfil the targets in his last contract, which expired at the end of August, which included victory at the 2023 Cup of Nations and reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

They also said the “regression of our national team in the FIFA rankings and the risk of disaffection between our national team and the Senegalese (public)” had played a role.

The FSF will appoint an interim technical team to lead the side in Cup of Nations qualifiers against Malawi at home on Oct. 11 and away four days later.

Cisse, 48, was captain of Senegal when they reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup with what is heralded as a golden generation of players.

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He briefly had a spell as caretaker coach of the national team in 2012, but took over full time three years later.

He led Senegal to 2018 and 2022 World Cup qualification, making the last 16 in the latter before losing to England. They were beaten in the final of the 2019 Cup of Nations by Algeria.

The side made up for that disappointment when they beat Egypt in the final two years later to be crowned African champions for the first time.

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Why  FIFA banned Samuel Eto’o

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Always in the news for bad reasons, Samuel Eto’o has again made global headlines. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has banned the former striker and the current president of the Cameroon Football Federation.

He is banned from attending Cameroon’s matches for the next six months for violating conduct rules during the recent U-20 Women’s World Cup, where his national team faced Brazil in the round of 16.

According to FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, Eto’o was found to have breached articles 13 (“Offensive behaviour and violations of fair play principles”) and 14 (“Misconduct of players and officials”) of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code.

The sanction stems specifically from the match between Brazil and Cameroon, held on September 11 in Bogotá, Colombia. As a result, Eto’o will be prohibited from attending any matches involving Cameroon’s national teams, both male and femaleacross all age groups.

“Mr Eto’o has been notified today, the date on which the sanction comes into force,” stated the FIFA press release.

This is not the first time Eto’o has faced controversy. He previously drew attention for his behavior towards players and national team coach Marc Brys, whom he allegedly threatened in front of cameras if his directives were not followed.

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During the Qatar World Cup, the former Real Madrid, Mallorca, and Barcelona player made headlines again after assaulting a fan who filmed him outside a stadium after a match.

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