FULL-TIME Equatorial Guinea 3-1 Ghana Semi-Finals on Thursday: Nigeria v Cameroon South Africa v Equatorial Guinea
HEAD-TO-HEADS Nigeria v Cameroon Nigeria - 8 Cameroon - 0 Draws - 2 GOALS - Nigeria 30-3 Cameroon 15/06/1991 - Nigeria 2-0 Cameroon (World Cup Qualifier in Nigeria) 30/06/1991 - Cameroon 0-4 Nigeria (World Cup Qualifier in Cameroon) 27/10/1998 - Nigeria 6-0 Cameroon (World Cup Qualifier in Nigeria) 18/11/2000 - Nigeria 3-0 Cameroon (African Championship in South Africa) 06/10/2003 - Nigeria 1-0 Cameroon (African Games in Nigeria - Nigeria used U-23 team) 22/09/2004 - Cameroon 2-2 Nigeria (African Championship in South Africa) 03/10/2004 - Nigeria 5-0 Cameroon (African Championship in South Africa) 25/09/2005 - Nigeria 1-0 Cameroon (Friendly Match in Nigeria) 07/11/2006 - Nigeria 5-0 Cameroon (World Cup Qualifier in Nigeria) 28/11/2008 - Cameroon 1-1 Nigeria (African Championship in Equatorial Guinea) South Africa v Equatorial Guinea South Africa - 2 Equatorial Guinea - 2 Draws - 0 GOALS - South Africa 8-6 Equatorial Guinea 31/10/2006 - South Africa 2-0 Equatorial Guinea (World Cup Qualifier in Nigeria) 18/02/2007- Equatorial Guinea 2-1 South Africa (Olympic Games Qualifier in Equatorial Guinea) 11/03/2007- South Africa 4-2 Equatorial Guinea (Olympic Games Qualifier in South Africa) 29/11/2008 - Equatorial Guinea 2-1 South Africa (African Championship in Equatorial Guinea)
And Nigeria qualified for Germany after a 5:1 win vs Cameroon. Their last two world cups were really bad, but I think this time they have a chance to reach the quarterfinal. Depends on the group, though. In the other match in 3 hours Equatorial Guinea and South Africa both hope to reach their first WWC ever. Ghana still accuse Equatorial Guinea of using men
South Africa 0:0 Equatorial Guinea HT South Africa have had 60% of the possession and most of the better chances so far.
Just over ten minutes remaining and there is still no score in the match between South Africa and Equatorial Guinea. This has extra time written all over it. EDIT: and extra time it is.
My pre-tournament prediction was a 5:0 semifinal victory over Cameroon. Almost got it spot on. I always thought that Nigeria would save something extra for the semifinal. How was their last World Cup really bad? They were drawn with three of the top five teams in the world, and they got a draw and two close losses.
2007 was better than 2003 that's true. But still 1 point and 1 goal in 6 matches is what I call "two really bad world cups". In 1999 they did much better in a nearly equally hard group.
Goal for Equatorial Guinea at the end of first extra time. eta: And now it's 2-0 for EG on an own goal. Looks like we are seeing another home collapse by SA under the bright lights, as I predicted. And now 3-1 and into stoppage time. 3-1 FT.
FT 3:1 for Equatorial Guinea Congratulations Equatorial Guinea for qualifying to your first ever world cup (on any level).
South African preview before the match : Banyana Banyana go into today's African Women's Championship semifinal at the Sinaba Stadium against a controversial Equatorial Guinea side that have blatantly broken FIFA rules. The eligibility of a number of the Equatorial Guinea players has been called into question, most notably Cote d'Ivoire-born striker Salimata Simpore who, it is claimed, even played for the Ivorians in the qualifiers! It will be interesting to see what Safa does should they lose today, because CAF have already waved away one protest from Cameroon over Simpore, limply citing a lack of evidence and saying they would need to launch a full investigation, which would only happen some time after the current tournament ends. But it is not just Simpore who is a controversial member of the side. Banyana will be up against women from Brazil, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal, all fast-tracked as Equatorial Guinea citizens. But FIFA brought in regulations several years ago that is supposed to stop countries handing passports to ‘bought’ players. Instead, players who seek to play for countries other than their own must prove they have blood ties to their new country or must serve a three-year residency period. But Equatorial Guinea are flying in Brazilians and west Africans to do their dirty work, making them citizens, and the country has gone from being one of the minnows of African football to real contenders in the women's game in just a few years. http://www.kickoff.com/news/18771/salimata-simpore-to-face-banyana-banyana.php
Equatorial Guinea are also being accused of gender cheating. http://ghanasoccernet.com/2010/11/ghana-accuse-eq-guinea-of-using-men-at-africa-womens-championship/
Not sure it was all down to how well Nigeria played - Cameroon had a player sent off early (27th minute) and up until the 33rd minute it was 0-0. I'm pretty sure it would have been a different game had Cameroon kept all 11 players on the field.
Well you can't deny that this player looks a little bit manly: http://www.backpagepix.co.za/live/download_new.php?image_id=402262 But FIFA should be able to determine the gender of a player, shouldn't they?
Salimata Simpore played for the Princesses club of Burkina Faso in September 2005 in the "Tournoi de 5 nations" - she was a Burkina Faso citizen at this time, as was her sister. In November 2008, they played for Equatorial Guinea in the African finals - just over 3 years later. In February and March 2007, there were accusations of 2 men playing in Equatorial Guinea's team (which were apparently confirmed by the referee on inspection) in the Olympic qualifier against - South Africa. In the 2006 African Women's Championship in Oct/Nov, Equatorial Guinea were described as 'physical', but there were no accusations of cheating. 2006 was the year they started their naturalisation of players for the women's national team.
Cameroon's early sending had a lot to do with the kind of pressure that Nigeria was putting on them. That has everything to do with how Nigeria played. All credit to Cameroon for coming out with new determination and focus for the second half, but Nigeria simply lived up to their historical form in the AWC. They usually step up their performance in the semifinals, and it looks like they followed the pattern today.
On further investigation: Salimata Simpore was also top scorer in the "Tournoi de 5 nations" in September 2007 - when the tournament switched from a club affair to a national team affair. She played for the Burkina Faso national team here, and scored 8 goals in 3 matches (10-0 and 5-0 v Niger, 2-4 v Mali in the final). In November 2008, she played for Equatorial Guinea in the African finals - just over a year later - is this allowed? I thought players were not allowed to switch nationalities once they had official caps?
Agree - my point was simply that if Cameroon had kept 11 players, then the score would not have been 5-1. If they'd got into half-time at 0-0, the second half may have turned out differently.
Friendlies do not count. For example Jermaine Jones could still switch teams after playing in friendlies for the German national team. You are only cap tied when you have played in official FIFA competitions (with the senior team). I would guess the "Tournoi de 5 nations" ist not an official FIFA tournament.
Is this a recent rule, or was it changed before 2008? The naturalisation process for Salimata Simporé begain in September 2006, when she was taken to Eqautorial Guinea after a club tournament in Burkina Faso. She returned to then play for Burkina Faso, and then played for Equatorial Guinea the following year. There was a lot of controversy over whether the naturalisation process was even legal. EDIT: http://fourfourtwo.com/news/restoftheworld/32035/default.aspx This rule was brought in in 2009 - AFTER this apparent switch took place. So, this player has broken the rules at that time, which only allowed players who had played youth matches to switch nationality. A picture of the Simporé sisters before they switched nationality: