The Ivory Coast once again came short of living up to high expectations with a shock loss to Zambia in the African Cup of Nations final. Making it all the painful was the fact that team captain Didier Drogba blasted a penalty kick over the crossbar in the 70th minute of the scoreless deadlock before eventually losing 8-7 in a nervy shootout.

"Check that's not Jackie Chan, will you?" after one particularly high challenge in the African Cup of Nations (ACN) semi-finals. Ah yes. Gary O'Reilly was back on Eurosport. And welcome back too. However, the most telling comment of any international football tournament is "no goals against." And that's a quote from Cote D'Ivoire.

Two goals from Didier Drogba and a fine free kick from Yaya Toure gave Ivory Coast a comfortable 3-0 win over Co-host Equatorial Guinea to send the Elephants through to the Semi final where they will face either Gabon or Mali.

In the day's earlier match Zambia beat 10 man Sudan with a scoreline to make it through to the semis for the first time since 1996.

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.

Ahh. I've finished my exams. I can say it's been a very long week, and I'll be getting my grades back tomorrow. Fingers crossed, people.

But, beside talking about me, I want to point out that this was an immensely significant week for American soccer, and one that really gives us a glimpse into where it'll be going in the near future.

Any Deltras fans out there remember a Kenyan striker called Hilary Echesa? Had a short, very short, spell with the club a couple of years back and managed to impress no one. Admittedly a poor Deltras team that season, no fan who made the journey to Lebak Bulus to see them play Persitara (pictured) could have imagined they would now have the likes of Budi Sudarsono, Mijo Dadic and Sean Rooney in their team.

Welcome to "The Gents" with Stan Bentley - The Yorkies' regular advice column for our valued readers. Bring your modern day problems and have them answered by the most valued voice - a 1950's journeyman footballer. "Back of the net!"
Hi Stan
I've been dating my girlfriend for two years and am ready to pop the question.

Elephant Football in South Nepal. Sign us up.

It's by no means a new tradition. However, for some inexplicable reason, this is the first time we have come across any kind of Elephant Football, never mind the Nepalese brand of it. Inexcusable, really. It turns out Elephant Football has been around for seven years as part of an an international elephant festival in Nepal's Chitwan National Park, which brings in thousands of tourists from across the world each year, not to mention millions of pounds for the impoverished country.

All eyes will be on Asamoah Gyan at the upcoming African Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in January as he attempts to help Ghana go one better than their second place finish two years ago.
The Ghanaian striker was voted African player of the year in 2010 and was one of the players to make the biggest impact on the World Cup in South Africa as he helped his side become only the third African country to make the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Ivory Coast are the heavy favourites going into the African Cup of Nations in 2012 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.
The Elephants will be able to call upon on the service of a number of high profile European players such as the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho and Didier Drogba.

African Cup of Nations 2012: New Cote d'Ivoire Home Kit is a post from: Just Football

More from PUMA's African football 2012 kit launch now on Just Football, with a look at the new Côte d'Ivoire home kit. Undoubtedly one of the favourites for the African Cup of Nations 2012 in a few months time considering the absence of other big names such as Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt, Côte d'Ivoire will be hoping this will be the kit that sees the Elephants finally cement their as yet unsecured position as one of Africa's best international sides of the last decade.

The stage is set for next year's Africa Cup of Nations which will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea after the final round of fixtures played this weekend confirmed the 16 nations that will grace the 28th edition of the continent's ultimate footballing tournament.

The 16 nations are: Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Morocco, Libya, Ghana, Angola, Botswana, Tunisia, Sudan, Zambia and Niger.

Greg's back to wish Mickey and Wayne Rooney 'Happy Birthday; to welcome the return of Sandro, the return to scoring form of Defoe and Luka and the revival of the ancient Spurs tradition of passing in triangles. Prodigal Croatians; Elephants in Togo; train crashes in Manchester; bananas in Wigan. It's all here folks: read and enjoy.

Which probably raises the question what the Lex Leverkusen was in the first place? It has to do with the 50+1 rule, which again probably raises the question what that rule is as well. And then, what has it all to do with the Bundesliga?

The 50+1 rule means you can't buy more than 49% of a Bundesliga club.

Some good. Mostly bad. Sums up international friendlies rather well I'd say.

Milestone

Our England trio were spared the opportunity to pick up various knocks when the Three Lions' exhibition against the Netherlands at Wembley was called off due to rioting throughout the country.

This week: Angban Bekanty Victorien- Ivory Coast (Stade d'Abidjan) What did the Victorians do for us? Well, they definitely had an infectious love for all things elephants. So it would be safe to say that the Empress of India (Queen Victoria herself) ... Continue reading →

In surprisingly quick fashion, Arsenal have signed Gervais Yao Kouassi. Instead of the customary Five month wait for Arsenal.com to announce the signing we all knew about, the have only had to wait one month. The signing has been done at a rumored 10.8million. We should all commend the publishers at Arsenal.

As if the result in Madrid wasn't bad enough, Spurs remain in the news because the goalscorer has spoken about the abuse he received. Quite how Emmanuel Abebayor heard the song infamously named after him is surprising in itself. From what I hear from people who were there, the din at the Bernabeu was like nothing they had experienced elsewhere.

"And that was that." -- Ace Rothstein, "Casino."The tent is packed up. The elephants are in their cages. The clowns have squeezed into their tiny car.The circus has left town.Or at least that's the way it seems this weekend in as the English Premier League turns.Right up front I have to get this out of the way, the dog kind of ate my homework this week.

Today, a return of Dotmund's usually-terrible Illustrated Friday Essay. Today, he's picked on a really controversial and topical subject: teams with elephants on their badges. Because, and I quote, "I like elephants". If you are viewing this from a mobile phone, you may want to click here, to get to the desktop version of the site to view this.