African Cup Of Nations 2008 (10 Viewers)

[Zé Tahir]

Furious Drogba Slams CAF Over Kanoute Award And Pulls Out

Didier Drogba has pulled out of future African Player of the Year awards after revealing that his award was handed over to Frederic Kanoute.

It Was My Award

Kanoute was named African Footballer of the Year late last week, and Drogba has now revealed that it was originially supposed to be his award.

However, he was snubbed because he was unable to travel to Lome, Togo, as he was busy preparing for Ivory Coast's quarter-final clash.

Mali, however, had been sent out of the tournament, and thus Kanoute, who could make the trip, was handed the award.

"I received a call in the afternoon [on Friday] from a high ranking CAF official," revealed Drogba.

"He told me that if I didn't appear at the ceremony the rules would be changed - that I would no longer be first and that the prize would go to the runner-up, Frederic Kanoute."

Ghana's Michael Essien also took permission from his team to attend the function, and came in second.

African Image Hurt

However, Drogba has slammed CAF's decision to organise the function in Togo when the top African players are currently in Ghana, and focusing on their national teams.

"Aside from the vote it was what was said that has actually surprised me," added Drogba.

"We're all working for the African continent, and there's a huge media presence in Ghana for a competition that was heavily criticised ten years ago."

"So there comes a time when we all have to pull together."

Enough Is Enough

It was then that he dropped the bomb-shell.

"I don't think this type of attitude honours Africa so I've decided to pull out of future elections for the Ballon d'Or," he declared.

"In my eyes this award has lost its value. I'm a simple player, the decision that I take doesn't hurt a lot of people.

"If I refused to go to Lome it was first for my teammates as you don't organise such an event just two days before a quarter-final (Sunday's game against Guinea).

"I didn't go as well because of the son of Ulrich Stilieke has died."

Comment: Where Is Common Sense?

The declarations are certain to cause embarrassment to the CAF bosses, as the logic behind forcing players to leave their national team camps and travel to Togo is certain to be questioned.

What makes it even more questionable is the fact that an event in Ghana would actually have received some good coverage, with media represntatives from all over the world currently in the country covering the African Nations Cup.

CAF have been known to name only those players who can attend the function, but one wonders if it has been taken a step too far this time.

And just when you thought that the image of football in Africa was being repaired in the best way possible!

Imagine, for instance, a World Cup in Italy, and the World Player of the Year awards being held in England less than 24 hours before the two semi-finals, ruling Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo and Henry out of contention.

Tell us what you think!

Ali Mohamed

-goal.com


I'm not a fan of Droga (I just don't like him) but he's absolutely right about this. How lame and pathetic of the CAF.

 

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[Fred]

Ya..and how was Kanoute a runner up anyway??IMO Essien, Drogba and Adebayor are all easily better than him.

 

[Maher]

good that egypt win but they have a very tough match coming with ivory coast

 

[denco]

I have not really been paying that much attention to this tournamment but i see some snippets here and there.

The 1 thing that I have noticed is the refereees do not care if you kill each other on the field. No way is he giving red cards for a tackle he feels is a sissy tackle.

I am sure I saw Etoo headbutt a Tunisia player right in front of the referee and he was not interested.

I also saw a two-footed lunge from a Tunisia player that did not receive a booking.

The standard of play is good though and the North African teams are clearly more organised than the others but may be not as skilful.

The 1 drawback is the standard of goalkeeping as it has not been very good. The Guniea goal keeper's positioning for Ivory Coast's 1st goal was not even funny

Whilst Ivory Coast's goalkeeper spends all his time looking at the camera and speaking to the heavens than actually making saves.

I dont know if Nigeria stopped corresponding with the rest of the world for a while as that is the only reason they would have appointed Berti Vogts as manager. Otherwise they shouldhave spoken to Scotland for a lowdown before hiring.

Drogba and Etoo seems to be head and shoulder above any other individual in the tournament and every time I have seen ghana even for a few minutes they have not been impressive.

Like in the wc Ghana do not seem to have top class strikers.

In the past I have always felt that North africans take this competition less seriously unless its held in North Africa as they pay far more respect to world cup qualification but I may be wrong.

So Sudan qualified and Algeria did not? What has happened to algeria anyway.

This competition would be a lot better and prestigious if indigenes were allowed to play for their country instead of most of them picking France especially

 

[Maher]

i think algeria was eliminated by ghenea

 

[Bisco]

I have not really been paying that much attention to this tournamment but i see some snippets here and there.

