CAN 2010: Review

The curtains have fallen on the latest installment of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. It was a tournament where sadly the attack on the Togo national team that left 2 dead has overshadowed the football. Frankly the caliber of football on display throughout CAN 2010 left a lot to be desired. However one team did fit the bill, Egypt. The Pharaohs constantly entertained throughout their successful title defending campaign. Egypt managed to finish off with a host of records and achievements.

a) It was a 3rd successive win for Egypt, a feat that was never achieved in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations.

b) This was a 7th Cup win for the Pharaohs, three clear of their nearest rivals Cameroon and Ghana

c) Egypt have stretch their undefeated record in the competition to 19 games spanning from 2004 ( a 0-0 draw with Cameroon in Tunisia) till the 1-0 defeat of Ghana in Angola 2010

d) Egypt have the joint record (with Ghana) of participating in the Final game of the competition. Both Nations have played 8 finals.

e) Egypt hold the record for most Africa Cup of Nations appearances.

f) Egypt have scored more goals in the CAN than any other nations

g) Egypt have scored the most goals in Angola 2010, 15 goals. Tying their previous record in Ghana 2008

Individually Egypt had a lot to show for as well:

a) Best Player of the Tournament was awarded to Egypt Captain Ahmed Hassan

b) Goal Keeper of the Tournament was awarded to Egypt Shot Stopper Essam Al Hadary

c) Top Scorer of Angola 2010 was Mohamed Naggy "Geddo" with 5 goals to his name.

d) Hassan Shehata became the first ever coach to win 3 successive Cup of Nations.

e) Geddo became the first ever tournament top scorer to win the award off the bench, failing to start a single game in the competition.

f) Ahmed Hassan became the most capped player in Egypt's history surpassing the legendary Hossam Hassan with 172 Caps.

g) Ahmed Hassan became the most capped player in the history of the African Continent with 172 Caps.

The previous list of achievements are facts. To keep things a bit more interesting I decided to make my own awards depending solely on my opinion

Best Goal:

Winner:Abdel Kader Kieta, Cote D'Ivoire vs Algeria.

Coming across the pitch from the right hand side dribbling past players he unleashed a screamer in the top corner worthy of winning any match, it didn't though.

Runner Up:Mohamed Zidan, Egypt vs Algeria.

The striker dribbled to the edge of the penalty area and proceeded to twist and turn Algeria's Belhadj several times showing incredible skill and ball control and then unleashed a left footed strike into the top corner, magical.

Best Team: Egypt, Isn't it obvious?

Black Horse: Zambia, The Copper Bullets looked dead and buried after an agonizing defeat to Cameroon. They came back to beat Gabon and top their group only to lose to Nigeria on penalties in the Quarter Final. Well done.

Best Surprise: Ghana, Missing star players like Muntari, Appiah, Panstil, Mensah and with Essien just recovering from injury their coach was forced to field a lot of youngsters, it did not look good for the black stars. A destructive defeat in their first game against Cote D'Ivoire added to their woes and no on gave them a chance. They reached the final and lost a very close game to Egypt.

Surprise Result: Malawi 3 Algeria 0, No one in world football expected this result. Malawi were virtual new comers on the African scene and Algeria were world cup qualifiers. Malawi dominated and was aided with some goal keeping howlers and deserved their win. Sadly they could not capitalize on the win and crashed out from the first round. Algeria picked themselves up and reached the Semi Final.

Most Thrilling Match: Angola 4 Mali 4, The hosts came on strong with goals from Flavio, Gilberto and Manucho and took a commanding 4-0 lead with 15minutes to go. The Angolans were celebrating until Mali constructed one of the most miraculous of footballing comebacks scoring 4 goals in succession. The last two of which came in injury time. No one could believe their eyes!

Most Enjoyable Match: Egypt 4 Algeria 0, This game was very enjoyable to me. The African Champions proceeded to dismantle the Algerian team with calm, cool and lethal display of football. Revenge was sweet.

Best Player: Ahmed Hassan (Egypt), The Egyptian skipper lead his team to a third successive Cup win and a personal fourth. His energetic and experienced displays were a joy to behold. He was critical to Egypt's campaign in both attack and defense. You would never guess that he was turning 35 years old.

Break Out Star: Mohamed Geddo (Egypt), The striker was a virtual unknown quantity to Egyptians and Africans alike. Shehata gambled on him by including him ahead of the likes of Mido and Zaki and he repaid him in spades. Having a soft touch and a clinical eye for goal, Geddo proceeded to score some breath taking goals, coming off the bench in every single game. His master piece was a peach in the final to win Egypt the tournament. He finished off as top scorer and this will always be remembered as the tournament of Geddo.

