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Lomana LuaLua
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Lomana Trésor LuaLua (born December 28, 1980 in Kinshasa) is a footballer who plays for Qatar side Al-Arabi. He has also played for English clubs Colchester United, Newcastle United and Portsmouth, and Greek club Olympiacos. He is a Democratic Republic of Congo international.
ua was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1980, but moved to the United Kingdom as a young boy in 1989. He started to play football at the age of 16 and was playing for Leyton Sixth Form College in London when he was spotted at the age of 17 by Third Division side, Colchester United.
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Encyclopedia
Lomana Trésor LuaLua (born December 28, 1980 in Kinshasa) is a footballer who plays for Qatar side Al-Arabi. He has also played for English clubs Colchester United, Newcastle United and Portsmouth, and Greek club Olympiacos. He is a Democratic Republic of Congo international.
Background
LuaLua was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1980, but moved to the United Kingdom as a young boy in 1989. He started to play football at the age of 16 and was playing for Leyton Sixth Form College in London when he was spotted at the age of 17 by Third Division side, Colchester United. LuaLua is known for a spectacular goal celebration, which consists of several back-flips and a backward somersault.
His brother, Kazenga LuaLua, is also a professional footballer and currently plays for his brother's former club, Newcastle United, and two of his cousins also play professionally; Yala Bolasie plays for Plymouth Argyle and Tresor Kandol plays for Charlton Athletic on loan from Leeds United.
In 2005, LuaLua became patron of the Haslar Visitors Group, a charity that works with detainees in an immigration removal centre, and in 2006, he set up the LuaLua Foundation, building a hostel, sport and education complex in Kinshasa to provide care and education for orphaned children in DR Congo.
Club career
Colchester United
LuaLua joined Colchester United in September 1998. In two seasons, he made 68 league and cup appearances for Colchester, 44 starts and 24 substitute appearances, scoring a total of 21 goals. His performances attracted the attention of several Premiership clubs and despite manager Steve Whitton denial that LuaLua was for sale, LuaLua joined Newcastle United in September 2000 for a fee of £2.25 million. An earlier offer by Newcastle of £300,000 for LuaLua made by former manager, Ruud Gullit, had been rejected but the much increased bid offered financial security and assistance towards a new ground and was one that Colchester felt they could not turn down.
Newcastle United
LuaLua had been brought to the attention of Newcastle manager, Bobby Robson, by Mick Wadsworth, head coach at Newcastle United, who was a former manager of Colchester. Robson watched LuaLua before deciding to negotiate the transfer, and said, "I see [LuaLua] as a special talent. He has to learn how to play with the other players but he's a special new talent. He has to be nursed and cherished and taught. But we are buying long-term a very promising talent, a very promising player." LuaLua signed a five-year contract with the club.
LuaLua made his first-team debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Charlton in September 2000 and went on to make a total of 23 league and cup appearances for Newcastle in the 2000–01 season without scoring. He scored twice in Newcastle's Intertoto Cup campaign at the beginning of the 2001–02 season but his first Premiership goal did not come until April 2002, when he scored a last-minute winner in a 3–2 away win against Derby. He scored a further two goals in the remaining four games of the season. LuaLua's goalscoring form continued to the beginning of the 2002–03 season when he scored three goals in his first four games. Competition for a first-team place meant that LuaLua made only 22 appearances in this season. In January 2003, LuaLua urged manager Bobby Robson to select some of the younger players for the first-team, saying, "I think I deserve a chance now, as do many of the lads on the fringes of the team. Although some people might have the idea that those of us not in the team like sitting on the bench and getting paid good money, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not in this for the money, I want to play for the first team and show what I can do on a regular basis." LuaLua also spent much of the beginning of the 2003–04 season on the bench and in November 2003, complained about his lack of first-team football and indicated that he would consider leaving Newcastle. Bobby Robson responded, saying would not take advice from a player about how to manage the side. In February 2004, after returning from the 2004 African Cup of Nations, he joined Portsmouth on a three-month loan deal with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season. LuaLua had made 88 league and cup appearances for Newcastle, scoring nine goals, having started 21 games and made 67 appearances as substitute.
