highlandmac Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 11 hours ago, senorsoupe said: Pretty incredible that Ivory Coast sacked their manager in the middle of the tournament and still won it all pretty incredible that a team that shouldnt have been anywhere near the knockout stages won it 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 23 minutes ago, highlandmac said: pretty incredible that a team that shouldnt have been anywhere near the knockout stages won it It does happen now and then. First one that sprang to mind was Italy at the World Cup in 1982, who were dugmeat in their group and just slipped through behind Poland without a win. Eventually they beat Poland in the semis on their way to winning it. It just takes some teams a while to warm up. There's also the phenomena of teams starting too strong - how many times have we seen a side look unstoppable before fizzling out at the quarter-finals? Looks like there might have been a bit of that with Nigeria, as they were pretty poor in the final. These tournaments are strange things; the teams that produce the best performances rarely end up the overall winners. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I noticed them mention during commentary last night the next edition in Morocco - which ludicrously is as soon as next year - will be June & July... This clashes with FIFA's new Club World Cup, so I'm sure that will be popular among European clubs with African players, and indeed also the African clubs which qualify... Al Ahly and Wydad have already done, so and had 10 and 1 players respectively in Ivory Coast i.e. you'd be depriving Al Ahly of most of their starting XI! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, highlandmac said: pretty incredible that a team that shouldnt have been anywhere near the knockout stages won it Portugal won Euro 2016 from 3rd in group. Argentina reaching Final of WC in 1990; Italy in 1994; Mexico of Copa America in 1993, Uruguay in 1999, Paraguay in 2011, and Peru in 2019; plus Jordan of Asian Cup this year; are only other examples of making showpiece. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 There's zero chance Infantino will allow the AFCON to hog any of the attention from his bloated Club World Cup, so I imagine AFCON will end up being in the winter again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 On 12/02/2024 at 11:49, HibeeJibee said: I noticed them mention during commentary last night the next edition in Morocco - which ludicrously is as soon as next year - will be June & July... This clashes with FIFA's new Club World Cup, so I'm sure that will be popular among European clubs with African players, and indeed also the African clubs which qualify... Al Ahly and Wydad have already done, so and had 10 and 1 players respectively in Ivory Coast i.e. you'd be depriving Al Ahly of most of their starting XI! On 12/02/2024 at 12:18, Sherrif John Bunnell said: There's zero chance Infantino will allow the AFCON to hog any of the attention from his bloated Club World Cup, so I imagine AFCON will end up being in the winter again. Now being suggested next year's tournament will run late July to late August to avoid clash. That'll go down a treat with clubs playing European qualifiers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS_FFC Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 7 hours ago, HibeeJibee said: Now being suggested next year's tournament will run late July to late August to avoid clash. That'll go down a treat with clubs playing European qualifiers. An African player playing for a top European club would be expected to start pre-season training in July this year, play the full season, go straight to the club World Cup, then AFCON, then straight back for the start of the new season. This is getting beyond a joke. We badly need a standardised calendar with all continental tournaments held every four years. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 4 hours ago, JS_FFC said: An African player playing for a top European club would be expected to start pre-season training in July this year, play the full season, go straight to the club World Cup, then AFCON, then straight back for the start of the new season. This is getting beyond a joke. We badly need a standardised calendar with all continental tournaments held every four years. FIFA adding this Club Cup; coupled with CAF + CONCACAF playing tournaments so frequently - and CONCACAF + CONMEBOL inviting each other to theirs; means many players will play for 2yrs straight or more. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS_FFC Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 1 hour ago, HibeeJibee said: FIFA adding this Club Cup; coupled with CAF + CONCACAF playing tournaments so frequently - and CONCACAF + CONMEBOL inviting each other to theirs; means many players will play for 2yrs straight or more. Even for the European guys, it’s Euros this summer, probably a 1-2 week holiday, pre-season, 2024/25 season, then the club World Cup, then a very short break again before pre-season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS_FFC Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 2 hours ago, HibeeJibee said: FIFA adding this Club Cup; coupled with CAF + CONCACAF playing tournaments so frequently - and CONCACAF + CONMEBOL inviting each other to theirs; means many players will play for 2yrs straight or more. Also another thing. The next two world cups (USA/Canada/Mexico and the 2030 one mostly held on the Iberian peninsula) are going to be very, very hot. Maybe not as hot as Qatar would have been in the summer but with another 2-6 years of global warming, it won’t be a surprise to see most day time games being played in well over 30 degree heat at kick-off. Couple that with the fact that large chunks of Africa and Asia are excluded from hosting World Cup and continental tournaments in June/July already because of the heat, and pressure from the clubs to prevent AFCON and the Asian cup being played during the season, and something has to give. I think within the next decade or so, international tournaments will move permanently to a different slot in the calendar. December/January seems unlikely because they would rule out anywhere south of the equator or the far north countries that are freezing cold then, but I could definitely see either October or March being designated as the standard month where international tournaments are played. