The African Cup of Nations Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 5:34 pmAs I’m sure you are all as excited for the African Cup of Nations as I am such is the lack of football on free television these days I’d thought I’d start a thread for everything CAN which starts on Saturday. I’ve included a little preview to get everyone up to speed on one of the most exciting football tournaments should conditions allow it.
I’ll try and update it as often as I can chinners style with fixtures and news etc. feel free to add anything I will inevitably miss:
[center]
2013 African Cup of Nations
Host: South Africa[/center]
South Africa fresh off hosting the first African World Cup while be our host for tournament having beaten Angola, Libya, Nigeria, Botswana and joint bids from Gabon/Equatorial Guinea (who actually hosted last years) & Benin/Central Africa Republic for the honour. This is the second time they have hosted the tournament (1996 the previous tournament which they won) due to Libya being stripped due to what’s happening in their country.
16 teams have qualified of which 8 will advance to the quarter finals
The groups have been drawn as:
Group A
South Africa (host)
Angola
Morocco
Cape Verde
Group B
Ghana
Mali
Niger
Congo DR
Group C
Zambia (holders)
Nigeria
Burkina Faso
Ethiopia
Group D
Coté d’Ivoire
Tunisia
Algeria
Togo
Where will the games be played?
It’s interesting to note that the organisers have followed the route of the Olympics and will have back to back games for the first two rounds of group games meaning that there will be theoretically 4 sets of opposing supporters in the stadium which should hopefully make for a better atmosphere than the World Cup. With the exception of the travel from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth the organisers have learnt from the travel issues of the World Cup and scheduled games closer together by having all but one of the grounds in the north of the country.
[center]The Stadiums[/center]
[center]Johannesburg
The National Stadium
Capacity 94,700[/center]
Johannesburg will host the opening game (South Africa v Cape Verde & Angola v Morocco) and the final.
[center]Durban
Moses Mabhida Stadium*
Capacity 54,000[/center]
Durban will host most of Group A’s game, Congo DR v Mali in Group B, a quarter final (Group A winner v Group B runner up) and the first semi final.
*Moses Mabhida was a formal general secretary of the South African Communist Party.
[center]Port Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium*
Capacity 48,000[/center]
Port Elizabeth will host all bar one of the Group B games (because the final round of games must kick off simultaneously), Carpe Verde v Angola (Group A), a Quarter Final match (Group B winners v Group A runners up) and the third place play off (is this really necessary?)
*Nelson Mandela once met David Beckham
[center]Nelspruit
Mbombela Stadium*
Capacity 41,000[/center]
Mbombela Stadium will host the group C games, Togo v Tunisia (Group D), a Quarter Final (Group C winner v Group D runner up) and the second semi final.
*named after the tax payers who had to pay to complete the stadium in time for the world cup (this may not be true)
[center]Rustenberg
Royal Bafokeng Stadium*
Capacity: 42,000[/center]
The home of the team with the best name in world football, the Platinum Stars, will host the Group D games, Ethiopia v Nigeria (Group C) and a Quarter Final (Group D winner v Group C runner up)
*named after the Royal Bafokeng nation who manage the stadium
How can you watch the African Cup of Nations?
[center]
[/center]
The new ITV logo is almost as bad as their FA Cup coverage.
Live coverage of the 2013 African Cup of Nations on TV will be shown on ITV4 and British Eurosport in the UK. ITV4 will broadcast 20 live African Cup on Nations games including 12 group matches, 4 Quarter Finals, both Semi Finals, the third-place play off and the African Cup of Nations Final.
Matt Smith will present the coverage with an interesting (in fairness to ITV) panel of Fabrica Muamba, Efan Ekoku and Quinton Fortune (they have to be able to mention United somehow in the tournament).
British Eurosport will broadcast all 32 games live from the tournament including the African Cup of Nations Final On TV (assuming that it does not interfere with Alpine Skiing).
In Europe the games will be shown on Eurosport (except France where it will be on Canal+ and in the USA they will be shown on ESPN (nice commitment to football there America). It will be shown in the Middle East on Al Jazeera.
Weekends Games:
Saturday 19th January
South Africa v Cape Verde 16:00pm ko on ITV4 & Eurosport
Angola v Morocco 19:09pm ko on Eurosport
Sunday 20th January
Ghana v DR Congo 15:00pm ko on Eurosport
Mali v Niger 18:00pm ko on ITV4 & Eurosport.
