2021 African Cup of Nations (2022)

Discussion in 'CAF: Tournaments' started by Ofori, Nov 30, 2021.

  1. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    I congratulate Egypt.
    Côte d'Ivoire fought until the end.
    Anyway, one big team should have to be out today.
     
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  2. Noahgghhujjjnbb

    Chelsea
    Jan 14, 2018
    Which Afcon have you watched in the modern era that you watched and thought it was of the best quality.
     
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  3. Felix Herve Caroll

    Jun 1, 2015
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Ivory Coast
    1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2019
     
  4. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    I'm of two minds about it. I think your key arguments are valid that i can recall from a later post, namely:

    #1: Qatar in winter is an unusual locale that could produce unusual results.

    #2: There are no truly mighty teams. As we saw in last years Euro's, this years AFCON, heck even the Asian Cup a few years back etc, there isn't a dominant team nor really a tier 1, there's really just a smear of teams that are seemingly, the best sides: Brazil, France, England, Belgium (probably too aged out on the backline and in general by next winter), Spain and Argentina carry strong ratings but rarely look it, Italy basically has been like a Humpback whale, sinking beneath the waves in '18, only to play essentially undefeated soccer for a few years culminating in a star turn at last summers euro's, only then to implode in the second half of WC qualifying and now have to beat out Portugal for a spot.

    Honestly, whose the best? I still think France, but they have a coach whose cautious to a fault and a team that plays like it's already got the title in its carry on. The rest, none of them are as good as other iterations other than probably England which has the same problem as France, a coach that can't seem to figure out how to utilize his attacking talent to save his life.

    So while I definitely think we could have a new surprise champion next winter, I would give the AFC, Concacaf and CAF 0 chance of providing said champion. Maybe Belgium or the Netherlands shock the world. Maybe Denmark goes nuclear again, maybe Portugal in Ronaldo's finale if they qualify, maybe some team out of CONMEBOL not named Brazil or Argentina. But at the end of the day, it still seems most likely that the usual suspects represent at the Final Four. The difference is that I think we could have a ton of surprises that bow out at the QF's and maybe one or two that sneak into the Final Four (honestly I'd be shocked if it was more than one).
     
  5. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    I'm not an expert on AFCON, but have seen some great matches in full via this site:

    https://www.footballia.net/competitions/african-cup-of-nations

    You sign up for free. Loads of great matches from 1950s to the latest games of 2022.
     
  6. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    56 mins: Mali just missed a sitter! Come on, EQG!
     
  7. Serengeti_Boy

    Serengeti_Boy Member+

    Sep 15, 2009
    Serengeti, East Africa
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Tanzania
    How can the Egypt ones be high quality they white washed teams easily. Don't get me wrong they were entertaining to watch but it was no competition. 2019 agreed.
     
  8. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada

    I think one of the big problems is that it seems, correct me if I'm wrong, but that Nations League assists smaller teams in generating revenue and getting more reps to improve their game, at least theoretically, but it also congests the hell out of the international schedule, and players do seem to be breaking down from too much work and too short of lay offs. The silly double confederation championships that some but not all Confederations do aren't helpful either. I wonder what could be done about that w/o harming the development of lower tier teams in general?

    On top of all this you have FIFA "Studying" 2 world cups every four years. Maybe they could either scrap Nations League instead, or keep it and eliminate that idea?

    I'd also love it if the expanded WC did not use the system they are proposing. I really hate the idea of 16 groups of 3 w/2 going home. I spent some time last night imagining a model built around the old NCAA Tournament with 48 teams and man it was fun as hell. Imagining a WC like that? You could open it up like the NCAA does to regional venues around the world (NCAA basically has location sites for each of the four regions, World Cup could do something like that). Seeded 1-12, in that old system they junked when they moved to 64, seeds 1-4 received bye's do the second round, while 5-12 battled it out in each region. You win you move on, you lose your out, damn that would be fun as hell.
     
  9. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    Full-time: Mali 0-0 EQG

    Good game, just no goals. I think Mali might play for a shootout, but EQG will want to win it with a goal in extra-time.
     
  10. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    Yes there needs to be a way of the teams who don't qualify for the Euros improving their qualities and rankings. It just seems daft to have the top 16 teams in Europe play each other in what end up feeling like glorified friendlies, Faroe Islands and Malta travelling 13 hours on planes to play each other? What is Faroe had to play Azerbaijan? It would great to see smaller nations get near the top of Group C, but how likely is that to happen?

    Maybe it works okay, it just needs time to refine itself. Armenia are a team that benefited from this league and Scotland (my country) play them in June! They're a tough and skilful team!
     
  11. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    #636 Game of Billions, Jan 26, 2022
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2022
    Penalties with Mali v EQG.