Best Keeper:

Winner: Essam Al Hadary (Egypt)

Runner Up: Richard Kingson (Ghana)

In a competition which was shaped by goal keeping mistakes these two keepers are the only ones in the tournament that looked at ease between the posts. Both of them were not fantastic but their consistent displays helped their teams to the Final.

Best Coach:

Winner: Hassan Shehata (Egypt),The veteran achieved the unthinkable with the Pharaohs, winning a third successive Cup of Nations. He was criticized severely after failing to reach the World Cup but has gone along way in redeeming himself. Thought to be the greatest ever African and Egyptian Coach.

Runner Up: Milovan Rajevac (Ghana), With a depleted side and forced to start many youngsters from the world champion under 20 side he managed to forge a formidable team. The players were very disciplined and extremely fit and physical. The injured veterans will have a hard time breaking into the squad. Watch out for Ghana in the World Cup.

Honorable Mention: Arnaud Sika (Benin), He is an excellent player and was Benin's best performer. He is also possibly the smallest ever professional footballer at 155cm (5ft 1in).

Worst Player: Rigobert Song (Cameroon), He had previously not missed a single minute in the Cup Of Nations for his country. An appalling display against Zambia, where he was responsible for the 2 goals Cameroon conceded forced his coach to bench him for the rest of the tournament. He looked lazy and unfit. He was a great player and should respect his history and retire after the world cup.

Worst Coach: Fawzy El Benzarty (Tunisia), Having inherited a demoralized team after failing to qualify to the world cup, El Benzarty can be excused for not reaching the next round. However in my opinion the failure to qualify was his fault. He seemed clueless and unaware of what is going on in both the match and the post match interviews. Tunisia deserve better.

We are the Champions!

Egypt have done the unthinkable. We have won the Africa Cup of Nations for an unimaginable record third successive time. Congratulations are in order for Shehata and his men. They have proved once again that it is very unwise to count Egypt out.

The final game was a classic match up between the experience of Egypt and the youth of Ghana. Both teams were playings their record 8th final. The game itself couldn't be further from a classic. To put it in a nut shell it was by all means forgettable. Non the less most finals are tightly contested affairs as the stakes are so much higher in these types of games.

Egypt surprisingly started out with a 4-4-2 formation with Ghaly in midfield instead of the suspended Fathalla. Fathi provided additional cover for the defense, dropping deep when ever it was required. Hani Said moved up into central defense. Other wise it was the exact same team that has started the knock-out stages. Egypt controlled possession in the first half but failed to create any chances. It was ever so evident that Meteb was playing with and injury in addition to fatigue. His ever deadly direct runs all fell short of reaching the ball in any dangerous position. Egypt had no movement about them and it seemed that the effort of playing top teams like Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria in very close proximity was taking it's toll. Frankly who would not feel tired, yet the Egyptian team was still very disciplined. They were playing a Ghana team who was not just younger but had played 120minutes less than Egypt (1 less group game and no extra time).

Ghana set up to restrict space playing 10 men behind the ball with Gyan upfront supported by Asamoah and another on the break. They looked dangerous on the counter without really threatening in the first half. Defensively they were very solid and Egypt could not find any space. They forced the Egyptian to lose the ball more often than not.

In the second half fatigue was showing even more but credit to the Egyptian players they kept composed and disciplined. Wael Gomaa was a solid rock marking Gyan who was a handful and restricted him to long range shots which were less dangerous than the alternative. Hani Said was everywhere with his covering runs to close up spaces left by Gomaa's tight marking of Gyan. Ghana growing in stature after the poor Egyptian first half came on the offensive and forced Egypt back to their own half. They missed some good chances and left some space at the back which was ultimately their undoing.

With the game heading for extra-time (or a late Ghana winner) substitute Geddo took the ball and ran at the Ghanaian defense. The next 5 seconds were magical. Passing the ball to Zidan who executed an inch perfect one-two with Geddo, who had run close to 25yards now, behind the Ghana defenders. Make no mistake Geddo had still a lot to do. "El Phenomino" of Angola 2010 and the tournament top scorer criminally controlled the ball between 3 defenders while running and critically finished off with a placed shot with his right foot in the far side netting. Game Over! Geddo had done it again and won the game and the tournament for Egypt. I will be looking forward to seeing Geddo more and more in the Egyptian league and against England at Wembley in March. The boy has a fantastic touch and an ice cold finish.

Like all great teams Egypt needed just once chance to win the game. Like all great teams they did not have to play beautifully and win on the night. Tired and exhausted they got the job done. They are definitely in my mind one of the greatest teams in Africa Cup history.

