Africa Cup of Nations - Group A

Africa Cup of Nations
Group A - Round 1 Results

Gabon drew Guinea-Bissau 1-1
Scorers:
Gabon: Aubameyang 52'
Guinea-Bissau: Juary 91'

Burkina Faso drew Cameroon 1-1
Scorers
Burkina Faso: Dayo 75'
Cameroon: Moukandjo 35'

Group A - Table

Rank(#)	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Gabon (H)	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
1	Burkina Faso	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
1	Cameroon	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
1	Guinea-Bissau	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1

South American Teams Excels!!!

Chile register their first victory after 1962m when they defeated Honduras 1-0. Brazil started their campaign with a 2-1 over North Korea and Uruguay defeated South Africa 3-0 to register their first win in this tournament. The biggest upset of the tournament so far is 0-1 defeat of Spain against Switzerland. This a great shouck for European Champion who never lost to Switzerland.

Draws

Reid scored for New Zealand in the 93rd min to draw the match against Slovakia. All the matches in this group ended in draws. Ivory Coast drew 0-0 with Portugal.

Italy Escapes

World Champion Italy started the campaign with a draw. At half time they were 1-0 down and got a lucky equilizr due to the mistake made by the keeper. Though it was Italy who ended the match stronger but they have improve vastly to win the championship.

Asian Delight

After Australia went down 0-4 against Germany, Japan followed South Korea to keep the flag of Asia high. They played like a boxing sand pack to absorb all the attacks of Cameroon and win 1-0. Earlier Holland defeated Denmark 2-0 to open their account with a win.

German run riot

Germany was too good for Australia and defeated them by 4-0. Klose scored his 11th goal in the World Cup. Ger,amy amd Ghana most likely to qualify from this group.

Nightmare for Goalkeepers

After Green another nightmare for goalkeeper.Chaouchi missed an innocent shot from Koren. Algeria I think do not have any chance to go further. Slovenia may give US and England some fight but that may not be enough. I can see US and England moving from here.

Faulty Green

England got a huge start when Gerrard scored in the 4th minute itself. But USA came back strongly and got couple of chances. They could scored the equalizer due to a school boy mistake from Green. I am not sure how England will greet him. Now England and USA both will fight for the top slot otherwise they are going to meet Germany in the 2nd round itself.

Argentina wins

Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 in their first. This is their third consecutive win over Nigeria in World cup. They started the match in a very wirlwind fashion and got trhe goal in the 6th minute, Nigeria dod comeback in the second and got couple of chances to score. Argentina have to tighten their defence if they want to win the World Cup for the third time.

Lively Korea

Korea played well but still long way to qualify. They have do very well against Nigeria if they wants to advance to 2nd round. Greece still fail to win a single match. They are still searching their first goal.

Dull Match

The match between France and Uruguay was very dull. It ended in a 0-0 draw. Both the teams do have firepower to do something. After 1st round of matches I think South Africa has a good chance to move ahead.

First Match

So near yet so far. South africa alomost did it but failed to hold the lead. The match ended 1-1 with Mexico. I expected more skill from Mexico but South Africa impressed me more. Let wait for the next match which I expect to end in draw as well.

Manchester United is English, European and World champions

Manchester United has defeated Liga de Quito of Ecuador1-0 in the final of World Club Cup. They become the second European club to win the championships. AC Milan defeated Boca Juniors in 2007 4-2 to become the first European winners of the FIFA Club World Cup Liverpool in 2005 and Barcelona in 2006 lost in the final to the South American opponents.

Manchester United played with 10 men for most part of the second half as Nemanja Vidic is shown a straight red for an elbow aimed at Claudio Bieler. Rooney scored the winner with a brilliant strike in the 73rd minute. With this strike Manchester United crowned champions of England, champions of Europe and champions of the world.

World Cup 2010: Argentina lose Basile

In the two rounds of World Cup 2010 qualifying match again there was a mixed performance. In South American group Paraguay has opened up 6 points gap with others. They won both their matches against Columbia and Peru by the narrowest margin 1-0. Brazil played beautifully against Venezuela to win 4-0 but played very ugly against Columbia to draw 0-0 at home. Basile resigns as Argentina lost against Chile 0-1. Argentina defeated Uruguay 2-1 in the earlier match. Venezuela bounced back after going down to Brazil defeating Ecuador 3-1. Bolivia defeated Peru 3-0 and drew with Uruguay 2-2 to move up the ladder. Still eight rounds to go lot of action is left.

