Esperance ready to climb a mountain

Miracles do exist as far as Esperance coach Faouzi Benzarti is concerned, and he is clinging to the hope his club might do the near impossible at the weekend and salvage the CAF Champions League title.

But Benzarti will certainly be in a minority of hardened optimists as his Tunisian club prepare to host Saturday’s second leg of this year’s final, down five goals from two weeks ago in the first match against TP Mazembe Englebert of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But an imposing wall for the hosts to climb might have some steps after all, suggests the veteran coach. According to Benzarti his players are still smarting from the lopsided defeat in the first leg in Lubumbashi last month, where several controversial decisions left the Tunisians frustrated. “We know we need a miracle but I can see it happening,” he said at a press conference on the eve of the final at the 7 November Stadium in Rades, just on the outskirts of the capital Tunis. “The players are determined. We started to prepare for the return game as soon as we climbed on the plane in Congo (to head home). I’ve never seen so much frustration and injustice, we have been given motivation by what happened in the first leg,” he continued.

We remember well our game when we won 3-0 against them in the group phase without much exertion.

Esperance forward Osama Darragi on his team's previous success against Mazembe

Esperance‘s chagrin comes mainly from the opening goal of the first leg of the final, scored after 17 minutes in Lubumbashi by Mazembe’s Ngandu Kasongo, whose header from Patou Kabungu’s free kick was adjudged to have crossed the goal line, even though the Tunisian visitors were not convinced. Esperance then had defender Mohamed Ben Mansour sent off for an off-the-ball incident, and their remaining 10 men folded like a deck of cards as Mazembe went on a goal-scoring rampage.
Congolese shooting for history
However, for the Tunisians there is also a begrudging admission that they were outplayed in the first leg and that their opponents were formidable in equalling the 42-year-old record for the biggest winning margin in a leg of the final of Africa’s top club competition.
“This will be a tough game,” conceded Esperance’s playmaker Osama Darragi. “TP Mazembe are not easy to handle, but we remember well our game when we won 3-0 against them in the group phase without much exertion. We remain focused and we will enjoy the backing of our beloved fans.” Darragi, whose talismanic qualities make him one of Esperance’s potential trump cards, will have more motivation than most after being sacrificed in the first half of the first leg, taken off after Ben Mansour’s dismissal so Benzarti could bring another defender on.

“It will not be easy as they will play defensively,” predicted 25-year-old midfielder Khaled Korbi, but Mazembe’s approach may will be intriguing because the five-goal cushion affords them the opportunity to possibly coast through the second leg en route to a second successive Champions League title, their fourth overall. However, a 10-day-long camp in Belgium to prepare for the return match suggests a determination to chase after the record for the biggest winning margin in any African club competition final. That was set in 1979 in the now-defunct African Cup Winners’ Cup when Cameroon’s Canon Yaounde won by an 8-0 aggregate score against Kenya’s Gor Mahia.

Grant positive despite West Ham struggles

LONDON (AFP) - Avram Grant insists West Ham are on the verge of finding the form that will lift them to Premier League survival despite a disappointing 2-2 draw against West Brom.

Grant's team are stuck at the bottom of the table as they continue to search for a first league win since September 25.

Peter Odemwingie had put the Baggies in front from the penalty spot on 28 minutes, but West Ham fought back level before the break when Scott Parker smashed in a 25-yard effort.

Frederic Piquionne put West Ham ahead from the spot at the start of the second half and then missed a great chance to make it 3-1 before Pablo Ibanez headed in an equaliser to earn the visitors a share of the spoils on Wednesday.

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan recently claimed West Ham needed to collect at least seven points from the run of games against Birmingham, West Brom, Blackpool and Liverpool - or "we know we have a real problem and that we have to shuffle the pack".

Despite the potential threat to Grant's position, West Ham threw away a two-goal lead at Birmingham on Saturday and this was another poor result, yet the former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss remains positive.

"We are very close to it - when the first win comes, we will win more and we are playing football to win games. We have had a lot of injuries and it is not easy," Grant said.

"We keep our style of football, it is not going like we want, but we are playing well and that is what frustrates us more than anything.

"The fans understand, they want more points, but no one more than myself and the players and staff want them.

"Everybody can see we play good games of football, from my experience if we continue like this, then the points will come.

"We are not a team who can go back and defend with eight or nine, we continue to play.

"But we will of course analyse the game and see what we can do better. The way we have conceded goals is something we need to think about."

Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo has no such problems as his promoted side continue to impress on their return to the top-flight.

"We controlled the game quite well, although we gave them an early Christmas present just before half-time which put them back into the game," Di Matteo said.

"The second half almost turned in their favour, but we managed to get a deserved equaliser and were a bit disappointed as we thought we could have got more out of the game, but we would take a point away from home."

China goalkeeper forced into national apology

GUANGZHOU, China (AFP) - Under-fire Chinese goalkeeper Wang Dalei, who sparked outrage after he called home fans "morons" and "a bunch of dogs", has apologised to the nation and been suspended.

The highly rated 21-year-old, linked with European champions Inter Milan and big-spending Manchester City, let loose on a micro-blogging site after being singled out for his failure to stop Japan's second goal on Monday.

The Japanese, China's bitter rivals, went on to win the match 3-0 in the Asian Games group stage in Guangzhou, to a barrage of criticism from fans and the Chinese media.

One TV commentator compared Wang to a "volleyballer".

"I apologise sincerely to the media and supporters of the whole nation for my unpleasant words, which damaged the image of the football team, sports and China," a repentant Wang said.

"It's my fault. I hope you can forgive me and give me another chance," he added, calling his outburst "extreme".

"I'll never make the same mistake in the future."

Nevertheless Cai Jiadong, secretary general of the Chinese Asian Games delegation, said that Wang had been "suspended and ordered to meditate on his action", the state Xinhua news agency said.

"Wang admitted his action was unsportsmanlike and irrational and hurt the feelings of Chinese soccer fans and tarnished the image as a national soccer team player," Cai said.

He did not say how many games Wang, who branded reporters "haters of Chinese soccer", would be suspended for, but he did not feature in their nail-biting 2-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.

Wang had written on the micro-blogging site: "I heard that there are 7,000 professional soccer reporters (in China) and I guess 4,000 of them must hate soccer.

"Is that really necessary?

"I'm not a 'Spiderman'. I punched the ball out, but you guys still laugh at me. I was beaten on the pitch and verbally abused off. Don't say you know how to play soccer. Because you know nothing about it."

The blogging site has been shutdown until the end of the Asian Games, which finish on November 27.