After the game I was extremely happy but continuing to read online about the game caused sadness to creep into my heart. I still can't believe Egypt is not in the World Cup. It is unimaginable to me that come June I will not be seeing these players at the World's greatest stage. Shehata has done a lot to redeem himself for his failure to qualify. I am yet to realize that I will ever forgive him for that but one thing is for certain, after Angola he has without a doubt earned my and all his critics' respect.

Egypt vs Algeria: Destruction

Great teams rise for glory after getting knocked down. I can say it whole hearted that we are indeed a great team. Egypt yesterday reached their third successive CAN final after thrashing Algeria by 4 goals to nil. The victory itself was great but it was made even sweater by the way Egypt played and the manner by which Algeria behaved.

It was a virtuoso performance from the Egyptian team and it was obvious the team as a unit were very calm and collected from the start. A quality that is crucial to winning such games. Tactically we were spot on too. The Algerians were frankly a disgrace to football and sportsmanship. Belhadj and Chaouchi come to mind. The keeper should have been red carded twice. He attempted to head-but the referee after he allowed a penalty. The Algerians wanted it to be retaken for some reason? He later got his marching orders after lashing at Egypt striker Geddo. Belhadj apparently was furious after Zidan had danced around him for the second goal in addition to Mohammady being a bit showy. He attempted a nightmare double tackle on the latter and was rightly red carded for his efforts. Frankly this team was very disappointing to me. When they beat Egypt they were all over the place with comments of how they were better. Bougherra even added that Egypt should "Shut up". I think we shut him up real good. In defeat they turned into thugs. What a shame that they get to go to the World cup and not Egypt.

Egypt lined up as they did against Cameroon with the only difference being that in this game Algeria were sitting back hoping to hit Egypt on the break with long balls behind the defense. For once Shehata and Shawky Ghareeb got their tactics right. Egypt were patient in their approach always playing the ball to feet and using Mohammady on the right flank to produce great width to devastating effect. He was ever so dangerous and had the better of Belhadj for pace and skill. He also forced him to defend deeper and limited his forward runs. In the rare occasions that he did attack Egypt had Mohammday, Ahmed Hassan and usually Fathalla to close him down and stop his runs. It was obvious the manager had done his homework as Algeria's danger came from two sources Belhadj which was neutralized and Karim Ziani. Karim was ever present in the Algerian win against Cote D'Ivoire, he wanted the ball all the time and provided an outlet for his teammates then proceeded to distribute play brilliantly. Not this time. Egypt pressurized Algeria high up the pitch by two or three players. Ziani especially was always closed down all over the pitch. It was not haphazard, we pressured them at key points and always kept their defenders on their toes. Ahmed Fathi was particularly impressive doing that and in plugging the hole between the midfield and the defense. Egypt contained Algeria even before the red cad and their only hope of scoring came from set pieces and corners. Hadary had just one save to make for the hole game which shows you how solid and aware defensively Egypt was. Hadary surprisingly was very solid in the air too.

Going forward we looked ever so dangerous. We passed the ball well until openings appeared and we would always be able to find an outlet. This was due to a number of great players. Mohammady to me was exceptional not because of his runs but because of his ability to always find space for himself. His excellent wing play was wonderful and he always provided an outlet for his teammates even when Algeria knew it was coming.

In Meteb and Zidan Egypt have one of the most beautiful attacking partnerships in African football. The forward runs of Meteb are brilliant in my opinion. He does not just run, he runs with purpose and in space between defenders. He also has the ability to arch his runs to create the needed space between defenders. This gives his fellow midfielders, especially players like Ahmed Hassan and Ghali. the option to attempt the direct through ball from deep. He is also tireless, will chase every ball, hold it up and pressurize defenders. Yesterday he showed great ability when he latched onto the mistake of the Algerian defense and controlled the bouncing ball with his head then his feet to ultimately force the penalty and the red card. He did this again in the second half and that run should have been another penalty in my opinion and ended his participation in the game. This would be a huge blow for Egypt in the final. Don't believe me, just look at how poor we looked after Meteb was replaced and it took us around 15minutes to get back to the game (against 10 man Algeria) because a very important outlet in Meteb was gone.

Zidan compliments Meteb. His dribbling ability and the way he drops in the pocket between Meteb and the midfield makes all the difference. Give him the ball to feet and facing goal-wards and you are in for a treat. His dribbling ability can be rivaled only by the likes of Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. He can score and create goals. He was unlucky in the first couple of games but his goal against Algeria was jaw dropping. Dribbling around Belhadj he finished the move off with a brilliant strike with his weaker left foot. I think the problem was he was pressured by the knowledge that he will always be substituted by Geddo no matter what. We all know how Shehata is superstitious. Meteb's injury sparked him to life and he knew he wouldn't be going off this time around.

