2012 January | Soccer Football

African Cup of Nations 2012 on TV

Jan 212012

ITV and Eurosport are the main TV channels covering the African Nations in the UK, with ITV covering a measly 4 games for Freeview viewers. They will be showing the group B game between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, then thay have the rights to show one quarter final, one semi-final, and the final.

ITV4 will also be showing highlights each night where there have been games at around 21:30 – 22:00.

Sky or cable viewers with access to Eurosport will have access to most of the games via this channel, as their one commentator works hard to cover the snooker, tennis, and no doubt some winter sports, all at the same time.

Liverpool to Sign Joao Carlos Teixeira

Transfer News

Jan 192012

Joao Carlos Teixeira

Liverpool are said to be in the process of signing Portuguese youngster Joao Carlos Teixeira.

The midfielder has been imaginatively compared with Deco, and is a product of the Sporting CP academy in Portugal.

Sporting are eager to receive a fee for their player, as his contract runs out at the end of this season, and as with many clubs in the current climate their financial problems mean that they are willing to sell young prospects to help balance their books.

Having not played for the first team in Lisbon, Liverpool are likely to give him a start in the youth or reserve teams with a view to promoting him to the first team squad for next season. Fans of the club will no doubt be excited by a signing which is more akin to the shrewd Moneyball spending which was talked about when the current owners bought the club, as until now their big money signings haven’t done much to warrant the amount paid.

Teixeira will come into the club without the weight of a big fee, and will hopefully be given the first team opportunities which young players need to develop their game at the highest level, and fulfil their potential. Too many of Liverpool’s youngsters in the past have been brought in then shipped out without getting much of a chance in the first team, but hopefully the new regime is doing things differently.

African Cup of Nations 2012 – Team and Player Preview

African Cup of Nations

Jan 182012

African Nations Cup 2012

No one knows if it’s called the Cup of African Nations, The African Nations Cup, or the African Cup of Nations. It’s more like a party than a football tournament. The kits are really good too, and there is even some writing about them at the bottom of this article.

Group A

Co-hosts Equatorial Guinea will hope to collect points from games against Libya and Zambia in order to continue a tradition of host success in the tournament. More often than not the hosts get at least as far as the semi-finals, and teams on home soil have won the tournament on 11 occasions. However, we are led to believe that these stats can get fairly boring and tedious, and will no doubt be repeated on many other awesome football blogs, so here’s some information about the players to watch in group A. You can read about the players, then watch them on TV on Eurosport! (or ITV)

Strike Power

The group A team not mentioned above, is Senegal, as the group games should be a formality for them. Newcastle striker Demba Ba will be familiar to English viewers, but Senegal have a wealth of attacking talent which might mean Ba isn’t an automatic starter, even on current form. Moussa Sow, Lille’s prolific striker, has scored more than a goal per game for his current club, as had Newcastle’s newest recruit Papiss Cisse at previous club Eintracht Frankfurt. Cisse also boasts a similar record for his country having 7 goals from his 12 caps.

The “backup” isn’t bad either – Dame N’Doye is another prolific forward with more than a goal per game for his club FC Copenhagen – and two players who might now be considered old stagers for Senegal, Mamadou Niang and Souleymane Camara, will bring some vital experience to the front line. Ba, Cisse, N’Doye and Sow all turn 27 this year, so should be at their prolific peak, and should ensure Senegal are one of the most potent attacking threats in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Zambia will be looking to winger Christopher Katongo, and penalty taking goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene to help them try to match their impressive outing at the last tournament in Sudan, where they reached the quarter finals and were unlucky to exit after a penalty shootout. Libya will hope that experienced players Ahmed Sa’ad, and goalkeeper/captain Samir Aboud, can help improve on a poor record in the competition, and carry the team to the knockout phase against the odds.

And it’s worth pointing out that Equatorial Guinea have a player named Randy.

