Africa in the Olympic Quarterfinals
August 14, 2008
While we lament the loss of the Nigerian Super Falcons in the Women’s Olympic football tournament, praise must be heaped on the African men, who all swept into the quarterfinals of the men’s Olympic tournament.
One thing we know for sure is that Africa will be represented in the semi-finals, as Nigeria take on Ivory Coast in the last eight. Cameroon advanced to play Brazil.
1996 gold medalists Nigeria advanced as winners of their group and were unbeaten after an opening draw with one of the pre-tournament favorites Holland, coupled with wins over Japan and the USA.
The Super Eagles are without several key players following the balmy club-vs. country rows that affected superstars such as Lionel Messi of Argentina/Barcelona.
Russia-based Peter Odemwingie is the only over-aged player in the squad after goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and striker Ikechukwu Uche were not released by their respective clubs.
The lack of an experienced goalkeeper has already cost Nigeria as Ambruse Vanzekin’s poor clearance led to a goal for Japan.
The Ivory Coast are making their first appearance in the Olympic football tournament and began their campaign with a 2-1 loss to defending champions Argentina.
The Ivorians bounced back from that defeat with an easy 4-2 win over Serbia and assured qualification with a 1-0 win over Australia.
Strikers Salomon Kalou and Sekou Cisse have lead the way for the Ivorian Elephants with two goals each , while midfielder Gervinho has scored one goal as well as assisting two.
The 2000 gold medalists Cameroon face a tough task in the last eight as they play Brazil.
The Brazilians have won all three of their games so far scoring nine goals and are yet to concede.
Cameroon have struggled to find the net in China with only two goals at the Games.
Georges Mandjeck has been both hero and villain for Cameroon, scoring a late equalizer in the opening game against South Korea that ended 1-1. But he was then sent off in a goalless draw with Italy.
The only other goal was scored by Stephane Mbia as Cameroon narrowly beat Honduras 1-0.
All the quarter-finals are on August 16th.
Good luck, Africa!
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Why don’t Englishmen like Lampard want to play abroad?
August 14, 2008
Frank Lampard’s decision to sign a new contract with Chelsea and shun the advances of Inter Milan was hardly a surprise.
The midfielder made a wise choice if he based the decision on the previous experiences of English players in Italy.
Only David Platt at Sampdoria was really a success. Ian “it’s like living in a foreign country” Rush lasted just a season at Juventus while the likes of Luther Blissett, Lee Sharpe, Ray Wilkins, Des Walker, Paul Ince and Jay Bothroyd hardly set Serie A alight.
Paul Gascoigne was injured for much of his time at Lazio. Rather than his stunning play, he is best remembered here in Italy for shocking the nation by burping into a microphone.
In recent years only David Beckham at Real Madrid can claim to have done well away from English shores. That’s largely because he was one of the few who dared to try something new.
I actually think Lampard would have been a success at Inter, especially playing under former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. The Italian champions, and Serie A in general, are crying out for a goalscoring central midfielder.
Instead Lampard will start another English season this weekend, admittedly with packed stadiums and bags of money in his pocket. Stuttering Serie A can’t quite compete with that.
Mark Meadows, Milan
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Hodgson Looks To Build On The Great Escape
August 13, 2008
Roy Hodgson is one of the great unsung English managers of the last 30 years and I’m a big fan of England’s most underrated manager.
A polite, erudite professor of the game and an intelligent, well spoken man, he’s simply never received the recognition his career and achievements deserve in England due to the majority of his success being on foreign shores. When he was installed as Lawrie Sanchez’s successor at Fulham, it would be fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised toward Craven Cottage and the consensus was that Fulham were doomed for the drop. It’s now one of the great defining moments of the 2007-2008 season when Fulham were away at Manchester City and went 2-0, the results were such at the time they were actually relegated until they scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and went on to survive on goal difference as their form picked up dramatically.
The European perception of Hodgson though is poles apart from his homelands opinion of him. A legend in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, highly rated in Italy and Germany, he is every inch the renaissance man. With 7 titles under his belt in Sweden between 1976 and 1990, his move to Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland was the defining period in his career, his success at domestic level convincing the Swiss FA to make him the national teams manager, taking them to USA 94 and getting through the qualification to Euro 1996, held in England. Since that period, Hodgson has been in demand by clubs and countries the world over with the exception of England due to his last period of employment in the Premiership.
All too much is made of his brief stint at Blackburn Rovers, more so his final 6 months at Blackburn, his critics point to the signing of Kevin Davies for £7.5 million as his main offence of a man out of touch with the game and abilities of players. The fact that often gets over looked about the Davies transfer is that Davies became seriously ill just weeks after joining Rovers and never recovered at Ewood Park. The self same critics also manage to forget that Davies was runner up in the Premiership Young Player of the Year award behind Michael Owen in 1997-1998 season. Suffice to say, 10 years later, Davies is still playing in the Premiership and has been one of the most consistent performers in the top league for the last few seasons. Yet people forget that Hodgson had guided Rovers back into European football in the 1997-1998 season and the Rovers board panicked when the team seemed to struggle until November when he was released from his position as manager. If they’d kept faith with him, I’ve no doubt they would have stayed up, rather than the terrible run they endured under Brian Kidd(£4.5 million for Ashley Ward anyone).
