Group D: African Cup of Nations Preview (Botswana, Ghana, Guinea, Mali) is a post from: Just Football

Time to conclude Just Football's team-by-team African Cup of Nations 2012 group previews now with a look at Group D Botswana, Ghana, Guinea and Mali.

Despite a poor start to the season, a defeat and a draw, LionsX11 are still attracting plenty of interest among those who recall the 'good old days' of Malaysia Cup. Over 7,000 filled a newly expanded Jalan Besar Stadium for the opening game with Kelantan while this report suggests ticket sales are going well ahead of the next game against KL.

::: FistedAway welcomes a guest post from Mark Patterson :::

Ireland striker Robbie Keane intends to fulfil the last major ambition of his career by making a January switch to a club for which he feels absolutely nothing.

Keane, 31, has played for nine different clubs since he left Crumlin United as a bright-eyed youngster for the bright lights and orange shirts of Wolves, but told Fisted Away that he had set his heart on a new challenge.

Which two Singaporean international keepers started their careers in the Geylang United youth team?Which two players have spent the longest with one team in Singapore and what was that team?Which SLeague team had never won at Bedok Stadium since the competition began?
This kind of trivia is commonplace in England where fans are quick to absorb all sorts of nonsense about the game and their favourite team.

To recap a game that will probably be ignored by the rest of the world.

• 120 minutes of pulsating football.
• a good referring performance
• a game played in good spirit by both teams
• an estimated 100,000 + fans in the stadium
• thousands more outside watching on big screen TVs
• 2 fans killed in crushes outside
• ticket boxes set on fire
• chaotic organisation
• Malaysia arrive and depart in armoured personnel carriers
• last penalty slips through Indonesia keeper's fingers
• heartbreak for Indonesia
• euphoria for Malaysia winning back to back SEA Games
• and all this for an Under 23 competition

Like I said, all that excitement will probably be ignored by the outside world, except perhaps the deaths, because South East Asia doesn't have its own football in their eyes.

It's been another bad week for Hibs.
So I'm happy to share some good news.
Seven years ago Hibs awarded their exclusive merchandise rights to themselves.
That meant the club shop at Easter Road was the only place fans could buy official club merchandise.
This had its benefits.

By Chris Wright

Though he'll almost definitely be joining for the football, Paris Saint-Germain have jumped the gun slightly and ordered 20,000 David Beckham™ shirts just in case David Beckham™ should join them when his contract at LA Galaxy dwindles in November.

Jack Rodwell scored his first goal in over a year with this superb half-volley in injury time as Everton beat Fulham 3-1 at Craven Cottage today.

Don't forget to check out Soccer.com! for all your Club's Replica shirts and latest releases.

Didier Drogba was shown a deserved red card for this two footed tackle on Adel Taarbt as 9 man Chelsea who had Jose Boswinga sent off earlier in the first half lost 1-0 to London rivals QPR.

Don't forget to check out Soccer.com! for all your Club's Replica shirts and latest releases.

David Silva inspired Manchester City to a comprehensive 6-1 win over neighbours United at Old Trafford as the 19 times Champions who had Jonny Evans sent off less than a minute into the second half for a foul on Mario Balotelli were humiliated in their own back yard.

Don't forget to check out Soccer.

On-loan Real Madrid striker Royston Drenthe gives Everton the lead at Goodison Park with an absolute belter against Fulham.

Don't forget to check out Soccer.com! for all your Club's Replica shirts and latest releases.

Mario Balotelli gives Manchester City the lead at Old Trafford and reveals a t-shirt which reads Why alwa
ys me which he receives a yellow card for.

Don't forget to check out Soccer.com! for all your Club's Replica shirts and latest releases.

Barcelona missed the chance to go back top of La Liga after Lionel Messi seen his injury-time spotkick saved by Seville keeper Javi Varas who put in a man of the match performance with some heroic saves to deny Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Messi had to wait several minutes to take the spot-kick which must have got to him after Frederic Kanoute was dismissed after starting a brawl moments before the penalty was to be struck, Seville also seen defender Navarro shown a red card deep into stoppage time in this pulsating tie at the Nou Camp which ended 0-0.

