African Cup of Nations

Re. Angola vs. Mali: great end to the game, glad it coincided with halftime of the Barça game, so I watched almost the whole comeback
The Angolan players just lost it completely in the end - they lost their shape completely and were just running around like headless chickens.

btw, why the f@ck did Keita not start for Mali


And Puro's right, this is more borderline racism - why is it that this kind of result in the African Cup of Nations raises suspicions of match-fixing, whereas in a top European league it would be called an "example of why this league is the best in the world" ?

Great line in the Guardian's minute-by-minute:

PEEP!I have no idea what happened there. Both sets of players drop to the floor for different reasons. Angola were 4-0 up with 16 minutes to go. I'd like to say it was excellent play from Mali to come back but Angola tired very, very badly: Mali were terrible for most of the game. Angola need Graham Onions in defence.

kas wrote:Re. Angola vs. Mali: great end to the game, glad it coincided with halftime of the Barça game, so I watched almost the whole comeback
The Angolan players just lost it completely in the end - they lost their shape completely and were just running around like headless chickens.

btw, why the f@ck did Keita not start for Mali


And Puro's right, this is more borderline racism - why is it that this kind of result in the African Cup of Nations raises suspicions of match-fixing, whereas in a top European league it would be called an "example of why this league is the best in the world" ?

Well..cant think of many games that go 4-0 to 4-4 in 16 minutes so that could be a reason..

But saying that..wasnt there a Euro game in recent years that ended in a weird result and immediately there were claims of match fixing? Something like Sweden vs Denmark?

If anything, such a drastic comeback would make me less suspicious that it could be match-fixing - surely the people involved wouldn't make it that obvious?

A 2-2 with a couple of late goals...ok, could be genuine or could be fixed. Or if they wanted a draw all along, there's less dramatic and attention-grabbing ways to do it.

http://forum.fm-view.com/topic/10912-i-admit-it/

the internet has a new celebrity

kas wrote:If anything, such a drastic comeback would make me less suspicious that it could be match-fixing - surely the people involved wouldn't make it that obvious?

Gotta love this - the more obvious it is that the game has been fixed, the less likely you think it is that the game was fixed.

Iraq Hysén Osama wrote:http://forum.fm-view.com/topic/10912-i-admit-it/

the internet has a new celebrity

I got to page 3 of the thread before the forum crashed...some of the responses on there are

Faked as there's no comma in between the thousands. The majority of big players who backed that would have been able to get out with a small loss even after the third goal went in as Angola would still be 1.1 at worst.

borocooper wrote:

kas wrote:Re. Angola vs. Mali: great end to the game, glad it coincided with halftime of the Barça game, so I watched almost the whole comeback
The Angolan players just lost it completely in the end - they lost their shape completely and were just running around like headless chickens.

btw, why the f@ck did Keita not start for Mali


And Puro's right, this is more borderline racism - why is it that this kind of result in the African Cup of Nations raises suspicions of match-fixing, whereas in a top European league it would be called an "example of why this league is the best in the world" ?

Well..cant think of many games that go 4-0 to 4-4 in 16 minutes so that could be a reason..

But saying that..wasnt there a Euro game in recent years that ended in a weird result and immediately there were claims of match fixing? Something like Sweden vs Denmark?

Well what happened was that Denmark, Sweden were ahead of Italy but italy just had to beat Bulgaria in the last match(which they did in the end) but the only result that would make sure that Denmark and Sweden would go through would be a draw that was minimum 2-2 and that is exactly the result they got. Italy were paranoid about it and tried to frame the danish coach before the match with all kind of stuff. It was the first time though that somebody ended up with 5 points and still didn't go through the group stage at the Euros.

apparently after pulling out of the tournament, Togo have said they now want to take part, but the organisers wont let them



Burning Jls Continent

Malawi beating Algeria 2-0

2-0 Kafoteka!
Malawi is beating Algeria and we are already seeing the first big surprise in the cup(Mali is a good team so not surprising that they get a draw). Algeria has approached this game wrong and are dogmatically following their concept of not putting pressure on the opposite team but instead going for containing them but that doesn't make much sense because Malawi has no problem just passing it around at the back because they have no qualms about taking the pace out of the game.

But Algeria are supposed to beat England at the world cup, cos they have a better midfield, that's what Puro told me. Or are Malawi better aswell?

They are better

3-0 Banda!
Algeria are getting spanked.

What a disaster that Algerian defense became, just terrible. I really want someone other than Egypt to win it this season, and I think its quite possible. The Egyptians and Algerians to some degree don't consider themselves African anyway, so hopefully someone else can win. Well done Malawi, gorgeous second goal!

Malawi 3-0 Algeria FT
A great performance and result for Malawi as the commentator, who was also the former coach of Malawi, said there will likely be a smal party in Malawi because nobody predicted this one. Especially after Algeria qualified for the World Cup. Already 11 goals in 2 games so a goal average of 5.5

Will be interesting with the expected results so far to see what Burkina Faso can do against Ivory Coast. For those interested the match begins in 10 mins.

