Saturday morning Landon Donovan will arrive in Goodison Park to begin his loan spell with Everton. As he settles into his seat and watches his new team take on Carlisle United in the FA Cup, he will be working on his checklist of what he wants to accomplish over the next 75 days. This loan spell at Everton, along with his performance in South Africa this summer, will be critical in determining the future direction of Donovan's career, and he knows there are a number of boxes he needs to check in order to make this loan a success.

Arsene Wenger starts to plan impressive January additions to his Emirates squad.

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti have been put on red alerts after Inter Milan forward Mario Balotelli's future was thrown into doubt following an outburst by his Cameroonian teammate Samuel Eto'o.

The Togo national team bus has been machine-gunned by Angolan rebels on the Congolese border ahead of the African Cup of Nations.

So, will he or won't he?

Will Landon Donovan, now on loan at Everton, get on the field at the Emirates this weekend?

He's easily the most polarizing figure in American soccer and the debate on whether he's the best player ever to pull on a national team shirt or a spoiled kid that doesn't care about the game enough to reach his full potential can be saved for another post.

The hosts managed to blow a four goal lead in fifteen minutes to share a point with Mali; Angola were leading 4-1 with two minutes left, then Freddy Kanoute (Sevilla), Sadou Keita (Barcelona) and Mustapha Yatabare (Clermont Foot Auvergne 63 in France's Ligue 2) scored to level the game, with the last two goals coming in four minutes of injury time.

By Ollie Irish

Some of the most clickworthy footie links I saw on this snowy London Wednesday...

Inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo news: C-Ron does a Beckham, models in his pants for cash homoerotic rating off the charts [Kickette]

Emmanuel Adebayor spotted wearing Arsenal shirt?

Pep Guardiola

How can it be? ... How can it be true that Barcelona have been eliminated from the Copa del Rey? ... Is that even allowed? ... Have they forgotten that we play beautiful football and, therefore, must always win for the good of the game? ... There must be some mistake.

Book Review: Feet of the Chameleon by Ian Hawkey
Every two years, managers from across the continent seem to join forces in their criticism of that which has become the most despised competition in European football: the African Cup of Nations. Being deprived of some of their best players for up to a month in the middle of the season can have a highly unnerving effect on managers, particularly if results start going against them during that period.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The deadly attack on the Togo national team prior to the start of the African Cup of Nations left the soccer world stunned, and few disagreed when Togo decided to pull out of the tournament.

The African Football Confederation (CAF) is among those few.

Woke up early to do the Sweeper for Pitch Invasion, and tried to give a taste of the newspaper hyperbole setting up today's Man United, Leeds clash. Of course, after all that, Leeds went and won 1-0 at Elland Road. I caught portions of the first half and you could tell it was one of those games where something comes out of the pitch, into everyone's feet, one of those beautiful aberrations that explode the stat records.

The mascot for the African Cup of Nations is not an artistic impression of a cheerful looking Drogba as previously reported.
It is instead an artistic impression of the Giant Sable antelope, which is a national symbol of Angola.It has the scientific name, Hippotragus Niger Variani.

Can host nation Angola emerge from a tricky group?
The tournament preview is up, you've seen the African Cup of Nations 2010 match schedule, now let's crack onto the group previews. Here is our team-by-team guide to the competition, which kicks off in Angola this weekend.
Group A
Algeria - Angola - Malawi - Mali
Algeria
Algeria is a country that has been sat until recently in the shadows of international wilderness.

While scouring that new fangled interweb thing for interesting 2010 World Cup news, I came across this piece on GhanaWeb.com.In it, the author suggests that the fact that many of Ghana's key players - Michael Essien and John Mensah among them - are injured for the African Cup Of Nations is, in fact, a very good thing for Ghana.

Sometimes reviews are instances where you not only learn about certain products, but you also learn to acquire new tastes and finally realize what you were missing. In previous reviews I always talked about how good certain boots were for everyone- except me. I talked about what they offered Joe Fan.

Since it's the Silly Season, we're grinding the rumor mill over here at Starting Eleven:

1. Rafa Benitez will not be fired at Liverpool. Instead, to solve the club's ever-inflating debt, LFC will be sold to Barcelona and Liverpool will officially become FC Barcelona-Liverpool. See, since Barcelona pulled out of its MLS-Miami deal, they have all this petty cash hanging around.

The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off this Sunday, January 10th in Angola. You can find the full match schedule here.

Below you'll find the squads for all 16 qualified nations, divided by group. A quick glance down the list reveals a lot of familiar names and a lot of European clubs.

Gunmen opened fire with machine guns on a bus carrying Togo's football team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, wounding several players.

Officials say the shooting occurred in the Angolan oil-rich territory of Cabinda, where rebels have been fighting for independence. The Angolan government called the incident an "act of terrorism".

Terrible news ahead of the African Cup of Nations. A bus driver was murdered and two players from the Togo national team were shot and injured during a machine-gun attack against their bus today.
An ESPN report says Angolan rebels are responsible for the attack, which happened on the Congo border.

So on the eve of the African Cup of Nations 2010, African football's jewel in the crown, tragedy strikes. As was reported earlier, the Togo national team bus was ambushed by gunmen and shot at on it's way from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the team's base in Cabinda, where they were due to play their Group B Cup of Nations matches.

Gunmen opened fire on the coach carrying Togo's national football squad to African Cup of Nations in Angola, killing the driver and wounding nine others, including two players.

L'Equipe said the wounded players were Serge Akakpo, who plays for Romanian first division side Vaslui, and reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, who is with French fourth division team Pontivy.

Folks, I have a question from a reader. Denise Grady, a loyal fan of the Colorado Rapids and the University of Colorado soccer team, wants to know if there are any public viewing venues for games of the African Cup of Nations.

