Didier Drogba was last night named Africa's finest player for the year 2009 in a lavish gala award ceremony in Accra, Ghana. This ends his long wait to be recognised as one of the continents great's. It was rather obvious that Drogba would carry the day considering the superb form that he is displaying for both his club and country.

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Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Michael Essien along with Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o have been shortlisted for the BBC African player of the year 2009 award.

The trio who gained the most votes from a field that included Barcelona's Seydo Keita and Yaya Toure will now be crossing their fingers and hoping that they emerge victorious in the March 11th CAF gala that will take place in Accra, Ghana.

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As Rob mentioned earlier, the England vs Egypt friendly is more important than your average friendly. It's the first game since the John Terry fiasco for example, and we'll all be watching to see how he performs sans elasticated armband. There's the left back situation too. Ashley Cole is currently injured and Wayne Bridge has removed himself from the equation, so Everton's Leighton Baines and Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock both have a shot to booking themselves a World Cup ticket.

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Last month, I wrote about the kits that were on show at the Africa Cup of Nations. My enthusiasm for them was motivated purely by aesthetics and had nothing to do with Puma's boasts about the material from which the shirts were made. The Angolan kit was my favourite because the design was striking and original (it had a picture of a black antelope over the right shoulder); any claims by Puma that the shirt boosted player mobility, or transferred sweat away from the body faster, could never impress me as much as that antelope.

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By AVI CREDITOR

The double-whammy that is the red card/penalty kick may be no more.

FIFA has submitted an item for the International Football Associations Board to review that would downgrade a red card to a yellow on a foul that denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity in the box.

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By AVI CREDITOR

The double-whammy that is the red card/penalty kick may be no more.

FIFA has submitted an item for the International Football Associations Board to review that would downgrade a red card to a yellow on a foul that denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity in the box.

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News from a top-of-the-table clash in the Premier League, the Africa Cup of Nations, an old footballing rivalry that has flared into life again over recent years, plus a shocking decision from one of the World's footballing confederations.

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Now and then something happens in the world of football which transcends national boundaries, and thus it is that I'm making the first (and perhaps only) ever post on HEGS which has nothing to do with Argentina. As readers will all be aware the Togo team on their way to this year's Africa Cup of [... Click to continue reading...

FIFA has released the first World Rankings of 2010 and the USA remains in 14th place. Bob Bradley's team is the highest-ranked CONCACAF side, with Mexico coming in at 17th and Honduras at 34th.
England, USA's first World Cup opponent, remains at 9th place in the table in an unchanged top nine. Click to continue reading...

Issa Hayatou, far right.

Our post last week condemning CAF's decision to ban Togo for two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments for withdrawing from this year's event following the deadly attack on their team bus mirrored much of the world reaction: it saw the draconian punishment as rash, insensitive and wrong.

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The latest FIFA rankings have been published, with the top nine positions remaining unchanged. Egypt was the month's big winner, jumping from 24th to 10th on the strength of their impressive Africa Cup of Nations triumph. Cameroon, meanwhile, slid from 11th to 20th after making a disappointing early exit from the tournament. Click to continue reading...

Unlike previous tournaments, this Africa Cup of Nations was not so much a 'football festival' and far more, it often seemed, a three-week advert for hosts Angola. After the final, I asked the local organising committee's executive director whether the 2010 Nations Cup would be remembered for the football or the deadly attack on Togo, to which Antonio Mangueira replied 'the football and we had some wonderful fireworks too'. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Late last week we heard that Steve Ralston had left the New England Revolution, and today we learned his next destination: AC St Louis. Hometown hero returns to launch the new team.
And the new team supplied us with this picture:
AC St. Click to continue reading...

The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations is over. Though I usually love the tournament, I won't be remembering this edition fondly. For several reasons.

First and foremost, Angola 2010 will mostly be remembered for the attack on the Togo team bus, in which three people died and many more thought they were going to die.

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Big Story
Spending in the Premier League this transfer window isn't just down: it has shrunk to levels that one might even consider sane. The BBC's Simon Austin recounts the numbers as we approach the transfer deadline:

"I've just been to interview a sports consultant at Deloitte.

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Egypt won the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations yesterday, beating Ghana 1-0 in the final with the above 85th minute goal form Mohamed Nagy, a.k.a Gedo, a.k.a the world's greatest super sub. Why is the 25 year old Al-Ittihad Al-Sakndary player the world's greatest super sub? Here's why:

Gedo didn't start any of Egypt's six games at Angola 2010, and yet somehow finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals.

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Egypt win Africa Cup of Nations for record third consecutive time
Triumph highlights World Cup absence
Team of the Tournament Click to continue reading...

The Africa Cup of Nations came to an end last night in a very spectacular fashion. Defending champions Egypt made history when they became the first African nation to successfully defend the title for the third time.

The pharaohs left it late to beat a very impressive Ghana by a solitary goal thanks to their super sub Mohamed Gedo.

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St James' Park outfit line up move for pretty average striker for some reason.

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BBC Radio 5 live's senior football reporter Ian Dennis: "Newcastle have confirmed that they are in discussions with Coventry's Republic of Ireland international striker Leon Best over a move.

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Egypt successfully defended their Africa Cup of Nations title earlier today courtesy of substitute Mohamed Nagui's strike five minutes from time. The victory sees for Egypt become the first team to win the Africa Nations Cup three times in succession and seven times overall. Check out our Videos section for game highlights and soccer related footage. Click to continue reading...