Ahmed Hassan made up for his tense performance in Sudan by putting on a professional performance. He might not have been in the thick of the action but he was always ever present for his teammates asking for the ball and distributing it accurately he also did a great job on controlling Belhadj. There is also the phenomena of the tournament. Mohamed Nagy GEDDO whose sublime finishing could make him possibly the first tournament top scorer off the bench.

Overall Egypt were perfect. We have proved that we are indeed the best team in Africa. It remains to be seen how Egypt will adapt with out Meteb against a very fast Ghana side. However, win or lose this Egyptian team will forever be remembered as one of the best teams ever to play in the great continent. They have forever earned my respect and so has their coach. Say what you like about Shehata but at the end of the day he must be doing something right. Hats off to him and his brilliant team, they will always be the Champions of Africa in my book!

Clash of the Titans

It's here again. Yes another bloody match against Algeria. I think I'm probably one of the few people who did not take it personally when Algeria beat us to go to the World Cup. Don't get me wrong I was fuming that we lost but frankly throughout the qualification they were better as a team. I still think our players are better, regardless of the fact that most of them play locally.

History aside tonight is a very important game for Egypt and Algeria alike. Obviously it's importance is primarily because it's the Africa Cup Of Nations Semi-Final. The biggest competition in the continent. Algeria need to prove that they deserve to be in the World Cup and that their qualification was due to their strength and not due to Egypt gifting them a place in South Africa. A victory tonight will prove once and for all that they are indeed better than the Pharaohs and that the excuses made up by Shehata and co after the defeat in Sudan are what they really are, crap. Algeria will be in their first final (and semi-final) in 20 years, ever since their last win and only win of the cup on home soil in 1990. It will be their third final ever, the other being in 1980. So don't believe what you hear from their players and their coach that they are not under any pressure. They are and under a lot of it. They have a chance to make history and rival their greatest generation of the 80's.

On the other side there is Egypt. A wounded giant. After failing to qualify for the World Cup and the national disappointment that came with it no one, not even their coach himself gave them a chance of retaining their African crown a record third successive time. With players like Trieka, Barakat, Mido and Zaki not in the squad it seemed hopeless. (Shehata started to act confident only after his win against Nigeria defending his team selections and claiming that picking the team had to do with how religious a player was, strangely he forgot that football is about talent and talented players win games, not prayers.) However after the cracking opener against Nigeria and coming from a goal down to destroy the Super Eagles an aura of optimism started to appear. The Egyptians looked like champions and finished their group with a 100% record dispatching both Benin and Mozambique with professionalism worthy of Champions. Then came the real test against the Lions of Cameroon. Egypt capitalized on their opponents mistakes and put them to the sword again coming from a goal down. I've been very critical of our performances but overall we got the job done. Lead by the ever vibrant Ahmed Hassan, who is truly a joy to watch, Egypt are a strong unit. Credit to Shehata for bringing his team together and to his players for showing outstanding determination. Yes Shehata is lucky but if he can pull it off against Algeria (even if he looses the final) it would be a great feat and would earn him respect from everyone, friends and foes, myself included.

Egypt should take this as just another game, a stepping stone to a record third successive title. A chance to redeem their failure to qualify to South Africa. The cherry on top is that they get to do it against the team that knocked them out, Algeria. It is good to feel some purpose in a game but it should not be about revenge and hate. It should be about winning. Increased emotions will tire players easier and make them much more susceptible to lapses in concentration. Egypt should play their own game, keep the ball on the ground and not look to rush things and for gods sake no long balls.

Good teams take their chances, good teams ride their luck and good teams come back after going behind, but only great teams rise up for glory after getting knocked down.

CAN 2010: Crunch Time

The quarter finals of the CAN 2010 are done and dusted to devastating effect. We were treated to some of the tournaments best games. Frankly though the level of football this year round has not been up to par in my opinion.

Angola 0 Ghana 1

Angola surprisingly were favorites in this game. They had won their group and put on some interesting displays lead by the formidable Flavio. On the other hand Ghana were a depleted young team that were lacking many of their well known star players, Essien, Muntari, Appiah, Panstil and Mensah to name a few. Ghana scored early and proceeded to defend for most of the game. Their Goal Keeper Kingston saved their blushes a number of time as he was aided by an extremely wasteful Angolan front line. Manucho especially. It finished 1-0 as the hosts crashed out, at the end however it was a result you would expect given the the history of both nations.

