Africa Represent

In the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, you need to root for Inter Milan if the criteria is the number of African players on the field.

Samuel Eto'o in Inter Milan colours. Image: Wiki Commons.

If the choice of which team to root for in 22 May 2010 UEFA Champions League final was based on how many African players they fielded, then apparently you should root for Inter Milan. Milan has three African players on its roster: Samuel Eto’o, Sulley Muntari and McDonald Mariga. That’s of course if Muntari and Mariga get to play.

In contrast, Bayern Munich has zero African players in its team, argues Piers Edwards in his football blog on the BBC’s site.

Edwards adds: “…  As excitement mounts across Africa about the looming World Cup, the European final should be the perfect curtain-raiser for the big one and affords Muntari and Mariga the chance to join the select group of Africans to have won the trophy – Bruce Grobbelaar, Abedi Pele, Rabah Madjer, Sammy Kuffuor, Kanu and Djimi Traore prominent amongst them …”

And Milan manager, Jose Mourinho, has a history of trusting African players (even if he inherited them from a previous manager) in key positions–think Benni McCartyhy at Porto or Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi at Chelsea. And Mourinho wife was born in Angola. That’s not how I pick a team to root for, but thanks for telling me.

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.