ACTUALITE |
20.11.2001
Russia gets the African touch
This years Russian football season has undoubtedly been the most successful ever for Africa`s players.
More and more Africans are heading to Eastern Europe and they are making an impact in many countries that were part of the former Soviet Union.
Russia`s 2001 season has just ended and Nigeria`s James Obiorah has been grabbing the headlines.
Not only did he score 14 goals for Lokomotiv Moscow - making him second highest scorer in the league - he also finished the year in superb style.
His last goal of the season, scored in injury time against arch-rivals and league champions Spartak Moscow, gained Lokomotiv a place in next years Uefa Champions League.
Lokomotiv needed all three points and had to come from behind to beat Spartak, with Obiorah`s goal securing the win.
The Nigerian is not the only African at Lokomotiv.
South African right back Jacob Lekgheto joined at the beginning of the year and has had an outstanding start to his professional career.
It has earned him the attention of several big clubs, including Italian side Torino.
Russian international
Lekgheto scored one of the penalties in a nail-biting final against Anzhi Makhachkala that won Lokomotiv the Russian Cup for the second year in a row.
Cameroonian born defender Jerry Christian Tchuisse, who was the first African to make an impression in the Russian league, continues in the same vein.
He was selected in the Best XI by Russian sport`s journalists.
With Spartak he has won his second Russian title in a row, and he is an established name in the elite of Russian football.
His exploits earned him a cap in the Russian national team, but illness prevented him from playing, making him still eligible for the Indomitable Lions.
Tchuisse has attracted two young Africans to Spartak.
Senegalese defender Ibre Kebe arrived in mid-season from Jeanne d`Arc and immediately broke into the first team.
And Nigerian forward Flo Essien is trying out his luck with the Russian champions.
Ghanaians also have an interest in the Russian league with much-travelled Ghanaian forward Prince Koranteng Amoako.
He arrived from Sporting Cristal in Peru in South America, where he reached the final of the Copa Libertadores.
Amoako has signed for Saturn, who the team that finished sixth in the league.
The only wrong note for African players in Russia was the relegation of Nigerian Louis Udoh and Ghanaian Baba Adamu at Chernomorets Novorossiisk to the second division.
|
|
Hits: 1 | Source:BBC | |
|
|
|
|
| |