Group B

Bertrand Traore of Chelsea and Burkina Faso

Surely Didier Drogba, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboue, and the Toure brothers are due an African Nations Cup winners medal. This year Ivory Coast also posses a strong supporting cast with Cheick Tiote of Newcastle bolstering the midfield even further, and secret weapon Seydou Doumbia set to play a part as an impact player. The striker has 33 goals from 41 games in all competitions for CSKA Moscow so far this season, which includes 5 in 5 in the Champions League.

Angola have reached the quarter finals in the last two tournaments, and key players such as left winger Gilberto, and former Manchester United great Manucho will be hoping to take the team into the knockout rounds. They will have to overcome a competitive looking Burkina Faso team who can boast a squad which includes Bakary Kone of Lyon in defence, Marseille midfield general Charles Kabore, pacy midfielder Jonathan Pitropia, and striker Alain Traore. 16 year old Chelsea academy player Bertrand Traore was a surprise call up, and Burkina Faso hope the real surprise will be when his natural ability is sprung upon the opposition defence!

Sudan play in red.

Group C

Morocco are the favourites to win group C, but could face stiff competition from Gabon and Tunisia. Marouane Chamakh will be looking to increase his profile at this international showcase, after falling out of favour with Arsene Wenger. The Moroccan striker has only played a handful of games for Arsenal this season, but still has a league goal to his name. The Atlas Lions will be hoping a lack of playing time doesn’t affect his sharpness in front of goal. Luckily for them, they also have players such as Oussama Assaidi and Mbark Boussuoufa on the wings, and the gifted Adel Taarabt to create and score in numerous situations if he feels like it.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang

The Gabon squad contains several players whose potential, if realised, could see them qualify for the knock out rounds, especially if you take into account the aforementioned record of host teams. Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang began his career at Milan and also made an appearance for France U21s during this time, but a possible lack of opportunities in both these teams lead to a move to Saint Etienne of Ligue 1, and a switch of international allegiance to Gabon, for whom his father made 80 appearances. A player to watch out for at the other end of the pitch will be centre back Bruno Ecuele Manga, who has been compared to Christopher Samba in this excellent ones to watch article on the Roker Report. Blackburn would do well to take a gamble on a player whose value might increase significantly after this tournament, depending on Gabon’s progress, as it seems likely that their current African star will be departing this January.

The final two teams in Group C were late to qualify for the tournament proper, and both qualified under dramatic circumstances. Tunisia summoned the spirit of their country’s revolution to beat Togo in the final must win qualifying game, but they still had to rely on Chad getting at least a draw against Malawi to qualify. With Malawi 2-1 up after 90 minutes it looked like The Flames would go through, but a 94th minute equaliser from Chad saw the superiorly nicknamed Eagles of Carthage qualify in second place. Meanwhile, Niger were the beneficiaries on a right balls up by South Africa, who were hanging on for a draw in their final game not realising that the table was organised using the results of matches between the top 3, rather than the goal difference they were relying on. South Africa celebrated, but Niger went through.

The unfortunate South African team celebrate what they thought was qualification for this year's African Nations tournament.

Group D

Ghana are widely considered to be Ivory Coast’s main competition for this year’s prize… But maybe they should be the favourites after their impressive World Cup in 2010. They were only denied a semi-final place by an unfortunate series of events involving the hand of Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, an awful penalty miss by their star striker Asamoah Gyan, and a penalty shoot-out. It’ll be interesting to see how Gyan plays after spending this season on loan at Al Ain in the UAE, which is surely a level or six lower than his talents warrant.

A whole host of young Ghanaians will be hoping to step into the spotlight during this tournament, as the next wave of talent looks to continue Ghana’s history of success in the competition. Attacking full back Daniel Opare, midfielder Mohammed Abu (on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt from Manchester City), and Marseille striker Jordan Ayew, will be hoping to play a part, joining other emerging players such as Isaac Vorsah, Emmanuel Badu, Kwadwo Asamoah, and Samuel Inkoom by establishing themselves in the national side at an early age.

