African Cup of Nations Recap--Third Place Match and Final

Egypt defended their 2006 African Cup of Nations championship successfully today in a 1-0 victory over Cameroon, giving the Pharaohs a record 6th continental title.

It was a rematch of the opening game in Group C, a 4-2 Egyptian victory. Mohamed Zidan scored twice in that game for the winners and his success against Cameroon continued today. The Hamburg striker came on as a substitute, won the ball off Galatasaray and Cameroon defender Rigobert Song in a hard-fought battle at the corner of the 18-yard box, and then played the ball square to Mohamed Aboutreika. Aboutreika was in alone on goal and slotted the ball coolly into the net in the 77th minute for his fourth goal of the tournament; obviously none of which were as important as that one.

Song nearly redeemed himself in an effort to equalize for Cameroon at the very end, but his header from a Geremi cross went over the net. Geremi, the Newcastle midfielder, had a particularly good game for Cameroon in a losing effort; his pinpoint free kicks, crossing, and passing caused a lot of trouble for the Egyptian defenders but in the end, they were able to keep the clean sheet.

Cameroon suffered an early blow as Arsenal starlet Alexandre Song had to be taken off after only a quarter of an hour due to a nagging injury he'd taken into the final. Song's absence freed up space in the midfield and allowed Egypt's five midfielders to have their way in that crucial area of the pitch.

Egypt's only Premiership player, Middlesbrough midfielder Mohamed Shawky, entered as a late substitute after starting multiple games in the tournament previously for the Pharaohs. I would expect to see some players from this Egyptian team receive offers to play overseas as most of them play their club soccer domestically, but they'll need to be financially lucrative because they currently get paid very well at Al-Ahly, Zamalek, and Al-Zamalek, the three teams for which most of these players ply their trade.

Cameroon's lineup included Geremi and Song from the Premiership, as well as star Barcelona striker and leading goalscorer at this tournament, Samuel Eto'o.

I did pick Ivory Coast to win this tournament before it started but when they lost, I will admit (and you can go back to look at my semifinal recap for proof) that I hopped on the Egyptian bandwagon and went with the Pharaohs to beat Cameroon today. For Egypt, this sixth title has to be one of the most special because they defended their 2006 championship and proved most pundits, including me, wrong for tabbing either Ghana or Ivory Coast to win this edition.

In yesterday's Third Place Game, I was happy to see that both Ghana and Ivory Coast came out to play and showed passion instead of just playing out the string. Ghana, the host nation, emerged with a 4-2 victory after scoring three times in the last 20 minutes of the match.

Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari opened the scoring in the 10th minute with an absolute rocket of a free kick. Muntari's sweet left foot was responsible for three goals in this tournament and he set up a couple others as well. This is a player who really stood out to me during the 2006 World Cup, when he played in an integral role in Ghana's run to the Round of 16. I selected him as my "Top Newcomer" to the Premiership in my preseason awards (my predictions for end-of-season superlatives), and his play in the Premiership and African Cup of Nations has supported that pick.

Ivory Coast equalized and then took a 2-1 lead through a pair of first-half goals from Werder Bremen striker Boubacar Sanogo, who was making his first start of the tournament. Sanogo nearly finished off a natural hat trick in the 39th minute, but his left-footed shot came off the crossbar and out after he was played in by Chelsea's Didier Drogba, who had a decent game himself today.

Ghana then took the match by the horns and ended the game by scoring three consecutive goals, one of which came from former MLS star and current Nottingham Forest player Junior Agogo.

This was a match that Ivory Coast could have put to bed in the first half by capitalizing on their chances when they already had a 2-1 lead, but they left the hosts in the game and paid for it in the end.

The Black Stars played the entire tournament without their captain and talismanic central midfielder, Stephen Appiah, who was sitting out with a blood clot in his knee. With Appiah and Muntari in the lineup together, Ghana could have won this tournament but will now be looking to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A third place finish is nothing to be ashamed of and French coach Claude LeRoy will look to build from the momentum established here.