I'll hopefully try and preview the teams a little later on. There's plenty of research needed for that part :-)
I’ll try and update it as often as I can chinners style with fixtures and news etc. feel free to add anything I will inevitably miss:
[center]
2013 African Cup of Nations
Host: South Africa[/center]
South Africa fresh off hosting the first African World Cup while be our host for tournament having beaten Angola, Libya, Nigeria, Botswana and joint bids from Gabon/Equatorial Guinea (who actually hosted last years) & Benin/Central Africa Republic for the honour. This is the second time they have hosted the tournament (1996 the previous tournament which they won) due to Libya being stripped due to what’s happening in their country.
16 teams have qualified of which 8 will advance to the quarter finals
The groups have been drawn as:
Group A
South Africa (host) Angola Morocco Cape VerdeGroup B
Ghana Mali Niger Congo DRGroup C
Zambia (holders) Nigeria Burkina Faso EthiopiaGroup D
Coté d’Ivoire Tunisia Algeria TogoWhere will the games be played?
It’s interesting to note that the organisers have followed the route of the Olympics and will have back to back games for the first two rounds of group games meaning that there will be theoretically 4 sets of opposing supporters in the stadium which should hopefully make for a better atmosphere than the World Cup. With the exception of the travel from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth the organisers have learnt from the travel issues of the World Cup and scheduled games closer together by having all but one of the grounds in the north of the country.
[center]The Stadiums[/center]
[center]Johannesburg
The National Stadium
Capacity 94,700[/center]
Johannesburg will host the opening game (South Africa v Cape Verde & Angola v Morocco) and the final.
[center]Durban
Moses Mabhida Stadium*
Capacity 54,000[/center]
Durban will host most of Group A’s game, Congo DR v Mali in Group B, a quarter final (Group A winner v Group B runner up) and the first semi final.
*Moses Mabhida was a formal general secretary of the South African Communist Party.
[center]Port Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium*
Capacity 48,000[/center]
Port Elizabeth will host all bar one of the Group B games (because the final round of games must kick off simultaneously), Carpe Verde v Angola (Group A), a Quarter Final match (Group B winners v Group A runners up) and the third place play off (is this really necessary?)
*Nelson Mandela once met David Beckham
[center]Nelspruit
Mbombela Stadium*
Capacity 41,000[/center]
Mbombela Stadium will host the group C games, Togo v Tunisia (Group D), a Quarter Final (Group C winner v Group D runner up) and the second semi final.
*named after the tax payers who had to pay to complete the stadium in time for the world cup (this may not be true)
[center]Rustenberg
Royal Bafokeng Stadium*
Capacity: 42,000[/center]
The home of the team with the best name in world football, the Platinum Stars, will host the Group D games, Ethiopia v Nigeria (Group C) and a Quarter Final (Group D winner v Group C runner up)
*named after the Royal Bafokeng nation who manage the stadium
How can you watch the African Cup of Nations?
[center]
[/center]The new ITV logo is almost as bad as their FA Cup coverage.
Live coverage of the 2013 African Cup of Nations on TV will be shown on ITV4 and British Eurosport in the UK. ITV4 will broadcast 20 live African Cup on Nations games including 12 group matches, 4 Quarter Finals, both Semi Finals, the third-place play off and the African Cup of Nations Final.
Matt Smith will present the coverage with an interesting (in fairness to ITV) panel of Fabrica Muamba, Efan Ekoku and Quinton Fortune (they have to be able to mention United somehow in the tournament).
British Eurosport will broadcast all 32 games live from the tournament including the African Cup of Nations Final On TV (assuming that it does not interfere with Alpine Skiing).
In Europe the games will be shown on Eurosport (except France where it will be on Canal+ and in the USA they will be shown on ESPN (nice commitment to football there America). It will be shown in the Middle East on Al Jazeera.
Weekends Games:
Saturday 19th January
South Africa v Cape Verde 16:00pm ko on ITV4 & Eurosport
Angola v Morocco 19:09pm ko on Eurosport
Sunday 20th January
Ghana v DR Congo 15:00pm ko on Eurosport
Mali v Niger 18:00pm ko on ITV4 & Eurosport.
I'll hopefully try and preview the teams a little later on. There's plenty of research needed for that part :-)