England continued their superb form and won both their matches. They defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 and Belarus 3-1 to top the Group 6 standing. In Group 5 Spain like England is maintaining their 100% record. They defeated Estonia 3-0 and Belgium 2-1 to lead the table with 12 points.
In Group 1 Portugal is struggling. They drew 0-0 with 10 men Albania and with Sweden. Hungary defeated Albania 2-0 and Malta 1-0 to move to the 2nd place. Denmark is leading the group with 7 points. In Group 2 Greece lost their 100% record when they went down to Switzerland 1-2 at home. Israel drew with Latvia 1-1 to be in second behind Greece. Switzerland is lying in the third position with 7 points. In Group 3 Slovakia defeated Poland 2-1 to lead the group with 9 points. Czech Republic defeated Slovenia 1-0 to register an important win after losing to Poland 2-1. Czech surprisingly lying in the 5th position with one match on hand. In Group 4 Germany registered two important wins against Russia (2-1) and Wales (1-0). They are on the top of the group with 10 points. Russia defeated Finland 3-0 to move to the 2nd place with one match on hand behind Germany.

Lithuania continues to surprise me with their performance despite losing to Serbia 3-0. They defeated Faroe Islands 1-0. They are jointly on top of the group along with Serbia. Serbia registered two big wins against Lithuania (3-0) and Austria (3-1). France continues their dismal run and drew with Romania 2-2. Faroe Islands drew with Austria 1-1. Italy and Netherlands is leading Group 8 and Group 9 respectively. Italy drew with Bulgaria 0-0 and defeated Montenegro 2-1. Republic of Ireland defeated Cyprus 1-0. Netherlands defeated Iceland 2-0 and Norway 1-0.

USA, Costa Rica and El Salvador qualified for the next round but Mexico is struggling in Group 2. Mexico lost to Jamaica 1-0 and then drew with Canada 2-2. Honduras defeated Canada 3-1 but lost to Jamaica 1-0 to open up the group. El Salvador drew with Haiti 0-0 and defeated Surinam 3-0. Costa Rica defeated Haiti 2-0 and Surinam 4-1 to qualify for the next round. Trinidad and Tobago defeated USA 2-1 and drew with Guatemala 0-0 to keep their qualifying hope alive.

In Asia Japan is struggling with their form. Japan drew with Uzbekistan 1-1. Australia defeated Qatar 4-0. Iran defeated North Korea 2-1 and South Korea defeated UAE 4-1.

New Sun on Horizon: CFR Cluj-Napoca

English clubs are flying in the champions league. They are registering big wins in Europe. Liverpool started with a bang. They started with two facile wins against Marseille and PSV Eindhoven. They are lying second in the group D behind Atletico Madrid due to goal difference. Gerrard scored two magnificent goals in two matches. He has scored 100th goal for Liverpool.

Arsenal is playing entertaining football this season. I am not sure whether they can win any trophies or not but they very pleasant to watch. They destroyed FC Proto 4-0 on Tuesday with brilliant skill football. They have to be more consistent. Manchester United and Chelsea continued their run. Chelsea though was surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw against little known CFR Cluj-Napoca. CFR Cluj-Napoca from Romania is the surprise of all. They defeated Roma in Italy and now at home they held Chelsea. This is the team to watch who played third division six tears back. They are lying second in group A behind Chelsea due to goal difference.

Another surprising club is Anorthosis Famagusta from Cyprus. They are top of Group B along with Inter Milan. They crushed Panathinaikos 3-1 and drew with Werder Bremen 0-0. Like CFR Cluj-Napoca watch this team also.

Spanish giants are also having 100% record. Barcelona defeated Sporting Lisbon 3-1 and Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1. Real Madrid defeated BATE Borisov 2-0 and Zenit St Petersburg 2-1. Another team performing beyond expectation is BATE Borisov of Belarus. They almost snatched victory against Juventus.

I am disappointed with Zenit St Petersburg. They lost both their matches. I expected them to do much better. Still four rounds left and lot of things can happen. Let’s wait and see

World Cup 2010:Excitement Started

In the two rounds of World Cup 2010 qualifying match most of the big guns struggle. In South American group Paraguay is marching ahead of others. They drew with Argentina 1-1 and defeated Venezuela 2-0 to lead the group with 17 points. Surprisingly, Argentina is struggling in the group. They started well with three consecutive win but now they failed to win in five consecutive matches. Brazil continued their struggling when they failed to defeat 10 men Bolivia at home. Brazil though moved into second position in the group with 3-0 win over Chile. The picture will be clearer with 2 rounds of matches in November. Chile bounced back with 4-0 win over lackluster Columbia.

England surprised everybody including themselves when they defeated Croatia 4-1 in an away match. Earlier they were very lethargic in 2-0 win over Albania. France was crushed by Austria 3-1 though they bounced back to defeat Serbia 2-1. For me Lithuania was the most surprise package this week. They won both their matches. They defeated Austria 2-0 and Romania 3-0. They are at top of their group which includes France. Italy and Spain won both their matches. Italy won 2-0 against Georgia and 2-1 against Cyprus. Spain won 4-0 against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0. Germany drew 3-3 with Finland. Portugal surprisingly lost 2-3 to Denmark in their second match. But the most surprising result in the European leg is Switzerland’s defeat at the hand of Luxembourg at home (1-2).

