Well, Angola 2010 certainly came to life in the quarter final round. Exciting games, spectacular goals, upsets, controversy and the added drama of extra time and a penalty shoot out – and to cap it all off, it left us with semi final pairings featuring two of the most contentious and hard-fought rivalries in African soccer.
Ghana got things started with the first upset on Sunday, beating hosts Angola in front of a disappointed crowd in Luanda, but it was Algeria’s elimination of favourites Ivory Coast that really caught the eye. After losing 3-0 to Malawi in their first game, there were those who had questioned the Algerians World Cup credentials. They certainly addressed those questions with a superb performance well worthy of the win, despite going behind S as early as the 4th minute. Indeed, that the game only finished 3-2 is down to some shockingly profligate finishing on the part of the Algeria strikers, especially in extra time.
The Ivoriens will feel hard done by, especially after Kader Keita’s spectacular 25 yard scorcher, the best goal seen at these finals so far, seemed to have won them the game in the last minute of regulation. And then there’s Kolo Toure’s “goal”, right at the end of extra time, which should surely have stood – he wasn’t even close to offside. Yet they have to ask serious questions of their defending, particularly Boubacar Barry’s reluctance to come out for crosses.
The other two games finished as expected with Egypt and Nigeria reaching the last four – but the matches hardly went to script. Cameroon dominated for long periods against the defending champions – who didn’t have a corner kick until extra time – even if both sides had chances to win it. In the end, all four goals came down to errors. Ahmed Hassan headed into his own net for Cameroon’s goal, and Geremi’s short back pass gifted Mohammed Gedo Egypt’s second goal early in extra time. Before that, Cameroon ‘keeper Idris Kameni was at fault for Hassan’s 35 yard equalizer, and the Espanyol keeper should have done better on Hassan’s free-kick that led to the third goal as well. Of course, the real villain for that disgraceful third goal decision has to be referee Jerome Damon, who hardly hesitated before declaring a goal after the ball struck the cross bar and bounced clear.
Of course, this should once again highlight the clear need for some manner of video assistance on these kinds of decisions, yet it’s been 10 years since a similar decision helped Cameroon (well, well…) win the 2000 Nations Cup in Lagos and nothing’s happened in all that time. I’m not holding my breath but what I don’t understand is: how can the ref give a decision like that if he didn’t see it? Really, it would be one thing if the ball had crossed the line and the ref failed to give a goal because he couldn’t see it. For me, that’s understandable – even if it is the wrong decision. But to give a decision you didn’t see? I just don’t get that.
Nigeria had to go through the lottery of penalty kicks to get past a spirited and ultimately unlucky Zambia, who certainly had enough chances to beat their more illustrious counterparts. Needless to say, the manner of the win heaped even more pressure on the embattled Shaibu Amodu and the Eagles will definitely have to play better if they are to get the better of the young Black Stars in today’s semi final.
That will be the first of two games charged with history, tradition and keen rivalry. The Ghanaians have sent a young squad here, which takes a little something away from the occasion, and – on paper, at least – makes them the underdogs this time. Yet, this is still Nigeria v Ghana and you can bet it will be a fiercely fought game. The Super Eagles have only shown glimpses of quality here and will need to be sharper to get past a well-organised and resilient Ghana team. It will be interesting to see if Amodu finally dispenses with the ineffective Aiyegbeni Yakubu and finds room for the pacy Obafemi Martins and Obinna Nsofor in the Eagles attack. The Black Stars don’t score a lot of goals so I don’t expect a high scoring game. It might be another ugly game, but I think the Super Eagles will just about edge this one – no bias!
As for the other game, well, in case anyone had forgotten about the Algeria-Egypt rivalry, last November’s World Cup playoff in Libya should have refreshed memories. This one will not be any less bitterly fought, especially with the Algerians re-discovering their confidence with that defeat of Ivory Coast. Derby games are seldom just about form though, and Egypt will be itching to put one over the team that denied them a World Cup place. It should be a good game to watch and may well go into extra time, but I think Egypt will get their revenge.
There you go. What’s your take?
2 comments:
Now that Shehata will not take the Nigerian job, we just might be able to explore the SE problems with cooler senses prevailing. Amodu cannot be that bad if we are now #2 in africa and ranked #15 in the world by FIFA. It is ironic that Shehata is been mooted to take us to world cup, the same guy who could not take Egypt to the mundial. As for me, I am all fo rthe Foreign based coaches as long as we extend it to the bureacreacy like NFF and the Federal Executive Council. Not many will argue that Blair or Clintoc can do better a better job than our & pointed agenda man who has been anonymous for over 2.5 months now.
I meant President Clinton, and 7 point agenda man, Yar Adua.
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