For now Ivory Coast is struggling to beat Burkina Faso, despite them defending very very deep and losing possession in dangerous areas time after time. Ivory Coast is really missing a quality playmaker in final 3rd , which is probably a common issue for more african teams, except maybe for Cameroon if Pierre's Tchoiy will end up even half as good as he is telling us.

Tchoiy and Emana, cameroon is the only African team with even half decent playmakers.

just took a look at ivory coast XI and thought to myself i can't believe this is what everyone is going on about, and their bench is crap as well.

Messiah wrote:Tchoiy and Emana, cameroon is the only African team with even half decent playmakers.

just took a look at ivory coast XI and thought to myself i can't believe this is what everyone is going on about, and their bench is crap as well.

1. Emana is not a playmaker.
2. You should listen to polish announcers constantly talking about great Ivory Coast line-up and their bench being almost as good as first XI

Messiah wrote:Tchoiy and Emana, cameroon is the only African team with even half decent playmakers.

Messiah wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Messiah wrote:i'm trying to figure out cameroon's best XI as i think they are going to do good things at the ACN and will be the surprise team at the WC.

This is what i came up with, does think resemble the Starting XI

Kameni

Geremi - Song - Nkoulo/Bikey - Ekotto

--------Makoun - Song - Mbia

--------------Emana

-----------Eto'o - Webo

I think thats a more balanced team than any thing in Africa

If you're doing a best Cameroon XI and it doesn't feature Tchoyi - its wrong.

never seen him play,
his he any goo?
What position does he play?

Messiah wrote: i'm sure as per usual you are talking shit about something you are not properly informed.

Can be Cameroon's playmaker.

I think discussion is about playmaker/AM for final 3rd, as good as Song is, I don't think he should play there...

Having traditional playmakers is not a must though.

They can play Song in a box to box playmaking role + another midfielder(s) with decent vision just off Eto'o.

Makoun and Song are more than decent enough passers to tear a team apart from deep.

Its funny, when I was in Africa in '04 most of the kids were very technical and played an AM style. I guess when the Western coaches get a hold of them and they see their physical attributes they're immediately pushed down the field or told to play as a TM.

The Professor wrote:Having traditional playmakers is not a must though.

They can play Song in a box to box playmaking role + another midfielder(s) with decent vision just off Eto'o.

Problem is there is no midfielders with a decent vision in Africa who can play off Drogba or Eto'o. There are quality wingers, even better DM/CM (destroyers or with decent passing or both), but nobody like Jay Jay Okocha for example.
And if it would be simple, you wouldn't scream for Arshavin last season, seeing how Arsenal was struggling against team parking the bus. Instead Wenger could use Song and his passing ability, right?

Black Magic wrote:Makoun and Song are more than decent enough passers to tear a team apart from deep.

Its funny, when I was in Africa in '04 most of the kids were very technical and played an AM style. I guess when the Western coaches get a hold of them and they see their physical attributes they're immediately pushed down the field or told to play as a TM.

That is what happened with Mikel who looked like the new Viera 3 years back after WC-20 and ACN 2006 but he has only degressed since imo. I think we would have been much more succesful by now under Fergie.

Kone .
Great work by Gervinho though.

Backery Kone with a big chance after great play by Gervinho. First time I really see Gervinho and he looks very talented and it is a shame that he is emerging now first because Drogba could have used a creative partner like him at the last World Cup.

So far Burkina Faso have held Ivory Coast to a 0-0 draw and have threatned on the counter a couple of times. Another big result if they can maintain in the last 20 mins.

Backery Kone off for Keita. They should have started with Keita and used Backery in midfield ahead of Yaya-Zokora.

Lets not forget who was the first on that Song wagon and hyping him up to the annoyance of other board members 2 years ago:

Black Magic wrote:The stadium would be full, Cameroon would have a clean sheet and 5 goals on the board if Alex Song had started - True story.

Black Magic wrote:

Oleguerisntthatbad wrote:I don't know much about Camerounean football but where did their midfield go??

Its on the bench, bring Alex on!

Black Magic wrote:Cameroon can still win this, as long as they put Alex Song. If they put him on too late and Egypt score more, even he won't be able to perform miracles.

Black Magic wrote:
Eto'o! Song beat his man and put in a brilliant through ball into Geremi!

Black Magic wrote:Song is owning the Midfield! Him and Eto'o are connecting like they've played together for years.

Black Magic wrote:Song just misses the header, what a commanding presence in the air. Player of the tournament for sure.

robert wrote:Dude, time to call in the tab for the Alex hype.

EM La Liga wrote:

robert wrote:Dude, time to call in the tab for the Alex hype.

Song.