African players doesn't get enough respect

Yaya Toure, to me is the best central midfielder in the world, and he has been for quite sometimes now. When people think about good soccer players, countries like Brazil, Argentina and France comes to mind because they've produced a lot of great players over the years. For Brazil, they had arguably the best soccer player ever in Pele. Argentina had Diego Maradona and France had Zinedine Zidane.

African players are often labeled as "too strong" or "too fast" but never as intelligent. Yaya Toure is all that and more. His Manchester City teammate Samir Nasri, described him as the best midfielder in the world. “If he wasn’t African everyone will say he’s the best midfielder in the world,” says Nasri. Yaya can do everything, he can attack, defend and score goals. I've never seen a player so powerful and intelligent like Yaya. He can do it all, whatever the manager asks of him, that's what he'll do. 

Being a soccer player myself, I was always labeled as a fast player but nothing more. Growing up, my coaches usually told my teammates to kick the ball to the corners so I could beat my man and score. It felt good to be able to do that, but after awhile, it got annoying and teams started changing their tactics. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. What my coaches were basically saying back then was, all you have is your speed and nothing else.

Players like Messi, Iniesta and Xavi from Barcelona are called by some pundits "Magicians." I have never heard any pundit call a black player intelligent or good tactically. When I say good tactically, I mean reading the game and adjusting to what your opponent is doing. All experts say about Yaya is that he's powerful and a bully.