Sunday 10 January 2010

Sunday 10 January 2009 – 152 DAYS TO THE WORLD CUP

Today begins the 27th African Cup Of Nations this year hosted from Angola. Firstly it has to be said what kind of Yoda grammar makes the African Nations Cup the African Cup Of Nations? What are they on about?

Even though World Cup hosts South Africa are not involved in the tournament and reigning African champions Egypt have not qualified for the World Cup this tournament does still include five nations that will be participating in the show come June.

Sadly the competition has already started off on a bad foot become a ball has even been kicked with the attack on the Togo team bus that resulted in three members of their party being killed and the nation’s ultimate decision to pull out of the tournament.

Despite the incident the tournament is carrying on.

The groups for Angola 2010 are as follows:

GROUP A
Angola
Mali
Malawi
ALGERIA

GROUP B
IVORY COAST
Burkina Faso
GHANA
Togo (until they withdrew from the competition)

GROUP C
Egypt
NIGERIA
Mozambique
Benin

GROUP D
CAMEROON
Gabon
Zambia
Tunisia

At the risk of sounding patronising there has always been something more exciting about African teams due to their occasional naivety and generally more cavalier approach to playing. Until recently traditionally you could rely on African teams being tactically green as they would display a feisty appetite for playing in the most direct manner, often resulting in gapping vulnerability in their play. This combination however often could/would tend to result in more open and entertaining matches with many memorable moments. In recent years however something of a star attitude has entered into their game and with it a grander football knowledge gained from playing on large scales and with it a more capable talent for coping with the traditional giants of football.

It should be an exciting tournament.

Today the competition kicks off with Angola playing Mali in the opening match.

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