Very disappointing Ghana

 The African Cup of Nations is always a great tournament and it is great to be able to watch some of the matches here from El Salvador. Ghana has always been my favorite African team, so I was excited to be able to watch the Black Stars against Gabon. Ghana should be considered one of the outsiders for the title, but lost their first match 0-1 to Morocco, and were thus forced to pull a result against Gabon; preferably a win before their last match against the Comoros (whom Gabon defeated 2-0).

Gabon started the best, but the experienced Ghanaians slowly worked their way into the match and I  one of their few attacks Andrew Ayew scored after getting well away from the defender into a good shooting position. But after this Ghana were a disappointment. In the most outdated and boring catenaccio style the Ghanaians stood back to defend their narrow lead against a Gabonese side that had to be commended for playing their chance. Gabon’s reward and Ghana’s well-deserved punishment came in the 88th minute when Jim Allevinah, Claremont striker, equalized for Gabon. 

It was only then that Ghana again attacked, and they even produced a good chance following a corner, but frankly they deserved to be where they were for having played on the 0-1, instead of attacking more. After the match a huge brawl ensued as the Ghanaian players, sore losers, seemed angry at everyone, and amid the row one player was given a red card. 

Ghana did sadly not win friends on this day, and in their final match against Comoros they must show that they can attack, while hoping that Morocco (who has almost qualified with two wins), defeats a hard-working Gabon.

The first ones out

Living in Liberia it has not been easy to watch the Africa Cup of Nations. With matches at 4 PM I have been mostly at work, and quite a few places have preferred to show English Premier League. Very disappointing for the football culture in Liberia, a country that is light years from even qualifying to an African Cup of Nations.
On Friday afternoon I managed to watch my first match when I left the office early to watch Ghana versus Algeria while seeing the sun setting over the ocean at a bar/restaurant called Anglers. I was the only customer there when I rose to cheer Asamoah Gyan's late goal, that gave Ghana such an important victory. The final match against South Africa on Tuesday will be a drama!
Today the final round of matches of group A took place, and last tournament's finalists, Burkina Faso, needed to defeat Congo to continue in the tournament. But it was the Congolese who won 2-1 and are in the quarterfinals, quite surprising, by winning the group. In the other match, the home team of Equatorial Guinea came out celebrating after a 2-0 victory over Gabon, another side that more was expected from. The Guineans will be full of hope now in the quarterfinals of a tournament that they had originally been expelled from.
But a pity for Burkina Faso and Gabon; look forward to seeing them in the next tournament.

Ebola football panic

I have returned to dear Liberia after two months where I had to leave because of the panic that has hit everywhere. This has also touched football, showing that irrational and idiotic fear based on prejudice and ignorance are as much a part of football as in the rest of society.
The first example that has really baffled me is Morocco's refusal to host the African Cup of Nations in January, amid fears of the spread of the virus. Of the three countries with the contagion, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, only Guinea has a chance, albeit very small, of qualifying. But as with Europe and US, the fear of Ebola seems to be rooted in a general fear of Sub-Saharan Africa, not to say racism, as described in a recent article I read. Despite WHO saying that they saw little risk (notwithstanding that the three countries will not qualify, I do not think Ebola patients were considering traveling to watch football), Morocco went ahead to cancel it. Fortunately, CAF has reacted by throwing them out, as the tournament has been moved to Equatorial Guinea.
I hope Morocco faces a long suspension.
Another example is Borussia Dortmund not letting their Gabonese player, Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, not play for his national team in today's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Angola, which ended 0-0, and keeps Gabon with good chances of qualifying for Equatorial Guinea.
Now, Gabon has not Ebola, and does not border any of the affected countries. Angola has not cases and does not border any of the affected countries. Even in the unlikely case that someone had Ebola, would they be playing football...?
Borussia Dortmund may be ignorant. However, I think that Ebola is just major clubs latest excuse for not releasing their African players. Expect more of the same.
This is beyond football. It is ignorance. It is racism by other means, and if football is going to fight racism, it should also attack decisions based on ignorance.

