African Comment: The Keys To TP Mazembe’s Success At The Club World Cup
Goal.com’s Rami Ayari takes a look at the factors that have allowed TP Mazembe to become the first ever African side to reach the Club World Cup final.
By Rami Ayari
Dec 14, 2010 4:00:00 PM
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History was made in Abu Dhabi today by African champions Tout Puissant Mazembe who managed to overcome the odds and down Brazil’s Internacional, thus becoming the first team from our continent to qualify for the Club World Cup final.
While the majority of the non-African viewers probably don’t know anything about The Crows, their most recent success won’t be coming as a surprise to those who have seen them evolve over the years and who had noticed that African clubs such as Al-Ahly and Etoile du Sahel weren’t far off from doing exactly the same thing in previous editions of the tournament. With that said, here’s a look at the keys to TP Mazemebe’s success:
Financial Stability
First and foremost, Mazembe could never be what they are without their chairman, Moise Katumbi Chapwe. The young boy who used to make his living selling fish has come a long way since then and is now both a successful businessman and the governor of the mineral rich Katanga Province in DR Congo. His seemingly endless financial resources have allowed Mazembe to rekindle their past glory (they were African champs in 1967 and 1968).
Chapwe has not been shy about investing huge sums of money in the club, aiding them in their quest to acquire and develop what is currently Africa’s most talented squad. Perhaps more importantly, the Crows now have the money to keep their best players for longer since they can afford to pay them handsome wages, thus delaying their eventual departure to Europe or other destinations.
This is something that used to be more prevalent in north Africa where football administration has historically been more professional but Mazembe have shown that sub Saharan clubs can thrive in this sense too if they combine financial muscle with sensible team management.
Hardly a team in Africa could have made it this far while playing without arguably their best player, the suspended Tresor Mputu (he had a trial at Arsenal, remember?), and another first team regular, Guy Lusadisu, but Mazembe have shown themselves to have enough depth that they have not been adversely affected by these absences.
Instead, other players such as Dioko Kaluyituka, Given Singulama, Narcisse Ekanga, and others have stepped up to fill the scoring void left by the highly rated duo and more are in the pipeline should some leave in the weeks following what has already been an immensely successful Club World Cup for the 2009 and 2010 CAF Champions League winners.
Mixing Raw Talent With Discipline & Experience
One would be excused for squinting at the use of the word discipline in relation to a team which had two players suspended for a year by FIFA not so long ago for physically attacking a Rwandan referee (the aforementioned Mputu and Lusadisu being the responsible parties) but much has changed at the club in that sense in just a little over six months.
There have been no further transgressions of this sort by the Englebert side since and the recruitment of their current coach, former Senegal manager Lamine Ndiaye, has also proved to be a masterstroke as he has reduced the amount of power that players wield at the club to forge a new team built on unity and respect.
Diego Garzito’s replacement, who was hired following Mazembe’s 3-0 loss to Esperance in Rades during the group stages of this year’s CAF Champions league, has also brought a different kind of discipline to the Congolese champions: Tactical discipline.
Under Garzito, TP were a run and gun team that were offensively lethal but defensively inept. Basically they were good enough to outscore you but not good enough to stop you. That's not the case anymore. While they still have their moments of tactical naivety (who doesn’t?), it is clear that their defense has tremendously improved under Ndiaye and their 6-1 aggregate win over Esperance in this year’s continental final can attest to that.
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/84/afric ... t-the-club
They Upset Internacional On The Way To The Final
They are more of a unit than a collection of offensively talented individuals now and one could even see this in their historic outing against Internacional where they defended for long stretches only to capitalize on their opportunities once they arrived thanks to their offensive efficiency instead of pushing everyone forward and making positional mistakes like they used to.
Furthermore, TP Mazembe have benefited from having competed on this stage before. In 2009 they finished a disappointing sixth out of seven at the Club World Cup after losses to the Pohang Steelers and Auckland City.
This time around, their willingness to defend when they have needed to and their much improved focus has taken them much further. Now, at worst, they’re going to finish second. It also must be mentioned that these players have something that can’t be bought: Years of experience playing together.
Much of the squad represents the backbone of the DR Congo local team that lifted the first ever African Championship of Nations (CHAN) tournament in Cote d’Ivoire a year ago. The resultant chemistry that is cultivated from countless hours of training together throughout the years has served them well in Abu Dhabi and as a proud African I can say that I hope it continues to do so!