Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o headline the shortlist of five players up for this year's African
Player of the Year award. The award comes at an exciting time for the continent following this
summer's vibrant World Cup in South Africa, and Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan also makes the
shortlist as he represented his nation, Ghana, proudly.
Whilst the great and the good of FIFA were gathered in Zurich to select World Cup hosts of the
future in East Africa one of the oldest international tournaments in the world was kicking off in
Dar Es Salaam.
First played in 1926 as the Gossage Cup (due to sponsorship from soap manufacturer Gossage), the
CECAFA Cup it is the oldest international tournament in Africa, yet probably one of the least
pretigious.
Some player news from over the weekend, first, Teal Bunbury's trial/training period at Stoke City
is now over, but the news out of the UK continues to talk about Bunbury's time there as a trial,
not training. Word is that Tony Pulis, Stoke City's manager, has played down the potential to sign
Bunbury, which would seem to fit in with the whole "he's not on trial" line that Sporting KC has
stated since he scored for Stoke in their reserve match.
Last year we had the drama surrounding Didier Drogba's participation in the African Cup of Nations.
Or African Nations Cup. Whatever it was called. This year, Asia takes it's top teams to Qatar in
January 2011, and it will have an impact on the Premier League. Park Ji-Sung is already with South
Korea, and Lee Chung-Yong will join him.
Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By JOHN BOSCHINI
The Los Angeles Galaxy went into the off-season looking for defensive depth and took a good step
toward that on Thursday by signing veteran fullback Frankie Hejduk.
Acquired in the Re-Entry Draft from Columbus, Hejduk should give the Galaxy the defensive leader
the club has needed to help mold a strong, but young stable of defenders.