    Come on, EQG!

    YES!

    Extraordinary. EQG are some team! Hard luck to Mali, they had chances, but weren't clinical. Another Cinderella story!
     
  12. pipinogol

    pipinogol Member+

    May 20, 2016
    Club:
    Cary RailHawks U23
    Well, it looks like the 4 quarterfinals have a clear favorite but everyone plays so poor and inconsistent that I can easily see 4 upsets taking place.
     
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  13. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I wouldn't say zero. Collectively, maybe 5% or even better. I wouldn't be thrilled, but truth is that when I put everything together, I give the US from Concacaf the best outside chance among the rest, but there are also teams like Morocco who can shock everyone with the home support they will enjoy. From the AFC, S Korea (who I usually insist are worst than Iran) are actually looking very good and maybe even better than Iran right now. But Iran is in fine shape (not necessarily today for the Iraq match) and will have home support in a Qatar World Cup too.
     
  14. Metropolitan

    Metropolitan Member+

    Paris Saint Germain
    France
    Sep 5, 2005
    Paris
    Club:
    Paris Saint Germain FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Unfortunately I cannot watch the AFCON games as I haven't subscribed to the paid channel broadcasting them.

    It's tough to judge only through highlights, but I've been wondering if top teams aren't lacking in physical preparation considering the competition happens mid-season?

    That could explain why countries with players involved in lower leagues perform better knowing that it would be easier for them to properly prepare for the AFCON whereas national sides have to deal with top clubs who couldn't care less about it.


    That's been always my worry with the upcoming world cup in Qatar. Last European leagues clubs are planned for November 13th, 2022 and the first world cup game will happen only a week later in Novermber 21st, 2022.

    That means that national teams won't have any time to prepare players physically for the competition.
     
  15. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    Football, at this moment in time, with Covid tests, quarantines, lack of any meaningful training and preparation, etc is even less conducive than its been before to any neat categorization or ranking of teams or any predictability in terms of results. Right now, in some places where positive Covid test results are very high (regardless of players being un-symptomatic). it has become even more a game of fortune...
     
  16. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    It's on beIN Sports and you can subscribe for just one month then cancel. Watch online:

    https://boutique.canalplus.com/produits/BEINCNCT/bein-sports-connect/1

    15 Euros for one month! You might as well for six matches, then cancel it.
     
  17. Hazze

    Hazze Member

    Sweden
    Nov 30, 2021
    Congratz Cameroon!
    Cameroon - Gambia = 2-0
     
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  18. Kamtedrejt

    Kamtedrejt Member+

    Internazionale Milano
    Albania
    Mar 14, 2017
    Hamburg
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Albania
    First clean sheet for Cameroon in the tournament.
     
  19. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    Half-time: Burkina Faso 1-0 Tunisia

    Brilliant goal! George Weah would have been proud of that one!
     
  20. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006
    I'm just shaking my head. No way should we have lost to this Tunisia team.
     
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  21. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    Burkina Faso is one of a very few 2nd tier CAF sides that has Tunisia's number, with a very good h2h record against Tunisia.
     
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  22. Game of Billions

    Humans are AMAZING!
    Scotland
    Nov 16, 2021
    Scotland
    BURKINA FASO 1 - 0 TUNISIA

    WOW! I said so! Teams with passion always win! Great and memorable winning goal, too!
     
  23. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    congratulations to Burkina Faso. Tunisia was disappointing, even when they had a man advantage.
     
  24. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006
    I think theres more to it than BF "having Tunisia's number"

    My thoughts on Tunisia are this.

    They can play an organized compact game, but when it comes to open matches against physical sides, they will struggle.

    I've been going back and forth as to who between them and Mali will qualify for Qatar.

    After the Nigeria match and Mali's poor play in this tournament I thought it was looking 60% for Tunisia, but I think its back at an even 50%

    Tunisia is good at dispatching clearly weaker sides, but when it comes to playing superior teams, and even teams their equal, if they open up its not usually a good result.

    They played open games against Gambia, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and lost all 3. To be fair the Gambia loss was really against the run of play, but they were schooled by Burkina Faso today.

    Against Nigeria they sat back and soaked pressure, got a lucky goal and then got the luck of a Nigerian red card. Even with an extra man the Tunisians were still scared of Nigeria and we nearly equalized.

    Even look at their world cup in 2018. They sat back against England and almost pulled off a result, when they opened up against Belgium they got beat badly, even though it was a very entertaining match which they contributed to.

    Tunisia just needs to find a way to play against superior teams and teams roughly their quality. They struggle against these teams in open matches, but can pull off results if they sit back.
     
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  25. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    I agree with most of what you said about Tunisia, except I still favor them over Mali.
     

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