The amazing Chipolopolos pull off the impossible as Gervinho misses his PK. The art of war,
Sunzu Stophira made no mistake with his chance as Zambia win their first ACN.
A fairy tale end for a country who lost so much 19 years ago in one of sport's heart breaking
tragedies minutes away from Libreville, the venue for today's finals.
Egypt head coach Bob Bradley and his team are scheduled to open their qualifying campaign for
the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on Feb. 29, but that could be pushed back after the Egyptian
Federation requested a postponement.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has asked the Confederation of African Football (CAF)
that its road match against Central African Republic be postponed due to the events that transpired
in Port Said last Wednesday.
The amazing Chipolopolos scored the winning goal in the 77th minute as substitute Emmanuel
Mayuka found space and on the turn curled a right footed shot past Adam Kwarsey in goal. It was
probably the second chance for the Zambians and very much against the run of play.
The Black Stars should have gone ahead early as Asamoah Gyan missed out on a golden chance when
his penalty was stopped by Kennedy Mweene (bringing back painful memories of his World Cup PK miss
against Uruguay).
Co-hosts Gabon looked like it was going to be headed to their best showing in any ACN when Eric
Mouloungui shot them into the lead in the 55th minute. But Mali had other ideas as Cheick Diabate
equalized in the 84th minute. At the end of extra time, with the two teams deadlocked, the fate of
the match was decided on PK shootout.
They huffed and puffed. And Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana, Africa's two best footballing nations
according to Fifa's rankings (so it must be true), are looking good to contest Sunday's African Cup
of Nations final, without looking good in getting there. That said, they form half of what was
nearly a semi-final line-up that some (i.
Zambia cruised past Sudan, 3-0 to the semi-finals of the ACN, the first time since 1996. Sudan
made things difficult for themselves after Ali Saif Eldin was sent off for his second violation
when he brought down Rainford Kalaba in the 63rd minute. By that time the Chipolopolos (The Copper
Miners) were already a goal up from Sunzu Stoppila.
Didier Drogba could not be denied as he made up for a missed penalty by pouring in a brace.
Ivory Coast added another through Yaya Toure as they send Equatorial Guinea, the co-hosts, out of
the ACN. The Taranga Lions are through to the semi-finals.
Drogba will be missing today's huge showdown with Man Utd, and in his absence, Chelsea is hoping
that misfiring Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge, take up the goalscoring slack.
Eurosport's international football coverage, as unique as it remains in the field of sports
broadcasting and run on a shoestring budget, remains excellent. And this year's ACN coverage has
been as comprehensive and well-informed as ever. But, as Groups B and D came to their conclusions,
well... oops.
After winning their respective groups, Ivory Coast and Ghana are on a crash course for a
high-profile final at the African Cup of Nations, but there is still work to be done before the top
two African nations do battle for the continent's top prize.
The Elephants, one of two sides to secure all nine points during the group stage, might have to
go through both host countries to reach the final.
While Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba is sequestered away with his teammates in a luxury hotel
for the African Cup of Nations, his mother, Clotilde is preparing traditional west African meals in
an outdoor kitchen for a group of 60 fans who traveled to Equatorial Guinea for the tournament.
Group D at the ACN is at a knife's edge as it heads to the last group match with Ghana, Guinea,
and Mali in contention for the two spots to the knock off stage. The only one out is Botswana.
Yesterday, the Black Stars got the better of Mali as Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland could have done with
his finishing skills today against Boro) scored his first goal and Anthony Ayew added another.
Some good and some bad news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.
We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their
2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.
The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used
Chelsea vet.
Some good and some bad news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.
We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their
2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.
The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used
Chelsea vet.
What happened to the Taranga Lions? They went out with a whimper. One of the ACN's most
formidable teams on paper boasting names like Demba Ba, Moussa Sow, Mamadou Niang, and Papiss
Cisse, were unceremoniously dumped out by co-hosts Equatorial Guinea. The Lions lost their first
encounter, 1-2 to the unfancied Zambians.
