AFCON

[frenchred]

1 hour ago, Gazred said:

Do i switch to Guinea v Malawi? Choices, choices. 

My Mrs turned over to watch the chase and that, I have to say, was more interesting! :laugh:

[Numero Uno]

15 minutes ago, frenchred said:

My Mrs turned over to watch the chase and that, I have to say, was more interesting!

Don’t miss Comoros v Gabon tonight. Will be the game of the tournament…..:

[Stockwood gate]

24 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Janneh was born there yep. Suspect he qualifies to play for The Gambia - I know when he signed for City he held a Gambian passport rather than a UK one.

My sister had a trip there a few years ago and absolutely loved sailing up the river with some locals that she met through her friend. Said it was a wonderful country.

Absolutely  people are so friendly we built a house for his family to move from the village to the coast to be closer to the capital 

[Gazred]

37 minutes ago, frenchred said:

My Mrs turned over to watch the chase and that, I have to say, was more interesting!

Good call!

Think I'll tune back in in the later stages. That was a tough watch.

[frenchred]

14 minutes ago, Stockwood gate said:

Absolutely  people are so friendly we built a house for his family to move from the village to the coast to be closer to the capital 

Any chance you could knock up one for my son in Portishead, we will all be friendly

[Red-Robbo]

2 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Senegal had a guy on the bench called 'Name'...I mean that one is just quite amusing.

Cape Verde have exciting striker Dodo plus a defender called Carlos Ponck.   Sierra Leone have the unusually named midfielder Rodney Strasser. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

58 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Don’t miss Comoros v Gabon tonight. Will be the game of the tournament…..:

Not too bad a game. I hope Comoros do well, they`ve had a hell of a run to qualify and are the lowest ranked side in the tournament. Three islands in the Indian Ocean with less than a million population, half of them under 15 (thanks Wiki!).

[Rebounder]

Going to look on YouTube, but any mainstream channels showing highlights? Thought BBC might. 

[Numero Uno]

12 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Not too bad a game. I hope Comoros do well, they`ve had a hell of a run to qualify and are the lowest ranked side in the tournament. Three islands in the Indian Ocean with less than a million population, half of them under 15 (thanks Wiki!).

Tidy side, nothing up front though. We would have a chance of keeping a clean sheet against them……

[Lanterne Rouge]

4 minutes ago, Rebounder said:

Going to look on YouTube, but any mainstream channels showing highlights? Thought BBC might. 

I think the BBC are but it only seems to be online.

[Roadrunner]

2 hours ago, Stockwood gate said:

My best friend is Gambian and I have been there a few times and been to the national stadium it’s there first AfCON so come on the scorpions 

Many years ago on holiday meet up with a forest fan and we decided to watch a first division match at the  national  stadium. Had to pay around £ 1 to watch two matches. Both played at walking pace in 37o c for 80 minutes. Then both matches warmed up for the last 10 minutes both finished 1-0.

[ExiledAjax]

32 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Many years ago on holiday meet up with a forest fan and we decided to watch a first division match at the  national  stadium. Had to pay around £ 1 to watch two matches. Both played at walking pace in 37o c for 80 minutes. Then both matches warmed up for the last 10 minutes both finished 1-0.

I think 80 mins at 37 degrees is the cooking instructions for meringue. 

[Leveller]

1 hour ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Not too bad a game. I hope Comoros do well, they`ve had a hell of a run to qualify and are the lowest ranked side in the tournament. Three islands in the Indian Ocean with less than a million population, half of them under 15 (thanks Wiki!).

Cape Verde also has a population under half a million. They beat Ethiopia, population over a hundred million, so I thought that was an upset. Turns out Cape Verde are the higher ranking team.

[PHILINFRANCE]

4 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Not too bad a game. I hope Comoros do well, they`ve had a hell of a run to qualify and are the lowest ranked side in the tournament. Three islands in the Indian Ocean with less than a million population, half of them under 15 (thanks Wiki!).

I don't want to digress too much, but, strictly speaking, there are, in fact, four islands, the fourth being Mayotte - the white band in the Comorian national flag ; and herein lies one of The Comoros' major problems.

The Comoros (all four of them) obtained independence from France in 1975, having been, together with neighbouring Madagascar, French Colonies since the late 19th Century, and political and religious infighting between the islands ensued.