The 1 thing that I have noticed is the refereees do not care if you kill each other on the field. No way is he giving red cards for a tackle he feels is a sissy tackle.

I am sure I saw Etoo headbutt a Tunisia player right in front of the referee and he was not interested.
I also saw a two-footed lunge from a Tunisia player that did not receive a booking.

The standard of play is good though and the North African teams are clearly more organised than the others but may be not as skilful.
The 1 drawback is the standard of goalkeeping as it has not been very good. The Guniea goal keeper's positioning for Ivory Coast's 1st goal was not even funny

Whilst Ivory Coast's goalkeeper spends all his time looking at the camera and speaking to the heavens than actually making saves.

I dont know if Nigeria stopped corresponding with the rest of the world for a while as that is the only reason they would have appointed Berti Vogts as manager. Otherwise they shouldhave spoken to Scotland for a lowdown before hiring.
Drogba and Etoo seems to be head and shoulder above any other individual in the tournament and every time I have seen ghana even for a few minutes they have not been impressive.
Like in the wc Ghana do not seem to have top class strikers.

In the past I have always felt that North africans take this competition less seriously unless its held in North Africa as they pay far more respect to world cup qualification but I may be wrong.

So Sudan qualified and Algeria did not? What has happened to algeria anyway.

This competition would be a lot better and prestigious if indigenes were allowed to play for their country instead of most of them picking France especially

denco i really loved reading this post and i thought i would comment on the bolded bits u mentioned as all the rest of yr post is spot on. i just need to clear a few things:

1- the refreeing has been surprisingly impressive if u ask me, the cards r always right, the fouls are right, and the offsides are accurate. iam pleased by the refreeing except for one particular game which was morocco's game against guenia which ended 3-2 and this one was a joke from a refree. apart from this i was impressed.

2- the eto'o incident last night was completely ignored by the refree and my answer would be bec of eto's name not more or less. a poor decision but would'nt have changed the outcome of the entire game which was already going towards cameroon and not tunisia.

3- north african teams are def organized and they do have skill but denco if u notice there is a massive difference in physical attributes between north african players and players from west africa in particular ( ghana, cameroon , ivory coast, etc...) and this makes skills less evident due to the extreme force witnessed during matches. imagine having to run with the ball when u have a player like agogo for example giving u a hard time with his strength.

4- i do agree with u the standard of goal keeping is a disgrace and the thing that proves this is the amount of goals this tournment has seen till now ( if my memory serves me its 86 goals so far which is alot) although one goalie in particular impressed me and thats the morococan goalie who although his team mates gave up was the only man to play with heart. kingston from ghana is better when u compare him to ivoary coast and cameroons goal keepers. not world class but ever so present.

5- the ivoary coast goal keeper has'nt been tested till this minute and his true colours are yet to appear. i know that he is not the same keeper they had when they played here in 2006 but i expect he is of the same standard.

6- nigeria have loads of class players in nearly every postion but they cant do anything when there manager plays them in the wrong way ( wrong formation and mentality). against ghana i had no doubts had it been another manager this team wouldve embarssed ghana but he is such a chicken and ended up getting the exit when in fact they deserved to move on just for the sake of there players and not anything he offers.

7- ghana is anything but impressive to be very honest and i think that cameroon will knock them out come the semi final stage i have'nt been impressed by them except for there game againt morocco other than that they r average compared to the other teams in the quarter finals ( cameroon, tunisa, ivoary coast, nigeria, and egypt) ( im not baised or hold anything against ghana but i ve watched all there games and thought they dont deserve all the hype theyr getting)

8- algeria has been out of form for some time now in nearly every competiton whether its club or national despite that they have great history to back them up.

 

[JCK]

I have not really been paying that much attention to this tournamment but i see some snippets here and there.

The 1 thing that I have noticed is the refereees do not care if you kill each other on the field. No way is he giving red cards for a tackle he feels is a sissy tackle.

I am sure I saw Etoo headbutt a Tunisia player right in front of the referee and he was not interested.

I also saw a two-footed lunge from a Tunisia player that did not receive a booking.

The standard of play is good though and the North African teams are clearly more organised than the others but may be not as skilful.

The 1 drawback is the standard of goalkeeping as it has not been very good. The Guniea goal keeper's positioning for Ivory Coast's 1st goal was not even funny

Whilst Ivory Coast's goalkeeper spends all his time looking at the camera and speaking to the heavens than actually making saves.

