Angola pledges to keep using Nations Cup stadiums

February 1, 2010

Angola’s sports minister on Monday pledged to ensure a profitable future for the four new football stadiums which were built for the Africa Cup of Nations at a cost of 600 million dollars.

“The management of the stadiums is a big concern of the government,” Goncalves Muandumba told state-owned national radio.

“We need to take steps so they don’t become a deadly weight on the state, so special attention will be paid to how they are used, their maintenance and their profitability.”

The minister said a working group had been collecting ideas for over a year from a number of other countries including Portugal, Spain, Germany, South Africa and France, and the plan for Angola was to create a public company to oversee the running of the four stadiums, he said.

A number of the basketball pavilions built for the 2007 Afrobasket tournament have started to fall into disrepair, but deputy sports minister Albino da Conceicao told AFP the government had learnt its lesson and would ensure the football stadiums were properly maintained.

Angola spent more than one billion dollars on hosting the 21-day football tournament which was won by Egypt, who picked up their seventh tournament trophy.

The four new stadiums were built by Chinese construction companies in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda.

LUANDA (AFP)

Tags: africa cup of nations, afrobasket, albino, cabinda, construction companies, da conceicao, disrepair, football tournament, Germany, Luanda, lubango, national radio, nations cup, new football stadiums, new stadiums, one billion dollars, pavilions, portugal spain, s sports, South Africa, Spain, tournament trophy, working group

Mali prove point after superb comeback

January 11, 2010

African Cup of Nations hosts Angola were shocked by a superb Mali comeback on the opening match of the tournament after blowing a four-goal lead and were held to a 4-4 draw. Mali’s goals all came in the final 11 minutes in the match held in Luanda.

Striker Flavio headed two goals in quick succession late in the first half, Gilberto added the third with a twice-taken penalty midway through the second and Manucho converted a second penalty to put Angola 4-0 ahead.

Mali, hugely disappointing until then, hit back in the 79th minute through Barcelona’s Seydou Keita. Angola goalkeeper Fernandes dropped an innocuous cross and Keita stabbed it home at the third attempt. The goal was to be considered as a late consolation.

However, Sevilla star Frederic Kanoute headed another two minutes from time. Tamboura floated in a cross and Kanoute produced a magnificent header to beat Fernandes. There was very little pace on the cross but Kanoute showed his class to head it home for Mali’s second.

Keita scored again with a volley hitting the back post and going into the net. Substitute Mustapha Yatabare scored a minute later with Fernandes at fault again, not getting enough on the cross, and could only parry it to Yattabare who fires the rebound home.

The Group A match was a fantastic start to the football tournament that had been overshadowed by the recent attack on the Mali team’s bus. The four Mali goals scored in a space of 11 minutes came to shock the frustrated home fans in what was a memorable comeback for Mali.

Tags: african cup of nations, Angola, Barcelona, consolation, fernandes, flavio, football tournament, frederic kanoute, Gilberto, Goalkeeper, home fans, Luanda, mali, match, memorable comeback, Mustapha, opening, penalty, rebound, SEVILLA, seydou keita, striker, succession, tamboura, third attempt, two minutes, volley

Mexicans blank Guadeloupe in Gold Cup

July 13, 2009

Gerardo Torrado’s header in the 42nd minute and Miguel Sabah’s goal in the 85th gave Mexico a 2-0 victory over Guadeloupe on Sunday and the Group C title in the Gold Cup football tournament.

The concluding result in group play completed next weekend’s quarter-final pairings in the CONCACAF regional football championship tournament.

Host United States will meet Panama and Canada will face Honduras next Saturday at Philadelphia while the Mexicans will face Haiti and Guadeloupe will play Costa Rica next Sunday in Dallas.

The semi-finals will be July 23 at Chicago with the title game three days later at New York.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre served the first match of his three-game suspension on Sunday. If the Mexicans should lose to Haiti next weekend, he will be sidelined for next month’s World Cup qualifier against the arch-rival US squad.

GLENDALE, Arizona (AFP)

Tags: arch rival, Arizona, Canada, Chicago, concacaf, Costa Rica, cup football, Dallas, football championship, football tournament, game suspension, gerardo torrado, Glendale, glendale arizona, guadeloupe, Haiti, Honduras, Javier Aguirre, match, mexicans, Mexico, Miguel Sabah, MLS, New York, Panama, Philadelphia, Sabah, semi finals, title game, tournament host, U.S., United States, world cup qualifier

Obama expects to go to 2010 football World Cup

July 10, 2009

L’AQUILA, Italy (AFP) – US President Barack Obama, speaking Friday on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Italy, said he expected to go to the 2010 World Cup football tournament in South Africa.