Portsmouth
LuaLua scored on his debut for Portsmouth in a 4–3 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in February 2003. In his third game for Portsmouth later that month, he scored an 89th minute equaliser at Fratton Park against parent club Newcastle, which lifted Portsmouth out of the bottom three of the Premiership. He scored four goals in 15 appearances for Portsmouth as they finished in mid-table in their debut season in the Premiership and manager Harry Redknapp was sufficiently impressed with LuaLua's performances that when his loan spell ended at the end of the 2003/04 season, he signed LuaLua permanently at a cost of £1.75 million.
LuaLua made 26 league and cup appearances, scoring six goals, including two against local rivals Southampton, in the 2004–05 season, which was marred by a groin injury at the beginning of the season and a hamstring injury in May 2005, and disciplinary problems that led to charges by the Football Association of abusive behaviour in December 2004 and improper conduct after he was sent off against Blackburn Rovers in January 2005, for which he received an extra one-match ban and a fine of £5,000 in addition to a three-match ban for the dismissal. He made 26 appearances in the 2005–06 season, scoring seven goals, but missed several games in the autumn after contracting malaria on a visit to Africa to play for DR Congo. He also missed several games due to international duty at the 2004 African Cup of Nations and missed games in April 2006 after damaging his foot while doing his trademark goal celebration of several back-flips during a game against Arsenal. He ran into disciplinary problems once more when he was warned by the Football Association over his future conduct after he admitted a charge of improper conduct in relation to comments made about referee Uriah Rennie after a 3–1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in December.
Lualua signed a new three-year contract in July 2006, tying him to Portsmouth until 2009. An ankle injury suffered in a pre-season friendly led to LuaLua missing the beginning of the 2006–07 season. He struggled to break back into the first-team, making only eight starts out of 24 appearances, and scored only two goals in that season. Manager Harry Redknapp warned him that he needed to "...start performing." and that he had to "...start producing next season.". However, he joined Greek club Olympiacos in August 2007 and Redknapp admitted that, "Lua wants to move on... I've no doubt he'll go away and be a great player for Olympiakos. He wants a change, he wants to play in a role behind the strikers and he wants to move abroad. He will get to play in the Champions League by moving to Greece. He has been a top Premier League player and he'll be a top player for them."
Olympiakos
LuaLua joined Olympiakos for a fee of around £2.8 million (€4.1 million) in August 2007, signing a three-year contract. He made his 2007–08 Super League debut in a 0–0 draw with Panathinaikos in September 2007. His first goals for his new club came in the following Super League fixture when he scored twice in Olympiacos' 6-2 victory against OFI Crete. LuaLua opened the scoring with a 30-yard volley and contributed to a historic 4-0 victory in a cup-tie against arch-rivals Panathinaikos in January 2008. An ankle injury kept him out of Olympiacos' Champions League first leg tie with Chelsea in February 2008, and a more serious injury, a dislocated shoulder, suffered during a Super League game against Asteras Tripolis in March, meant he missed the second leg Champions League match against Chelsea too. He was out of action for most of the rest of the season, returning against Iraklis in late April to help Olympiakos win a fourth straight Greek championship. He fell out of favour shortly before the Greek cup final in May 2008 and was placed on the transfer list. He had scored six goals in 30 appearances for Olympiakos.
Al-Arabi
Following his injury hit spell at Olympiakos, LuaLua joined Qatar based club Al-Arabi on a one-year contract in July 2008.
International career
LuaLua was first named by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the preliminary squad for the African Nations Cup finals in Mali in January 2002. He played in the 0–0 draw with Togo, 1–0 loss to Cameroon, 3–1 win over Ivory Coast and the quarter-final game against Senegal, which DR Congo lost 2–0 amid some controversy.
