Post World Cup National Team Discussion

Michael Essien returned for Ghana for his first game since injuring himself at the 2010 African Nations Cup and he helped spark Ghana to a 3-1 win over Congo. Ghana are looking good.

As are Senegal who play Cameroon today and I am already nervous about this one as Cameroon must win to have any hope to finish 2nd in the group. And Senegal just got some additional help,

Toulouse defender Cheikh Mbengue has received last minute permission from FIFA to play for Senegal in their African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday after the world governing body approved his nationality change.

Mbengue, who was capped by France at under-21 level, will make his debut for Senegal, where his parents hail from, in Saturday’s key match in Cameroon.

You had reason to be nervous nkono as the game ended 0-0 with Samuel Eto'o missing a 87th minute penalty when his shot hit the cross bar! 5 points back with 2 games left, it looks very tough for Cameroon now and their point total makes it hard they will finish as one of the betetr 2nd place teams. Cameroon's streak of 8 straight Nations Cups could be coming to an end.

Review of African Nations Cup Qualifiers

A crazy weekend in Africa, Egypt only drew 0-0 at home with South Africa meaning the three time champions are all but out of qualifying, their coach Hassan Shehata resigned as a result. Morocco beat rivals Algeria 4-0 causing Algeria's coach to step down but Morocco only lead their group on goal differential over Central African Republic!

Ivory Coast won and became only the 2nd team, after surprising Botswana, to qualify for next year's championships.

Nigeria arrived in Ethiopia for their away game at 2 am the night before their match and their fatigue showed as they needed a last mnute goal to tie 2-2 with Ethiopia. This really has become a crazy group of qualifiers.

Typical Nigerian lack of planning, they claimed they wanted to arrive just before kickoff in high altitude Addis Ababa so as to minimise the effects of the altitude. But to do so you either arrive the day before the game or fly to a nearby low altitude city (maybe Nairobi) and then fly in to Addis Ababa the day of the game. You do not arrive at 2 am and tire your players out. But that is Nigeria for you.

2 matches left and Guinea have a 3 point lead on Nigeria for the one guaranteed qualifying spot, Guinea are home to Ethiopia on the next match day while Nigeria are away to last place Madagascar. Then on the final match day Nigeria host Guinea in what should be the group decider. Guinea currently has a +2 goal difference advantage on Nigeria.

For a good review of where each group stands, check out the Wikipedia entry for this Nations Cup qualifying:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Africa_C...s_qualification

The entry also sets out the complicated way in which the 2nd best teams are determined. The top team in each group qualifies, as does the runner-up of Group K (which contains 5 teams) and the two best runners-up from the other groups.

Here, I guess (though Merengue, feel free to split/merge...)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/football...outh/index.html

Pretty good article (politics alert!) that doesn't just discuss the situation in Sudan but that touches on the role of a nation's football team in shaping and reflecting its national and international identity.

A very nice article, thanks for the link. South Sudan are awaiting thir approval by CAF which will then befollowed by FIFA admitting them into it's system. So it does not look then that South Sudan will be inluded in time to participate in either the next World Cup or the qualifying tournament for African Nations Cup. That is probably a good idea as they need some time to build a new national team.

With Egypt all but eliminated from qualifying for next year's African Nations Cup and long time manager Hassan Shehata stepping down as a consequence, the Egyptians are interviewing for a new manager, the candidates are Zoran Filipovic, the ex coach of Montenegro, Francisco Maturana, the ex coach of, among many, Colombia and Bob Bradley the former US coach. According to this article,

"The president of the federation will meet with the coach this week," Egypt's national team press officer Azmi Megahed told MLSsoccer.com on Monday. "He is maybe the top contender."

The spokesman revealed that the federation had been impressed with Bradley since his US side topped Egypt 3-0 in a do-or-die final group match at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

"He is maybe the top contender."


Maybe the top contender is not the same as being the top contender, still that is some ground breaking news, the possibility a US coach could become the national team coach of Egypt, the largest Arab country. It might even help the US' image in the region (if Bradley is successful coaching Egypt.)

A very fascinating move if it comes off for Bradley. But he also must remember Egypt's federation is very fast to fire coaches if things are not going well. Hassan Shehata lasted as long as he did because he was successful, winning 3 consecutive African Nations Cups. The federation are much less patient whenever they have had a foreign coach.

Apparently Egypt have not yet named a permanent coach yet and sent an U23 team to Sierra Leone where the Egyptians were beaten 2-1 and officially eliminated from the 2012 Nations Cup.

A complete rundown on Saturday's games, with more to come on Sunday:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=r...icanationswrap1

The highlights, Senegal and Burkina Faso both qualified with Senegal led by Moussa Sow of Lille.

Libya played their home game in Egypt due to the revolution going on there but with a new team they won 1-0 over Mozambique.

A review of Sunday's matches:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=r...ations_wrapup_1

Uganda may have lost to Angola but are still in pretty good position to qualify next month when they play their final qualifier. And so too are Niger, surprise 2-1 winners at home over South Africa, and the Central African Republic who drew 0-0 at home with Morocco, a result which may send both nations through to next year's finals.

Nigeria won 2-0 away at Madagascar with goals by joseph Yobo and Obinna Nsofor but Guinea still lead their group after defeating Ethiopia 1-0 in Conakry, Guinea. The Guineans lead Nigeria by 3 points and in the final match day must play at Nigeria.

This however has been an amazing series of qualifiers with tiny nations like Botswana, Uganda, Niger and Central Africa Republic possibly joining host nations, and fellow minnows Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in the finals while traditional powers like Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia and Algeria may miss out. As Sammy pointed out, Egypt are now officially eliminated so no chance for four titles in a row for them. This really will be a strange Nations Cup tournament with many new faces present.

A preview of this weekend's qualifiers, the final day of Nations Cup qualifying:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-africanpreview

Apparently CAF have determined that Cameroon will not be able to finish a sone of the best 2nd place teams so lke Egypt, the Indomitable Lions are eliminated from the 2012 tournament! Amazing news, it just will not feel like a Nations cup without either egypt or cameroon.

And as the article suggests, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia also have some work to do in order to qualify.

Cameroon came from behind to win 3-2 over DR Congo in what became a meaningless game. A sad ending to qualifying and it was Javier Clemente's last game in charge of Cameroon. Rumors are FECAFOOT, Cameroon's federation want to hire Raymond Domenech to be our next coach! Are they masochists at FECAFOOT?

For those interested the complete list of qualifiers this weekend, DR Congo-Cameroon was the only game played on Friday,

Amazing that Egypt and Cameroon are out while Botswana and Burkina Faso are in.

Anybody know if Bob Bradley will be coaching Egypt tomorrow versus Niger?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer...GW1LL_blog.html

It is a short interview but has some informative bits about Bradley's decision in accepting the job.