February 3, 2006

African Cup Of Nations: Egypt 2006

The 25th African Cup of Nations 2006 has been on in Egypt since January 20, 2006. When one looks at the teams still left in the tournament, which is currently in the quarterfinals stage, one cannot but weep about Africa's anticipated performance in the forthcoming World Cup in Germany later this year.

Of the five African nations that qualified for the World Cup 2006--Tunisia, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Angola--only two are currently left in the tournament. Ghana, Togo and Angola simply could not make it through the first round.

Long time heavyweights like Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt will simply not be in Germany. Overconfidence during the qualification rounds is partly to blame for this. These four countries, together with Tunisia and the Ivory Coast, represent Africa's best hope in Germany.

As for who would win the African Cup of Nations 2006, this writer, like everyone else cannot be certain but looking at the score line, Cameroon appears to have been about the most impressive team.

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Posted by Chippla Vandu, 7:30 PM | links to this post

6 Comments:

I honestly agree with. Cameroun look very good though, Egypt might pose a problem... since they are at home.
Posted by Blogger so-obscure at February 3, 2006 11:10 PM  
I too think Africa's reps at Germany will have a difficult time. Cote d'Ivoire looks far and away the most impressive of the newcomers and normally I'd tip them to make a run, but being in the same group as world powers Netherlands and Argentina makes it very difficult.

Ghana is also in a difficult group with European powers Italy and the Czechs and the Americans (!!!).

It wouldn't shock me if the two weakest teams make an impact because they're groups aren't so strong. Angola are with Mexico, Portugal and Iran. Togo with France, S. Korea and Switzerland. It's certainly not inconceivable that they might make it ou tof their groups.
Posted by Blogger Brian at February 4, 2006 1:35 PM  
I think this sohws the difference between qualifying for tournaments and the actual tournament themselves. In qualifying, you get home field advantage in half the matches. Which gives smaller teams an advantage. Guinea, for example, haven't lost a competitive game at home since 1993 but haven't made it any distance in the CAN since 1976,
Posted by Blogger Brian at February 4, 2006 1:38 PM  
Brian,

Thanks for the info. on Guinea. The Ivory Coast beat Cameroon to reach the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

I consider France and South Korea to be much stronger teams than Togo. I also think that Mexico and Portugal are stronger than Angola.
Posted by Blogger Chippla Vandu at February 4, 2006 11:17 PM  
Chippla,
I think you're making the wrong analogy vis-a-vis my point. The question is are France and South Korea or Portugal and Mexico stronger than Netherlands and Argentina?
Posted by Blogger Brian at February 7, 2006 4:03 PM  
If anybody watched the semi-final between Egypt and Senegal, you may have noticed that Africa has a long way to go before we mature into true sports-lovers.

Egypt dominated the game, but sadly, the Egyptians made a major defensive blunder in the dying minutes of the game, and this was supposed to result in a penalty against Egypt. Yet, the referee so afraid of offending Egypt let the matter slide; the very same referee that granted a penalty against Senegal. Very sad case for African football.

If Egypt wins this cup, it will not be an honorable win. Yet Africans seem not to care about fair-play, because if Egypt was eliminated, the attendance would have been abysmall at the final.
Posted by Anonymous ngenius (online critic) at February 9, 2006 12:01 AM  

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