Comparative Soccer

MUTASA I N ACTION

     SUAREZ IMPACT  Getty Images                                                              


MANDAVA STADIUM VS   ETIHAD STADIUM

 A look at  the  past  two different competitions  at  continental  level. On Tuesday the  24th of  February Manchester City FC hosted Barcelona  in a  very thrilling Uefa champions league  tie that saw   the Catalans emerging as victors  with all goals fired by the Uruguayan striker  Luis  Suarez. Then on Saturday the  very week, in CAF competition  Platinum FC emerged victors  against Kenyan club Sofapaka and  of  course Wisdom Mutasa hitting the the back of  the  net twice.  Score  line  2:1  Platinum FC vs  Sofapaka match  and  Manchester city vs  Barcelona  tie ended with the same  score line in favor  of  Barcelona. The results of  all these  matches tempts logical thinking to deduce  that African football is  also at  the  same level with the European soccer, YET a soccer perspective will dismiss that standpoint mentioning many factors to  dispute it.

In attendance, at Mandava Stadium attendance was  less  than 5000 when Platinum FC hosted Sofapaka in their second leg encounter.  The  assumption that  can  be  drawn from  is  that  number  of  fans  who attended  this  match were outnumbered  by the  fans  who were watching  Barclays Premier  League  matches on  televison in  Zimbabwe alone.

In contrast, at Etihad Stadium over 65000 flooded the stadium to watch entertaining and  competitive match between Barcelona and  Manchester City. The match lured high profile  people such as Sir Alex Ferguson and  many others. On social media predictions flooded, interesting to  note, very few people gave their  predictions about Platinum Sofapaka tie including the Zimbabweans themselves. but from all over  the  world  people  were predicting City Barca tie. this  is sufficient evidence  to infer that african football needs extra miles to catch up with the  European football. Getty Images Suarez of Barcelona (L) celebrates scoring their second goal with Lionel Messi and Neymar of Barcelona during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match between Manchester City and Barcelona at Etihad Stadium

 FC PLATINUM fans celebrating Mutasa's slaught on SOFAPAKA in Mandava Stadium