I think all of those who watched yesterday's African Cup of Nations Final match between Ivory
Coast and Zambia share my feeling: we were privileged to be allowed to participate in one of the
more remarkable moments in modern sporting history. It was one, of course, that went largely under
the radar in the U.
Ep.23 Deadline Daze by Off The Post on Mixcloud The Pod lived the ultimate football punditry dream
last night – recording whilst all the frenetic bedlam of Deadline Day played out. With producer
Stu alerting us of live developments throughout, the Pod's narrative zig-zagged back and forth like
Bellamy's rubber band dance in the FA [.
By Greg Evans
Earlier in the week the group stages of this year's Africa Cup of Nations concluded and, before
we go any further and the sadly unavoidable 'why cover this pointless tournament?/the quality's
terrible' mentality begins to set in, let me just go on record as saying that some of the
performances and matches I have seen in the past two weeks have eclipsed anything I have seen in
our beloved Premier League for a very long time.
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.
The accolades keep coming for Pep Guardiola's Barcelona as they were yesterday named the Laureus
team of the year. Here is what Barcelona President Sandro Rosell had to say after the award
ceremony:
"The nominations of Abidal, Messi and the club are an honour, and it will help us keep on
working and thinking about how to keep up this level in the future.
By Greg Evans
So, here we stand. Just one game away from finding out who will win the 2012 Africa Cup of
Nations a tournament which stampeded out of the blocks with a thrilling start, but has since turned
into something of a pale imitation of itself with a few drab games starting to crop up as the
stakes get higher.
