[tennisbum79]

The competition starts today.


This is a version of a "dream team" in an African football competition

All signs point to Ivory Coast triumph




Ivory Coast is the top-ranked team in Africa, it’s anchored by the continent’s best player and boosted by a perfect run in qualifying, and it’s also the favorite to win the African Cup of Nations

AP, Thursday 19 Jan 2012

Ivory Coast's striker Didier Drogba and midfielder Yaya Toure (Photo: AFP)


The star-studded squad, which has underperformed in the past, now has to prove its No. 1 ranking.
Without an African title for 20 years and following disappointing performances at the last two Cup of Nations and the 2010 World Cup, Ivory Coast is approaching a last-chance scenario for some its leading players—especially Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.


The 33-year-old forward who has so often led the Elephants’ charge at the African Cup won’t have a better chance to claim a continental title with former winners Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa all absent.
Drogba leads an impressive forward line for Ivory Coast, alongside Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou and Arsenal winger Gervinho. Fellow veteran Kolo Toure forms the heart of the defense.
Yet Ivory Coast’s success may depend on whether Kolo’s younger brother, midfielder Yaya Toure, can take his dominant form for English Premier League team Manchester City onto the fields in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Yaya Toure was voted Africa’s 2011 player of the year and there’s little argument that he is currently the continent’s outstanding player. He anchors the impressive lineup, which includes players from the top leagues in England, France and Germany.


But as Ivory Coast has discovered before with its recent failures, culminating in a surprising quarterfinal exit at the 2010 tournament, Africa’s championship doesn’t always suit the Europe-based stars.
“We hope this year will be our year,” Yaya Toure said. “It’s always difficult. We fell three times. It is so difficult. We have all the players playing in Europe. We know Africa is different, the weather, the fields.


“We have to fire. Quality is not enough to win the African Cup of Nations. If you speak about quality, the Ivory Coast has fantastic quality. We need the fighting spirit because you know Africa is so difficult, so hard.”
Kolo Toure conceded Ivory Coast had undoubtedly “struggled” at the Cup of Nations, despite its talented group of players.
After the failure at the African Cup in Angola and a first-round exit at the 2010 World Cup, Ivory Coast turned to former international Francois Zahoui to coach the squad after a string of foreign managers.
That appeared to be the right decision as under Zahoui the Ivorians produced a perfect qualifying campaign for the African Cup, winning six out of six games to head to the tournament as the form team—as well as the top-ranked team—in Africa.


Warmup wins over Tunisia and Libya in the final run-in to the African Cup underlined Ivory Coast’s status as obvious favorite for a first continental title since its only previous success in 1992. The expectation is great.
“The pressure is normal,” Kolo Toure said, denying the favorites tag would weigh down the Ivorians. “Every time Ivory Coast plays a tournament everybody expects us to be the winning the team. For us, the pressure is normal. We are relaxed. We have prepared for the tournament well. We are ready to go there and make a show.”


Drogba may not have many more African Cups left, while Kolo Toure is also heading toward the end of his career. They are part of a strong generation for Ivory Coast that has not lived up to its promise yet in international football— another heavy load for the squad to carry.
“I’m 30 years old and most of the team are 30. For us, we just need to now win this tournament,” Kolo Toure said. “That is the only thing missing in our record. We have been in the World Cup twice. We know winning World Cup is difficult. If we don’t win (the African Cup) it will bad thing for us.”


Ivory Coast will be boosted by their tournament group, which appears easier than that of main title rival Ghana.
The Elephants would expect to beat Angola, Burkina Faso and Sudan in Group B, while Ghana has to deal with a dangerous Mali team in Group D alongside Botswana and Guinea, another tricky customer which beat out Nigeria in qualifying.


But as the top-ranked team and the favorite—and without big guns Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria—Ivory Coast also knows that it is the main target for the other teams. Everyone will be going all out to beat Ivory Coast.
“We have to respect everyone and play our best and that is the only way we can win the competition,” Kalou said. “We are working. That is reason why we are here. We want to win the competition. We have to be ready to sacrifice all our energy, our time to go to the end.
“The only way of putting ourselves in trouble is not paying attention to a team.”


Ivory Coast opens against Sudan, then faces Burkina Faso and Angola, and will surprise many if it doesn’t ultimately make the trip to Libreville for the final on Feb. 12. Another failure would almost certainly be a bigger shock than the previous ones.
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online sports on Twitter: @AO_Sports)




Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCont...t-triumph.aspx

Quarter Finals – ¼ de finale
25. ZAMBIA vs. SUDAN 04/02/201 17H:00 Bata
26. COTE D'IVOIRE vs. GUINEA EQ. 04/02/2012 20H:00 Malabo
27. GABON vs. MALI 05/02/2012 17H:00 Libreville
28. GHANA vs. TUNISIA 05/02/2012 20H:00 Franceville


Semi-Finals - ½ Finale
29. Win. 25 vs. Win. 28 08/02/2012 17H:00 Bata
30. Win. 27 vs. Win. 26 08/02/2012 20H:00 Libreville