Cote D'Ivoire 2 Algeria 3 (a.e.t)

A battling performance from the desert warriors saw them edge tournament favorites Cote D'Ivoire. The kings of under achievement did it again and they had only themselves to blame and their coach. They dominated the first 15minutes of the game scoring a goal and could have gone 4-0 up if not for their lack of concentration. They let Algeria back in the game slowly and were punished before half time with an excellent taken goal by Matmour. The Algerians fought hard for every ball and for each other and they managed an equalizer at the death of the game after Kieta had put the elephants in front in the 89th minute with a cracker of a goal. With all the talent and experience on show you would expect Ivorians to be bale to defend a goal for 4 minutes but no. Bougherra was virtually unmarked in the penalty area as he headed in a cross that frankly average keeper Barry could have done better with. Algeria sealed their famous win in extra-time after some of the worst defending I have ever seen. A Belhadj cross into the box had 4 Algerian attackers against 2 Ivorian defenders. It was a deserved win for Ziani and Co. after a disciplined performance.

Egypt 3 Cameroon 1 (a.e.t)

Cameroon controlled most of this game and will be wondering how on earth they lost it. Good defensive performance from Egypt forced the Lions to take shots from outside the box as they could not break inside the penalty area. 20 Corners for Cameroon in the game showed their dominance and they took the lead on 25minutes when Ahmed Hassan playing his 170th Cap for Egypt scored an own goal from a Emana corner. Hassan is now the most capped player in the African continent. Hassan redeemed himself by scoring a cracker from 35yards that Kameni could have done better with. Egypt looked threatening on the break but Cameroon controlled the game and looked all the more likely to score. In extra time, a short back pass from Geremi let in Geddo through on goal to score with a well taken finish his third goal of the tournament and Egypt's second. Cameroon then had a right to be very aggrieved after a Hassan free kick was adjudged to have crossed the line although replays showed it wasn't even close. This sealed the win for Egypt by utilizing the mistakes of the opposition and by riding the luck of Shehata. Egypt face Algeria tomorrow in a mouth watering encounter and need to be much better than against Cameroon to beat a very confident Algerian side who already beat Egypt to reach the World Cup in South Africa 2010. I just hope for gods sake that the Egyptian players look at this as just a game and not a grudge match. The will to win is very important but too much of it can back fire. Shehata needs to keep his players calm and focused. Only by keeping a cool head and playing our slick passing game can we beat the Algerians.

Zambia 0 Nigeria 0 (4-5 on pen)

CAN 2010: Group D

Yesterday saw round 2 concluded with Tunisia taking on Gabon and Cameroon taking on Zambia.

Tunisia vs Gabon:

The first game was a lack luster event and seeing Tunisia play you wonder how the mighty have fallen. They are poor and then you see their coach talking and you know why. El Benzarty is very poor and seeing his post game interviews really amused me. The man describes another match. He talked about a disallowed goal that never was and penalties not given although the one real penalty should have been given for a foul on Hull City's Cousin. For some reasons he thought the referee was harsh on them and so did the commentator EL Shawalay. Frankly the ref was probably the best thing in the game. On the other hand I was very impressed by Gabon. I didn't get to see them play Cameroon but they looked very dangerous yesterday and could cause trouble for many teams if they qualify.

Cameroon vs Zambia:

Where to begin. Frankly Rigobert Song put on an appalling display. I don't think he could have played any worse if Zambia had payed him. He gifted Zambia the first goal by heading into his own goal only for Kameni to barely save it but Malenga had an easy tap in a wide open goal. Song was then too lazy to chase a long ball which ended up with Kameni conceding a penalty as he rushed to cover Song's laziness. I have not seen this much bad defending since Titus Bramble was at Newcastle. Paul Le Guen was right to drop him in qualification and I think he should be dropped now if Cameroon have any chance of progressing. How Mr. Le Guen picked him ahead of Spurs Central Defender Bassong is baffling to me.

Zambia's keeper Kennedy Mweene had a role to play too. He gifted Cameroon a way back into the game when all seemed lost. He failed to hold on to a clearance/cross from Geremi who was trying to keep the ball in play. It ended up in the back of the net. After that the game turned over it's head and it was goals galore with Samuel Eto'o then giving Cameroon the lead and Idrissou to seal the win late on after Christopher Katongo had equalized from the spot. Cameroon didn't impress but playing against 12 men (Song was playing for Zambia) they got the job done like true veterans. A clash with Egypt in the quarters seems to be on the cards and it promises to be a cracker.

As It stands Gabon lead the group with points, Cameroon on 3, Tunisia with 2 and Zambia with 1.

Coming Up:

Final games in group A with anyone able to qualify with a win. Angola take on Algeria and Mali take on Malawi. I'm hoping Flavio and co can make it through. Games are played at the same time 16:00 GMT, 18:00 CLT

The Man: Flavio

Flavio Amado is a name who will be forever synonymous with Ahly and Angola's golden generation. Rarely has a player gone from zero to hero in club football. His journey has been incredible.