On the other hand, Ivory Coast will be bitterly disappointed with finishing fourth. They were a trendy pick to win this competition and now have to redeem themselves in 2010, which they should be able to do because of their squad's relatively young combined age right now. The players will be in their primes in 2010 and honestly, they'll have to make a statement in South Africa because this is a team that could be on a downward, rebuilding slide after that tournament.

Congratulations to Egypt for winning and to Ghana, both for finishing third and for putting on a successful, entertaining tournament. This is what soccer is all about and hopefully the next African Cup of Nations (Angola-2010) will be widely available on TV here in the US.

African Cup of Nations Semifinals Recap

Alright, so I was 0-2 in predicting the results of today's African Cup of Nations semifinals. I think that's what makes this game so special. I went with both of the "favorites" for all of the logical reasons, and my logic was proven to be skewed. Hey, I can live with that.

The biggest surprise, at least as far I was concerned, was Egypt's 4-1 victory over Ivory Coast. It wasn't the fact that Egypt won that surprised me; after all, Egypt are the defending champions of this tournament. It was the margin of victory that really shocked me.

Striker Amr Zaky bagged the game-winning goal for Egypt for the second straight game; in fact, Zaky scored twice in a span of five minutes in the second half today to propel the Pharaohs.

Egypt went up 1-0 through a goal from former Sheffield United midfielder Ahmed Fathi in the 12th minute. Fathi took a bouncing ball outside the 18 and sent it towards goal, though a significant deflection was what beat the Ivorian goalkeeper.

The match then went scoreless until Zaky's first goal of the game in the 62nd minute to put Egypt up 2-0. Lyon forward Abdul Kader Keïta pulled a goal back for my pretournament picks just a minute later, but Zaky scored again in the 67th minute to throw a wrench in Ivory Coast's comeback hopes.

Mohamed Aboutreika, who has scored a whopping 81 goals in 128 league appearances for Egyptian club side El-Ahly, added an insurance goal in second half injury time to account for the final margin.

The scoreline was a bit misleading; Chelsea striker Didier Drogba had three very good chances denied by Egypt's goalkeeper, Essam Al Hadari, when it was still 1-0.

Six Premiership players were in Ivory Coast's starting lineup but surprisingly, Middlesbrough's Mohamed Shawky didn't play for Egypt today although he'd started in their previous games and is a fixture at the holding midfield position for his country.

In today's other semifinal, Cameroon beat hosts Ghana 1-0 behind a 72nd minute goal from former Colorado Rapids midfielder and Alain Nkong. Nkong came on as a substitute 10 minutes prior to his goal, and his appearance was only the second in his international career.

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o continued his prolific tournament with the assist on Nkong's game-winner. A superb through ball sent Nkong in on goal and his opened-foot finish allowed the team and German coach Otto Pfister to book a place in the final, where they'll meet Egypt.

Pfister has managed across Africa in both a club and international capacity since 1972 and has never won an African Cup of Nations. He's been in charge of a U-17 World Cup winner (Ghana-1992) and a U-19 African Cup of Nations winner (Ivory Coast-1983), but has never won Africa's continental championship.

It was a pretty even game and both countries had their chances. I was surprised that Cameroon's defense was able to shut down Ghana but to be fair, the latter were forced to play with Michael Essien in the back to replace the suspended captain, John Mensah, and were without Asamoah Gyan and Laryea Kingston altogether due to injury.

The final is now set. Egypt will meet Cameroon in Accra on Sunday. Prior to that, we'll see the Third Place game between Ivory Coast and Ghana. Because of that third place game, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba, and Michael Essien will all miss the huge match between Chelsea and Liverpool and that should offset the absence of star striker Fernando Torres for Liverpool.

I'll go with the defending champions to beat Cameroon and repeat. They've defied my expectations so far so I might as well ride the form team, although Cameroon are playing well right now also. Of course, Egypt did thump Cameroon 4-2 during the group stage but if anything, I think that result plays in the latter’s favor as they’ll want revenge and Egypt may come out a bit cocky.

