Monday 11 January 2010

Monday 11 January 2010 – 151 DAYS TO THE WORLD CUP

The competition did indeed get off to a great start last night as Angola almost did themselves proud by taking a 4-0 lead against Mali well into the final moments of the game. However when Mali pulled a goal back in the 79th minute they suddenly got wings and proceeded to claw back the entire game in what otherwise might be considered one of the greatest comebacks in football history. Sure two of the goals came deep into injury time but to bring the game back to 4-4 when it stood at 4-0 with just over ten minutes to go surely lends Mali some kind of sudden credence. That or corruption is written all over this result.

As a result of such an exciting opening match it is somewhat disheartening to discover that only Eurosport appears to be lending much in the way of coverage to the early part of the tournament (I am assured some BBC coverage later on). What happened to matches being on the BBC though? Of late night highlights packages on BBC2? Of live matches on BBC3 and the “Red Button”? Damn terrestrial channels.

Elsewhere this is day two of the tournament and with the games begin proper. Or rather they would do had Togo not pulled out as today they were originally supposed to be kicking off the much fancied Ghana.

The two games taking place today are the second match from Group A featuring England’s World Cup opponents Algeria taking on Malawi and Ivory Coast v Burkina Faso in Group B.

A quick guide to Premier League based players competing in the tournament are:

ARSENAL: Alexandre Song (Arsenal), Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast)
ASTON VILLA: Moustapha Salifou (Togo)
BOLTON: Danny Shittu (Nigeria)
BURNLEY: Andre Bikey (Cameroon)
CHELSEA: Michael Essien (Ghana), Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria)
EVERTON: Joseph Yobo, Yakubu (Nigeria)
FULHAM: Dickson Etuhu (Nigeria)
HULL: Daniel Cousin (Gabon), Olofinjana (Nigeria)
MANCHESTER CITY: Adebayor (Togo), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)
PORTSMOUTH: Nadir Belhadj, Hassan Yebda (Nigeria), Dindane (Ivory Coast)
WIGAN: Richard Kinson (Ghana)

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