Archives
December 2013(3)
June 2013(3)
May 2013(2)
February 2013(1)
January 2013(2)
November 2012(1)
September 2012(1)
January 2012(1)
December 2011(3)
October 2011(1)
September 2011(1)
August 2011(3)
March 2011(2)
February 2011(1)
December 2010(1)
August 2010(1)
July 2010(3)
June 2010(7)
May 2010(5)
April 2010(4)
March 2010(5)
February 2010(4)
January 2010(7)
December 2009(8)
November 2009(14)
October 2009(11)
September 2009(12)
August 2009(10)
July 2009(13)
June 2009(16)
May 2009(15)
April 2009(14)
March 2009(13)
February 2009(11)
January 2009(15)
December 2008(12)
November 2008(13)
October 2008(15)
September 2008(14)
August 2008(15)
July 2008(12)
June 2008(21)
May 2008(18)
April 2008(14)
March 2008(19)
February 2008(11)
January 2008(19)
December 2007(11)
November 2007(13)
October 2007(13)
September 2007(18)
August 2007(12)
July 2007(20)
June 2007(16)
May 2007(18)
April 2007(15)
March 2007(24)
February 2007(11)
January 2007(15)
December 2006(15)
November 2006(18)
October 2006(15)
September 2006(13)
August 2006(14)
July 2006(15)
June 2006(17)
May 2006(3)
Categories
Africa(1)
Christianity(7)
Cricket(122)
F1(100)
Football(184)
General(8)
Health(1)
Melbourne(51)
Politics(5)
Television(19)
Tennis(132)
Zimbabwe(63)
Recent Postings
Socceroos drawn in tough group
All set for World Cup draw
Mandela dies
Mugabe announces election date
Kewell joins Melbourne Heart
Recent Comments
Hugo on Eurosport beams Nations Cup matches: Really hoping Nigeria do well in this tournament b ...
Delivery Hero on England, France paired in Euro 2012: Can't wait for Euro 2012! ...
Wes on 2011/12 English Premiership Preview: Thanks Sybil, I think Man City cannot easily be di ...
Wes on 2011/12 English Premiership Preview: Thanks Bambo for the comment. I think its going to ...
Phil on 2011/12 English Premiership Preview: Good post, this looks like a very unpredictable se ...
Blogroll
BBC Blog Network
authorblog
mattheaton.com
Football Down Under
Dave's World
F1 Fanatic
Full Time Analysis
Owalog
Counter Steer
Ivory Coast reach quarters
The Africa Cup of Nations has reached half way stage of the group stages with the drawn match between Mali and Nigeria being the sixteenth match and there are sixteen more group matches to go.
At this stage it looks like Nigeria are on their way out and their stay in the tournament now depends on Ivory Coast beating Mali.
Nigeria will still need to beat Benin and get a better goal difference than Mali.
Ivory Coast on the other hand are the first team through to the quarter-finals after Nigeria's draw and they will need a draw to win the group and potentially avoid the hosts Ghana who look certain to top Group A.
Its interesting to see that Nigeria with arguably the best strike force at the tournament have so far failed to find the back of the net. Nigeria has the likes of Obafemi Martins, Nwanko Kanu, Stephen Makinwa, Yakubu and John Utaka in their ranks and yet surprisingly they have recorded zero goals so far.
In Group A Ghana seem to be doing enough to win games and like Ivory Coast they will also need a draw against Morocco to win their group. I think Ghana were fortunate to get away with a win against Guinea but they played very well against Namibia and could have scored more goals had their strikers been sharper.
Cameroon have a mountain to climb after losing to Egypt in their opening match. Zambia's win against Sudan has shown that they are not going to be pushovers and they are capable of beating the Indomitable Lions.
Every team in Group D has scored one goal in the two draws we have witnessed in that group and I think it is Tunisia and South Africa who should be happy about those draws as they did not play very well and therefore both will need to up their play in the remaining two matches.
So the picture is a bit clearer in Groups A and B after the two matches played and I am looking forward to see what happens in Groups C and D over the coming two days.