It’s this spell that has always gone against him in England, his critics never look to his success with Switzerland, the fact he almost got Finland to Euro 2008 only to fall at the final fence, his consideration to become the German manager in 1999, Massimo Moratti at Inters utmost respect for him and his reputation in Scandinavian football. When the FA failed to lure Big Phil to take over the England managers job in 2006, they should have gone to Hodgson. Instead they appointed a man that makes me angry just thinking about those wasted two years under the tactical buffoon, Perma-smile Mclaren.
There is no doubting that Hodgson is a fine manager, tactically astute and a lover of the beautiful game. He knows he’ll be under pressure this season, but I have full faith in his ability to get Fulham well away from the drop zone. He’s been the busiest manager in the transfer market so far over the summer, bringing in 10 players, including Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Mark Schwarzer, Andy Teymourian, Zoltan Gera and smashing Fulhams transfer record with the purchase of Andy Johnson from Everton for £10.5 million.
Fulhams biggest problem last season was creating goals and finishing teams off and he has gone about trying to rectify that fact with some shrewd signings. Adding to the bones of the team that he inherited and getting them back to playing football rather than the outdated kick and rush mess that Lawrie Sanchez had woefully tried to install will reap dividends for him and the Fulham faithful. With Johnson and Zamora up front, Bullard, Murphy and Gera pulling the strings in midfield and a steady defence, a comfortable mid-table season is on the cards at Craven Cottage. Good luck to Roy Hodgson, one of only two English managers in the modern era who should have been the England manager but never will. I’m sure Mr Clough doesn’t mind the company, they’ll both agree that Cloughie was the best.
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2008 Men’s Olympic Football Quarter-Final Line Up
August 13, 2008
And just like that, the group stage of the 2008 Men’s Olympic Football tournament is over.
The quarter-finals look like this:
Nigeria vs Cote d’Ivoire
Italy vs Belgium
(winners play each other)
Argentina vs Netherlands
Brazil vs Cameroon
(winners play each other)
All matches on August 16th.
Highlights from the final round of group games below (USA fans look away now.)
Argentina 2-0 Serbia - Group A
The albiceleste bear Siberia 2-0 to top Group A with three wins out of three. Angel Di Maria will be embarrassed with his missed pen, but Diego Buonanotte has a nice free kick to add to his highlight reel.
Cote d’Ivoire 1-0 Australia - Group A
Salamon Kalou banged one into the top right corner to give the Ivorians a 1-0 win, and a place in the quarterfinals.
Nigeria 2-1 USA - Group B
The USA paid for their disciplinary problems in this one. Already shorn of the suspended Michael Bradley and Freddy Adu and in need of a result against Nigeria, they lost left back Michael Orozco in the third minute to a foolish elbow. Goals from Isaac Promise and Obinna Nsofor put Nigeria top of Group B, while an 88th minute Sacha Kljestan penalty was all the US had to show for the days work.
Netherlands 1-0 Japan - Group B
Following his dramatic last minute free kick equalizer on Sunday, Gerald Sibon had more bad news for the USA this morning. His penalty giving the Netherlands a 1-0 win over Japan, so one more point than the USA and a place in the last eight.
Belgium 1-0 New Zealand - Group C
This Faris Haroun header was enough to secure second place in Group C for Belgium. Maybe Hamburg will let Vincent Kompany stick around a little longer now?
Brazil 3-0 China - Group C
Ronaldinho put Diego through for the first, and Thiago Neves added two more (a free kick and a blink and you’ll miss it low shot) to make it three-nil and three out of three for Brazil. It still made Bruno sleepy though.
Italy 0-0 Cameroon - Group D
These two shared a goalless draw that put them both through. Italy finished top, Cameroon second.
South Korea 1-0 Honduras - Group D
Kim Dong-Jin scored a great goal with his right foot - apparently - to give Korea a 1-0 win. But Italy and Cameroon’s goalless draw meant Korea never had a shot at making the quarters. Honduras go home three defeats and CONCACAF is left thinking that Mexico would have represented the region a lot better.
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Video of the week: Italy’s top 100 goals at the World Cup
August 12, 2008
With the Olympics going on and National Team fever ready to sweep back in when Lippi makes his first call-ups of his second tenure on Saturday, I thought I’d dedicate this video of the week to the Nazionale. With World Cup 2010 qualifying just around the corner, here’s a segment from a Gazzetta dvd called “La Grande Storia della Nazionale” showcasing Italy’s top 100 goals in World Cup qualifying and in the final tournaments. The videos count down from 100. Enjoy:
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