These third place games are always crapshoots. Teams either come out with no energy and spirit because they're not in the final, or they come out to play with no pressure on their shoulders and relatively little on the line. The better team is Ivory Coast, particularly if Ghana's injury problems don't get better over the next couple of days.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Quarterfinals (Day 1)

The quarterfinal round of the 2008 African Cup of Nations opened in style today as Ghana snatched a 2-1 victory over their fierce West African rivals, Nigeria, through an 83rd minute goal from former MLS star Junior Agogo. Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari threaded a low, left-footed shot/cross across the six-yard box to leave the easiest of tap-ins for Agogo, whose second goal of the tournament proved to be the winner for the host nation.

Ghana had been playing with 10 men since the 60th minute, when captain John Mensah was sent off for a professional foul on Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie, who had broken in nearly alone on goal. There was very little contact but as Mensah was the last man back and prevented a clear goal-scoring opportunity, the match referee had little choice but to show the red card.

Nigeria went ahead 1-0 on a PK from Everton striker Yakubu, but a powerful header from versatile Chelsea stalwart Michael Essien levelled the match nearly right on halftime. The Super Eagles almost equalized in the game's dying minutes; they puffed and puffed but in the end, they couldn't blow the Ghana house down.

There were Premiership players galore in this game as four started the match for Ghana (Essien, Muntari, Paintsil, and Kingson), and four started for Nigeria as well (Yobo, Etuhu, Obi Mikel, and Yakubu).

Ghana will now play the winner of tomorrow's Tunisia-Cameroon match on Thursday in the semifinals, while Nigeria exit the African Cup of Nations before the semifinal round for the first time in five tournaments.

In today's second match, Ivory Coast cruised to a 5-0 victory over Guinea, who were playing without their captain and best player in Pascal Feindouno. My pre-tournament pick to win it all made things look easy as two Chelsea players, Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba, combined for three goals in the victory. Les Éléphants scored four times in the last 20 minutes of the game to put the match well and truly away, but this was no contest from the opening kickoff.

Five Premiership players (Kalou, Drogba, Meite, Zokora, and Eboue) featured for the winners today, who move on to face the winner of tomorrow's match between Egypt and Angola.

I got both of my predictions for today's games correct and so I'm feeling it, I'm feeling lucky. I'll go with the high-flying Cameroon side, led by Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, to win against Tunisia. In the only real surprise pick of the round, I'm also going to go with Angola to knock off the defending champions, Egypt.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Day 9

Chelsea stalwart Michael Essien scored once and set up Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari for Ghana's second goal and that was all The Black Stars needed to see off Morocco yesterday and win Group A, likely avoiding Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals by doing so. The 2-0 scoreline was even a bit misleading as Ghana really dominated this game, but Morocco were very unfortunate to have an own goal by Ghana and West Ham defender John Paintsil disallowed as the whistle had already been blown for a foul even though replays showed there was none.

As the host nation, Ghana had been expected to make a deep run in this tournament and have lived up to that so far, winning all three of their group matches. On the other hand, Morocco will be disappointed with how things turned out. The Lions of the Atlas were predicted by most people to go through as the group runner-up, but a surprise loss to Guinea did them in.

Speaking of Guinea, they picked up a point against minnows Namibia with a 1-1 draw and coupled with Morocco's loss, that result was enough to see them through to the last eight. The National Elephants were playing without their best player and captain, Pascal Feindouno, who was serving the first game of a two-match ban for a stupid red card he received in his country's win over Morocco. Souleymane Youla scored in the 62nd minute but Namibia spoiled a victory and earned their first point of the tournament in the process with an 81st minute goal from Brian Brendell.

Guinea will likely play the Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals and without Feindouno, I don't think they have any chance to win that game. Regardless, advancing to that stage of the tournament would be significant as it would be the third straight African Cup of Nations in which they did so. Before that, the last time they progressed to the quarterfinals and behind was 1976, so it shows the upward trend of soccer in Guinea.