Mali will offer the biggest threat to Ghana’s hopes of winning group D. Boasting a few useful strikers in the shape of Modibo Maiga, Cheick Diabate, and Freiburg’s record signing Garra Dembele, the manager could decide to ditch the usual 4-5-1 formation and make use of these attacking options. However, the return to the national team of Barcelona’s Seydou Keita, could mean that they play him just off Maiga in front of a midfield of Traore, Traore, Traore, and Traore. A team selection which television commentators will be dreading.

Which brings us to Botswana. Their striker Jerome Ramatlhakwane will be hoping to trouble opposition defences as much as he troubles the commentators, as The Zebras seek to cause a few upsets after qualifying for the tournament for the first time ever. Guinea complete group D, and exciting young forward Alhassane Bangoura of Rayo Vallecano will be looking to form a potent strike partnership with his more experienced namesake Ismael.

The Kits!

The usually striking African national team kits have taken things one step further this year. Kit makers Puma asked an artist from each country to design their respective countries kit with some interesting results. Expect to see pictures of elephants, panthers, and lions, as well as some striking designs such as the rosettes of Namibia, Islamic patterns of Algeria, and the Boabab tree of Senegal.

African Nations 2012 Kits

QPR Sign Henrique on Long Term Loan from Sao Paulo

Brazilian Football, Transfer News

Jan 142012

Henrique wins the Under 20s World Cup top scorer and best player

Henrique winning loads of stuff at the Under 20s World Cup with Brazil.

UPDATE: Since this story was posted, it transpired that Henrique was refused a work permit and so won’t be joining QPR.

Queens Park Rangers have managed to secure the loan signing of Henrique Almeida Caixeta Nascentes, whose name will be shortened to Henrique for the benefit of John Motson and the Match Of The Day team.

As well as being the top goal scorer at last years under 20s World Cup, the striker also claimed the best player award ahead of a group of impressive young Brazilian stars including Oscar, Dudu, and Philippe Coutinho.

Whilst the transition from the Brasileirao to the English Premier League is not always an easy one, Henrique possesses the determination and work rate of compatriots Lucas Leiva at Liverpool, and Ramires of Chelsea, which have proved to be vital traits to have whilst the players adjust to the league. Henrique should also bring a bit more technical flair to the league than the aforementioned players, which is no disrespect to them, as Henrique is a striker whose game is as much about creating goals as it is scoring them.

Henrique will also be given time to settle in, as the loan deal is a long term one which will last 18 months, and if successful QPR might also have the option of buying the player for a reasonable fee. Meanwhile, The Hoops are also rumoured to have put in a third bid for another Brazilian, Chelsea’s centre back, Alex.

Transfer Update | Centre Back? Not Half.

Transfer Rumours

Jan 132012

A picture of Ganso - For the benefit of Harry Redknapp

As it had just started to feel like the January transfer window was getting going, Everton announced the signing of Darron Gibson from Manchester United and suddenly people are uninterested again. The Gary Cahill saga has overtaken the Carlos Tevez affair, as Sky Sports News look to reduce their viewing figures even further, and managers continue to lie about never having heard of the players they’re linked with. “Ganso? I have never heard of him” quipped Harry Redknapp, though we are led to believe that he was being serious. Who needs Ganso when you have Jake Livermore? Seriously.

Cahill is just one of a number of centre backs who are likely to be on the move this January. One of the other names being bandied about in the gossip columns is Alex of Chelsea, who has somehow found himself behind John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Jose Bosingwa, David Luiz, and Paulo Ferreira (if he’s still there) in the pecking order at Chelsea, which is strange considering that he’s better than all these players.

Christopher Samba is next on our list of centre backs who is likely to move. “Things have not happened as I was told they would. The club is not improving at all” commented the Congolese defender/striker as he stated a view widely held at Blackburn Rovers. Another defender who is more than capable of playing at the highest level, his next move could be a career defining moment and with this in mind he hopes to push through a move to PSG, whose moneybags may have arrived too close to the financial fair play rules to make them anything more than a domestic force.