Gabon out, Ghana in

Mali made it to the semifinal of the Africa Cup of Nations after defeating the co-hosts Gabon on penalty kicks. Gabon played a good match with massive home support that included Gabon's long-time president Omar Bongo. It was an intense match where Gabon took the lead early in the second half by Eric Mouloungui. But with only seven minutes left Bordeaux striker Cheick Diabate equalized for Mali, and the match went into extra time, and eventually, penalties. In particular Mali's players were extraordinarily cool, and made it look very easy on every one of their shots. For the disappointed Gabonese, their only miss was by their young star, St. Etienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Surely a disappointment for the youngster, whom I am nevertheless sure we will hear more about. But you should have seen Mr. Bongo's face when Aubameyang missed the penalty.... The other quarterfinal today was between Ghana and Mali, which turned out a not too pretty match with some very dirty play by the Tunisians towards the end. Ghana took an early lead by captain John Mensah, but Tunisia equalized before halftime by Saber Khelifa. The match also had to go into extra time, and it undoubtedly looked like another round of penalty kicks until the Tunisian goalkeeper, Aymen Mathlouthi, made a huge mistake, when he could not hold a rather easy ball which instead fell to Andre Ayew, who could easily score Ghana's winner. Both semifinals on next Wednesday will be very exciting matches:

• Ghana-Zambia
• Cote d'Ivoire-Mali

And I support GHANA!

Africa Cup of Nations 2012

Over the last years the African Cup of Nations has grown in importance and is surely one of the best international tournaments in the world today, assembling some of the strongest African talent. As often, the tournament is surrounded by political controversy, and no less this year, being hosted by two nations, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

But far beyond this, the most interesting part is the football. The defending champions, Egypt, were unable to qualify, and so were the (former?) giants of Nigeria, who still seem to be unable to take advantage of their huge pool of talent, South Africa, who did not qualify in the most ridiculous way, and Cameroon, who were eliminated by Senegal.

On the other hand, some rather previously unknown nations have come forward: Equatorial Guinea, Niger and Botswana are all participating for the first time, while Burkina Faso, Libya and Sudan are all eager to show their footballing passion at the highest level. Zambia, a nations with enormous footballing talent, but who suffered by losing their entire football team in a fight accident, is back with a strong talented side, while Tunisia and Senegal will want to return to their previous times of glory. Mali also has a very interesting side that is worth watching.

Although the tournament has many interesting and powerful sides, the favourites are surely the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Both teams have a strong base of experienced European-based players, and both have experience of international tournaments at the highest level.

My support and heart is with the Black Stars! And I hope to be able to watch some African football from here in South America!

World Cup play-off matches

The last entries for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be decided this week, and there are some very interesting encounters.
In Europe, FIFA changed the rules on seeding teams shortly before the play-off draw, giving the "big" teams a better chance at qualifying. The power of money and politics, but hopefully the underdogs can manage some upset in some of the following European play-off matches:

• Portugal-Bosnia Herzegovina
• France-Ireland
• Greece-Ukraine
• Russia-Slovenia

In Wellington, New Zealand will be taking on Bahrain in the second leg of the Asia-Oceania play-off match. The first leg ended 0-0 and the Kiwis are now looking towards their second World Cup participation, their first being in 1982.

In San José, Costa Rica will be playing the two-times world champions of Uruguay in the first leg of the CONCACAF-South America play-off match. The South Americans are probably looking for a good result before receiving the Costa Ricans in Montevideo. However, Uruguay has been known to underestimate visiting teams before, something that missed them their qualification in 2006.

Finally, the last African teams will be decided: In the CAF group A, Cameroon and Gabon will fight for the first spot in their away matches against Morocco and Togo respectively. Cameroon is currently leading the group by one point.
Tunisia is leading CAF group 2 by two points ahead of Nigeria. The Nigerians will be playing Kenya away, and must win, but a the same time must hope that Tunisia does not defeat Mozambique in Maputo.
Perhaps the most thrilling encounter of all will take place in Cairo, where the two North African giants Egypt and Algeria will be clashing in CAF group C. The first match in Algiers ended 3-1 for Algeria, so Egypt needs to win by more than two goals to qualify for the World Cup. In case of a victory by two, the teams will be completely equal on the table, and a play-off match will take place then. But be sure that the Algerians will fight for the first spot in the intimidating atmosphere of Cairo! This match is PG-13!