In France’s Ligue 1, Herve Tum’s two goals against Marseille were the main news. This was also the opening weekend in Spain. The big news was Samuel Eto’o started at forward for Barcelona in his club’s 2-0 win at Racing Santander. Eto’o scored his first goal for Barcelona via a penalty kick in the 75th minute.
Spain
Samuel Eto’o was very dangerous throughout the match displaying a great deal of skill and quickly fit in with his team-mates using many one touch passes to open up Racing’s defence. In the 2nd half, Eto’o had 3 opportunities to score another goal in addition to his penalty but couldn’t finish those chances.He will need to improve his finishing but his approach play was very impressive and will be a constant danger to Barcelona’s opponents this season.
Carlos Kameni started in goal for Espanyol in their 1-1 draw with Deportivo. Kameni made several nice stops of shots in the first half. He did display some first game jitters as he had trouble on a couple of occasions holding onto the ball but overall it was a pretty good debut for him in La Liga. Unfortunately he had to leave the game in the 70th minute complaining of dizziness after colliding with another player. His 18 year old backup Biel Ribas is the goalie who conceded Deportivo’s late equalizer.
Achille Webo started at forward for Osasuna in their 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao. With the score 1-1, Osasuna had a defender sent off early in the 2nd half and Webo was sacrificed to put in another defender so he was replaced in the 52nd minute. Like most of his team-mates, Webo had a pretty discreet opening match.
Daniel Kome did not play this weekend for Getafe due to injury.
Portugal
The Portuguese Super Liga also debuted this weekend.Two Cameroonian players were in action. Albert Meyong Ze scored the opening goal for Vitoria Setubal in their 4-1 win over Penafiel. Meanwhile veteran goalkeeper William Andem started for Boavista in his club’s 1-0 win over Nacional. Rudolph Douala was on the substitute’s bench but did not play in Sporting Lisbon’s 3-2 win over Gil Vicente.
England
A busy week in England as teams played two matches, one during the week and another over this past weekend. In the Premier League, Eric Djemba Djemba started Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn and came off the bench as a sub in the 64th minute of his team’s 0-0 tie with Everton this monday. Lauren Etame started at right back in Arsenal’s two wins during the week: 3-0 over Blackburn and 4-1 over Norwich. Geremi entered as a late sub in both of Chelsea’s wins, 2-0 versus Crystal Palace and 2-1 against Southampton. Joseph Desire Job came on as a sub in the 71st minute for Middlesbrough in their 2-0 win over Fulham but did not play over the weekend. Timothee Atouba started Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich but missed his club’s weekend match due to an injury which also may rule him out of the Indomitable Lions upcoming match against Egypt.
In the Championship, which is effectively England’s 2nd Division, Patrick Suffo came on as a sub in the 61st minute for Coventry City in their 4-1 win over former European champions Nottingham Forest. In midweek, Suffo scored two goals for Coventry in the club’s 4-1 win over Torquay in the Coca Cola League Cup.
France
Herve Tum scored in the 13th and 90th minutes of Metz’ 3-1 win over Marseille. A great start for Tum in L1 with now 3 goals in four matches. Modeste Mbami started in midfield for PSG in their 2-2 draw with St. Etienne. He was rated as the best PSG’s player on the field. Jean Makoun plays in midfield for Lille in Lyon’s 1-0 win over his club. Benoit Angbwa did not play as he served the second game of his two match suspension for a red card.
Achille Emana started at right midfield for Toulosue in their 2-2 draw with Nantes. Jean Joel Perrier Doumbe came on as a sub at the beginning of the 2nd half in Rennes 1-1 draw with Ajaccio.
In Ligue 2, Joel Tchami scored in the 66th minute on his debut for Laval during their 1-1 draw with Angers. Pierre Njanka is the captain of Sedan and started at centerback in his club’s 0-1 loss to Amiens. Marcus Mokake returned from injury when he entered the game as a sub for Sedan in the 61st minute. Elsewhere in Ligue 2, Bertin Tokene started at centerback for Grenoble and Eugene Ekobo in midfield for Creteil during their clubs’ 1-1 draw. Stephane Biakolo was at forward for Niort in their 0-2 loss to Chateauroux and Alexis Ngambi was at centerback for Gueugnon (0-0 vs LeMans).
Germany
Raymond Kalla was the lone Cameroonian to play in the Bundesliga. He was at the heart of Bochum’s defense in their 2-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld. In Bundesliga 2, Daniel Wansi came on as a 2nd half sub for Dynamo Dresden in their 1-1 tie with Wacker Burghausen. Francis Kioyo entered as a sub for 1860 Munich in the club’s 2-0 win over Eintracht Trier. Cyrille Florent Bella also was a 2nd half sub for LR Ahlen in their 1-2 loss to Unterhaching.
Belgium
La Louviere went to joint top of the Belgian Jupiler legaue with a 2-0 win over Racing Genk. Matthieu Assou Ekotto started in midfield for La Louviere while Eric Matoukou was at centerback for Genk. 21 year old midfielder Patrice Noukeu scored a goal for Mouscron in the club’s 1-1 draw with Lokeren. Aloys Nong had to leave FC Brussels first win of the season 3-1 over Standard Liege with a leg injury. Forward Samuel Ipoua made his league debut for St. Trond after recovering from injury in the club’s 0-1 loss to Beveren. Guy Bertrand Mamoun came on as a sub in the 2nd half for St. Trond who remains bottom of the Belgian league.
Turkey
Indomitable Lion goalie Souleymanou Hamidou’s Denizlispor lost their perfect record in the Turkish league after falling to Ankaraspor 3-2. Rigobert Song started at centerback for Galatasaray in their 2-1 win over Sakaryaspor. Meanwhile a trio of Cameroonians played in Ankaragucu’s 2-1 win over Sebatspor. Herve Zengue and Joseph Marie Tchango started for Ankaragucu while Claude Bakadal came on as a sub at forward for Sebatspor.
Switzerland
Armand Deumi was the sole Cameroonian to play in Switzerland’s top league. He started at centerback for FC Thun in the club’s 0-0 draw with Grasshopper Zurich.
By Coutler Martin, martin@camfoot.com