I dont know if Nigeria stopped corresponding with the rest of the world for a while as that is the only reason they would have appointed Berti Vogts as manager. Otherwise they shouldhave spoken to Scotland for a lowdown before hiring.

Drogba and Etoo seems to be head and shoulder above any other individual in the tournament and every time I have seen ghana even for a few minutes they have not been impressive.

Like in the wc Ghana do not seem to have top class strikers.

In the past I have always felt that North africans take this competition less seriously unless its held in North Africa as they pay far more respect to world cup qualification but I may be wrong.

So Sudan qualified and Algeria did not? What has happened to algeria anyway.

This competition would be a lot better and prestigious if indigenes were allowed to play for their country instead of most of them picking France especially

That's because the game is a physical sport not for the sissies that European referess has turned it out to be. Protecting certain players is the worst I have witnessed in the modern game whether in the leagues or in European tournaments. I say everyone should follow the physical leneality that is being followed in CAN.

 

[Bozi]

@bisco-the main reason i wanna see a ghana-ivory coast final is because both keepers constantly look like they are chasing seagulls from teh box. both are absolutely awful,cannot catch a ball, cannot save a ball and have no positional awareness(the david james effect)

should make for an interesting final

taht said however these are the teams with the best midfields and pretty good back-lines, ivory coast may shade it simply due to superior firepower, i actually worry about ghana's lack of a genuine goalscorer.

 

[denco]

@Bisco, you are quite right when you compare the north africans to the west africans physically.

They are quite huge. I dont know why when they form a defensive wall some of them put 5 people in their wall for Nigeria, shittu is quite enough.

Miss of the tournament from what i have seen has to be dindane against guinea, it was an awful miss and the funny thing was that he was expecting Drogba to pass to him when Drogba had his chance minutes later.

@jck, yep i agree about the refereeing in Europe where tugging a shirt or shoulder barging a player is deemed a foul depending on the players involved.

I never understood how tugging your shirt can make you fall to the ground.

But the funniest refree i have seen was a match involving Asian sides, dont know which that the referee did not take to kindly to being insulted by 1 of the players and he went seriously medieval on the guy's ass. He used a bit of karate and taekwando to whoop the players's butt, it was hilarious.

 

[JCK]

Yea, I have seen this clip but I don't know from which match.

Back on the refereeing issue, it is not only shirt tugging, have you seen how the referees whistle in favour of Kaka or Ronaldinho (when Barca won the CL). The smallest shoulder to shoulder contact gets whistled, are players not supposed to go home bruised anymore?

 

[Bozi]

But the funniest refree i have seen was a match involving Asian sides, dont know which that the referee did not take to kindly to being insulted by 1 of the players and he went seriously medieval on the guy's ass. He used a bit of karate and taekwando to whoop the players's butt, it was hilarious.

man thanks for reminding me of taht, absolutely brilliant

 

[Bisco]

@bisco-the main reason i wanna see a ghana-ivory coast final is because both keepers constantly look like they are chasing seagulls from teh box. both are absolutely awful,cannot catch a ball, cannot save a ball and have no positional awareness(the david james effect)

should make for an interesting final

taht said however these are the teams with the best midfields and pretty good back-lines, ivory coast may shade it simply due to superior firepower, i actually worry about ghana's lack of a genuine goalscorer.

thats true bro, but i have been fascinated by just 2 players in the ghana squad. 1- agogo and muntari. essien is superb but the rest of the team are just normal to be honest nothing special at all. its def these three players that carry ghana along with the home supporters where as in ivory coast its pretty much the entire team. i have to admire the sense of family the ivory coast players have its just amazing and its going to come in handy soon.

i wont cancel out a ghana - ivory coast final but we will have to wait till thursday i guess to find out.

 

[Salvatore]

RESULTS SO FAR:

Group A:

Ghana.......2 - 1.......Guinea

Gyan (p).................Kalabane
Muntari

Namibia.......1 - 5........Morocco

Brendell......................Alloudi x3
..................................Sektioui (p)
..................................Zerka

Ghana.......1 - 0.......Namibia

Agogo

Guinea.......3 - 2.......Morocco

Feindouno x2(1xp)....Aboucherouane
Bangura...................Ouaddou

Guinea.......1 - 1.......Namibia

Youla........................Brendell

Ghana.......2 - 0.......Morocco

Essien
Muntari

Teams............P......PTS
1.Ghana.........3........9 Q
2.Guinea.........3.......6 Q
3.Morocco.......3........3
4.Namibia.......3........0