Tags: AQUILA, aquila italy, barack obama, football tournament, football world cup, g8 summit, Italy, Obama, president, sidelines, South Africa, U.S., World Cup, world cup football

Chile and Belgium draw in Kirin Cup

May 29, 2009

CHIBA, Japan (AFP) – Midfielder Kevin Roelandts scored his first goal for Belgium, but his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Chile in the three-nation Kirin Cup football tournament on Friday.

Seven-time World Cup participants Chile kept the initiative by exchanging short passes and sending effective long balls to the front, while Belgium played rather defensively at the beginning.

But it was Belgium who opened the scoring in the 15th minute after forward Mujanji Bia sent a heading pass to the front, where Kevin Roelandts fired a shot that hit goalkeeper Miguel Pinto and went into the net.

Chile retaliated soon afterwards. In the 20th minute, forward Esteban Paredes hit a shot, which Belgian goalkeeper Stijn Stijnen saved, and then Edson Puch hit the rebound, forcing Stijnen to save again.

But three minutes later, forward Fabian Orellana failed to hit a shot and then defender Gary Medel struck the rebound home. Stijnen touched the ball but it landed in the net.

Belgium, who have played 11 World Cups, started to play better in the second half with forward Maarten Martens hitting the first shot on goal.

After midfielder Marco Estrada missed several shots, Chile keeper Pinto was kept busy saving shots off midfielder Ritchie De Laet and Bia in the 68th and 70th minutes.

But neither side could score a decider and the referee’s whistle sounded soon after a shot from substitute forward Jose Fuenzalida went wide.

“It’s wonderful. I’m really happy that I scored my first goal for Belgium soon after I was called up for the first time. We have a chance to win this tournament. I want to play well against Japan as well,” said Roelandts.

Belgium coach Franky Vercauteren said: “I’m satisfied with the result. We had some tough times but we played a good game. I’m looking forward to the game against Japan, I expect it to be a tough game.”

On Wednesday, Japan defeated Chile 4-0 to take three points from the win, while Belgium and Chile have one point each.

Belgium and Japan will face each other at the national stadium in Tokyo on Sunday in the last of the warm-up games for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.

Tags: Belgium, bia, CAF Champions League, CHIBA, chiba japan, Chile, cup football, de laet, decider, Esteban, fabian, football tournament, franky, Franky Vercauteren, fuenzalida, Gary Medel, Goalkeeper, good game, Japan, Jose, Kevin Roelandts, kirin cup, Marco Estrada, midfielder, Miguel Pinto, orellana, Ritchie De Laet, stijn, three minutes, time world, tokyo, tough times, world cup participants, world cups

Japan to play Chile, Belgium in World Cup warm-up

May 26, 2009

TOKYO (AFP) – Former Asian champions Japan will tune up for the World Cup qualifiers by playing Chile and Belgium in the three-nation Kirin Cup football tournament this week.

In the Asian final qualifying round Group A, Australia lead the table with four wins and a draw for 13 points, followed by Japan on 11 points and Bahrain on seven points. Uzbekistan and Qatar each have four points.

The top two teams will qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while the third-placed team will have to survive playoffs.

One more win for Japan will secure qualification.

“It is natural to think we are just one step away from the World Cup, but I’ve seen so many times that the tables can turn before winning. We haven’t got anything yet,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada.

“We plan to gain our top form through these two games. We are just determined to do our best to beat Uzbekistan in our next game and concentrate on that,” he added.

Japan will play Chile in Osaka on Wednesday and Belgium in Tokyo on Sunday in the Kirin Cup before playing Uzbekistan away on June 6, Qatar at home on June 10 and Australia away on June 17.

Chile and Belgium will play each other in Ichihara, near Tokyo, on Friday, vying for the winners’ prize of 100,000 dollars. The runners-up will receive 50,000 dollars and the third place team will get 10,000 dollars.

“I really wanted to have a game against Chile again since we played them last year,” said Okada, referring to the 0-0 draw the teams played out in his first game after taking over when Bosnian tactician Ivica Osim suffered a stroke in late 2007.

“I was surprised, because they put pressure on us very well. They will be very helpful for us to improve our game.”

Belgium always play solidly, he added, and would be a useful reference point ahead of the qualifiers.

Seven-time World Cup participants Chile have 20 points and are in third place in their group. They trail Paraguay by four points and Brazil by one point, well within an automatic qualification of the top four in the South American round.

Belgium, who have played 11 World Cups, are fourth in their group on seven points behind powerhouse Spain on 18 points, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 12 points and Turkey on eight points.

