The African Cup of Nations - Ghana 2008 [R]

[benni...]

The Groups:

A: Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, Guinea
B: Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast
C: Egypt, Sudan, Cameroon, Zambia
D: Tunisia, Angola, South Africa, Senegal

Only United player their would be our most recent signing, Manucho Goncalves. This tournement is usually entertaining. Not many African teams use a negative approach even if they are underdogs.


This is a thread to keep track of results, injures to EPL players of note, and general discussions. Streaming information will be useful as no one can confirm if its even being televised in the states.

Go Nigeria :o -[In the group of death]

[Twix]

I really wanna see what our Goncalves is all about. Hope he tears it up.



Plus the Super Eagles will make it to the semis at least.

[muusa]

Will this be televised in the US? Setanta?

[jeff070]

The Groups:

A: Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, Guinea
B: Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast
C: Egypt, Sudan, Cameroon, Zambia
D: Tunisia, Angola, South Africa, Senegal

Only United player their would be our most recent signing, Manucho Goncalves. This tournement is usually entertaining. Not many African teams use a negative approach even if they are underdogs.


This is a thread to keep track of results, injures to EPL players of note, and general discussions. Streaming information will be useful as no one can confirm if its even being televised in the states.

Go Nigeria :o -[In the group of death]


when does the tournament start????

[benni...]

You could have clicked on the link to find out that it starts in

26 days 11 hours 52 minutes

[Invincible]

I hope I can catch a few Angola matches to see wassup with this Manucho.

[SirManchester]

Group D is pretty interesting too. It's difficult to predict who'll go through there and South African fans will tell you they got the group of death. I'm looking forward to this.

[Radbennie]

Cant wait for this tourney too. Lets hope My home country can tear it up in group D and win the Cup. I think we have the group of death with the likes of Tunisia and Senegal. Dont know much about Angola, but I assume they shuld be a good team.

Best memories I have when I was still living in South Africa was when, the Africans Cup of Nations was held there and I went with my dad and granddad to the finals were South Africa beat Tunisia in the final :D. It was weird because they played the 3rd and 4th place game before the final game. Do you guys know if they still do that?

[sdotsom]

Lookin forward to this tournament. It's always fun to watch, these teams just run their hearts out and it's so rare to see negative football. They always have a go no matter what.

Mainly want to see our boy Manucho and some good football.

[billyireland]

Chelsea players out - Essien, Mikunt, Drogba (if he is back), Kalou.
Games they miss: Birmingham, Jan 19 (A)... Everton, Jan 22 (A)... Reading, Jan 30 (H)... *Portsmouth, Feb 2 (A)... **Liverpool, Feb 10 (H).

Arsenal players out - Toure, Song, Eboue.
Games they miss: Fulham, Jan 19 (A)... Spurs(!), Jan 22 (A)... Newcastle, Jan 29 (H)... *Man City, Feb 2 (A)... **Blackburn, Feb 11 (H).

Liverpool players out - Sissoko.
Games they miss: Villa, Jan 21 (H)... West Ham, Jan 29 (A)... *Sunderland, Feb 2 (H)... **Chelsea, Feb 10 (A).

* = depending on what teams progress past the ANC groups stages

** = depending on what teams participate in the ANC final & 3rd-place playoff.

With Spurs being such a big rivalry match (despite the lop-sided scores in Arsenals favour) or if City can keep up that stellar home form, Arsenal could realistically drop some crucial points in this period. Similarly with Chelsea having to travel to both Goodison and Fratton Park (although Portsmouth will also be very weakened) while having those players out, as well as having to play host to Liverpool on the day of the ANC final and day after the 3rd-place playoff, Chelsea could also see the wheels come off, especially if their injuries and usspensions continue to pile up and/or cost them even more points in the two upcoming games in the next few days (Newcastle (H), Fulham (A)). Only Liverpool are as unaffected by the ANC as us out of the big teams, but tbh they are nto a title threat, and they may even wind up helping us if they beat/draw with Chelsea. All in all, it should work out well for us... :)

Our opponents players out:
Reading, Jan 19 (A), EPL: Sonko, Fae, Bikey.
Possible FA Cup 4th round opponents, January 23rd.
Portsmouth, Jan 30 (H), EPL: *Lauren, Traore, Diop, Muntari, Utaka, Mwaruwari, Kanu.
*Cameroon's new coach is apparently saying he will return to the NT.
Spurs, Feb 2 (A), EPL: Assou-Ekotto, Zokora.
- if Cameroon and/or Senegal progress to the knockout stages.
Man City, Feb 10 (H), EPL: No African players, although this is the date of the final & day after the 3rd place playoff, so Manucho will still be away.

The players Reading will be missing should help a bit, even though we should look to win that game regardless. Portsmouth however have been a tough nut for us to crack, but with them having up to seven (!) players out at the ANC it should make life a lot easier on our guys and the fixture really could not have come at a better time. Also, Spurs not having Zokora should make life easier on our central midfield, as outside of Anderson we do not have much atheticism that contributes to the attack.

[sdotsom]

Nice post.

Liverpool fans must be overjoyed that Sissoko is gone - Rafa's been rotating him in even though he's been in shite form this season.

[leafdolfan]

Adebayor will still be with Arsenal during the cup of nations because Togo didn't qulaify :mad:

[billyireland]

Arf, my bad :o. There might be one or two other inaccuracies wrt players, because I couldn't find a definitive squad list ofr hte whole tournament. Wikipedia had some of the teams, but not all...

[alincoln]

We got quite lucky with the scheduling of the Portsmouth match.

[Rakim_22]

We got quite lucky with the scheduling of the Portsmouth match.
I know it makes the game easier for us but I wish Portmouth had all their regulars for the game. Would have been a real cracker of a game to watch. Hope its a good game. :)

[mhtwins113]

Billy, the Spurs game for Arsenal is the League Cup (as is Chelsea's match with Everton) so it won't impact their league positioning at all, otherwise great summary.

[Bluto11]

With Spurs being such a big rivalry match (despite the lop-sided scores in Arsenals favour) or if City can keep up that stellar home form, Arsenal could realistically drop some crucial points in this period.

the Spurs match is a semi of the Carling Cup. of the 3 missing plays, Song would be the only one would would probably play. have to play some English players at some point ;) :p

[benni...]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,13962_3029917,00.html

Gerard Gili has been appointed as Ivory Coast coach on a temporary basis just two weeks before the start of the African Cup of Nations.



Ulrich Stielike resigned after his son fell into a coma, and the Ivorian Football Association has moved quickly to bring in Gili.


Our group isnt looking as tough anymore. Sorry to hear about the former coaches son. Hope he wakes up fine soon.

[sdotsom]

Me and 29 other dudes at the bar I watch footy at now have each thrown down 50 bucks to try and get a Setanta Receiver/Box for the premium games from now on. It includes the ACN so hopefully we can get it set up in time at our bar and get in some Angola games.

[benni...]

Reciever box? Link me...