Ivory Coast and Reading midfielder Emerse Fae has been diagnosed with Malaria after his return from the African Nations Cup in Ghana. Although the wishful thinking Steve Coppell thinks his summer signing will be back in a week, Fae is certainly facing a spell on the sidelines as he was already taking the anti-Malaria tablets during the tournament.
Image via ReadingFC
Anyone that knows me is painfully aware that I love soccer and that I am also very fond of sneakers. There are times when sneaker companies integrate soccer into a sneaker design, and this can be a dodgy undertaking. The outcome of these is often painful and depressing. However there are classic sneakers, inspired by soccer that work best for these types of projects, and the Puma Argentina is a perfect example of this. Having done a special Kenny Dalglish pack a few months back, they have now released the Africa cup of Nations pack. With four colorways representing Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Senegal, these Puma Argentina’s are special and pay homage to some of the best footballing countries in Africa. If you are interested in any of these, head to Ryouki.
[Source]
image via Wikipedia
The latest Fifa rankings have confirmed what we thought all along, donkeys run the show. After winning the African Nations Cup for the second time (back to back), Egypt is ranked 4th coming out of Africa while Ghana takes the top spot with Cameroon and the Ivory Coast following. The exact quote from a Fifa rep is “rankings are not a reflection of a teams present performance, but a reflect of the past for years.” Cough-bullshiz-cough.
image via Setanta
Alain Nkong, former Colorado Rapid under Fernando Clavijo and world traveler, might be heading to London (more specifically Tottenham) after a very impressive African Nations Cup tournament for Cameroon. The combative midfielder, who enjoyed plenty of success in Colorado until the continued development of Kyle Beckerman and partner Pablo Mastroeni determined his fate, is seeing renewed interest after scoring the winning goal in the Semi-final match against home favorite Ghana.
They’re never the prettiest goals that Junior Agogo puts in the back of the net, but he finds the ol’ bulge alot. After a great showing down in Accra with his Black Stars, Agogo’s name might end up on the back of a jersey in Portsmouth.
image via Acad
Egypt topped Cameroon (for the second time, the first being a 4-2 win in the opening match of the tournament) 1-nil Sunday afternoon to take the African Nations Cup for the sixth time. With Cameroonian captain Rigobert Song’s error with 14 minutes left, Egyptian midfielder Mohammed Aboutrika slotted home past the diving Carlos Kameni and propelled the North Africans to the title.
While captain Rigobert Song was on the ground receiving medical attention in stoppage time of Cameroon’s 1-0 win over host Ghana in Accra, Reading and fellow Camroonian defender Andre Bikey shoved over a medical assistan, forcing the referee to give him a red card, suspending him for the final Sunday against Egypt, who walloped Drogba’s Ivory Coast 4-1 in the other semi-final.
image via DailyMail
Anytime you go on International Duty for your country, you’ve been given a specific time and date that you have to be back by. In this case it’s Nigerian striker Yakubu, who’s two day late arrival from the African Nations Cup was made even worse by countryman/teammate Joseph Yobo arrival on time (talk about getting thrown under the bus). Although manager David Moyes initial statement to the press is that it’s “an internal matter”, Yakubu will not be dressing for Everton’s Saturday match against Reading and a minimum two week fine (40,000 pound) has been levied.
image via CNN
This has got to be bullshit, but here it is anyways. Drogba has always been a master of making questionable statements to the press, but this comes from the Ivory Coast press officer regarding the African Player of the Year Award which was won by Frederic Kanoute.
image via PhotoBucket
Ten man Ghana is going to the Semi’s with a 2-1 win over rival Nigeria in the African Nations Cup. Led by Michael Essien and former MLS’er Junior Agogo, who scored the winner with 8 minutes left, Ghana’s comeback win in Accra was a tense one after Everton’s Yakubu put the Nigerians up 1-0 at the 34 minute mark.