Denise says the games are available online at MyAfricanFootball.

If it can be said that one of the principle aims of terrorism is to raise the profile of a specific cause, then through any means necessary, the actions of Chibandan seperatists yesterday could probably be said to be a success. Their ambush of a coach carrying the Togo national football team to the African Cup of Nations has sent shockwaves out through African football and on to the rest of the world.

It has been a day of conflicting news and uncertainty following yesterday's deadly attack on the team bus of the Togolese national team.

With players and other staff members of the Togolese national team, officials of the Togolese FA and government, officials of the Angolan FA and government, CAF, FIFA, Sepp Blatter and a range of European clubs all releasing statements and bits and pieces of sometimes contradictory information, it's difficult to give a definitive picture of the current situation.

The news started coming through early on Saturday morning and as the information became clearer, it was soon apparent that the whole African Cup Of Nations would now be tainted. When the dust had settled, 3 members of the Togo party were dead and several were seriously injured. Angolan rebels had attacked the team bus as it drove through the dangerous territory of Cabinda.

The 2010 African Cup of Nations (ACN) couldn't possibly have had a more turbulent start, what with the Togo bus tragedy and then one of the most bonkers games in the tournament's history.

Firstly, a few words about the shocking attack on Togo's team coach, which killed three people and injured eight more, including goalkeeper Dodji Obilale; Obilale is currently in a stable condition in a South African hospital, having been shot in the back.

Defending African Cup of Nations champion Egypt came from 0-1 down to open the defence of their title with a 3-1 victory of Nigeria earlier today. Hoffenheim striker Chinedu Obasi put the Super Eagles up in the 12th minute. Emad Moteab, Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Nagui responded for the Pharaohs in the 34th, 54th and [.

"If it meant going back tomorrow, I wouldn't be capable of giving everything that I've got," Adebayor said in an interview with SNTV on Wednesday.

"At the moment, I'm just sweating every day and every day that God made. At the moment, I can't even eat — I'm losing weight, which is very difficult for everyone.

As WAAtP pointed out, Algeria lost 3-0 to Malawi in the African Cup of Nations.
There is absolutely no reason the USMNT shouldn't easily win that game in South Africa.
Now, about Slovenia...

Kit designers always go a bit nuts when it comes to goalkeeper kits. In Africa, more so all the 'wild Africa' clichés really came to the fore here.

Introducing our favourite goalie kits in African Cup of Nations history:

Ivory Coast, 1992
Nice collar.

When you're good enough to ply your trade in Europe and play international football, you've got an easy life, right? Ask Malian captain and Real Madrid player Mahamadou Diarra (pictured.)

Diarra's life was so glamourous yesterday, in fact, that he and his team were reduced to begging security staff to allow them onto the pitch for their scheduled training time.

Cameroon were 1-0 down to Zambia last night, and genuinely in danger of an early Africa Cup of Nations 2010 exit. Until. In the 68th minute, Geremi (who plays for either Newcastle or Ankaragücü, depending on who you ask) sprinted to prevent the ball going out for a throw and swung a hopeful ball in the general direction of the penalty area.

Group A was decided on Monday as Angola and Algeria punched their tickets into the next round as they both shared honors in their final group match. This left Mali out despite their impressive win against Malawi 3-1. They would be gone because of the first tiebreaker being head-to-head matchups- that topic became a big discussion point afterwards.

Since the season began – and Chelsea made such a good start to their Premier League campaign – much has been made of the potential impact of this month's African Cup of Nations on Ancelotti's title hopes. The loss of the influential Drogba and Essien, who have scored 23 goals and made 8 assists for Chelsea so far this season between them, would surely spell disaster for Chelsea's title charge.

By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Jan 22, 2010) US Soccer Players -- About a week ago, my friend of mine in London asked me if I was following the goings on with the African Cup of Nations. As I've made clear in this space previously, it's a tournament I look forward to every two years and this was to be no exception.

Liverpool are reportedly leading the way in a race to sign Nigerian defender Taye Taiwo.
The Marseille left back has been on the Premier League radar for some time after admitting his desire to play in the Premier League at the end of last season, and now Liverpool appear ready to make their move as other European clubs target the player.

There were two major surprises in the African Cup quarterfinals today.In the first one, the home side of Angola were surprisingly eliminated by Ghana, who without their star Michael Essien managed a somewhat fortunate and hard-fought 1-0 victory on a goal by Stade Rennais' Asamoah Gyan. Ghana is set to play the winner of Zambia-Nigeria, and a match against their West African rivals Nigeria would

By AVI CREDITOR

One of Paraguay's most prolific scorers is in a fight for his life.

Salvador Cabanas, a starting striker for the Paraguyan national team and Club America in Mexico, was shot in the head in the bathroom of a Mexico City bar on Monday. He is listed in critical condition.

Cameroon midfielder Alex Song is on his way back to London after his National team were eliminated from the African Cup of Nations, but it is unclear whether the 22-year old will be fit to ...

I'm a couple of days late with the weekly tour of the football blogosphere. Life intervenes sometimes. Bugs me because I watched the Milan Derby and came away with a couple of conclusions: One, when Julio Cesar is on, he's the best in the world (and that's coming from a huge Casillas fan); and Two, Mourinho is just the best.

As the African Cup of Nations 2010 reaches the semi finals stage I thought we might revive an interesting feature that we ran for the 2008 tournament in Ghana on Just Football, namely Goalwatch. Its an oldie but a goodie, in which we tracked every goalscorer as well as the domestic league they play in, in order to bring you a list of the leagues that contribute most to African Cup of Nations success.