Mayotte, which had always maintained stonger ties with France than the other three islands, was reluctant to be independent and, following a referendum in 2009, became a French Département (976) in 2011 - believe it or not, Mayotte is part of the European Union!

One of the underlying reasons Mayotte wanted to be 'French' was due to the economic and health benefits - and (relatively) uninhibited travel to mainland France!

Both Mayotte and The Comoros are impoverished and, as the above-mentioned benefits are not available to The Comoros, it is not surprising that their young and fit leave regularly (clandestinely and illegally) for Mayotte (they currently comprise just over 50% of the Mayotte population!), before making their way to France (Marseilles): it is estimated that 25% of the Comorian population (between 250,000 and 300,000) lives in Marseille (known familiarly as the fifth Comorian island) and the Parisian region, producing 25% of the Comorian GDP!   

One of the reasons there is such a disproportionately high number of under 15 year olds is that, as I mentioned above, young people of working age have fled, but also the rate of child birth is extremely high; quite frighteningly, it is reckoned that the average is 5 children per woman!  

Anyway, like you, I hope they do well, and you can guarantee that certain bars in Marseilles and Paris will be packed throughout the tournament!

 

[Lanterne Rouge]

Missed the Sierra Leone 0-0 draw as I couldn`t get home from work but it seems Steven Caulker had a good game from the reports. A draw with Algeria is nothing to be ashamed of - they are the holders after all!

[Northern Red]

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

[Super]

4 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

He's probably doing our next home game.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

Gambia game is delayed 45 mins

[Davefevs]

36 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

Andy Davies?

[cidercity1987]

This AFCON is proper riveting stuff, 1-0. 0-1, 1-0, 0-1, throw in the odd 0-0

I also see they have made the same mistake as the Euros by making the group stage almost meaningless as 3 out of 4 go through in most groups

 

[Gazred]

43 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

They even subbed him for the final mins that never got played.

Dont get that at the WC or Euros!

[luke_bristol]

Europe doesn’t show enough respect to a tournament where a ref blows up five minutes early, his fourth official thumps a protesting manager in the shoulder during an argument after the final missile and where none of the fans seem to support a club that’s even in Africa. Crazy stuff!

[TBW]

2 hours ago, Northern Red said:

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

They then went and interrupted the Tunisia post-game press conference to try bring them back out to play three more minutes a while later! ... Tunisia told them to bugger off.

[Guest]

This is a real shame as the officiating in all the other games I've seen has been top notch and far better than the s***e we get served up on a Saturday

[PHILINFRANCE]

2 hours ago, luke_bristol said:

Europe doesn’t show enough respect to a tournament where a ref blows up five minutes early, his fourth official thumps a protesting manager in the shoulder during an argument after the final missile and where none of the fans seem to support a club that’s even in Africa. Crazy stuff!

Fortunately, no missiles appear to have been thrown (the match wasn’t played at Ashton Gate ), although there is some suggestion over here that the match might be awarded 3-0 to Mali, as Tunisia ‘walked off’.

[Lrrr]

5 hours ago, Northern Red said:

Ref in the Tunisia-Mali game has had a shocker:

 

Had a shocker or made a shit load of money for someone, doesn’t help he’s been accused (and cleared) of corruption before 

[maxjak]

I just love the predictability of  the Afcon matches...........i did a treble on Betfair that all 3 games yesterday would be 1-0 scorelines, and i got lucky!   Off to the pub  

[Baba Yaga]

I watched the Ivory Coast game last night, would have been a great game if Equatorial Guinea's finishing was better. Was 1-0 but could have easily been 3-2 or something. From watching highlights I think a few other teams have the same problem.

All teams have played a game each and Cameroon are out on their own with 2 goals scored. They should really score a few against Ethiopia later to bring the excitement levels up a little bit. 

[2015]

I used to love AFCON when it was on BBC 3. Still has the unpredictability about it which I loved, but what wasn't unpredictable back then was Egypt winning it all the time!

Have enjoyed the drama so far

[Lanterne Rouge]

The heat/humidity isn`t helping. Most games are being played in 30 degree plus temperatures and humidity up in the nineties. It`s no wonder it`s at walking pace a lot of the time and the sweat pouring off players when you see them in close-up!