What a waste

One of the best Ghanaian players in the African Cup is Issah. He is not only a strong defender on the Ghanaian team, but also on a very strong Asante Kotoko side.

It is therefore with great regrets that I heard he is bound for the Danish club Randers FC. All due respect to this team, that is playing in the secondary league in Denmark, but Mr. Issah could do much better. It is a real waste to see excellent Ghanaian players, who play at highest level, running around on a third-rate league in Denmark. I hope that this is a short stint in Mr. Issah's career. Mr. Issah is far too good for Randers. If we saw Kotoko play Randers, I am certain that Kotoko would destroy the Danish side, so the change for Mr. Issah is because of money, and certainly not quality.

Senegal-Ghana tonight!

Ghana is playing a crucial match against Senegal in the African Cup. Senegal won their first match against Zimbabwe 2-0, while Ghana lost to Nigeria. The Black Stars must win tonight!

I have not been so psyched for a national team match for long. I really hope that the Black Stars will make lion gullasch out of the Senegalese! If not, I will have to buy beer to anyone who supports Senegal!

Good luck Senegalese! You will need it!

Bad fans in Valencia

I consider myself a Valencia supporter. It is sad to have to nominate something bad from the team you like. But I have to give Valencia fans a nominations as football turds of the year.

Valencia was playing Deportivo La Coruña at home in the Copa del Rey. Although the referee had been harsh by showing Marchena a red card early on, Valencia was stil ahead on a goal by Villa. But the spectators kept throwing things on the pitch, until a coin or something hit a linesman. While he was bleeding, the referee decided to suspend the match. The match will be re-started behind closed doors.

Although the referee sucked, this is an example of fans being the worse enemy of a team sometimes.

Super Samuel Eto'o

Of the games I have seen so far in the African Nations Cup, I have not been overly impressed by the teams. Specially some of the World Cup-bound teams have been a disappointment, and I do hope that this is just preparation, because I cannot see any of them getting far in the World Cup.

One team will be missed though: Cameroun. And that is not so much because of the team, as because of one single player: Samuel Eto'o. The Barcelona striker is at his best these days, and he is certainly showing that himself and Cameroun belong in the World Cup. In the first match he scored three goals against Angola, who is bound for Germany this summer. Today, Eto'o was the best player in giving Cameroun a well-deserved victory against another World Cup team, Togo.

Mr. Eto'o scored an absolutely astonishing first goal, and a brilliant play by him led to a beautiful goal with the heel by Menong-ze.

With the first two games, Samuel Eto'o has shown that he is the best striker in Africa, just as he often has shown he is the best in Spain, and one in the best in Europe. What a pity that he will not be able to show that he is indeed also the best striker in the World this summer!

Disappointing Ghana-Nigeria

In Group D of the African Nations Cup two of Africa's best teams faced each other. Ghana is one of the outsiders for the title, having qualified for their first World Cup. Nigeria is eager to show that they should be in the World Cup, where they have done well before. It was therefore with great expectations that both teams opened their African Cup campaign.

Although both teams had many injured players (for Ghana, the absence of Michael Essien was notable), the game was still a big disappointment. Ghana was organised well in the start of the match, but in the second half, a simple tactical change from the Nigerian team made their organisation fall apart. There were many chances, but they were mostly the result of luck or pure lack of concentration in defense. Nigeria's winning goal came from such a situation: Ghana's defenders looked asleep when a quick free-kick in the 85th minute ended with Taiwo, who hammered the ball in from a long distance. Ghana was too defensive and lacking fantasy to answer back, although bad defending by the Nigerians almost gave them a goal.

All in all, the match was too tactical, and both teams lacked concentration. None of the teams should hope to win the cup playing like they did today.

Egypt looking strong!

The African Nations Cup started in Cairo with an opening match between the Egyptian hosts and Lybia. Not having qualified for the World Cup in Germany, the Egyptians are eager to show on their own turf, that they are still among the top African teams. And the did start very well indeed. The neighboring Lybians were hardly a match for the highly motivated Egyptians, who furthermore had a great crowd pushing behind them.

Mido, one of the best players of the Egyptian team, opened the score after a strong early pressure. The Lybians had very little to show, and Egypt won a well-deserved 3-0 victory.

The Egyptians are certainly favourites to win this group, and are also the strongest contenders for the title. However, it remains to be seen how some of the other strong teams are looking over the next few days: Nigeria, Cameroun, Ghana, Tunisia and Morocco. It is undoutfully one of the strongest African Nations Cup ever.

Daniel Agger to Liverpool

The very talented young Brøndby defender Daniel Agger is on his way to the CL-Champions of Liverpool. Mr. Agger has been one of the best players on the Danish champions side during 2005, and is widely expected to be one of the future great players on the national team. This change to Liverpool comes at a good time. It will undoubtfully be a big challenge to play on one of Europe's greatest teams. But hopefully Mr. Agger will perform.

A difficult match

The Brøndby team was on its way to Copenhagen for another encounter between Brøndby and FC Copenhagen. This time, however, the Brøndby players were not overly motivated.
“Do we really have to go? Why don’t we just go down have some beers?”
“We have to do it boys, this is our job, no matter how easy it is”, was the only thing coach Michael Laudrup could say.
Suddenly, in the midst of the gloom, defender Per Nielsen said “Look guys, you have all had a long season. Why don’t you let me alone play against FC Copenhagen, while you can all take the day off?”

The rest of the Brøndby players lit up, and Michael Laudrup was also thankful to his Captain. So while Per Nielsen went play the match all by himself, the rest of Brøndby went to a bar, where they were drinking beer and playing pool, while listening to the game in the radio: “After 10 minutes, Brøndby is ahead 1-0 on a goal by the only player, Per Nielsen!”, the commentator said, and the Brøndby players continued in the bar without worrying.
But towards the end of the game the commentator suddenly exclaimed: “FC Copenhagen has just equalized with only a few seconds remaining of the match!”
The Brøndby players could not believe their ears, and they hurried to the stadium, where they met a very disappointed Per Nielsen.
“Per! What the hell happened!?” Coach Michael Laudrup exclaimed!
A gloomy Per Nielsen said: “I received a red-card fifteen minutes into the second half…”

Happy New Year to Valencia!

Valencia CF has started the year well. Last night, in the Spanish Copa del Rey, they defeated local rivals from Villarreal 0-2 away, on goals by Regueiro and Villa. The victory is so much better, considering that Valencia had not managed to win in Villarreal for three years, and Villarreal is always a difficult team to play against.

I do hope that Valencia, whose team has been improving a lot in the second half of 2005, is heading for a great year. Maybe a victory in the Copa del Rey and participation in the Champions League...?