FIRSTTOUCH V O L . 1 | A P R I L 2 0 1 8 "THE SKY IS THE SALARIES IN LIMBO? LIMIT" Where has happened to the salary of the Zimbabwe Senior Women The Mamelodi Sundowns and Team their "Bafana Ba" style are on the come up! TAU BETTER THAN WHO IS YAYA MO SALAH TOURE? El Hadji Diouf discusses why Is Yaya the best African South Africa's, Tau is better player of his generation? than Salah ad Mane MOHAMED SALAH WINS PFA POTY Salah becomes the first Egyptian to win the award. SALARIES IN LIMBO? "THE SKY IS THE Where has happened to the salary LIMIT" of the Zimbabwe Senior Women Team The Mamelodi Sundowns and their "Bafana Ba" style are on the come up! WHO IS YAYA TOURE? TAU BETTER THAN MO SALAH Is Yaya the best African player of his generation? El Hadji Diouf discusses why South Africa's, Tau is better than Salah ad Mane MOHAMED SALAH WINS PFA POTY Salah becomes the first Egyptian to win the award. CONTENTS pg.3 pg.9 “TAU BETTER THAN SALAH AND MANE” ZAMBIAN FOOTBALL MANAGER ON THE RISE Former Liverpool and Senegal forward, El Hadji Former Zambian National team assistant coach who Diouf heaps praises on Mamelodi Sundowns, Tau. is moving mountains in the United Kingdom. pg.4 pg.10 PFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: MO SALAH R ZIMBABWEAN TEAM SALARY IN LIMBO E The Egyptian player has enjoyed a dream start to his I S life in England also helping his club reach the Finals of The Zimbabwe Mighty Warriors are yet to to receive E the UEFA Champions League. their allowances and winning bonuses. | P pg.5 A G SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS YAYA TOURE? pg.11 E MAMELODI SUNDOWNS - THE SKY IS THE 2 Demystifying an African football legend that is Yaya LIMIT Toure. The Mamelodi Sundowns and their Bafana Ba style are on the come up! pg.8 LAOS FINED $700,00 BY FIFA pg.14 FIFA fines the country’s football federation for REMEMBERING THE FALLEN HEROES sanctioning “player-trafficking”. We take a moment to remember the Zambia Football Team who were victims of the 1993 Plane Crash F I R S T T O U C H | P A G E 2 The PSL joint top scorer with eleven “TAU BETTER league goals this campaign won the 2016 CAF Champions League with Sundowns THAN SALAH and has since become a fan favorite at the club. He has distinguished himself as a AND MANE” striker who can race from deep, create chances, make assists and score goals. His coach Pitso Mosimane believes that he The former Liverpool and Senegal forward should unanimously win the 2017/18 PSL heaped praises on the quality of South African Player of the year. Tau is also determined football, going further to single out Mamelodi to make Diouf proud. Sundowns striker, Percy Tau. During Diouf’s visit to South Africa in his capacity as an “I hope one day he (Diouf) will be happy with ambassador of the Moroccan 2026 world cup what he said. I hope one day he’ll be proud bid, he also challenged South African that he said those words to this boy and look footballers to get out of their comfort zone at him now.” and aspire to play in European leagues. — PERCY TAU, MAMELODI SUNDOWNS In response to Diouf’s praises, the 23-year old Tau revealed that the former Blackburn man had previously expressed his views when they traveled to Senegal for their final World Cup 2018 qualifier. “Look‚ I spoke to Diouf in Senegal, and he expressed his views on my game‚ and what he feels. So, I wasn’t surprised by what he said this week. It only shows the good work that I and Sundowns do, and also how the coaches are helping us develop as players because we can easily be compared to European players.” — PERCY TAU, MAMELODI SUNDOWNS F I R S T T O U C H | P A G E 3 PFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: MO SALAH There were only two contenders for this season’s PFA Player of the Year award. The newly crowned champions’ Kevin De Bruyne and the current top goal scorer and record breaking Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah. The two players have been outstanding for the greatest parts of this season. De Bruyne received praise from the likes of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Jamie Redknapp for his brilliant passing ability and work rate. The pundits have since drawn Leroy Sane also won the PFA Young Player of comparison of him to the greatest midfielders the Year award for his outstanding contribution to have ever played in the Premier League. this season. It was quite a shock not to see him They call him a hybrid of Paul Scholes and in the team of the year for this season because David Beckham in one player who has been he was arguably the best creator on the wings crucial to Manchester City’s success this in the 2017/18 season. Guardiola really has a season as they won the Premier League and talent in the 22-year-old German and will hope the League Cup. The Citizens were rooting for to build on this season to push for more titles. him to win the award of the best player this season but they were disappointed to hear that their midfield general could not walk away with the award. Mo Salah, of Liverpool arguably deserved it more after coming into a F I different league and hitting everyone by R S surprise with 31 league goals already, T T O equalling the record set Suarez, Shearer and U C Henry in a 38 game season. The Egyptian H | player has enjoyed a dream start to his life in P A England also helping his club reach the G E semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. 4 As we approach the end of the English Premier League season, FirstTouch takes time to look back SPOTLIGHT: and appreciate one of the most influential players in the league. Yaya Toure, an all-round midfielder from Cote d’Ivoire, played for Barcelona and Manchester WHO IS YAYA City in the best years of his career. The 33-year old is approaching the end of his time at the Etihad with his contract set to expire at the end of the 2017/18 TOURE? season. Let’s look at what Yaya Toure has been through during his stay at the above-mentioned clubs in Europe. First off, let’s focus on his time at Barcelona. Yaya Toure joined Barcelona from Monaco in 2007 for £6.7m after being an influential midfielder for the French side where he rescued them from relegation. However, Toure had problems with the previous manager of the club, Laszlo Boloni, who was not playing him in his midfield most preferred position. When he joined Barcelona, he enjoyed the first season under Rijkaard where he made a total of 40 appearances which managed two goals. Yaya Toure was still in the shadow of big brother Kolo who was making a name for himself at Arsenal as a rock solid defender in the EPL. Guardiola took over the reins just a year later, and he preferred Busquets to Yaya Toure as the defensive midfielder for Barcelona in 2008. The promise of first-team football in his preferred position at Barcelona was not going to be possible. Guardiola used the player as a center-back in the UEFA Champions League final in 2009 when the team suffered from injuries. He was later allowed to move to the club of his dream in 2010. Manchester City approached Toure and he, initially F I thought that he would be joining Sir Alex Ferguson R S T at Manchester United. It was his agent who clarified T O that he was joining the team who wears blue and he U C was excited by the challenge of joining a club that H | P was in the shadow of their local rivals. A G E 5 Manchester City paid £24.6 million for the services of a player who was pretty much a reserve player and Toure was going to be receiving £139,000 a week. The journey of the African player to become a legend at the Etihad Stadium was set on course. 2012 was a year of history for the cash-rich Manchester club. It is the year that the club beat Manchester United to the title on goal difference. Sergio Aguero scored the winner for Manchester City in stoppage time of the last game in the 2011/12 season. Yaya Toure was an integral part of the club’s midfield. This earned him much respect in the English Premier League and comparisons with some His career might sound smooth when reading this of the greatest midfielders in the league like piece, but Toure has had his fair share of Keane, Vieira, etc. was just a moment away. controversy during his time at City. The player once Toure came out and thanked his teammates threatened to leave the club because they had for the title and paid tribute to his manager forgotten to show him love on his 31st birthday. His for trusting in him and playing him in a agent, Dimitry Seluk, is the one that confirmed the position that he found difficult to maintain in story that the player felt disrespected and the club the previous clubs he represented. was put under pressure.