South Africa 0-0 Angola As stand in coach Owen Da Gama phrased it, "Angola were ultra defensive". They really sat back the whole match which was weird for a friendly. They were even time wasting. This would make sense in competitive game but a friendly? Anyway a lot of young players were blooded today with nearly two different teams playing in each half. All in all a good exercise and South Africa's run stretches to 17 games undefeated. Next up is Nigeria away in African Cup of Nations qualifiers in June. Tough match! Should be a good game
Ivory Coast have convinced 4 new players to play for them Maxwell Cornet (Lyon) winger Seko Fofana (Udinese) centre midfielder Jeremie Boga (Granada on loan from Chelsea) attacking midfielder/winger Jean Phillipe Gbamin (Mainz 05) defensive midfielder/defender
I think these 4 players will be massive for CIV, along with Zaha who has started to show his worth to the team, and if they can get Yaya back if they qualify for Russia, this could possibly be the most well balanced CIV team to go to a WC. Not the most talented but the most balanced, which is actually more important.
Idk. It's actually a good thing to treat every match like a true match simulation, so dealing with time-wasting, bunkering tactics and the like should be good practice for the team since that's what you're going to see in qualifying and tournaments. Learning to deal with these in practice might help the coaching staff see what did and didn't work for when it happens when the matches matter.
2 games for today. UGANDA VS EGYPT: Uganda will host Egypt in what is a very important matchup. The cranes have been good so far earning 4 out of 6 possible points and a win vs Egypt will make the group much more interesting and get them closer to a potential WC debut. On the other hand, the pharoahs will be looking to extend their domination over the group and if they also win the return leg, a few days later, then the group would be set. I think a 1-1 draw would be realistic or a narrow Egyptian win. The two teams met during last AFCON with Egypt edging out Uganda 1-0 on an 89th minute winner. GUINEA VS LIBYA: Both teams have yet to register a single point. Not much interest since I don't think either, and especially not Libya, have what it takes to battle the DRC & Tunisia for the WC spot. Think Guinea win both games vs Libya.
Didn't see this coming. But, if my fav team Egypt has to fail again, I'd love to see Uganda goes instead of them.
Uganda temporarily leap frog Egypt for first place in their group. If Uganda can somehow find a result in Egypt.. They'd be on their merry way to making a debut in Russia. Unless, of course, Ghana or Congo end up playing spoiler.
Wow... Ghana back in contention. Congo not entirely out either. Uganda surely have made this group into a competitive one. All bets are off but I expect Egypt to get the 3 pts in Cairo.
Almost. Guinea win in extra time. Guinea win vs Libya away and they are still in it. Libya's chances are now strictly mathematical.
Ghana fails to beat Congo at home. 1-1 and the black stars are very close to being done right now. Would need to win out their remaning games to stand a firm chance at advancing. Nigeria is completely trashing Cameroon with a 4-0 scoreline. The game's in extra time and the super eagle are as good as in Russia. Even if Cameroon wins out, they probably won't make it. Algeria would need to win out and it still might not be possible for us to go to Russia. Might as well consider Nigeria the first CAF to make it to the next world cup.
Nigeria very close. They may be 1 or 3 pts away from qualifying depending on how the other game goes. If Algeria does a double vs Zambia it will postpone judgement day, but Nigeria is cruising and may confirm qualification as early as on Monday (the only other CAF side that can confirm this is if someone wins 6 pts in the Tunisia - DRCongo H2H). The key issue right now is that Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia can all take points off each other, while they now need to win all remaining games. Whats worse Nigeria still has their easiest game - which is Zambia at home. Win that and they have 12 pts, while Algeria and Zambia can only dream of 13 pts if they record 4 straight wins. The fact Nigeria is cruising in this group bodes well for their 2018 World Cup campaign in general. They have a swagger about them and the players are just getting better. BTW Mikel was just so pivotal to Nigeria. The first goal was a superb flick from him. Nigeria will have a massive post-Mikel issue. Ghana look out. The Uganda win vs Egypt doesn't mean its over, but its really an uphill battle now. The best result they can hope for now is a Uganda draw in Egypt... As much as I like a minnow cinderella story I sure hope Uganda doesn't make the World Cup. They don't have the players for that level of football, so I'll back Egypt in this duel, if Ghana continues to eliminate themselves. If Egypt and Uganda draw in the second game and Ghana beat Congo the table is: Uganda 8 pts Egypt 7 pts Ghana 5 pts Ghana will still need to win their remaining 2 games (vs Uganda and vs Egypt), which would put them at 11 pts. In this scenario the most Uganda can have is 11 pts (Egypt 10 pts) and H2H would come into play. So Ghana would still be in control of their fate. If Egypt or Uganda win the next game, then Ghana's fate is out of their hands and Egypt end the campaign with a home game vs Congo.