After grabbing the attention of Ahly coach Manuel Jose in the Africa Champions League in 2001 while playing for Petro Atletico having played against Ahly in the same group (both team went to the Semis and Ahly proceeded to win the tournament) Especially while leading his team along with fellow Angolan international Gilberto to a memorable 4-2 win against Ahly in Cairo and winning the CAF Champions League best player award. Jose tried to sign him in 2003 but finally got his man in 2005. The flying Angolan was far from an instant hit at Ahly.

In his first season with Ahly he managed just 1 goal with the back of his head and missed a penalty against Zamalek in the Champions League Semi Final (I saw him miss it live) but thankfully Ahly managed to dispatch their arch rivals 4-1 on aggregate. Neutrals (some Ahly fans too) and pundits alike attacked him and coach Jose for continuing to play him although he never scored. They were very short sighted. Flavio's first season was poor from a goal scoring perspective but he provided time and space for his teammates and helped Emad Meteb win the Leagues Top Goal Scorer award. Ahly won the league, the cup and the champing league.

In CAN 2006 in Egypt he scored three goals and was supported strongly by Ahly fans in Cairo. You could always here chants of "Flavioooo, Flavioo". He proceeded to etch his name in Angolan and World football History by scoring Angola's only goal in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Still people were not convinced of his ability but his coach Manuel Jose stuck by him through the worst of it and man did he repay him in spades!

In his second season he was a new man. He proceeded to terrorize defenders with his aerial ability helped by inch perfect crosses from fellow Angolan Gilberto. He won Top scorer of the Egyptian League in 2006/2007 and 2008/2009 becoming the only ever African to win it twice and only the second African to ever win (John Utaka was the first). He scored many memorable goals during his time with Ahly. He dispatched Zamalek many times. He scored in a Air Jordan like moment against International of Brazil in the Club World Cup. His most memorable in my opinion was a header against Asec or Cotton (I can't recall) were it seemed his head had turned 360 degrees to head the goal. His final goodbye to Ahly was a winner against Ismailly to gift Ahly the league. His gifts for Jose would continue.

Flavio managed in his 4years stay at Ahly to become a fan favorite and place himself as one of the most successful foreigners (if not the most successful)to ever play in the Egyptian League. Even rivals that don't like him admit how prolific he was. It comes as no surprise then that most Ahly fans support Egypt first and Angola second in this years Cup of Nations. After all Angola has 1 Ahly player in Gilberto 1 ex-Ahly player in Flavio and an Ahly legend in Manuel Jose as Coach.

Flavio continued his tradition of scoring important goals for his Jose and Angola this year. He already grabbed 3 goals in 2 games in this years competition, all headers.. Two came against Mali in the 4-4 draw, the second of which was a joy. His third was a well placed header that gave the keeper no chance against Malawi. He is vital to Angola's hopes to proceed to the next round and all of Angola will be hoping the knock he picked up is not serious enough and he will be fit to lead the line against Algeria.

Flavio to me is arguably the best header in the world at the moment. Although only 1.73m??? (according to his wiki page) he possesses an incredible jump and the ability to produce shot like power with his head. I think the lad is a bit unlucky he came to Ahly at a more mature age because surely he would be playing in a top European team by now. He is 30 and so it seems unlikely top clubs would gamble on him but if he continues his current African Cup form he will be the tournament's top scorer and possibly we might see him the English Premier League next year. He currently plays for Al Shabab in Saudi Arabia.

All Hail Flavio

CAN 2010 Latest

It seems the jinx of World Cup qualification has hot all teams in Angola. Not a single qualifier has won a game in the first round of matches with all exept Cote D'Ivoire defeated (Ghana didn't play). The shock two results have to be Malawi thrashing Algeria by 3 goals to nil and Gabon edging the might Cameroon lead by Samuel Eto'o 1-0

Latest Result

Group A

Angola 4 Mali 4

Algeria 0 Malawi 3

Group B

Cote D'Ivoire 0 Burkina Faso 0

Group C

Egypt 3 Nigeria 1

Benin 2 Mozambique 2

Group D

Cameroon 0 Gabon 1

Tunisia 1 Zambia 1

Coming Up

14.01

16:00 GMT Mali vs Algeria

18:30 GMT Angola vs Malawi

Will we ever Go to the World Cup?

The past two days were very sad for me. It wasn't your straight forward sad, and yes I'm talking about football. For years now Football games have had the ability to lift and sink my mood, just ask my wife:)

Yesterday I saw an Egyptian side (who had earlier crushed the dreams of millions by failing to qualify to the World Cup from the easiest group in the continent) take on a star studded Nigerian side. Nigeria is not that of old and the golden team of Amokachi, Yakini and Finidi seems a distant memory. However, they are back to the world cup after being seemingly dead and buried in the qualification (albeit Tunisia gifting them qualification). Nigeria by all means were a side on the up and having the likes of Yakubu (Everton), Obasi (Hoffenhiem), Yobo (Everton), Mikel (Chelsea) in their squad it would seem they were favorites against Egypt.