With The African Nations Cup approaching, scouts will be out and about visiting the stadiums in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea during the coming month. Whilst the current scouting team at Spurs may not find anyone other than promising box to box midifielder Yaya Toure, a few more keen, globalised eyes, will be on Gabon defender Bruno Ecuele Manga. Having already read one preview article which states he’s as good as Christopher Samba, it seems there are already one or two people talking up the athletic centre back, and a club could get a real bargain if they took a risk on him before the competition starts. This could be said of many of the players due to take part in this competition, and hopefully there’ll be a preview of it on this site soon.

Blackburn Rovers Supporters Release United Statement

Opinion, Premier League

Jan 102012

After all the recent troubles at Blackburn Rovers, the club and it’s fans have found themselves the subjects of much media attention. Their criticism of Steve Kean has been derided by people who wouldn’t normally give the club a second thought, and suddenly everyone is a judge of Blackburn’s “owners”, manager, and now it’s fans too. This criticism and apparent lack of understanding amongst the mainstream media, has lead to a group of Blackburn fans publishing this united statement.

Whilst some of the abuse Steve Kean has been getting has been uncalled for, there is no doubt that if the club wants to move forward there needs to be changes. Actually, forget about moving forward. The club needs changes to stop it careering backwards.

These changes would inevitably include a change of manager, but as previously discussed, the main problem at the club is Venky’s. The statement released by the fans repeatedly emphasises the modest expectations of a club whose success was built by the local community, for the local community. In an area of the country where attendances can suffer quickly if a community loses it’s links with the club, the Blackburn community/fans now worry that these links are starting to fray, and don’t want them to be permanently severed. An excerpt from the statement reads:

“Bigger clubs than ours have been relegated from the Premier League before and indeed we have suffered that particular fate before, but that is not our issue here. Our club is not only in jeopardy of losing its Premier League status, it is in danger of disappearing into oblivion under the stewardship of an absent and reckless owner whose public front is a manager who shows little sign of possessing the acumen to manage a team at the highest level and who has singlehandedly managed to drive a wedge between club and fans that has never before been witnessed at our football club, where a perfectly well-functioning community is being systematically dismantled before our very eyes.”

At a club where fan’s access to the team and club matters, and where ticket prices are at a realistic enough level to accommodate even the lowest of salaries – unlike many overpriced money grabbing teams in this country – the prospect of losing their club worries, upsets, and even frightens the fans. This worry that the club might be at the top of a slippery slope might make the casual onlookers criticising the supporters think twice next time they put forward an opinion on the subject.

The local community aspect was further reinforced when fans attended a Chorley FC match in the Northern Premier League, rather than attend their FA Cup tie at Newcastle. Chorley are a club in need of all the help they can get after suffering financial problems of late, and it’s telling that Blackburn Rovers fans have helped the club out by attending games on more than one occasion.

It’s a welcome gesture for Chorley that the Blackburn fans are doing this, but whilst watching these games 7 levels down from Blackburn’s current Premier League status, the worrying thoughts of club decline may have been brought even closer to home.

Where Now For the Fans of Liverpool FC?

Opinion

Jan 082012

Liverpool FC’s conduct during the Luis Suarez case has been embarrassing, misguided, and amateurish. Actually, no. An amateur club would have dealt with a situation like this with much more dignity.

Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra square up during the controversial game between Manchester United and Liverpool

The official responses from Liverpool FC will make things more difficult for Suarez.

We have to accept that what Suarez said was wrong, even if we go off his evidence alone in which he admitted using the term “negro” once. Accept it because it was wrong, not merely because we have to accept it. For whatever reason, you will offend people if you refer to their skin colour, and we’ve recently found out that this applies at the opposite end of the spectrum, when Labour politician Diane Abbott found herself in hot water for using the term “white” in a sweeping statement. Whether the historical meaning of these words remains, whether people are truly offended by these words, or just feel that they should be offended by them, is for another discussion.