Tags: Australia, automatic qualification, bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, brazil, Chile, cup football, first game, football tournament, four points, four wins, herzegovina, Japan, japan coach, kirin cup, okada, Osaka, osim, paraguay, Qatar, reference point, runners, seven points, South Africa, South American, Spain, takeshi, Takeshi Okada, time world, tokyo, Turkey, two games, uzbekistan, World Cup, world cup participants, world cup qualifiers

Which is Latin America’s most complex championship?

March 4, 2009

The season is under way around Latin America which means various countries have had a chance to roll out new-look (or not so new) domestic championships.

As usual, it feels like there is a contest going on to devise the oddest format for a football tournament. Over the next few days, the Reuters soccer blog will present the various candidates for this year’s award for the strangest concept.

The conventional league system — where the teams play each other twice and the one with the most points wins the title — is simply too orthodox for most South America countries which instead use Byzantine formulas.

Where else can a team have the chance to win the title and get relegated at the same time or find themselves playing the same opponents up to seven times in a row at the end of the season?

At present, only Brazil operates the conventional league system — but even here, the domestic season is cluttered by a profusion of regional championships (one for each of the country’s 27 states) in which the first division sides also take part and a nationwide Copa Brasil which sends teams on 15-hour journeys across three time zones to play semi-professional opposition.

Before writing off the region as eccentric, though, be warned that the recent tendency has been for Europe to follow Latin America and make its tournaments more complex (look at the UEFA Cup) rather than vice-versa.

The Libertadores Cup had two clubs per country — often selected by dubious criteria — long before the Champions League, its European equivalent, opened its doors to second, third and fourth-placed teams.

Colombia also began squeezing an extra round of “derby” matches into its championship years before the Premier League even talked about its proposal for a39th game.

It is not hard to imagine certain Premier League clubs casting an envious eye over the relegation system used in Argentina and now copied in several other countries.

Here relegation is decided over three seasons by dividing the number of points won by each team by the number of games played. It was introduced in the 1980s specifically to reduce the possibility of the big clubs going down as the chances of them having three bad seasons in a row are almost negligible.

Next we’ll look at Peru’s wacky system.

PHOTO: San Lorenzo’s Gonzalo Bergessio celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal against Tigre during their playoff match in Buenos Aires, Dec. 17. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian

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Tags: Argentina, Brasil, BUENOS AIRES, champions league, colombia, Enrique Marcarian, envious eye, Europe, few days, football, football tournament, journeys, latin america, libertadores cup, mdash, opponents, opposition, premier league, premier league clubs, profusion, regional championships, San, seven times, South America, south america countries, tendency, three seasons, time zones, UEFA Cup

Qatar announces candidacy for 2018 football World Cup

January 26, 2009

DOHA (AFP) – Qatar on Monday announced its intention to bid to host the football World Cup in 2018 and, should that fail, the 2022 edition of football’s global showpiece event.

"I can confirm that the Qatar football federation has today sent a letter to FIFA in which it officially declared its candidacy for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups," federation secretary general Saud al-Muhanadi told AFP.

FIFA started reception of bids for the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups earlier this month. All the interested national federations will have to make their bids before February 2, 2009.

Among other countries who have officially bid are England, Spain and Portugal in a joint bid, and Belgium and the Netherlands, also in a joint bid.

Other interested countries, according to FIFA, are Japan, China, Mexico, the United States, Russia, Australia and Canada.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, will name the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in December 2010.

Gas-rich Qatar failed in its bid to host the 2016 Olympics but successfully hosted the 2006 Asian Games and will host the 2011 Asian Cup football tournament.

Written by: AFP

Tags: 2016 olympics, AFP, asian cup, asian games, Australia, Belgium, CAF Champions League, Canada, candidacy, China, Doha, England, february 2, fifa football, football federation, football tournament, football world cup, interested countries, Japan, japan china, Mexico, national federations, Olympics, portugal, Qatar, saud, secretary general, showpiece event, Spain, the Netherlands, United States, World Cup, world cups, world governing body

2014 World Cup to be played in twelve cities

December 27, 2008

BRASILIA (SW) – The 2014 World Cup will take place in twelve different Brazilian towns. This was revealed by a spokesman of Brazil’s FA (CBF) in an interview with newspaper O Globo.

Initially it was expected that the tournament would make use of ten cities but another two have now been added. The names of those cities, and of five others, haven’t been revealed yet.

The five that are already certain of hosting games are Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and capital city Brasilia.

World governing body FIFA has given its go-ahead for the adjustment, according to the spokesman. It is not the first time that the world’s most prestigious football tournament uses this amount of cities as Germany 2006 had its matches played in twelve different towns as well.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is expected to make use of ten stadiums in nine cities. Johannesburg offers two venues.

Written by: Jonathan Roorda