The 2010 African Cup of Nations fell away in quality and excitement after the opening round of
group games. If this year's tournament does the same, we will be in for a long three weeks. Over
the course of the next couple of weeks, we'll be bringing you up to date with the progress of the
four groups in this competition as each round of matches is completed and the first round of group
matches is now over.
Two Chelsea team mates conspire for Cote D'Ivoire's winning start to their 2012 ACN campaign.
Salomon Kalou floats the ball from the left as Didier Drobga soars up to power his header. Looks
like 34 year old Drobga still has plenty of oomph - is he really leaving for the Chinese Super
League?
The African Cup of Nations' effect on Arsenal sums up the slightly oddball line-up for this
year's tournament. That Alexandre Song could line out against Swansea was a huge boost (at least
until his somewhat floundering performance on the day). That Marouane Chamakh could not was...
well... a huge boost too.
Freiburg's Papiss Demba Cisse joins the Magpies for a reported £10m. Newcastle now sports a
Senegalese flavour to their team. The new no 9 joins countrymen Demba Ba and Cheikh Tiote, both
enjoying outstanding Premiership seasons. All three are at the ACN, so fans will get to see him
next month depending on how Senegal do in that competition.
By Alan Duffy
With so many gifted African players now plying their trade in the Premier League, the African
Cup of Nations has become something of an issue for managers in the top division, particularly as
it is held slap bang in the middle of the season.
We are still a few days away from the Leeds game and I don't want to step on what will surely be
another (auto paste here) splendid pre match from the master himself. But without wishing to step
on toes I want to get some thoughts off my chest.
Having spent most of Christmas and New Year struggling to find the back of net I have started to
change my mind about the importance of this game and who should be playing.
Good morning and welcome to a Friday ahead of what's going to be a fairly quiet weekend for us.
We don't play until Monday at 7.45 (on ESPN too wouldn't it be ironic after weeks of not getting
penalties if we got a pelanty?).
Ahead of that game the manager has revealed that Robin van Persie won't play, which is only to
be expected.
John Terry's BFF, Wayne Bridge rumoured to be on Wenger's radar
A bridge to nowhere. With Thomas Vermaelen out with a calf strain, there is officially no left
back specialist left on the Arsenal senior roster. In the match Wenger subbed off Vermaelen
replacing him with Francis Coquelin who looked a bit suspect when tracking back but looked in his
element pushing up the channel.
So, Thierry's return has now gone from possible to probable, the number 12 shirt is set to be
handed to him and now we just have to wait and see if he can do the business.
On today's Arsecast, my esteemed colleague from Gunnerblog makes the very good point that
there's never been a footballer (Beckham apart, perhaps) quite so conscious of their own image as
Thierry Henry.
Mertesacker gets a helping hand from a returning player
Aren't we all glad that it's finally over. The last round of internationals for the season. Of
course there will still be stoppages here and there for friendlies as teams prepares their sides
for the upcoming Euro 2012. However, that will a 3 days get-together instead of a full 10 12 days
break.
Kei Kamara and the Leone Stars pulled out a draw in South Africa against the Bafana Bafana, but the
point was not enough to see them through to the African Cup of Nations. Sierra Leone needed a win
and a Niger loss to qualify for the tournament for the first time since 1996, but couldn't find the
net.
Emmanuel Frimpong who has emerged as a very reliable deputy to Alexander Song in anchoring the
midfield is seriously contemplating switching national allegiance to Ghana. The Arsenal midfielder
has long flirted with the idea but it appears he's come to a decision after meeting with Ghanaian
FA officials earlier this week.
Morocco's "architectural jewel" Stade de Marrakech
After competing against South Africa for the 3rd time in the last decade to host an
international tournament, Morocco finally came out on top. The North African
country, who competed against South Africa to host both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, was selected
by the Confederation of African Football to host the 2015 edition of the
African Cup of Nations.
