Is anybody else following this tournament? It's pretty amazing that two of the best teams in the tournament, Nigeria and Cameroon, didn't qualify for the World Cup. Tunisia and Ghana did, and neither has been impressive so far.

BBC's African Football page is the best place to follow it on the net I think: more interesting and up to date than the schedule on the official website.

Sorry to see Ivory Coast lose out in group A, but at least Drogba no longer risks injury before returning to Chelsea. Selfish of me. wink

The official website is pretty bad. I was able to find more photos on FIFA than on it. I'd love to be in Egypt right now watching the matches, though.

Yes siree, I am keeping my eye on Ghana. They are in the same group as us in Germany. Although they lost to Nigeria, that's a "classico" that can go either way, any day. Their next test is Zimbabwe today. Essien is injured and has received a lot of criticism about not playing for the national side. The captain Appiah has a foot injury but is still scheduled to start against ZBW. Even with the injuries they were able to hold Nigeria to a 1-0 loss and beat Senegal. These two countries have traditionally been the African powers (NGR & SEN) but both failed in the WC qualifiers. So far, quarterfinal qualifiers include:
Egypt v. DR Congo; and Guinea v. Nigeria/Senegal/Ghana. (possible semi-final match-ups are aligned)
Cameroon v. Ivory Coast; and Nigeria/Senegal/Ghana v. Tunisia.
The final two teams will be decided today and both matches have already started and so far it's nil-nil in both matches.

UPDATE:
Zimbabwe and Senegal are putting on the heat. Both matches are nil-nil at halftime.

UPDATE (culled from BBC Sports Match Tracker):
1820: Goal. Ghana 0-1 Zimbabwe
Things get worse for Ghana as they fall behind. Sammy Adjel fails to deal with a cross and Cephas Chimedza bundles the ball over the line to put Zimbabwe ahead. Ghana are now bottom of the group as things stand and have a lot to do if they are to qualify.

1818: Goal. Nigeria 0-1 Senegal
Soulemayne Camara breaks the deadlock to put Senegal ahead. It is bad news for Ghana, who fall from second to third in the group standings.

UPDATE (culled from BBC Sports Match Tracker):
Full-time. Ghana 1-2 Zimbabwe.
Full-time. Nigeria 2-1 Senegal.

A thrilling end to Group D sees Nigeria and Senegal reach the knock-out stages of the African Cup of Nations. Nigeria go through as group-winners with nine points while Senegal finish level on points with Ghana and Zimbabwe - but progress because of a better goal difference.

Quarterfinal Line-ups:
Egypt v. DR Congo; and Guinea v. Senegal.
Cameroon v. Ivory Coast; and Nigeria v. Tunisia.
:cool:

[ January 31, 2006, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: simontexas ]

Love the hairstyle diversity on the African players, espcially Tunisia and Bolton defender Radhi Jaidi (more because of what's under it than what it looks like).

Togo's Yao Aziawonou has the most colorful. At least the showmanship should make for a fun World Cup 2006.

I agree with you about Jaidi. More pics here

Nice. Best series of photos of the ACN I've seen so far. Virtually every one is hot, hot, hot.

But this shot of an Egyptian player using some highly questionable, though very sexy defense tactics has to take the cake.

Wonder if they called a foul. something like "unnecessarily stimulating fondling away from the balls, er ball".

In Tuesday's (7 FEB) semifinals, it's four-time champion Egypt vs. Senegal in Cairo and Ivory Coast vs. Nigeria in Alexandria. So it's sorting out to be the traditional African soccer powers that are dominating the Cup.
Quarterfinal Action

African Cup of Nations Final on Friday (10 FEB): Egypt v. Ivory Coast
Semifinal action today:
Egypt 2-1 Senegal
Ivory Coast 1-0 Nigeria

Egyptian Drama Alert:
Zaki (80') had replaced Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam, who had to be dragged away from a confrontation with Egypt manager Hassan Shehata. Desperate for the winner, Shehata withdrew Mido with slightly more than ten minutes to go, sparking a furious reaction from the Egypt striker. Mido had to be restrained by his teammate Hossam Hassam as he confronted Shehata.

I saw that Nigeria defeated Senegal 1-0 today. As good as they are, it's sort of crazy that they keep finishing third.

I'm intrigued by the fact that the Ivory Coast is doing so well. I had no idea that they were such a decent team. Should be interesting to see if they make some noise at World Cup.

I'm also extremely disappointed in the performance of South Africa. They should be ashamed of themselves and better work hard to ensure a top quality squad for 2010.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's...

Didier!

Unfortunately, they are in Group C with Argentina, The Netherlands and Serbia & Montenegro. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will have to be healthy to stir any type of noise in that group.

UPDATE culled from BBC Sports Match Tracker:
Egypt Wins

Live: Egypt 0-0 Ivory Coast

Penalty shoot-out:

4-2 Mohamed Aboutrika scors and wins the African Cup of Nations for Egypt.
3-2 Emmanuel Eboue scores for the Ivory Coast.
3-1 Amr Zaki converts his penalty for Egypt.
2-1 Bakary Kone has his penalty saved for the Ivory Coasts
2-1 Abdelhalim Ali puts the ball wide for Egypt.
2-1 Kolo Toure scores for the Ivory Coast.
2-0 Mohamed Abdelwahab scores to give Egypt the advantage.
1-0 Didier Drogba's penalty for the Ivory Coast is saved by Essam Al Hadary.
1-0 Ahmed Hassan puts Egypt ahead.

120+1 mins: FULL-TIME Egypt 0-0 Ivory Coast
The final of the 25th African Cup of Nations will be decided on penalties.



Live: Egypt 0-0 Ivory Coast
31 mins: It's an incredible miss from Didier Drogba who puts the ball over the bar from just six-yards out in front of an open goal after a great pass into the area by Arouna Kone.

90+5 mins: The final whistle is blown and we area heading into extra time - Didier Drogba should have won it for the Ivory Coast and Egypt thought they had won it with seven minutes remaining only for it to be ruled out for offside.

[ February 10, 2006, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: simontexas ]

Egypt over Ivory Coast 4-2 on penalty kicks.

Sheesh, I hate it when a game has to be decided like that. Especially if one team is better and just got a lot of bad breaks during the game, but then loses in PKs.

Not saying that was the case here, but just in general.

[ February 10, 2006, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

South Africa never had a chance. Ivory Coast's main weapon is Drogba. He nearly scored on an empty net but kicked the ball high. Egypt has now won their 5th Africa Cup. They really ought to consider what they need to do to get to the World Cup, especially playing like they did today.

I agree about Egypt. It'll be interesting to see which, if any, of the African sides make it through to the second round of the World Cup. Ivory Coast and Ghana have tough draws, but Togo could make it. Unless they play like they did during this tournament...