After our disappointing performance all through qualification I seriously wanted to get rid of Hassan Shehata and what better way to do it than by being knocked out of the first round in CAN 2010. I was going to support every single team playing against Egypt, cause frankly I don't bloody care about winning another African Cup, I was looking for the future and I don't think Shehata will ever get us there. As I sat down to watch the game I thought GO Egypt! I am far too fond of many of the Egyptian players not least of which are Meteb, Zidan and Ahmed Hassan to support Nigeria and frankly on their day Egypt's most gifted generation can beat anyone. I didn't expect this however.

Egypt put up a scintillating display lead by the brilliant Ahmed Hassan. He is a true model professional that all players in Egypt could learn from. He is playing his 8th African Cup having won three already in 98, 06, and 08. From a goal down early on we hit back by goals from Meteb, Hassan and Geddo (no I didn't make him up). Egypt dominated the Super Eagles especially in the second half and if we had continued to play for 2 days Nigeria would not have scored. Everything was right yesterday. It was the first time in a tournament under Shehata that we came back from a goal down to win (his second time in all competitions, first was against DR Congo in Cairo, in first phase of qualifications). We played better in the second half than the first, we were more physically fit than the Nigerians, we didn't score any penalties and as for the deflection, I say you make your own luck when it comes to scoring goals. Shehata did everything right, off course his clueless Nigerian counterpart helped, but still Egypt were convincing. His team showed experience and high morals and again played for him and for each other. After seeing the game I'm not sue if we will win the cup but I think we can easily got to the semis. A day earlier I had seen Malawi rip Algeria to shreds and after Egypts result I was shocked and saddened. How the hell didn't we reach the world cup?

Watching this cup I still can't believe we are not going to South Africa. We look much better than a lot of the teams going after the first round of games. I know this is not something to go by as I recall Cameroon in 1990 getting knocked out of the first round in the competition then going on to take the world by storm in Italia 90. However, if you look at the fact that we have been dominating the competition for 4 years now and that a lot of the big teams are very eager to win this years competition, none more so than Cote D'Ivoire. The current generation of Elephants have never won the African Cup and can't wait to do so. In the two previous editions their dreams have shattered after coming up against one team, Egypt. Why didn't we qualify then?

Honestly I have no idea why we could not ease through qualification from an easy group but I have some ideas that may have contributed. For starters I think how the group looked on paper and the fact we were African Champs put the fans, the players and the coaching staff at ease. They were heading for a rude awakening after the 1-1 draw with Zambia in Cairo. Sadly no one saw the warning bells and we managed to shift momentum towards Algeria after slumping to a 3-1 defeat there. Egypt rallied up till the first game in Cairo. I talked about the footballing reasons for not qualifying (The Failure)Some other factors came into play leading up to the first game and the decider in Sudan that contributed to our failure.

The media was crazy. They proceeded to portray Algeria as the devil and this for me added extra pressure on the players. Playing against an enemy is very different from playing against an opponent. You won't take risks and will play it safe , after all you are defending your countries honor and not competing in a sport. The anger also takes up some of your energy and you get more lapses in concentration. Where the hell did the spirit of sport disappear to? It seemed we were in a war and not a football game. After the first game people and the media celebrated as if we had already qualified, there was one more game left.

The choice of venue for the final game from the Egyptian Federation and Hassan Shehata was idiotic. We picked Sudan. It is of common knowledge that pitches in Sudan are very poor and that rarely have Egyptians teams gone there and won. The Egypt team is very skilled and dominate opposition by using a slick passing game. We need a good pitch, yet we chose a really poor one. We refused to pick Libya cause they would support Algeria although there are around 1.5million Egyptians living there? We did not pick South Africa although they have great pitches and we had already played there months before. Most of the fans that went there were not true footballing fans and a lot of politicians and artists decided to go in order to boost their own self image. The atmosphere when it came to Egypt was bleak. We will never qualify to a world cup unless we stop turning sport into war and instead of talking about a football game we blamed the loss on events after the game?