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) Including brief warm-up these bloated tournaments take 7-8 weeks (next WCs last 39 and 44 days!). I'd be surprised if club football stopped for 2 months every 1 or 2 seasons... plus it's expanding too (e.g. playing 36, 38 or even 40 league games is now common in Europe and new CL/EL format with 10 groupstage dates starts next season). Edited February 16 by HibeeJibee 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS_FFC Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 5 hours ago, HibeeJibee said: Including brief warm-up these bloated tournaments take 7-8 weeks (next WCs last 39 and 44 days!). I'd be surprised if club football stopped for 2 months every 1 or 2 seasons... plus it's expanding too (e.g. playing 36, 38 or even 40 league games is now common in Europe and new CL/EL format with 10 groupstage dates starts next season). Something has to give when large parts of the world are likely to be unsafe to play football in July and August in the next few years. That leaves you 10 months to fit in 38 league games, two national cups (up to 10-12 matches for the top clubs if they make both finals), 8 European group games and up to 9 knockout games, and 10 international qualifiers/nations league/friendlies. Oh and then 3 out of every 4 years will contain either a World Cup, continental tournament or club World Cup. I think ultimately we will need to see leagues cut to 34 games, cup replays scrapped, and team involved in European competition either fielding a B team in the league cup or not entering it at all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 On 24/01/2024 at 15:25, DiegoDiego said: she's currently shacked up with Emilio Nsue, the tournament's top scorer. Can't wait for her to Yoko their chances in the knockout stages. On 28/01/2024 at 20:08, itzdrk said: Missed a pen eh And her work is now complete: Nsue will not be available for team selection again if the leaders do not change because he cannot accept humiliation like this. I fucking knew it! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Some boys men: Wilfried Nathan Doualla: Cameroonian midfielder accused of age cheating - BBC Sport Cameroonian club Victoria United has defended Wilfried Nathan Doualla after the midfielder was accused of age cheating. The 17-year-old was a surprise inclusion in the Indomitable Lions squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Doualla is among 62 players who have been suspended from the domestic league by Cameroon's football federation (Fecafoot) for double identification or age fraud. Doualla did not feature at this year's Nations Cup finals, where Cameroon were knocked out in the last 16 by eventual runners-up Nigeria. Yet, after being called up by then coach Rigobert Song, there was much comment on social media about whether Doualla was really a teenager when pictures of the player first surfaced. His inclusion in the squad in Ivory Coast could lead to the five-time African champions being banned from future tournaments if his registration is proved to have been falsified. Nations Cup regulations state that if a fraud or a forgery has been committed, the national association concerned will be suspended from participation in the following two editions of the continental showpiece. For any administrative error in the registration of players, the national association concerned will be suspended from the next edition, the rules add. Doualla and 61 other players - including six of his Victoria United team-mates - were disqualified from appearing in the Elite League's play-offs by Fecafoot until they can prove their identities. The move to clamp down on age cheating, or identity fraud, comes as the authority aims to eradicate the administrative issues blighting the domestic game in the country. Doualla is alleged to have previously played in the Cameroonian league using the name Alexandre Bardelli, with his registration stating he was over the age of 21. An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde, external unearthed the discrepancy ahead of the 2023 Nations Cup. Le Monde said it had asked Fecafoot to explain the irregularity before the squad set off for Ivory Coast, but that the body had declined to comment. This is the latest age-fraud scandal to hit the Central African nation after 21 members of their under-17s squad failed age tests in January last year. Those tests were ordered by Fecafoot president Samuel Eto'o. Meanwhile, 14 players were blocked from taking part in the Under-17 Nations Cup in Gabon in 2017 after they failed age tests and 44 players faced hearings over identity fraud in 2022. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Having played the tournament every other January since 2013 (when it moved from even years to odd after 2012), and moved it to June from 2019 only to delay 2021 to the following January (2022) due to the heat in Cameroon then do the same with 2023 (to 2024) due to the heat in Ivory Coast - the geniuses at CAF have apparently decided to shunt 2025 over Christmas and New Year of 2025-26. Reportedly it'll start on Sunday 21st December and end on Sunday 18th January. Morocco is not hot enough to need a winter tournament... it's to help FIFA stage their new 32 team Club World Cup in June 2025. Starting before 2025 ends will 'circumvent' a rule which would prevent clubs being forced to release players for both an African Nations Cup in January 2026 and the World Cup in June. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Having the group stages over the festive break sounds tremendous from a selfish, TV point of view and only the Brexit Premier League would see a major impact in terms of player availability. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 28 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said: Having played the tournament every other January since 2013 (when it moved from even years to odd after 2012), and moved it to June from 2019 only to delay 2021 to the following January (2022) due to the heat in Cameroon then do the same with 2023 (to 2024) due to the heat in Ivory Coast - the geniuses at CAF have apparently decided to shunt 2025 over Christmas and New Year of 2025-26. Reportedly it'll start on Sunday 21st December and end on Sunday 18th January. Morocco is not hot enough to need a winter tournament... it's to help FIFA stage their new 32 team Club World Cup in June 2025. Starting before 2025 ends will 'circumvent' a rule which would prevent clubs being forced to release players for both an African Nations Cup in January 2026 and the World Cup in June. Cheeky. Must admin, I do like a wee winter AFCON. Even the winter World Cup was a pleasant surprise. I feel dirty for admitting it, considering how it winds up the EPL fans. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS_FFC Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 I see FIFA have ruled that the boy Nsue who won the golden boot wasn't even eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 7 minutes ago, JS_FFC said: I see FIFA have ruled that the boy Nsue who won the golden boot wasn't even eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea I noticed that - they'd already ruled he wasn't eligible about thirteen years prior, yet they kept picking him and nobody said anything. CAF is the absolute wild west. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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