Football in Sudan:National Football Team: Secretary Birds Ready to Fly Free in African skies

By: Ahmed Alhaj (Site Admin)


Khartoum (sudanow.info.sd) – Sudan's National Football Team was one of the most outstanding soccer teams in both Africa and the Arab worlds, having participated in the first championship of the African-Cub of Nations which Sudan hosted back in 1957.

The national team played its first match in its history against Ethiopia in 1955, and at the time it was known as “Al-Ahly Team of Sudan”. The match was played at Dar-elriyadah in Omdurman where Sudan smashed Ethiopia 5-0, wining the African cub of nations, thus marking the beginning of the march of the Sudanese football team. That team was full of great talents including such great stars as Siddiq Manzoul, Nasr-eddin Abbas Jakasa, Sebit Dudu, Amin Zaki, Ali Qaqareen, Kamal Abdul-Wahab and others who are still remembered in the Sudanese society. Thus one wonders, given reports of Qatari support and a political will to back Sudan's national team, whether it is high time to remove dust off the precious stone, and allow the eagles fly free in the African skies??

Sudan’s participation in the African-Cub of Nations has come to a stand still since 1976. Varies reasons have caused this stalemate and therefore the country’s absence from the championship including a Presidential intervention in sport, via a Republican Decree, issued by late Sudanese President Ja’far Nimiri, clearing into the dust of oblivion all Sudanese football glory from all football competitions in Sudan, under the pretext of  the so-called popular sports. That decision reflected negatively on Sudan's national team. Political decisions coupled with recurrence of civil war, the country has witnessed during the past years, come to constitute the hay the broke the camel back.



However, and after the great attention attached by the Government and its concerned institutions to all types of sports sectors in the country, the national football team started to recover and managed to achieve good results, starting with the achievement when the team qualified to the African-Cub of Nations in 2008 after 32 years of absence.

In 2006, the national team won the cub of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) for the second time and then for the third time in 2007. The team won CECAFA cub for the first time in 1980.

Presently the national football team is in its best conditions after it has qualified for the finals of the African-Cub of Nations which is to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012. The team qualified as one of the best seconds within the competing groups, something great teams such as Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria have failed to do.

Significantly, the team has achieved all its recent achievements under the leadership of a national technical managing body, led by the national coach Mohamed Abdalla Mazda who, together with his assistants, has managed to build a strong team capable of competing with the best teams in Africa.

The sport sector in Sudan has recently under the limelight:  Sudanese Presidency and the Sudanese President Omer Bashir in person, matter which has positively reflected on the development of the sports sector in Sudan generally, and football in particular. This was evident in the recent results of the national football team which has managed to qualify to the finals of the African-Cub of Nations, to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Yet another impetus for the team has occurred during the recent visit of President Al-Bashir to Qatar, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, has pledged to fully fund preparations of the Sudanese national team for the finals of the African-Cub of Nations.

In a statement to sudanow.info.sd,  the Qatari Ambassador to Sudan, Ali bin Hassan Al-Hamadi who reiterated that the announcement by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, to support the Sudanese national football team reflected His Highness’ consideration  for Sudan’s development in all fields.

The ambassador explained that during his recent visit to Qatar, the President Bashir reviewed with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad, a number of issues in many fields to enhance bilateral ties, where Sheikh Hamad declared his support for the Sudanese football team and pledged that Qatar would shoulder financing the expenses for a prominent coach for the team and host it in Doha for a training camp so that the team would honorably represent Sudan and the Arabs.

The ambassador reiterated that the move would enhance the two countries’ relations which are witnessing considerable development in the different fields. Adding “contacts are currently ongoing between the concerned authorities in the two countries to put the directives of His Highness the Emir of Qatar in place”, adding that the results of these contacts would appear in the coming days.

He further expressed hope that "the brothers in Sudan and at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Sudan Football Association should accelerate setting up the necessary arrangements and coordinate with the Qatari side."

 

 In the meantime, Sudanow interviewed the Coach of the Sudanese national team Mohamed Abdalla Mazda who shed light on the ongoing efforts to prepare the team for the African-Cub of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.

Below are excerpts from the interview:

Question: How do you view preparedness of the national team for the African-Cub of Nations in Gabon and Equatoria Guinea in 2012?

