Friday, January 15, 2010

TGIF ............. How to win a penalty at the ACN ...........


The big thaw has started in the UK, temperatures have risen considerably and the forecast is set for wind and rain. Obviously this will set up a whole new set of problems, with many pitches in danger of being waterlogged, but this should not be too big a concern at the bigger stadiums and elsewhere, we will take what we can get !

With almost all the major european leagues also underway now, we have a terrific weekend in prospect and I am hopeful of some decent returns. I will definitely be posting several previews on the blog, so please check back in on a regular basis.

Not writing anything much today, although I am keen on the Ivory Coast . I understand the arguments that they lack a true playmaker, but despite drawing their opener against Burkina Faso, they look as strong as anyone in the tournament and man for man, definitely have the best squad, starting with six senior players from the EPL, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga on the bench on matchday one . Ghana are a team of immense promise, but might come up a little short today and their need is not as great as The Elephants, who need the win to progress. We can talk about the benefits (or otherwise) of coming into the match fresh or having played a match previously, albeit in tough conditions, personally, for what it is worth, I would rather have a match under the belt at this stage. Hopefully the Ivory Coast will get a little more help from the match officials today, the Tunisian referee in the opener was only going to give a spot kick if someone had been taken out with a forearm smash followed by a head stamp and raking of studs and even then it would have been 50/50 !

Good Luck.

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