Manchester City and United fan's have been urged to unite and trash their Tevez shirts for brand new replica shirts ahead of this Sunday's much anticipated Manchester Derby at Old Trafford. The cheeky publicity stunt was thought of by gambling firm Betfair who are using sky blue and red skip lorries in their advertising which is set to be headline news ahead of the tie.

By Chris Wright

Brought together by a common hatred, both Manchester United and Manchester City fans are being urged to ditch their Carlos Tevez replica shirts into a skip ahead of this weekend's Manc derby as part of Betfair's 'Trash Your Tevez' jersey recycling campaign.

Steve Darby has quit as coach of Indian team Mohun Bagan before the season even begun. Reports suggest he was unwilling to work while there was a three man committee overlooking his shoulder.
Everybody watches English football on TV. Everyone wears the replica shirts of the big, successful clubs yet it seems no one understands what it takes to build a successful football club.

Tearing up the pooled TV deal is a recipe for the rich to get richer | David Conn

Since the establishment of the Premier League clubs have divided TV revenue between them, but this is under threat So, in relaxed, celebratory mood a year on from the court battle which ousted Tom Hicks and George Gillett from Liverpool and installed new Americans, Fenway Sports Group, as the club's owners, the managing director, Ian Ayre, mused out loud about breaking up the Premier League TV deal.

Michael Owen scored twice last night as a Manchester United second string easily disposed of Leeds United to reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup. It was a comfortable victory for United and one which highlights the depth of the squad and the quality that is coming through the youth ranks at Old Trafford once again.

Everton refund fans who bought Arteta or Beckford replica shirts | Football | guardian.co.uk.

For Everton fans, the last few months have represented some of the most depressing times at the Goodison Park club. Saddled with financial woes, and with almost no money to spend in the transfer market, Everton have been forced to sell their top players for several seasons now, culminating in the last minute deals that saw Mikel Arteta and Jermaine Beckford leave the club.

Many were saying last December that Singapore football was in terminal decline. The perceived wisdom among the wizened old hacks and the keyboard warriors who impotently vomit their self loathing on anonymous message boards was that following the failure to win the ASEAN Football Federation Cup, as if the Lions have the right to win it every time, and following a humiliating domestic season that saw all three trophies won by foreign teams, the game was dead, better everyone just spend their money buying replica shirts of EPL teams.

With apologies to Spooky at 'Dear Mr. Levy. Don't sue us again: we haven't got any money. Greg's spent all his on season tickets, replica shirts with 'Modric' on them and commuting from Tasmania for home games. Should Luka reply we will certainly publish it, but don't hold your breaths. Manchester Monday 22 August 2011.

Despite a disappointing draw on the first day of the season, Liverpool Football Club embarks upon a new Premier League campaign, revitalized both on and off the pitch. With the Hicks-Gillette era now firmly in the past, new owners, Fenway Sports Group appear to have dramatically altered the club's fortunes.

With football financial fair play rules on he horizon a warning once again has been sent out to football clubs about the potential financial disaster awaiting those who don't curb their wild spending.
A new report by José María Gay de Liébana - football finance specialist at the University of Barcelona - this month warns a "football bubble crash" across Europe if clubs don't start acting responsibly.

Ouch. Excellent piece on the future of football at WSC.

If you think it's barely possible for our already revenue-obsessed clubs to exploit fans further, then you weren't at FedEx Field just outside Washington DC on Saturday night to watch Barcelona play Man Utd in yet another US summer exhibition.

Why Chelsea should threaten Malaysian boycott in wake of anti-Semitism

Chelsea are a difficult football club to love. Their default mode is one of snarling introspection. Yet credit where it is due. They stood up for Yossi Benayoun's human rights. The Malaysian FA's apology, for anti-Semitic abuse, didn't go far enough A threat to refuse any more pre-season friendlies should do the trick.