Answer: As you know the football season in Sudan has not yet finished where the final of Sudan cub is scheduled for November 4 and the Premier league final is scheduled for November 23. The majority of the national squad would participate with their teams in the said matches. Additionally, the national team has been invited to participate in a friendly tournament in Morocco, supervised and patronized by LG Company where we will play two games against each of Cameroon and Uganda. According to the regulations of the African Football Confederation (CAF), all qualified teams to the finals of the African-Cub of Nations are prohibited from participating in any other championship after the draw for teams groups.

So we are currently preparing to play state-to-state friendly games to allow the participation of the biggest possible number of players to gain the sensitivity of international games. These friendly games are to begin immediately after the end of the premier league.

We are also planning for the national team to participate in CECAFA championship where CAF allows us to participate in it. This championship will also allow our players further preparedness, particularly the Olympic team players who have just joined the national team, and at the same time avail the opportunity to give rest for the players who have been continuously playing with their teams in the African championships and the local league where they have participated in more than 40 matches. CECAFA championship will be organized during December this year.

As part of the preparation program, all the national team players will participate in 5 international friendly games.

There is also a plan to organize a training camp next December in one of the Gulf countries. A Gulf country has been selected for this program because the Gulf is known for its advanced stadiums and proper medical care in case the team needed any medical care.

We have also signed a number of contracts with the participating teams in the African-Cub of Nations, which will prefer not to announce yet- to play friendly games with them before the tournament. Presently, there are also contacts with some agents of friendly teams to agree on direct friendly games.

We have as well prepared for three big games as of January 1st until January 15th 2012. We have already received preliminary agreement and we are leaving the rest for the ongoing preparation program. Among the three matches, there will be one with one of the host countries (Gabon or Equatoria Guinea) during the last week before the beginning of the tournament.

Question: The Sudanese national team tailed the other teams of its group in 2008 African cub of nations and this time will face a tougher group. How do you view this matter?

Answer: The Sudanese team was classified in level four among the 16 qualified teams. This was due to the real level of the team and to the fact that the team was absent from the tournament for a long time, matter which affected our players and team performance. Additionally, we do not have professional players in the international leagues where the player runs for around 7 kilometers per season game, while the player in the local league plays around 20 hours. There is also a clear difference in terms of physical and artistic levels between our players and other teams’ players. Furthermore, the team in 2008 was placed amongst the toughest group and the evidence is that two teams from our group qualified to the final including Egypt and Cameroon. Therefore, the team faced the best teams of the tournament. Yet, regarding the African tournament for the locals, we did well and have never lost, but we were kicked out by the penalty shoot outs. The team continued its victories and scored good results during the qualifying games until we qualified. We have great ambitions this time around and we hope to continue our preparations in a better manner than the previous programs and to achieve better results than before”.

Question: What are the standards applied for selecting the members of the national team and does the replacement and substitution process work?

Answer: The substitution and replacement of the team player was done during the last matches played against Congo where only four players were selected from the team which participated in the 2008 tournament. The replacement process has been done in a very good manner where the selection was based on the good performance during the local league matches and the players who have shown great fitness during the participation with the Olympic team. The standards include that the player should not be suffering any injury and has continuously participated with his team and national team at all the regional and local tournaments.

"We hope to perform better than before, particularly that we have qualified for the second time after long absence while the teams which participated in the 2008 tournament have also qualified. We also tend to present our players to win the opportunity to play as professional players in international clubs and international leagues”.

QUESTION: What are the major problems facing the team before the African tournament kicks off and how do you intend to resolve them?

Answer: “Administrative instability is the most significant problem. For instance, the final of one of our two major leagues was supposed to be played (Friday, November 4), but the game failed to be played as scheduled due to a made-up administrative problem. This will definitely affect the technical outcome of the national team. Continuation of the premier league games would have been better for the team particularly that most of the team players are currently on Eid vacation. Furthermore, the movement  and transfer of players from a club to another and what accompanies that of heated and tensed competition over the players by the clubs usually affect the players of the national team and distract their concentration, particularly if we take into account the fact they are about to get involved in important games. Therefore, the concerned authorities should work to provide the necessary financial support to help in implementing the entire technical prospects and in the best possible manner so that the national team would achieve the best results, God willing”.

END

Subedited Mohamed osman

 

 

Sudanow is the longest serving English speaking magazine in the Sudan. It is chartarized by its high quality professional journalism, focusing on political, social, economic, cultural and sport developments in the Sudan. Sudanow provides in depth analysis of these developments by academia, highly ...

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