It is important for fans and commentators on this subject to remember, that Suarez wasn’t found guilty of being a racist, but guilty of using a reference to Evra’s skin colour during an exchange which could be considered insulting. Patrice Evra doesn’t consider him to be a racist, and neither does the FA report, so if people are going to take everything that is in the report as fact, they should also take this along with it. Bearing in mind that the report found him guilty on the ‘balance of probability’, rather than ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’. It seems some people are quick to use the contents of report as evidence to attack Suarez, but then don’t accept that it also states he isn’t a racist.

If they thought he was truly racist, and what he said was definitely a racial attack on Evra, then the ban and fine would surely have been far more severe.

The club continue to insist they are being hard done to with the eight match ban and all the stick being thrown at them in relation to this case. But maybe they’ve brought this on themselves. Rather than displaying any public regret, apology, or attempt at reconciliation for what happened, as they should have done, they publically supported Suarez as if he hadn’t done anything wrong. The t-shirts worn during the warm up to the Wigan game were one of the worst pieces of PR you’re ever likely to see, and it only served to stoke the fires, causing more harm than good to Suarez. It’s fine to support the player, but by wearing these t-shirts, and releasing a series of questionable statements, they’ve only made thing worse for him.

Maybe the crazy tribal arguments on both sides of this case are the cause of the mess that we now find ourselves in. On one side we have people saying that the FA have found Suarez to be a racist and now accuse the club of supporting racism – wrong. On the other side we have thousands of fans blindly following anything emerging from the mouth of Kenny Dalglish, and taking to heart the clubs badly worded statements saying that he’s completely innocent in all of this – wrong again. Once more, this isn’t supporting Suarez it’s making things worse for him.

And just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse, one attendee of the FA Cup tie against Oldham Athletic was arrested on suspicion of racially abusing Oldham’s Tom Adeyemi. The player reacted uncharacteristically angrily towards the fan, and looked clearly distressed after the incident, which suggests it was either a huge misunderstanding, or there is some truth in the allegations.

Tom Adeyimi reacted angrily to a Liverpool fan during their FA Cup tie.

Tom Adeyemi reacts to a Liverpool fan during the Liverpool v Oldham FA Cup tie.

Either way it’s another blight on Liverpool’s reputation, and a badly timed rendition of a popular Luis Suarez chant just after the incident didn’t look to good either. However, we do have to remember that these were the actions of one person, and the club launched an investigation into this, along with the police. A worrying side issue is, that many believe Liverpool’s stance over the Suarez and Evra case was such, that it may have encouraged people who are this way inclined to turn up for the games and think they can get away with this type of thing.

So where do we go? The fans of the club who look on in embarrassment as statement after statement is released, and as tribal warfare increases to a point where racist Liverpool “fans” are being retweeted by the footballing celebrities of Twitter as fans reply in anger to the accusations from Manchester United, and people are turning up at Anfield allegedly hurling racial abuse at opposition players.

We just have to continue to support the team, get behind the players and concentrate on the football. If some people in charge of public relations at the club are trying to ruin our reputation, they’re doing a very good job of it, and maybe more fans should speak out against this, but these are the times when the team needs the support of the fans more than ever. It’s difficult to ignore the mass allegations being thrown at the club and it’s fans as a whole, but if certain people begin to show a bit more humility, then the club and the real fans might be able to get through this.

Trouble at Manchester United?

Analysis, Opinion, Premier League

Jan 062012

Manchester United have a history of triumph against adversity. Nowadays there isn’t much adversity, much the opposite if anything, but their manager still tries to instil a mentality of ‘us versus them’ into his squadron of players and staff. Meaning the triumph against adversity continues, even if only in the minds of their players and fans.

Carrick and de Gea part of the Manchester united "crisis"

Michael Carrick and David de Gea during United's recent loss at home to Blackburn.

All the recent talk of Manchester United has been that of a team in crisis. Neither of the ‘keepers they have are getting a run in the team because neither is good enough, their defence without Vidic is too fragile, they’ve never replaced Paul Parker at right back, they have no central midfielders, Ashley Young has been about as effective for them as Downing has been for Liverpool, they have an average of 17 injured players at any one time, Rooney went out on the lash and is leaving the club (again), and Michael Carrick.