New Zealand qualified for the next stage when they defeated New Caledonia twice (3-1, 3-0). They will play play-off with the fifth-placed Asian side in 2009 for a berth in World Cup.

Nigeria continued their 100% record. They defeated South Africa 1-0. They have already qualified for the final round of qualifying. Cameroon and Benin also joined Nigeria in the next round. Cameroon defeated Cape Verde Islands 2-1. Benin qualified by defeating Angola 3-2.

In Asia two Koreans played 0-0 draw. Uzbekistan and UAE both lost two consecutive matches. It is long way to go. But with start of the European leg the excitement is fully on.

Argentina deserved winners

Messi guides Argentina to Olympic title. Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 in the final. Angel Di Maria scored the winner in the 58th minute. Nigeria should be happy with the silver medal. They played gloriously to loose in the final. In my blog dated July 12, 2008, “Olympic Football 2008: Argentina and Nigeria are favorites”, I mentioned that these two teams are favorites. I am happy that it matched.

Argentina is the deserved winners. They played beautifully in the whole tournament. Nigeria started slowly but in the knockout stage they were superb. Argentina mesmerizes Brazil in the semifinal and Nigeria did the same thing with Belgium. Brazil played very poorly in the semifinal.

Brazil though defeated Belgium 3-0 to finish third they do not deserved a place in the final. I think we had a final between the best two teams. This is Argentina’s second Olympic title. They won these consecutive in 2004 and 2008. Great Britain (1908 and 1912) and Hungary (1964 and 1968) achieve the same feat. Yugoslovia is the only team who played 4 consecutive finals from 1948 to 1960. But they won only in 1960. Hungary played three consecutive finals from 1964 to 1972.

Brazil, Italy and Argentina started with a Win

Brazil struggled to beat 9 men Belgium in their opening match in group C. Hernanes scored a magnificent goal in the 79th minute for Brazil. Brazil struggled for most of the part of the match. In another match of group C host China drew 1-1 with New Zealand.

Messi was the star for Argentina. He helped Argentina to register 2-1 win over brilliant Ivory Coast in group A. Messi scored a goal and also assist the second. Australia drew with Serbia 1-1.

USA defeated Japan 1-0 in their opening match. Italy registered a easy 3-0 win over Honduras. Cameroon drew 1-1 with Korea and Nigeria drew 0-0 with Netherlands.

CAS Ruling

I am very disappointed with CAS ruling. According to me a player should give more priority for his country than club. I do not understand why one should not be playing as he likes.

Great comebacks in the Semifinals

Brazil thrice came back from behind to score 5-4 win over favorites Portugal. This will be third consecutive final for Brazil. They will meet Italy who defeated Spain 1-0 in the penalty shootout. They also came back thrice against Spain. The game ended 4-4 in the scheduled time. This is first final for Italy. Portugal will meet Spain in the third place playoff. Belchior and Majder scored their 10th goal of the tournament.

Will Italy become the first team in three years to defeat Brazil?

All European Final?

The semifinal lineup is finalized, Portugal to meet Brazil and Spain to Italy. For the first time in FIFA Beach Soccer World cup three European teams have entered the semifinal. Will this year be all European final after 2005? Spain is having a great year in sports. Will they go all the way here or Portugal will have the last laugh? Don't forget we have Brazil also.

The best quarterfinal was between Brazil and Russia. Russia twice taken the lead, 2-0, 3-2 but failed to keep them. Daniel was the hero for Brazil, scoring a hattrick in 6-4 win. Buru was shown the red card and will miss the semifinal. It is a bog blow to Brazil.

Portugal continued their good form against Uruguay. They won 6-3. Madjer scored his 50th goal. But the star of Portugal is Belchior. He is top scorer with 9 goals along with Madjer. Belchior is frontrunner for both golden ball and golden shoe. He will be the main threat against Brazil.

Spain played a very tactical game against Argentina in their 2-0 win. This is the fourth occasion in this world cup where a team failed to score. Nico scored two goals for Spain. Argentina again failed to break the jinx of the quarterfinal. Italy defeated the host, France, 5-2 to enter the semifinal for the first time. We have seen that most of the teams are defensively very strong. So we may have less number of goals. FIFA this year introducing a new award Golden glove for the best goalkeeper. Roberto Valeiro of Spain, Andrey Bukhlitskiy of Russia, Marcelo Salgueiro of Argentina and Luis Rodas of El Salvador are vying for the award.

Portugal and Spain should be in the final. Without Buru Brazil will be a weak team though Benjamin is playing well. Benjamin along with Belchior is the frontrunner for golden ball. Portugal is the last country to beat Brazil in world cup. Portugal so far scored 32 goals and Brazil 24 goals. Spain should win easily against Italy. For me Portugal and Spain are favorites.