Colombia has long been an under-performer in international football, and although improvements have happened in the last 20 years, this continues. It does not help that the Colombian national team often has been the subject of scandals, and it was also a recent scandal of the woman beater Hernán Darío Gómez that led to his dismissal, and Colombia looking for a new coach.

Zambia's sensational African Cup of Nations has just ended with emotional glory when they defeated the huge favourites Côte d'Ivoire in an intense final in Libreville! Like everyone in the stadium (except the Ivorians), I also got carried away by the glorious spirit, fight, and the memory of the 1994 team that died in Gabon.

I have always thought that one (of the many) reasons that I did not become a footballer was because I am too intelligent. In fact, as has often been the case, with some notable exceptions (Jorge Valdano, Socrates, Ruud Gullit....), intelligent footballers seems to be more the exception that the rule, and at a time when the media scrutiny is so intense, the demand on a bit of brains in footballers

It is hard not to have sympathy for Zambia's football team: in the 80s and early 90s they were an important part of the African football awakening that was to take the world by storm right until 1993, when the entire team was killed in an air disaster when heading to a World Qualifier. While in 1994 they made it to the African Nations Cup final, they still never fully recovered from the

Mali made it to the semifinal of the Africa Cup of Nations after defeating the co-hosts Gabon on penalty kicks. Gabon played a good match with massive home support that included Gabon's long-time president Omar Bongo. It was an intense match where Gabon took the lead early in the second half by Eric Mouloungui.

Besides the human loss, it is sad that the attention of the world on African football during a great tournament as the African Cup of Nations, is drawn away by the game, to the catastrophe that happened in Egypt.I am certain that this is not what Egypt is about, with its great people and fans, and it is not what African football is about.

Yesterday I watched Ghana-Guinea in the last group matches of the African Cup of Nations. Ghana went ahead on a goal to die for: Emmanuel Badu, the super talented 21 year old of Udinese, scored a stunning goal to put Ghana ahead! 23 meter from goal he gave the ball a tip to lift it before hammering it in mid-air.

Tonight is the Spanish Copa de Rey semifinal between Valencia and FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in the semifinal, after which it has been widely proclaimed that FC Barcelona will now win the tournament. Only the most die-hard Valencia fans believe otherwise. I don´t believe otherwise.