Luckily they have a player labelled as the next Duncan Edwards, but Phil Jones is a player who still seems to confuse Manchester United’s travelling fans. One week he’s living up to his aforementioned billing with dynamic box to box midfield displays, in which he manages to combine two rarely seen traits – he’s typically English in style, but he’s actually a good footballer too. But of course, according to the pundits, he’ll move back to ‘centre half’ as he gains experience. This would surely be a complete waste of an all round footballer. Then the next week when he does get a game at centre back, the post match summation of him seems to be, “well he’s only 19”.

Their real star at the moment is their Ecuadorian winger, Antonio Valencia, who is back to his best following an injury sustained in the Copa America and a patchy start to the season as he returned to fitness. Outshining the more flamboyant but wasteful Nani, Valencia regularly beats defenders for pace, gets to the byline, and crosses the ball for his team mates to score – no frills, but he’s one of the best wingers around because of this.

Back to the crisis. In a recent encounter with Newcastle at the Sports Direct Arena Manchester United were torn apart by the impressive midfield partnership of Tiote and Cabaye, which lead to imaginative calls for Fergie to sign them up along with Demba Ba, who scored yet another well taken goal. This followed a defeat against bottom club Blackburn Rovers, and their Champions League exit earlier in the month having being drawn in what was one of the easiest groups in the competition – not too impressive.

Despite all their problems they’re still only three points behind the leaders. Which isn’t too bad for a team in crisis, and if anything they are doing exceptionally well to still be in this position, given the troubles they’ve had with injury and their lack of any creative spark in midfield. And what Manchester United love most is when people begin to write them off. Ferguson will use this as motivation for his team, and the job of creating the ‘us versus them’ feeling at the club is now being done for him.

Conversely, Roberto Mancini at Manchester City seems to be doing nothing more than putting pressure on his own players, talking of points targets and how difficult it will be for them given they aren’t used to being top of the league and winning championships. Maybe this is his way of attempting the Ferguson mind games, but it’s not quite working in the same way. The way City have been playing they should have opened up a comfortable gap over their inconsistent challengers, but as it stands, Manchester United are still in with a shout, and they’ll thrive on the adversities being thrown their way over the past month.

January Transfer Round Up – Lending a Hand

Transfer News

Jan 042012

Gylfi Sigurdsson, pictured in action for Reading, will join Swansea until the end of the season.

Gylfi Sigurdsson joins Swansea on loan.

The most notable transfer moves in the English leagues and the Premier League during these early days of the transfer window have involved loan signings which could prove vital for both teams and the player. These were probably arranged before the window opened so could be completed early on in January.

Emmanuel Frimpong has joined Wolves on loan from Arsenal, where he could form a formidable central midfield partnership with Karl Henry. Danny Wilson will gain some valuable first team experience at Blackpool, as Liverpool look to the Seasiders and hope they can give Wilson the same confidence Jonjo Shelvey returned with. Federico Macheda will be hoping for Premier League starts on loan at QPR, as he hopes to follow in the footsteps of many Manchester United youngsters who have had successful spells on loan at other clubs, before returning to become part of the first time at Old Trafford on the back of them.

One loan move which has caught the headlines more than the afore mentioned deals, is that of Thierry Henry, who will be lending a hand to Arsenal before returning to New York Red Bulls for the start of the MLS season in March. Another Arsenal player involved in a loan move is Vito Mannone who returns to Hull City. The promising Italian keeper will be hoping to put his error strewn appearance against Olympiakos in the Champions League behind him, and regain some confidence in familiar surroundings.

One of the more successful deals which may slip under the radar could be that of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who will join Swansea on loan from Hoffenheim until the end of the season. A technical midfielder who can also be a threat from a dead ball situation, he already has experience of the English leagues, most notably with Reading, and could be the ideal addition to the team who are now dubbed the Barcelona of Wales.