Sporting Intelligence have released figures for last season's EPL Top 10 replica shirt sales, with Wayne Rooney despite his off field troubles pipping Fernando Torres to the top spot in sales with an reported several hundred thousand of his shirts sold.

Manchester United striker ahead of Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal stars in selling football replica kits - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Wayne Rooney was king of the replica kit last season. The Manchester United striker's surname was the most popular for the back of Premier League replica shirts.

During last January's transfer window a great deal of focus was on big name players and the one that caught most of the attention of the media was Fernando Torres of Liverpool. Chelsea come along and broke the bank with an English transfer fee record of £50 million. However, at the end of the 2010-2011 season Torres had 18 total appearances for Chelsea and scored just one goal.

By Chris Wright

Fulham are on the very cusp of reuniting the RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! brothers in West London by signing John Arne and his ginger warhammer of a left-foot from Roma on a three-year deal, which is good news for everyone because he is, of course, absolutely fudgin' brilliant.

According to Marca, Real Madrid will announce record club income and profits next week.

Real Madrid is expected to report income of over 442 million euros for last season, which is a world record for a football club. Those record revenues translated into a pre-tax profit of around 30 million euros, which will be a record for the Spanish top club.

Written by mickydidit89 Let me begin with a rather unsavoury tale.

I used to live in the Ladbroke Grove area, and in the supermarket there was quite often a fifty something year old man in full schoolboy kit. Cap, shorts, blazer, the works, and I always felt it was reasonable to ask questions, and that I could make cautionary assumptions.

Good to see Geylang United in the SLeague trying different revenue streams. The club will start selling replica shirts for 50 SGD which is probably half the price of shirts from England, Italy and Spain.
In all my years of visiting Singapore I have only ever seen fans on non match day wearing club colours on a handful of occasions and they have all been wearing the green of Geylang United.

Hull based stadium branding specialist Sports Identity will provide giant replica shirts for football fans at Liverpool FC, Coventry City, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and rugby crowds at Hull KR.
The giant shirts, each measuring around 270m2, are printed in 1.5m to 2m wide runs and stitched together by Sports Identity's specialist team.

Here's a thought. (Yep, I do have them once in a while.)
Given that four foreign teams enter the Singapore Cup every year why don't the organisers start to think that little bit bigger and start looking further afield for entrants?
The 2010 Cup featured Bangkok Glass, who won the Cup, South Melbourne, Phnom Penh Crown and Kitchee from Hong Kong.

"I know what to show,
And what to conceal."
Garbage, The World is Not Enough

It is now apparent that the following computer models approximate the shirt the USA women's national team will wear to the 2011 World Cup:

Props to Jenna at All White Kit who broke this monstrosity.

Persija are one of the biggest teams in the country without a doubt. They have some of the biggest names in Indonesian football. Their Jakmania supporters club is one of the most active in the country. Their orange shirts are one of the most identifiable in the country. They are, in short, a footballing brand worth a shit load of money.

We football fans are a funny bunch. Most of us have our little idiosyncrasies and superstitions when it comes to our favourite teams and what we believe will help them win. Some of us have our lucky pants or can only sit in a certain position while a game's on TV. There are those who go out of their way to do the same thing for every game even if that means disrupting their normal life.

LONDON, England Fernando Torres has explained he could wait no longer for Liverpool to reclaim their place amongst the English elite, and he hopes that Reds fans will eventually come to understand that he has joined Chelsea to win trophies and further his career. Torres, signed for a British record £50 million on transfer [.

Fernando Torres is expected to start against his recently former club Liverpool this weekend.

The Spaniard who played 84 times for the reds will be eager to get off to an emphatic start at his new home of Stamford Bridge.

By Chris Wright

Lovely colour, but does it burn easily?

According to the Daily Mirror, Chelsea are set to recoup the whopping £50 million they splashed out on old 'Dodgy Hamstrings McGraw' on Monday in a matter of months, thanks to a massive surge in sales of 'Torres' replica shirts in the West London area.