DR Congo's qualifying campaign for the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia began six months after the 2002 tournament ended, with a match against Libya. LuaLua initially indicated that he might not play in this game but did so reluctantly after threats were made to his family, which caused him to consider his international career. He played in the 2–0 win over Botswana in October 2002, when he scored inside five minutes but was later sent off for dissent. He was suspended for two games and his next appearance was in the 0–0 draw with Botswana in July 2003, which secured qualification for the finals of the competition. LuaLua initially expressed doubts that he would take part in the finals due to club commitments. He was however included in the squad and named as captain in the absence of regular captain, Shabani Nonda, who missed the tournament due to a knee injury. LuaLua said on being named as captain, "When Shabani plays, it takes the pressure off me but now everyone's now looking to me for leadership and I feel honoured." He appeared in the first game of the tournament, a 2–1 defeat to Guinea, but in the next game against the hosts Tunisia, he was sent off, reacting angrily and taking several minutes to leave the pitch. DR Congo went on to lose the game and were eliminated from the tournament. Following his sending off, LuaLua considered giving up international football and criticised the behaviour of the Tunisa players during the game and the organisation of the tournament. He later criticised the national football federation of DR Congo, Fecofa, blaming them for the poor state of the national side, but said that he would continue to be available for international selection because "I can never turn my back on my country. I play for Congo because I am proud to do it." and apologised to his country for his sending off against Tunisa.
LuaLua received a four-match suspension for the sending-off and missed several 2006 World Cup qualifying round matches during the summer of June 2004. He was selected for the World Cup qualifier against South Africa in September 2004 but missed the game due to injury and was dropped for the next qualifier against Ghana in October 2004. He missed the 1–1 draw with Ghana in March 2005 after a dispute with the DR Congo football association but committed himself to the match against Uganda in June 2005. He scored in a friendly against Guinea played in Paris in August 2005, a game used as preparation for the World Cup qualifying matches the following month. LuaLua played for DR Congo in the 2–1 win over Cape Verde Islands in September but contracted malaria and missed the final World Cup qualifier against South Africa in October 2005.
LuaLua was recalled to the DR Congo squad for a friendly against Tunisa played near Paris in November 2005, part of the countries' preparation for the 2006 African Nations Cup to be held in Egypt in January and February 2006, but he was unable to play after being one of several players refused a visa by French immigration authorities. He was named as the captain of DR Congo for the tournament in place of Shabani Nonda who was injured for a second successive Nations Cup, but delayed his departure to be available to his club Portsmouth for a crucial league match, missing a friendly with Senegal. He returned to the side for DR Congo's opening game of the tournament against Togo, assisting in one goal and scoring the other in a 2–0 win, despite a pay dispute leading to the DR Congo players threatening to boycott the game, which was only resolved shortly before before the kickoff. He appeared against Angola and Cameroon as DR Congo qualified for the quarter-finals stage of the tournament, only to be beaten by the hosts Egypt. LuaLua's 18-month old son died while he was playing in the tournament, but the news was not given to him until after DR Congo was eliminated from the tournament as the DR Congo football authorities felt it better not to tell him so to avoid distracting him.
LuaLua scored in the 2008 African Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia in April 2007, which was won 2–0 by DR Congo and extended their lead at the top of their group. He did not travel to Ethiopia for the away fixture in June 2007, as the authorities failed to send him his travel documents in time, and missed the game, which DR Congo lost. Following the failure of DR Congo to qualify for the tournament in October 2007, the DR Congo sports minister, Pardonne Kaliba, suspended the team coach, Henri Depireux, and removed the captaincy from LuaLua.
LuaLua returned to the DR Congo squad in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Egypt in June 2008. After returning to Greece, he complained of severe stomach pain and was rushed to hospital to have his appendix removed, ruling him out of subsequent matches for four to six weeks, as DR Congo moved to the top of Group 12.
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