Last but not least was the caliber of coaching. Yes I don't like Shehata and at the end of the day you can be unlucky at one game were it all matters. Just ask Guus Hiddink, one of the most brilliant coaches in the world did not qualify to the world cup with Russia. However, before you start going on about how this is true and how it could happen to anyone think a bit. Egypt to Africa is not what Russia is to Europe. Egypt is like Spain or Germany in Europe. We are the "it" team in the continent. Shehata had luck on him for most games in qualification but not when it most mattered. Shehata's results speak for themselves he has done very good. But he has failed twice when it really mattered. First was in 2005 when he came on as coach for the first time mid qualification and we had to beat Cote D'Ivoire away to have any chance of going to the world cup. He lost that game but that wasn't the problem. He never tried to win, he was scared and couldn't or wouldn't turn around the game. Maybe he was inexperienced then but the second time he wasn't. He has failed when he has had to up his game to the next level. He has proven time and again that he can't read the big games and can't take control of matches if his players are not in top form. He can't turn things around. Against Nigeria the stakes were not high, you have 3 strikes so the pressure is lower. In the two African Cups we were never favorites and the expectations were low. When we have high expectations and the pressure is on us and not on the opposition we fail. This is also a problem with the players, it it not only the coaches fault but it is his job to help them cope. He has had it easy as half of his players already had the know how of dealing with pressure. Jose's Ahly were favorites for five years in every game they played locally and in Africa. Most of the time we delivered.

I hope that in my life time I get to see Egypt once again in the World Cup. I'm not very optimistic though as the way we go about it is not encouraging. We need a highly technical coach . Shehata in all honestly has done good but we need someone to take us to the next level. This person should be backed up by a system that views football as a sport and not as a holy calling. A system that analyzes why we fail and doe not congratulate failure. We also need more professional players that deal with pressure day in and day out. There should be some sort of law that allows players to go abroad and learn. The golden team of Egypt has not reached the world cup, may the next golden team take us there!

Timing of the African Cup: What's the Fuss?

As we all know the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 in Angola is going to kick-off on Jan 10th, a week from now. It is usually the biggest event in the continent (usually since this year the world cup is in Africa) In my opinion it is the 3rd best Continental tournament behind the World Cup and The Euros as unlike their counterparts in South America, African players actually leave their clubs and come to play there. Here there lies the problem.

As was discussed in many English and European blogs the timing of the Cup of Nations seems to be to the disliking of Europe in general and specifically European Clubs with African players. I thought I would discuss this from a more African point of view albeit that Egyptian players are not affected as most of them sadly play locally.

Europe's argument has always been that playing in January robs clubs of their players in an integral part of the season and why couldn't the competition be played in June like most other Continental Competitions. More so is the fact that it is played every 2 years and in the same years of the World Cup which over exerts these players come the next season. They suggest that it should be played every 4 years and or in odd years to avoid clashes with the World Cup.

The CAF and Africa reply that playing in January is essential as the weather in Africa is very hot in the summer months and in some areas of the great continent there is a rainy season at that time. As for the gap of only 2 years, CAF says that the tournament helps improve the infrastructure in the countries that organize the event and the frequency gives the opportunity for more countries to get the chance to do that.

Both arguments hold a lot of merit. European Clubs pay the wages of these players and have a right to feel aggrieved and at the same time the players themselves are put in an awkward place and if they are not world class players like Drogba they risk losing their place in the team. This could lead to one of two things happening; more Top class clubs decide against buying African Players like Manchester United for example and AC Milan to some extent, or Players can stop attending on the longer run and the tournament will turn into the Copa America. Also players will be overexerted especially if they are also playing in the world cup. They don't get a break after the Cup of Nations or after the World Cup and by the start of the new season they are already burned out. Off course there are ways to minimize this but why should clubs go through this? On the other hand making the Cup every two years does improve infrastructure in organizing countries and excites the economy in Africa as a whole to some extent. We have seen this a number of times, Burkina Faso stands out. At the end, the Europeans try forcing their view and the Africans are too proud to listen to any outside voices especially from Europe (history plays a part in this case). What then is to be done? The solution is simple in my opinion and lies in combining both views.

For starters the CAF should have no problem adjusting the Africa Cup of Nations to being played in odd years instead of even years to avoid conflicts with the World Cup. All that needs to be done is skipping one Cup of Nations or playing 2 in consecutive years. It still should be played every two years as the impact on the continent is noticeable. On the other hand the argument of playing the Cup of Nations in January because of the weather is frankly very very weak. Yes it is hot in the summer but the African Champions League Starts and continues to be played all through the summer plus the equator splits Africa into two parts so there will always be a country with poor weather at some point in time. Therefore moving it to June will make everyone happy, African players and their Clubs. Also it will increase the viewing audiences considerably as it will be played at a time where no football is being played anywhere else in the world leading to more exposure for the African Game and maybe on the long run leading to more World Cup places. If the CAF doesn't like this then how about alternating between January and June depending on the weather conditions in the organizing country at the time?

I hope that such changes be given a hard long look as I would love to continue seeing the continents top professional play both at great clubs and in the greatest tournament in Africa. Feel free to provide any suggestions or feedback.