Africans In Germany: Didier Ya Konan Nets For Hannover

Ivorian Didier Ya Konan scored in the 31st minute to give Hannover a 1-0 win over VfB Stuttgart on Saturday to punctuate another weekend when African players stayed largely anonymous.

Tunisia defender Karim Haggui also featured for the victors who nevertheless braved a torrential wave of attacks from Stuttgart who were unlucky to finish the match without picking up any points. Ivorian defender Arthur Boka played the full game for Stuttgart. The win pushed Hannover to 11th in the table while Stuttgart took a slide to 14th place.

In another match on Saturday, FSV Mainz 05 ran riot over Freiburg whom they beat 3-0 without any real problems. Algerian striker Chadlj Amri and Burkina Faso’s youngster Aristide Bance lead Mainz’s attack line although they didn’t score.

Amri was replaced by Van der Heyden in the 89 minute.   Cameroonian striker Mohamed Idrissou played the full game for Freiburg but Moroccan midfielder Yacine Abdessadki was replaced in the 79 minute.

Nigeria midfielder Uke Uzoma also came on in the 87th minute but the damage had already been done. Andreas Ivanschitz and Tim Hoogland, who scored a second half brace, secured the victory for Mainz. Hoffenheim also registered a stellar performance after they defeated Nuernberg 3-0 on Saturday.

Nigerian striker Chinedu Obasi who has been in blistering form for Hoffe was not on the score sheet this time as he was replaced in the 45th minute.

Tunisian midfielder Jawhar Mnari and Ghanaian striker Isaac Boakye played for Nuernberg but would not stop the rout. Christian Eichner scored the first for Hoffe before Vedad Ibisevic and Zuculini finished the assignment.

Borussia M'gladbach played to a barren draw with Koeln but M'gladbach were unlucky to leave without the three points after raiding the visiting team incessantly.

The African battalion of Steve Gohouri , Moses Lamidi, Karim Matmour and Cedric Makiadi were not fielded by M'gladbach while Nigerian striker Manasseh Ishiaku played the entire game for Koeln.

On Sunday, Schalke played to a 3-3 draw with Hamburg to maintain their top four positions in the Bundesliga. Schalke do not have an African player in their squad, and they escaped with a point in the dying minutes of the game when Kevin Kuranyi headed in from cross range. Burkina Faso striker Jonathan Pitroipa was fielded by Hamburg but was replaced by Jerome Boateng in the 63rd minute.

Defending champions Wolfsburg slumped to a draw against Hertha Berlin. Wolfsburg's inconsistent form this season was punctuated by the Nigerian Obafemi Martins’ inability to discover his lethal potency in his first season in the Bundesliga. Martins was replaced in the 53rd minute by Japanese player Makoto Hasebe.

Algerian defender Anther Yahia played the full game for Bochum, but his side were bashed 4-1 by Werder Bremen. Cameroonian striker Joel Epalle was not part of the losing squad that had scored in the first seconds of the game before opening the floodgates.

On Friday league leaders Bayer Leverkusen played to a 1- 1 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Egyptian attacker Mohamed Zidan turned out for Dortmund but was replaced in the 72nd minute.

James Momanyi, Goal.com