3rd Place match – Match de classement
31. Loser 29 vs. loser 30 11/02/2012 20H:00 Malabo


Final/Finale
32. Win. 29 v Win. 30 12/02/2012 20H:00 Libreville

[tennisbum79]

Didier Drogba magic

[Jalil Sherman]

what do you mean by prohibited favourite

was watching libya vs equitorial (sp??) guinea. EQG were robbed of a goal

[azdaja]

Originally Posted by Brenda Mensah

was watching libya vs equitorial (sp??) guinea. EQG were robbed of a goal

i saw only 5 minutes of the game and that was when this happened. horrible decision by the ref horrible goal keeping as well, though

i would like ghana to win this tournament.

[tennisbum79]

Originally Posted by Brenda Mensah

what do you mean by prohibited favourite

A prohibitive favorite is one so likely to win as to discourage others from competing.


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_...#ixzz1k7pzpnTt

Originally Posted by Brenda Mensah

was watching libya vs equitorial (sp??) guinea. EQG were robbed of a goal

where are you watching from?
In the US or Europe?

PS
You screen name Mensah sounds like a name from Ghana, Togo or Benin

[tennisbum79]

Originally Posted by azdaja

i saw only 5 minutes of the game and that was when this happened. horrible decision by the ref horrible goal keeping as well, though

i would like ghana to win this tournament.

Where are you watching from?

[azdaja]

Originally Posted by tennisbum79

Where are you watching from?

austria.

normally i would support nigeria because of a friend of mine, but since they are not there i'm going with the african team i think deserve it most.

[tennisbum79]

Originally Posted by azdaja

austria.

normally i would support nigeria because of a friend of mine, but since they are not there i'm going with the african team i think deserve it most.

Cote d'Ivoire deserves it the most, they have come short the last 6 years.

Well, I am biased because I am originally from there.

I can't find a livestream to watch the games.

[azdaja]

equatorial guinea got their goal and the win in the end.

Originally Posted by tennisbum79

Cote d'Ivoire deserves it the most, they have come short the last 6 years.

Well, I am biased because I am originally from there.

the ivorians don't deserve it since they are still making the same mistake that africans teams love to make - use a cheap trainer in the qualifying and get an expensive one for the main tournament. to be fair, at the world cup they failed because they were in the group of death, but still. this loser policy needs to be punished, sorry.

I can't find a livestream to watch the games.

http://www.sportlemon.tv, for example

[tennisbum79]

Originally Posted by azdaja

the ivorians don't deserve it since they are still making the same mistake that africans teams love to make - use a cheap trainer in the qualifying and get an expensive one for the main tournament. to be fair, at the world cup they failed because they were in the group of death, but still. this loser policy needs to be punished, sorry.


http://www.sportlemon.tv, for example

Sadly, that has been true for a long time, even when African national teams had majority players from local club.
As an African, it very disturbing to me that they would pay way more money for an European coach who spent only a couple of months with the team and has really no interest in getting a good result for he'll leave as soon as the competition is over.

As an African, it is disturbing and embarrassing and the same time. We have some of the players in Europe now, and yet our national team has underachieved for 6 years now.
In my opinion, local coach do as good a job if not better than European coaches who are like mercenaries, going from an African country to another, regardless of their record.



However, this time around, Cote d'Ivoire has decided to keep the our local coach. He had a perfect record in qualifying rounds, so why not?

[azdaja]

Originally Posted by tennisbum79

Sadly, that has been true for a long time, even when African national teams had majority players from local club.
As an African, it very disturbing to me that they would pay way more money for an European coach who spent only a couple of months with the team and has really no interest in getting a good result for he'll leave as soon as the competition is over.

As an African, it is disturbing and embarrassing and the same time. We have some of the players in Europe now, and yet our national team has underachieved for 6 years now.
In my opinion, local coach do as good a job if not better than European coaches who are like mercenaries, going from an African country to another, regardless of their record.



However, this time around, Cote d'Ivoire has decided to keep the our local coach. He had a perfect record in qualifying round, so why not?

there is nothing wrong with using foreign coaches. european tams do it all the time. it's more about using them for the entire campaign, for years.

senagal losing to zambia

[tennisbum79]

Originally Posted by azdaja

there is nothing wrong with using foreign coaches. european tams do it all the time. it's more about using them for the entire campaign, for years.

You don't understand, it has reached a point where fans ( in Cote D'Ivoire) get concerned if the coach of the national team is not European, but they will gladly accept the local coach during the preliminaries.

Originally Posted by azdaja

senagal losing to zambia

Yes, I am surprised.

Zambia wearing Cote D'Ivoire jerseys

[tennisbum79]

Minute 74 : Zambia 2 - Senegal 1

[tennisbum79]

Final score: Zambia 2 - Senegal 1

[Halardfan]

Hope the Toure brothers have a good tournament, stay healthy and come back to Man City in good form. Yaya Toure has been immense for us this season so far.