Group B:

Nigeria.......0 - 1.......Ivory Coast

...............................Kalou

Mali.......1 - 0.......Benin

Kanoute (p)

Nigeria.......0 - 0.......Mali

Ivory Coast.......4 - 1........Benin

Drogba............................Omotoyossi
Toure Yaya
Keita
Dindane

Nigeria.......2 - 0.......Benin

Mikel
Yakubu

Ivory Coast.......3 - 0.......Mali

Drogba
Zoro
Djakpa

Teams................P......PTS
1.Ivory Coast......3.......9 Q
2.Nigeria............3........4 Q
3.Mali.................3.......4
4.Benin..............3........0

Group C:

Sudan.......0 - 3.......Zambia

...............................Chamanga
...............................Mulenga
...............................Katongo

Egypt.......4 - 2.......Cameroon

Abd Rabou x2(1xp)...Eto'o x2(1xp)
Zidan x2

Cameroon.......5 - 1.......Zambia

Geremi.........................Katongo
Job x2
Emana
Eto'o (p)

Egypt.......3 - 0.......Sudan

Abd Rabou (p)
Aboutriaka x2

Egypt.......1 - 1.......Zambia

Zaki......................Katongo

Cameroon.......3 - 0.......Sudan

Eto'o x2(1xp)
Ali Elkhidir o.g.

Teams............P.....PTS
1.Egypt...........3.......7 Q
2.Cameroon....3.......6 Q
3.Zambia........3.......4
4.Sudan..........3.......0

Group D:

South Africa.......1 - 1.......Angola

Van Heerden....................Manucho

Tunisia.......2 - 2.......Senegal

Jemaa......................Sall
Traoui......................Kamara

Tunisia.......3 - 1........South Africa

Santos x2..................Mphela
Ben Saada

Senegal.......1 - 3.......Angola

Faye..........................Manucho x2
.................................Flavio

Tunisia.......0 - 0.......Angola

Senegal.......1 - 1.......South Africa

Camara.....................Van Heerden

Teams................P........PTS
1.Angola.............3.........5 Q
2.Tunisia.............3........5 Q
3.Senegal...........3.........2
4.South Africa.....3.........2

Quarter Finals:

Ghana.......2 - 1.......Nigeria

Essien.....................Yakubu (p)
Agogo

Ivory Coast.......5 - 0.......Guinea

Keita
Drogba
Kalou x2
Kone

Egypt.......2 - 1.......Angola

Abd Rabou (p)........Manucho
Zaki

Tunisia.......2 - 3 aet.......Cameroon

Ben Saada............Mbia x2
Chikhaoui.............Geremi

Semi Finals:

Ghana.......vs.......Cameroon

Ivory Coast.......vs.......Egypt

Top Scorers:
Eto'o - 5(3)
Abd Raboul - 4(3)
Manucho - 4
Alloudi - 3
Katongo - 3
Drogba - 3
Kalou - 3

 

[Fred]

I have not really been paying that much attention to this tournamment but i see some snippets here and there.

The 1 thing that I have noticed is the refereees do not care if you kill each other on the field. No way is he giving red cards for a tackle he feels is a sissy tackle.

I am sure I saw Etoo headbutt a Tunisia player right in front of the referee and he was not interested.

I also saw a two-footed lunge from a Tunisia player that did not receive a booking.

The standard of play is good though and the North African teams are clearly more organised than the others but may be not as skilful.

The 1 drawback is the standard of goalkeeping as it has not been very good. The Guniea goal keeper's positioning for Ivory Coast's 1st goal was not even funny

Whilst Ivory Coast's goalkeeper spends all his time looking at the camera and speaking to the heavens than actually making saves.

I dont know if Nigeria stopped corresponding with the rest of the world for a while as that is the only reason they would have appointed Berti Vogts as manager. Otherwise they shouldhave spoken to Scotland for a lowdown before hiring.

Drogba and Etoo seems to be head and shoulder above any other individual in the tournament and every time I have seen ghana even for a few minutes they have not been impressive.

Like in the wc Ghana do not seem to have top class strikers.

In the past I have always felt that North africans take this competition less seriously unless its held in North Africa as they pay far more respect to world cup qualification but I may be wrong.

So Sudan qualified and Algeria did not? What has happened to algeria anyway.

This competition would be a lot better and prestigious if indigenes were allowed to play for their country instead of most of them picking France especially

I disagree with the refereeing part..its actually good that refs dont whistle at the slightest of nudges like you see in La liga for example, imo it helps make the playing rythm faster and more flowing.

