Adebajo: Africa’s colossal footballer of the year

WITH over 100 international caps, Ivoirien footballer, Gnégnéri Yaya Touré, led his national team, “the Elephants”, to victory over Ghana’s “Black Stars” in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in the final of the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) last Sunday. This victory finally exorcised the ghosts of past failures by members of the perennially under-achieving “golden generation” of Ivoirien superstars who had lost two previous finals in penalty shoot-outs in 2006 (to Egypt) and 2012 (to Zambia). “The Elephants” had not won the competition since their sole victory in 1992.

   On an individual level, Yaya Touré, who plays for Manchester City in England, just won an unprecedented fourth consecutive African Footballer of the Year award. Only Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o has won it as many times. Nicknamed the “Colossus”, Touré is like a runaway train: fast, dangerous, and unstoppable. Controversial Footballers At 6 feet 3ins, the muscular box-to-box midfielder is the complete player whose versatility has seen him play in various positions in midfield and defence. He has strength, stamina, dribbling skills, and pace. His passing range is superb (with an average pass accuracy of 90% this season); he has great heading ability; and has scored spectacular goals, employing both power and precision. South Africa’s Carlos Amato described him as “the most influential player in the most powerful side in the world’s richest league”; Best Betting Site British sportswriter, Barney Ronay, called him “an intelligent and eloquent man who on the pitch has begun to look like a surprisingly nuanced and delicately phrased galloping midfield bludgeon”; while Touré’s Manchester City team-mate, Algerian-Frenchman, Samir Nasri, noted: “If he wasn’t African, everyone would say he’s the best midfielder in the world.”

   The 31-year old Touré grew up playing football barefoot in the dusty streets of the central Ivoirien city of Bouaké, and did not acquire his first football boots until the age of 10. He grew up in a poor family of seven children (with his elder brother, Kolo, who plays for Liverpool), and at first aspired to be a striker before settling into midfield. At 13, he went to the famed youth academy of Côte d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan which also produced three members of the recent Afcon-winning team: Kolo Touré, Solomon Kalou, and Gervinho. Yaya won the Ivoirien league with ASEC’s senior team. Win Big Today!  Europe soon beckoned, and Touré went in search of the fabled golden fleece. The tall, skinny, shy, junk food-addicted 18-year old boy had to be built up in the gym. He played for Belgium’s Beveren; Ukraine’s Metaluhr Donetsk; Greece’s Olympiacos; and France’s Monaco before joining Spanish giants, Barcelona, at the age of 24. His brother Kolo anointed Yaya “the new Patrick Vieira”: a reference to the swashbuckling Senegalese-born Arsenal midfielder who won the 1998 World Cup with France (Yaya’s favourite players as a boy were Vieira and Brazil’s Socrates). Touré won the league title in Greece (where he played with the  Brazilian Rivaldo), and won the league and European champions league with the all-conquering Barcelona team that included Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

   Despite success in Barcelona, Touré had a troubled final year. The parochial, petty Pep Guardiola (who had hounded Samuel Eto’o out of Barcelona) often preferred to play the home-grown Catalan, Sergio Busquets, to Touré, who philosophically noted on his departure: “It is in the past now. You have to move on, there are fresh challenges ahead”. The Ivoirien joined Manchester City for 24 million pounds in 2010, earning 250,000 pounds a week. He had an immediate impact, scoring the only goal in the semi-final and final, as “the Citizens” won the FA Cup in 2011: their first trophy in 35 years. Best betting odds The following season, Touré was instrumental in City winning its first league title in 44 years, a feat repeated last year when he scored 20 league goals (a landmark in England for a midfielder previously achieved only by Chelsea’s Frank Lampard). Unlike at Barcelona where he was discouraged from venturing beyond the half-way line, City’s Italian manager, Roberto Mancini, gave Touré the licence to roam, likening his playing style to that of Holland’s Ruud Gullit. But despite his success at City, Touré has been criticised for not replicating his dominant domestic performances in the European Champions League. He clearly still sees the club as a work in progress: there is a psychological barrier and lack of self-belief that City is ready to challenge European giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. 

   Touré’s Ivoirien national team failed to get past the World Cup first round in 2006, 2010, and 2014. He was particularly angered at the controversial stoppage-time penalty awarded to Greece in the final group match which knocked “the Elephants” out of the competition, complaining that “Who really cares about the injustices of an African team?” There were reported tensions between Touré and fellow superstar, Didier Drogba, during these tournaments. Both players, however, showed strong commitment to playing for the national team as a symbol of unity for a country that had suffered a traumatic civil war between 2002 and 2011. As Touré noted: “Now when you go back home you can see in people’s faces that life is more difficult than before. Virtual Reality That is why it is important to keep going back. Whatever we can do to help, it’s very important to show the people I’m still with them.” 

   Touré is a sensitive soul, and was devastated by the death, from cancer, last June of his 28-year-old brother Ibrahim, whom he had looked after in a hospital in Manchester and visited regularly. A devout, humble Muslim, he has often had to fend off the attention of aggressive female groupies by constantly changing his cell phone number. He once refused the man-of-the-match champagne due to his religious beliefs, prompting England’s footballing authorities to provide an alternative pomegranate drink for Muslim players. 

    Touré is also a fierce Pan-African. As he noted: “I represent my country, but I also represent the continent of Africa when I play in Europe.” He has been consistently outspoken on issues of racism. After facing racial abuse and monkey chants from CSKA Moscow supporters, he called for the club to be punished, and threatened that African players might boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He faced ugly racist tweets last year which included: “Shut the fuck up you fat ebola infected nig nog. Go back to the cotton field…” In response, a defiant Touré promised to continue telling such bigots they were wrong, calmly noting: “Football doesn’t have a colour. We’re just people from all over the world trying to enjoy the game”. 

    He has consistently complained about the lack of international recognition for African players. (Only Liberia’s George Weah has won the ballon d’or for the world’s best player).  As Touré noted: “When you come to Europe and say ‘Yaya Touré’ people will say, ‘who is that?’ Some will say they know my name, but not my face. But they will know Messi’s face.” Touré is determined to change this perception and ensure that African players are given their proper due. As he said: “I am very proud to be African, I want to defend African people and I want to show to the world that African players can be as good as the Europeans and South Americans.”

• Dr. Adekeye Adebajo is Executive Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, South Africa.