Is this really not a holiday camp?
October 15, 2008
Rio Ferdinand said earlier that the pre-Capello England era was a circus. To be honest there was no need for him to say it since the lack of inspiration on behalf of both the manager and the players, along with the comical errors and the lack of determination, pride and belief were there for all to see.
However, now that England have the first manager in a long time that is capable of bringing the air-filled heads of these multi-millionaire superstars back down to Earth, moulding them into a consistently winning team, without the very frequent scares that would occure under the previous reigimes, it seems that England can start to be claimed as potential favourites for major tournaments with the actual ‘fire power’ to match.
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Benin, Cameroon On to Second Phase
September 7, 2008
Benin overcame the formidable challenge of Angola on Sunday to join Nigeria and Cameroon in the last phase of African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
A 3-2 win in Cotonou for the small West African country came 24 hours after Cameroon had secured their progress by beating the Cape Verde Islands 2-1 in Praia.
Nigeria, who had already made sure of their berth at the end of June, kept up their 100 percent record with a 1-0 win over World Cup hosts South Africa, who are now virtually certain to miss out on the next African Cup of Nations in Angola.
The World Cup qualifiers are also serving as a tournament to determine the 16 finalists for the 2010 Cup of Nations, which is being held six months before the World Cup.
Striker Razak Omotoyossi scored twice for Benin to increase his tally of goals in the qualifiers to five.
Defeat for Angola leaves the 2006 World Cup finalists facing the prospect of early elimination.
Cameroon came from a goal down on Saturday to beat their island opponents with substitutes Achille Webo and Alain Nkong scoring for the Indomitable Lions.
Burkina Faso, Egypt, Libya, and Ivory Coast all need a single point from their last second-round group qualifiers next month to also advance.
Burkina Faso drew 0-0 at home to Tunisia in Ouagadougou on Saturday to keep up their three-point advantage in Group Nine while the Ivorians drew 1-1 in Mozambique on Sunday to stay three points clear in Group Seven.
Playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika scored a 31st-minute winner for Egypt as the African champions beat DR Congo 1-0 in Kinshasa on Sunday in Group 12.
Libya’s 1-0 win over Ghana put them into top place in Group Five.
Gabon moved level with Ghana in second place after a 3-0 away win over Lesotho in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Willy Endzanga scored a second-half winner for Congo as they beat Mali 1-0 in Brazzaville to ensure both sides share the leadership in Group 10.
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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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2010 African Cup of Nations: Angola Prepares
August 13, 2008
It seems like just yesterday we were blogging about the finals of the African Cup of Nations tournament in Ghana.
But things move quickly in the world of football.
Today, news that the host nation of the 2010 African Cup of Nations, Angola, is confident their infrastructure will be ready in time for the tournament.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) seems to agree after an inspection team dropped in and snooped around.
The country sees the football tournament as a catalyst for change.
Much of Angola’s infrastructure was destroyed by a 27-year civil war. Therefore, it’s seen by some as an ambitious choice to host the Cup.
After only six years of peace, many roads remain poor, some still have land mines in them, there are few hotels and the country is hard to to get to for tourists.
But things can only get better.
If the amount of building that is going on in the capital of Luanda and the other main provinces is anything to go by, the competition is definitely leading to a rebirth of facilities.
Manuel Mariano, Angola’s director of information and publicity for COCAN (the Cup’s organizing committee), told the BBC: “We are a country in re-construction. We are a country in movement; the war was over six years ago.
“And you can notice what the changes are, that this country is going through, from North to South, from West to East and in the center. Therefore this is a task that the Angolans will perform and, like the President says, we will have a successful Nations Cup.”
All over the country, and particularly in Luanda, new hotels are being built, and key roads linking the provincial capitals are being rebuilt, largely by Chinese construction companies.
MY POV: The Chinese have a hand in many public works projects in Africa, don’t they? There’s been a lot made of this as the burgeoning superpower makes inroads in the last great untouched economic expanse in the world.
The Chinese built the new stadiums and have the contracts to build the four other new stadiums in Luanda, Lubango, Cabinda and Benguela.
The Luanda stadium, which is in a new area of suburban development about 15 miles from the city center, will seat 50,000.
According to the CAF inspectors, this project and the stadiums in Benguela and Lubango are all running to schedule.
The stadium in Cabinda, however, is proving a little trickier.
Cabinda’s geographical location, part of Angola but an isolated province within the DR of Congo, has hampered the building work.
The project is running around 20 days behind schedule, although this time is expected to be recovered over the next few months.
More than 4,000 foreign visitors are expected to come to the 2010 tournament and a lot of work is being done to enhance the capacity of the regional airports and rebuild sections of the railway destroyed during the civil war.
One concern is access to visas for visiting fans. COCAN say it is now entering the second stage of tournament preparation and this will look at the logistics for tourists and transportation.
Tickets will be pre-sold, the committee said, and a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to prepare the country for the influx of visitors, the group added.
The CAF inspectors are due back in January. Until then, it’s all hands to the cement mixers.
MY POV: Thanks to the BBC for the majority of this article.
Once again, football plays a part in restoring civic pride and establishing a sense of collective unity in a land ravaged by infighting.
One only hopes Angola gets their infrastructure in place before the Cup and everything goes smoothly.
2010 is shaping up to be quite the year in African football, no?
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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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