Posts Tagged ‘Alain Giresse’

SFG’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Awards

Posted: February 13, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

The hardest thing about football is finding a replacement for it when it’s all over because there just  isn’t any, especially as we quite simply witnessed one of the greatest major tournaments of all-time. So we decided to do half-review, half-awards bash to cherish what we’ve just witnessed. Tom Legg, East African football coinosseur, is back and he is joined by Steve of Spirit of Mirko, an African football enthusiast, both of these guys have been providing excellent Cup of Nations coverage,

Here is the panel for the awards:

Tom – Tom is an East African football enthusiast and expert and has produced some fantastic tactical pieces during the Cup of Nations. For further reading of his expert reports and tactical analyses you can visit his blog Eastern Promise and follow him on twitter.

Steve – Steve is an African football enthusiast, Cardiff City supporter and founder of the brilliant, Guardian-nominated 100-football-blogs-to-follow blog Spirit of Mirko which deals with football’s trivialities, curiosities and statistics, although has also diversified into African football recently with enlightening pieces like this. You can follow him on twitter.

Salim – Editor and co-founder of this humble site, Salim is obsessed with all things football and has been watching the Cup of Nations religiously.

James -  Co-founder and writer, video-producer extraordinaire and the strategist behind our marketing ploys.

Sagar – Editor and writer, has a fetish for fringe players and is equally knowledgeable in the field of cricket.

Amro – Editor and co-founder, his current dream is that Zico will lead Iraq to Brazil in 2014 so he can join the samba party.

Joe – Writer,  a recent addition to the team, he has a fine eye for tactical detail and has already done some brilliant pieces of analysis.

Kevin – Writer, Kevin is one of the two members on the team who had a native nation to support at the Cup of Nations.  He’s still nursing the wounds of Ghana’s exit but the future is bright for the Black Stars.

(more…)

Giresse’s boys show true grit

Posted: February 7, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012, African Football
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

Alain Giresse/ Photo: Action Images

In every tournament there’s that one  annoyingly plucky side that no one likes – apart from the people from  said country – that reach the latter stages. They’re insistent on spoiling the party, don’t particularly play a likeable brand of football and they often have little flair to entertain the neutrals. At the Africa Cup of Nations that team has been Mali. In a tournament of open football, Mali have been cautious, reminiscent of the way the favourites, Ghana and Ivory Coast, have played, but perhaps even more cautious.

True Grit

The Eagles took an early lead in the opening game against Guinea, only to be content to sit back on the lead for the rest of the game and on the balance of play Guinea deserved at least a point by the end of the game. They lost 2-0 to Ghana in their second game and were widely criticised for their negative approach even after they went a goal down. After being 1-0 down to Botswana they completed a turnaround to win the final group game and seal their qualification into the knockout stages.

Subsequently, then, few fancied them against the co-hosts Gabon in the quarter-finals, yet they exceeded expectations rallying when they were a goal behind and then consummately dispatching all their penalties as they danced their way to the semi-finals to meet Côte d’Ivoire.

Where does this composure in the face of adversity stem from? Much of it comes from coach Alain Giresse – a terrific, dynamic midfielder in his playing days, part of the legendary, magical diamond of France in the 1980s – who has assembled a young team (the third youngest squad at the tournament) with no stars, bar Seydou Keita, but which possesses the much-admired grit, that the Frenchman himself showed as a player, when the going gets tough.

(more…)

Group D: Africa Cup of Nations 2012 Preview

Posted: January 14, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in African Cup of Nations 2012
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
3

Group D

Ghana – Botswana – Mali – Guinea

Ghana

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this current Ghana team has the ingredients to, potentially, become the best African team ever. In 2009 they won the U-20 World Cup and a group of players from that team have been successfully integrated into full international level, being used both at the last Cup of Nations and the World Cup. In both those major tournaments, The Black Stars didn’t shame themselves – finishing as the runners up in the former and quarter-finalists in the latter, narrowly failing to become the first African side to reach the semi-finals.

Photo by Phil Cole/Getty Images Europe

They are very much a young side but it’d be foolish to say they’re inexperienced considering the well-planned integration and the football rigours they have been through. The majority are experienced, young players. Defensively, Ghana are arguably the best unit at this year’s edition, although the omission of the loveable Richard Kingson and three very inexperienced keepers could be a problem.  A midfield unit of Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese), Sully Muntari (Internazionale), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (Udinese) and Anthony Annan (Vitesse Arnhem loan) will be difficult to outplay.

Offensively, there are problems – an overreliance on Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain loan), who has fitness worries, for goals and lack of creativity through the middle, this Ghana side doesn’t beat teams as comfortable as they should. In Andre Ayew (Marseilles) they have the current African Footballer of the Year, full of bite and trickery  but his best work is done through the flanks, rather than in central areas. In the last year it had finally looked like they had solved the problem of creativity in the form of Kevin Prince-Boateng but he’s gone into early retirement from international football, citing injury problems. Even with those problems they should have reach the latter stages of the tournament, can they go one better and win it this time?

Prediction: Anything less than a final would be a failure from a Ghanain point of view. They will not have a better chance to satisfy their thirst for Cup of Nations silverware. Finalists.

(more…)