Also, in terms of skill North africans are slightly better than their African counterparts, but the africans are miles ahead both physically and tactically.

As for Algeria,

Problems seem never ending for them, but its more about outfield matters than football ones, the Algerian Fa is one of the most corrupt Fa's in the world..They're all about favors, connections and bribery...Its a terrible job to have being the manager of Algeria too, The Fa forces players on the manager sometimes, which makes it hard for him to do his job..its all about the big men in the fa, if a player is in their good books, it doesnt matter how shit he is, he'd still be called up ahead of players that are better than him


Not to mention they had a disaster of a manager in the qualifiers..They lost to Guiniea at home because the manager was too negative, i mean your playing at home..and your players are imo better than guinea's, why would you play a 5-3-2 with two defensive minded mids in the center...

Its a shame really because Algeria is one of the best in Africa in producing talent, and probably the best in the arab world barring egypt...when they're on form they can cause any team in the world problems, i dont know if you watched their game against Argentina(it ended 4-3 to the Argies) but they give the Argentinians hell..and they're better than at least half the teams playing in the ANC.

Another problem is, Algerian players seem to do so well for their clubs but they dont carry their form with them to the NT

Rafik Saifi is the third top scorer of the French Ligue and Lorients best player by a mile, he's one of the best strikers in the French Ligue this season..

Belhadj was the best leftback in the league last season..offensively he's a monster..i believe he is capable of playing for a midtable team in England or Italy..he was man of the match for Lens against Lyon a few weeks back.

Ziani was bought by Marseille to be Riberys replacement..he has failed to do that but he was second best winger in the Ligue last season...he was one of L'OMs best players against Liverpool.

I personally hope Algerian football is back to its best soon..as both African football and Arab football has missed its presence

 

[Zé Tahir]

What happened to Sierra Leone? Why didn't they make it?

 

[Maher]

What happened to Sierra Leone? Why didn't they make it?

 

[Fred]

What happened to Sierra Leone? Why didn't they make it?

 

[denco]

I didnt say the referees were bad, i was just making an observation. I was not passing judgement and in fact i prefer it but some incidents should not be ignored like Etoo's fir instance and the 2 footed tackle as its very cowardly.

I am not sure i agree that north africans are more skilful than the west africans, they have more flair if thats what you mean.

I dont like referees that blow for every foul and i get frustrated sometimes watching seriea and la liga

North Africans are more adept in playing 1 touch football but when it comes to individual skill then I would give it to the west africans

Besides thats 1 of their problems, too many individualistic players, where a simple pass would do, they try to embroider by exhibiting unnecessary skills.

But i must say nowadays you dont get that many individually skilful west Africans anymore.

Ghana used to play beautiful football with the likes of abedi pele and co but not any more as their players are more physical and functional rather than skilful.

Look at the Nigerian side they used to have okocha and others like him but now the most skilful player is kanu and he is in his 60s

Cameroon have Etoo and thats about it. Ivory coast used to brim with talent with yousoff fofana of monaco and others but now Drogba is far away the best player but he is not exactly skilful.

To be fair though the world of football has moved to atheletes instead of entertainers

 

[Maher]

What happened to somalia ??? Why didn't they make it?

 

[Fred]

I didnt say the referees were bad, i was just making an observation. I was not passing judgement and in fact i prefer it but some incidents should not be ignored like Etoo's fir instance and the 2 footed tackle as its very cowardly.

I am not sure i agree that north africans are more skilful than the west africans, they have more flair if thats what you mean.

I dont like referees that blow for every foul and i get frustrated sometimes watching seriea and la liga

North Africans are more adept in playing 1 touch football but when it comes to individual skill then I would give it to the west africans

Besides thats 1 of their problems, too many individualistic players, where a simple pass would do, they try to embroider by exhibiting unnecessary skills.

But i must say nowadays you dont get that many individually skilful west Africans anymore.

Ghana used to play beautiful football with the likes of abedi pele and co but not any more as their players are more physical and functional rather than skilful.

Look at the Nigerian side they used to have okocha and others like him but now the most skilful player is kanu and he is in his 60s

Cameroon have Etoo and thats about it. Ivory coast used to brim with talent with yousoff fofana of monaco and others but now Drogba is far away the best player but he is not exactly skilful.

To be fair though the world of football has moved to atheletes instead of entertainers

yeah you could be right, flair might be a better word to use.