African soccer
g510...@nickel.laurentian.ca
please post the results.
Paul M Mweene
>Who ever is the first to hear about the match between Zimbabwe and Angola
>please post the results.
We really appreciate your postings. It was refreshing to see the names of the
great football teams of Africa after all these years. Please continue quenchingour thirst.
Makala
Paul M Mweene
during the olympics, I told everyone that we would exact our revenge on a
football (I mean the real football which is played with feet) field. Well,
the USA has elbowed us again, and this time within the rules.
The USA today of monday 19-th oct. reports that their National team handed
our African Nations Champions Ivory Coast a 5-2 defeat in the just ended King Fahd cup in Saudi Arabia. Although this is an insignificant tournament, this is
a significant result because as African Champions, Ivory Coast is the standard
bearer of the game on the continent. There for by beating Ivory Coast, the USA\
theoretecally can beat any one in Africa.
Ofcourse this is as absurd as it is annoying. The standard of the game in the
USA is deplorably low. At NCAA division-I A which is the basis of the US game,
there are still players who head with their eyes closed and kick perpendicular
to the intended direction. The quality of football is as poor as the quality of
basketball is in Africa.
The salient question is why did the Ivory Coast elephants lose to a team from the minnows? After all Zambia did the job on Guatemala (the Northe American repre
sentative) and Italy in the '88 olympics. And Cameroon continued the good work
in the '90 world cup.
I think it all goes to the way the elephants won the Cup. Although they have been a perenial in African football through out the eighties, the elephants were t
he luckiest, and not the best team in the '92 African Nations tourney. They wer
e thoroughly out played by Zambia int semi-fainals, but Fate, the invinsible 12
th player on the elephants team a totally undeserved winning goal. They frustra
ted Zambia by playing the most negative football since Argentina last played in
a world cup match.
Later on, Fate played his hand in a different but more decisive way. In the
other semi-final match between the Black Stars of Ghana and the Green Eagles of Nigeria, he incited Ghanain superstar and team captain Abedi Pele to dispute
one of the referee's calls. For this he was given a second yellow cardm meaning
that he could not play in the finals to which his team would qualify.
His abscence was the exact enviroment in which negative football could excel. Here again, the elephants refused to engage any one in any meaningfu football, pr
eferring to remain in a hiatus until the post match penaslties. But even befor
e that Fate would play his hand one more time. In the 26 th minute the Elephan
ts fouled, again, in the 18. This time a penalty was awarded. Anthony Yeboah, ha
mmered it, but fate barred it from going in, thereby preventing a decision unt
il after all the real football had been played. The elephants were able to scor
e more penalties than Stars and take away a trophy that at least three other
teams deserved more.
While I don't want to depict them as weak team (which they are certainly not) itshould be clear that the are not the best in Africa. And while I don't want to
claim that they fielded a weak team in Saudi Arabia, I hope this was the case
otherwise there results there did not reflect well on all of us (granted they
reached the semi finals). And since Abdoulaye Traore played, it would seem that
they fielded a strong team.
I hope that we will take a lesson from this and work hard if we are to win the
94 world cup as Cameroon well could have in '90.
Makala.
AA...@psuvm.psu.edu
>
>When the American basketballer, Charles Barkley, elbowed an African player
>during the olympics, I told everyone that we would exact our revenge on a
>football (I mean the real football which is played with feet) field. Well,
>the USA has elbowed us again, and this time within the rules.
>
>The USA today of monday 19-th oct. reports that their National team handed
>our African Nations Champions Ivory Coast a 5-2 defeat in the just ended King
>Fahd cup in Saudi Arabia. Although this is an insignificant tournament, this
>is
>a significant result because as African Champions, Ivory Coast is the standard
>bearer of the game on the continent. There for by beating Ivory Coast, the
>USA\
>theoretecally can beat any one in Africa.
>
>Ofcourse this is as absurd as it is annoying. The standard of the game in the
>USA is deplorably low. At NCAA division-I A which is the basis of the US game,
>there are still players who head with their eyes closed and kick perpendicular
>to the intended direction. The quality of football is as poor as the quality
>of
>basketball is in Africa.
I'm not sure there is reason for the anguish you so express for the Cote d'
Ivoire loss. Why all the rationalization etc. if their team was actually the be
st from Africa? Any team could be soundly beaten on any given afternoon. Beside
s, I'm not so sure there was anything at stake in terms of the nature of the
tournament.
>While I don't want to depict them as weak team (which they are certainly not)
>itshould be clear that the are not the best in Africa. And while I don't want o
>t
>claim that they fielded a weak team in Saudi Arabia, I hope this was the case
>otherwise there results there did not reflect well on all of us (granted they
>reached the semi finals). And since Abdoulaye Traore played, it would seem
>that
>they fielded a strong team.
Again all this is trying to apologize for a 5-2 defeat, something, I don't
understand. I'm yet to see any African lose sleep over losing to a U.S. team.
Who said losing reflects badly on Africans? It did not not relect badly on
me the last time I checked. Maybe you need to speak for yourself and not f
or all Africans as far as this issue goes.
>I hope that we will take a lesson from this and work hard if we are to win the
>94 world cup as Cameroon well could have in '90.
>
>Makala.
----
Akin Akioye
Olufemi G Anthony
I'd like to know who played in that game for the Ivory Coast before
making any judgements. It seems difficult to believe that the Ivory
Coast with their full squad of internationals could lose to a bunch of
American college soccer players. I mean the USA sucks at soccer :-)
After all I saw them in the Nations Cup... It can't be the team I saw.
Femi.
(PS It was only a King Fahd tournament. I don't expect that many
Ivorians playing in France would have such a burning desire to play
there, esp. with all their European league commitments)