Well I said months back that even though Nigeria were not at the ANC they were the best team in Africa. It looks I have been proven right We beat the best team on paper Algeria 3-1 and now we have beaten African champs Cameroon 4-0 Africa has not seen such dominating displays within the continent since 1994 Nigeria.
Morocco destroy Mali (which once again fails to call up their next generation key players and keeps playing a lot of second rate ones). Morocco now back from the brink, but may find the return game not as easy. Still think Cote d'Ivoire should have this one in the bag - pull a double vs the weakest team in the group Gabon and they are in control of this group. Tunisia get their nose in front vs DRCongo. Now DRCongo need to win at home or Tunisia runs off with the prize. The side effect of DRCongo winning is Naby Keita-led Guinea possibly coming back into contention if they pull a double vs Libya. If Tunisia win in DRCongo they may confirm qualification as early as Monday. South Africa loses to Cape Verde which throw the group wide open, but also give either Burkina Faso or Senegal a chance to pull forward if either manage to get 6 pts. Basically I think this loss will cost South Africa qualification. All in all it getting more and more complicated. Minus Nigeria's group who look set in stone.
It's amazing how crucial Mikel has shown to be for Nigeria in the qualifiers. As much as many Nigerians lament how he was used by Chelsea, we often forget how often Chelsea continued to rely on him as a starter for crucial matches all through his Chelsea career while appearing to "do nothing special". Indeed, the rise of Ngolo Kante and Paul Pogba (I know, a stretch to call him a holding mid since he's far more involved in the attack for that label; more a true box-to-box mid and Man U seems to be even using him as a bit of an attacking mid who drops back right now) for France as well as the numerous holding mids in MLS who have won titles is showing how underappreciated, yet crucial this position really is. Nigeria looks like an entirely different team with him vs without him. And he's alot more active up front when he's with the national team yet still never seems to miss his assignments at the back. Even at his age, he's shown such an amazing ability to get up and down the field. And maybe playing in China will reduce the wear on him since he won't be called on to do as much against lesser competition while still remaining sharp for the national team. I have long since become more cognizant about respecting the holding mid role; it may even be the most important role after the "10". Wilfred Ndidi has proven a somewhat lesser replacement for Kante for Leicester, but he has still been very good for them and he's only 20. He will not carry the veteran leadership that Mikel has for Nigeria, but he's a very capable deputy to take on the on-field role physically if not vocally. It's good that he'll have some time playing with Mikel and learning from him while he matures. It will be at least 5 years before we'll have to worry about whether or not he can take over where Mikel left off. It's amazing how good they can be when everyone is in camp. Big question mark is, are the bigger named veterans effectively ignoring all but WC matches. They don't come in for friendlies, they don't come in for AfCoN qualifiers; every time there's something without the WC attached there's an injury or some other reason that they can't show up. I know that Nigerians prioritize the WC, but we could have used the AfCoN even if only as a tune-up going into the resumption of qualifiers. Not that it hurt us in the end, but it was worrying since we ended up scheduling so few quality friendlies. We had a friendly against Corsica... that's not even a real country!?
One thing that Rohr is doing well is that he's choosing in-form players, regardless of reputation. Iheanacho was benched despite previous goal-scoring record due to lack of play regarding his transfer status and he looked hungrier for it when he did get on.
