LET’S be frank, qualifying tournaments have become tedious – bloated and repetitive, full of over familiarity, largely predictable (don’t say that in Amsterdam this summer) and too much cannon fodder. Sometimes, you forget if you’re watching a European Championship or a World Cup qualifier. So here’s an idea. Why not use the continental tournaments as […]
Tag: African Cup of Nations
Kick-off in Africa – watch out for Senegal and Algeria
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 […]
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 […]