Final Group A Standings: (Teams in bold advance)

1. Ghana (9 points, +4 goal differential)
2. Guinea (4 pts, 0 GD)
3. Morocco (3 pts, +1 GD)
4. Namibia (1 pt, -5 GD)

Group B wraps up today with things looking fairly stable. Ivory Coast will battle Mali and although the former have already qualified for the quarterfinals, they still need a draw or victory to win the group while Mali only need a point to advance but would need to win the game to win the group. Look for Nigeria to put a hammering on Benin today as the Super Eagles need a win and an Ivory Coast victory to avoid the embarrassment of exiting the tournament early.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Day 5

Ghana put themselves in a very strong position to win Group A and qualify for the quarterfinals of the 2008 African Cup of Nations with their 1-0 win over Namibia yesterday. The Black Stars aren't exactly winning with style right now, but they're getting the job done and former MLS star Junior Agogo's 41st minute tally from close range was all they needed to pick up the three points. Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari's spectacular bicycle kick early in the game sailed straight into the hands of Namibia goalkeeper Attiel Mbaha. Ghana now need just a draw against Morocco in their last group stage game to seal a berth in the knockout stages, but could still move on with a loss depending on the result of the Guinea-Namibia match and Ghana's goal differential.

Yesterday's other game was a better one for the viewers as Guinea pulled off a 3-2 upset over Morocco. AS Saint-Etienne attacking midfielder and Guinea star Pascal Feindouno bagged a brace but was sent off as well in the 67th minute. Feindouno put Guinea ahead on a free kick after just 11 minutes, and then three goals in eight minutes (the first by Guinea, the second by a sensational strike from Morocco's Hicham Aboucherouane, the third a PK from Feindouno) busted the game wide open. Morocco pulled a goal back in the 90th minute, but by then it was too late to really impact the game.

Morocco really had their fate in their own hands and could've basically sealed the qualification deal if they would've won yesterday, which by all rights they were supposed to do. Instead, they'll face the daunting task of needing a result against Ghana in the last group game and it will likely have to be a victory because Guinea play the lightweights of the the group, Namibia. Morocco and Guinea are tied on points with 3 but Morocco's superior goal differential (+3; Guinea's is 0) could prove significant if both teams win their last game.

Group A Standings (after two games):

1. Ghana (6 points, +2 goal differential)
2. Morocco (3 pts, +3 GD)
3. Guinea (3 pts, 0 GD)
4. Namibia (0 pts, -5 GD)

Group B is in action today and wins by Ivory Coast and Mali would seal both nations' places in the last eight of the tournament. Ivory Coast play Benin and with no disrespect to Les Écureuils (The Squirrels), this game should simply be a matter of how much Ivory Coast will win by. Mali, on the other hand, have their hands full with Nigeria and to be honest, the only team that seems likely to win this game is Nigeria. A draw for Mali wouldn't be the worst result in the world but Nigeria could really use the three points after their opening loss to Ivory Coast.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Day 1

As I said before in my previous post about the 2008 African Cup of Nations, I'm very disappointed that I'm not going to be able to watch the games on TV. I’m going to try and do my best to keep with this tournament as best I can, but that’s not nearly the same as actually watching games live. The African Cup of Nations is the second biggest continental championship in the world in my opinion, and it's an absolute outrage that it's not available here in the States for free on TV.

That said, the tournament started in rousing fashion yesterday. Ghana, the host nation, defeated Guinea 2-1 on a last-minute rocket from Portsmouth midfielder Sulley Muntari, who I picked to be the top newcomer to the Premier League before the season started. The Black Stars feature a roster that includes four players who play their domestic soccer in the Premiership and to be honest, were fortunate to beat Guinea yesterday.

What I'm planning on doing is coming out with a recap of the games every day and highlight the contributions of the Premiership players on each team. Guinea doesn't have anyone on their roster who plays in England, much less the Premiership, and Ghana's lineup yesterday also featured Chelsea stalwart Michael Essien and Birmingham goalie Richard Kingson.

There's a pretty good slate of games on tap today, particularly the Nigeria-Ivory Coast affair that's ongoing as I type this. I picked Ivory Coast to win the whole thing, so hopefully they start out group play on a good note.