It would be a great story, but I have to agree with Zahzah, they will get smoked at the WC something fierce if they go on in, so I back Egypt bc I think Ghana's toast. They really haven't retooled with young talent. When the WC expands to 40 some spots will open up for new teams, especially those in East Africa who haven't had a chance to join in on the fun in the WC in the modern era. Until then, leave it to the West and North African countries or maybe the nation of South Africa who can at least put up a good fight on the world stage. Right now CAF teams really have to show that they deserve the extra spots that they're going to get and build on the two qualifiers to the knockouts from the last WC. It amazes me how even the best like France or Germany have these luls in developing talent then go crazy out of nowhere with youth all over the place. Why do entire generations of players get ignored with NT development? Right now France is hot and Nigeria is in a good generation, while the Netherlands and Ghana are old and have noone waiting to take over and lead the side. It makes no sense how FAs the world over allow this to happen. The only country I can really say that hasn't ever really had a complete dead spell in development over the years is Brazil. Why?
Yes South Africa lost badly yesterday. I haven't seen such bad performance in a looooooong time. I think the main factors were: 1) Underestimating the opposition. South Africa played like the win was guaranteed and getting an early goal against the run of play only worsened this attitude. They became complacent and never fought for anything. 2) Poor tactics. Stuart Baxter played a 4-4-2 away from home when we needed solidity and midfield stability so he should have played one striker and 5 midfielders. This proved telling as they bossed the midfield! 3) Selecting players from Supersport United (who he recently coached) instead of selecting players on form. Ronwen Williams in goal is never a good thing. We NEVER win or keep a clean sheet with him in goals and last night was no different. He doesn't inspire confidence with all his howlers and he doesn't control his defence well either. Khune was missed but everybody thought Sandilands would start. Selecting Mathoho who is completely off form and got a red card in his last game for chiefs was a tactical howler by Baxter. Mathoho is not in a good space lately and his form has suffered correspondingly. No surprise yesterday when he got a red card for tackling a player outside the pitch! 4) Shakes Mashaba should never have been fired. He was fired for his behavior instead of his results (which were spectacularly good). A blunder of epic proportions. They could have fined him instead as a disciplinary course of action. Replacing a coach during a qualifying campaign is never a good idea. 5) Cape Verde are not a better team but credit must be given to them. They scored twice off our mistakes. They took their chances.
Section 20.6 of http://resources.fifa.com/mm/docume.../02/84/35/19/regulationsfwc2018en_neutral.pdf says WCQs use goal differential as the tiebreaker, not H2H.
GAMES: GROUP A: Tunisia - DRCongo 2:1 18' PG Yassine Meriah, 47' Ghailene Chailali - 43' Cedric Bakambu Was a bit sceptical about Tunisia and penalty goals, but no funny business here. Terrible mistake for the Bakambu goal. Guinea - Libya 3:2 7' Naby Keita, 22' Demba Camara, 90+3 Alkhaly Bangoura - 87' Motasem Sabbou, 88' Akram Zuway What an amazing first goal by Naby Keita. Liverpool with a steal to buy him, way better than Kante. Francois Kamano also looks like a class player. GROUP B: Nigeria - Cameroon 4:0 29' Odion Ighalo, 42' Obi Mikel, 55' Victor Moses, 76' Kelechi Iheanacho GROUP C: Morocco - Mali 6:0 19' PG, 61' Hakim Ziyech, 27' Khalid Boutaib, 72' Achraf Hakimi, 86' Faycal Fajr, 88' Mimoun Mahi Clumsy penalty on first goal, stupid mistake on fifth and sixth. The rest of the goals are really nicely worked. Impressive. In general though very poor defending. GROUP D: Cape Verde - South Africa 2:1 33', 38' PG Nuno Rocha - 14' Tokelo Rantie South Africa seem to be really missing Coetzee at the back.
GROUP E: Uganda - Egypt 1:0 51' Farouk Miya Worth watching the highlights to show that the win was no fluke with Uganda parking the bus. No, Uganda had the better opportunities to score. Ghana - Congo 1:1 85' Thomas Partey - 18' Thievy Bifouma Poor defending from Ghana. John Boye starting to look like a big miss...