It seems like only yesterday that the last African Cup of Nations last took place, but it’s back and the big challenge will be to get people to take notice, although with so many players missing now from English, Spanish and French football, fans cannot help notice that something else is going on in the […]
Category: Africa
Algerian football is on the up – at least that’s what ES Setif hope
Cynics might suggest that the FIFA Club World Cup just pays lip-service to the global game and that it’s all about ensuring the winners of the Copa Libertadores and UEFA Champions League winners meet in the final after some meaningless eliminators. The romantic will try to insist that the competition is open to all, although […]
Shouldn’t Africa be doing better by now?
Poor old Pele is forever being reminded of his prediction in 1974 that by 2000, an African team would have won the World Cup. They were bold words, perhaps strategic words given his then pal Joao Havelange was canvassing for FIFA dominance on the back of “votes for Africa”. In 1974, Zaire showed how much […]
Emenike can lead Nigeria to victory in Jo’burg
The African Cup of Nations reaches a climax this weekend with the final on Sunday between Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The competition has a habit of producing shocks, and this year’s favourities, Ivory Coast and Ghana, fell at the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. Not many people expected either side to reach the final, especially the […]
African Cup of Nations: It has to improve!
Huge swathes of empty seats, dull football and muted crowds – that’s my first impressions of the African Cup of Nations 2013. Four games played, three draws and thank God for Mali, scoring near the end of their games with Niger to finally produce a winning team. It started with South Africa drawing 0-0 with […]
Last chance for Ivory Coast’s “Golden Generation”
For the fifth consecutive African Cup of Nations (ACN), Ivory Coast have been tagged as favourites. It is a mantle they have not worn that well, for since 2006, they have failed to live up to expectations, despite going close on two occasions. Despite having arguably the best team outside of Europe and Latin America […]
Pele was way off the mark, but we can still enjoy the African Cup of Nations….
When Pele said an African nation would win the World Cup before the end of the [20th] century, he was probably puffing on something exotic. The Africans made the breakthrough into the World Cup, and have provided a few thrills – Cameroon, Nigeria et al – but they are unlikely to ever come out on […]