31.01.2010
Ghana 0-1 Egypt (FINAL - Africa Cup of Nations)

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Big Story

While BBC African football blogger Piers Edwards' opening sentence on his post yesterday may be slightly over-the-top ("Not since Buckingham Palace took so long to respond Princess Diana's death in 1997 has an organisation so badly misjudged the mood of the public"), he does capture a bit of the public mood following Caf's decision to fine Togo $50 000 and ban them from the next two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

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Egypt take on Ghana today in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, with the Pharaohs going for their third successive victory in the tournament. On their way to the final, Egypt have beaten three teams that have qualified for this summer's World Cup – Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Algeria – while they will be absent from South Africa.

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It takes an organisation of quite incredible incompetence to make one thankful for the expertise and tact of the SFA.So take a bow the Confederation of African Football.On the eve of their showpiece final, at the start of the biggest year in the history of African football, CAF have announced that Togo will be fined $50,000 and banned from the next two tournaments. Click to continue reading...

>> Click Here To Watch Ghana Vs Egypt Live Now <<

Ghana Vs Egypt Live Streaming & Match Preview
Africa Cup of Nations – Ghana Vs Egypt Live Online Click Here
Sunday, 31st January 2010
Kick Off : 16:00 GMT
Venue : Estádio 11 de Novembro, Angola

This game for the final of the Africa Cup of Nations will be played on 31st January in the Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda (Angola) at 5:00 PM local time.

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Lamentável a decisão da CAF ao suspender o Togo por duas CANs na sequência dos acontecimentos de Cabinda.
The Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football met on 30 January 2010 and examined the withdrawal of Togo national team from the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2010. Click to continue reading...

Are the CAF guilty of a huge injustice?

Togo have been banned from the next two Africa Cup of Nations following their withdrawal from this year's tournament.
The Confederation of African football (Caf) also fined the Hawks $50,000 for quitting the competition in the wake of a gun attack on the team bus in Angola.

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Togo have been banned from taking part in the next two African Cup of Nations tournaments in 2012 and 2014 for sitting out the tournament this year after the attack on their team bus.
The Confederation of African football (CAF) have imposted this ridiculous penalty on the team because of "government inteference" in the game.

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Oh God. Just when you thought governing bodies in football couldn't get more stupid, the Togo national team has been banned for the next two Africa Cup of Nations by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Their crime? To walk away from the current tournament because three of their party had been brutally murdered and others remain in intensive care after the attack on the team bus just as the tournament opened. Click to continue reading...

FIFA and its confederations take political interference into sporting affairs pretty seriously. Perhaps too seriously, given certain circumstances.

The decision of CAF to ban Togo from the next two Africa Cup of Nations because of the decision of the Togolese government to withdraw the team from the current tournament is defended by the confederation as follows:

The Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football met on 30 January 2010 and examined the withdrawal of Togo national team from the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2010.

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No shortage of drama in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals was there? Not to mention red cards. But that's all in the past. Time to focus on the future. There's the third place playoff between Nigeria and Algeria on Saturday, but the big event is Sunday. Ghana vs Egypt in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations final.

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Wayne Rooney, revenge for Egypt and Manchester United fans all feature in the good, the bad and the ugly section of the podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

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Friday 29 January
19.30 Hamburg v Wolfsburg, Bundesliga, ESPN
The mantle of Champions has sat heavy on Wolfsburg; if fans were expecting a repeat of last season's post winter break heroics they've been sorely disappointed. Two defeats in two including going down 3-2 at home to strugglers Koln pretty much leaves their season over already. Click to continue reading...

I guess most of us were worried about losing Song to the Africa Cup of Nations. Now that he is back and I am assuming he will play against United, it is worthwhile taking a look at just how badly did we miss the Cameroon hard-man.

Song left for Angola after helping us win the Cup tie at West Ham.

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Defending Africa Cup of Nations Egypt humbled Algeria 4-0 to reach the final of the continental tournament earlier today. Algeria ended the game with eight players as Egypt exacted a harsh revenge for their World Cup playoff qualifying defeat against Les Fennecs in Sudan last November. Scorers: Hosni Abd Rabou 39pen, Mohamed Zidan 65, Mohamed Abdelshafi 81, [. Click to continue reading...

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The final of the Africa Cup of Nations, the new season in Argentina, an FA Cup replay and the big game in the Premier league all feature in this week's predictions. This week's guest predictor is Mika from Japan who is a Barcelona fan.

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By 1970's GoonerThere are three strong reasons why Arsenal will prove to be more than a match for Manchester United next Sunday at the Emirates.1. A defensive midfield player was missing against Aston Villa The absence of Alex Song who was away at the Africa Cup of Nations meant that Arsenal's midfield lacked his strong and powerful presence. Click to continue reading...

Right, that's a kind of an odd way to start a post but it refers to my almost complete disaster at predicting who would win the Africa Cup of Nations quarter finals. I only got one of the 4 matches right with Nigeria winning with difficulty over Zambia in the penalty shoot-out. In all other 3 I got it wrong.

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>> Click Here To Watch Algeria Vs Egypt Live Now <<

Algeria Vs Egypt Live Streaming & Match Preview
Africa Cup of Nations Algeria Vs Egypt Live Online Click Here
Thursday, 28th January 2010
Kick Off : 19:30 GMT
Venue : Complexo da Sr. da Graça-Benguela, Angola

This match for the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of nations will be played on Thursday 28th January in the Complexo da Sr.

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>> Click Here To Watch Ghana Vs Nigeria Live Now <<

Ghana Vs Nigeria Live Streaming & Match Preview
Africa Cup of Nations Ghana Vs Nigeria Live Online Click Here
Thursday, 28th January 2010
Kick Off : 16:00 GMT
Venue : Estádio 11 de Novembro, Angola

This match for the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of nations will be played on Thursday 28th January at 5:00 PM (local time) in the Estádio 11 de Novembro of Luanda.

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