If you missed it, then you missed some great soccer! a handful of great games and amazing finishes so far. Egypt just advanced to the final match after dominating the Algerians 4-to-nil. The game included 3 red cards!! If you enjoy international soccer, watch CAF games. CAF is only second to UEFA in my opinion and just as competitive. Vive Egypt! :grin:
:grin: indeed. I mean, I disagree. I wholeheartedly respect the Egyptian team, but that is a knee slapper. Dude. Have you seen the CONMEBOL's Copa América?? How many countries from CAF have won the World Cup? Hey, at least let us know if it's on a channel we can watch, or if we have to buy some special package from our satellite/cable company.
COMNEBOL would disagree. There has always been great individual talent coming out of Africa. Team play is another story.
Too bad Egypt never shows up for the world cup qualifiers, always content with being African Cup champions.
Online here in the States or you could find an African restaurant a la Fingerlicking in Houston that's showing it. It is up there with the Copa America as the most entertaining Confederation tourney. (I'll continue hating on UEFA till England finally win the stupid Euro's :grin: )
Disagree, COMNEBOL is top-heavy and not nearly as entertaining as CAF, and yes I watch them all. UEFA is in a league by itself, but CAF is the second best IMO. I understand this will differ from one person to the next depending on which teams you like and would prefer to watch. I am speaking strictly in terms of competitiveness over the years. Egyptians unfortunately have never gotten too excited about the World Cup, they only put their best foot forward in the African cup because that is where the bragging rights are. The team has not even had the service of their best players in past qualifiers, and they typically start slow and try to make up for it in the end. I can't explain it really, it is general apathy toward the World Cup tournament. They only cared about it this year because the decisive matches came against Algeria and the historic rivalry there, otherwise you would not have heard a beep about it.
Algerians? :grin: The team who wins the CAF is the best team in Africa, that is why it is all about bragging rights in this tournament and why Egypt and other teams tend to put an all our effort in it, unlike the WC qualifiers. Winning the CAF is about ego, the WC qualifiers not so much, you have crappy teams like Jamaica and Tobago getting in for God's sake. Besides the WC is pre-determined, it always boils down to a European-Latin affair. On the other hand, African teams can actually win it all in the CAF tournament. In this tournament I was frankly far more worried about Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria than Algeria, but you guys are resilient and are usually good at close games. I do wish Algeria the best, I will be rooting for them and other African teams of course, like I always do. I hope you guys represent Africa well in the tournament (meaning: at least beat Slovenia for God's sake! :grin: :grin: )
I'm not Algerian, I'm Coptic. I don't believe in moral victories, you and I both know a world cup appearance is the ultimate goal. I also don't believe in the intrusion of religion into sports. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/01/14/egypt.piety.ap/index.html?xid=shareDigg
I've watched a few games, some good football... Ivory Coast.....had the best team talent wise, played some pretty soccer, Euro style, but they forgot the way of African soccer, they lacked the heart and desire to compete all out. I don't think they will be going anywhere in the World Cup if they play this way. Cameroon.... the last game they played against Eygpt was exactly why I like watching African soccer, such a strong a speedy group of players, they were the far better side on that day but Eygpt got lucky. Cameroon is probably one of those teams that will do some damage in the WC, their biggest weakness is a brainless goalie. Ghana...only saw highlights they lack strikers like IC and Cameroon but their midfield is world class, from what I hear. Nigeria....another team I think will be dangerous in the World Cup, played well according to highlights....
I am not sure how trying to win the CAF is a "moral" victory It is a standalone tournament with HUGE importance to ALL African nations, in fact (and I am sure YOU know this if you were really African) the CAF is regarded as more important and teams compete harder in it than a World Cup qualifier. Regional rivalries are what soccer is all about, and competing for the title of best team in your continent gives you bragging rights over your neighbors, THAT is why these tournaments are so highly regarded. The World Cup is only more important to the creme of the crop teams which have a realistic chance of winning it all every four years. How many are those teams? Well lets count how many actually won it all EVER and there is your answer (Germany, Brazil, Italia, Spain, England, France, and that is all that comes to mind here). The World Cup only matters for the best of the best, the rest have no chance in hell and they know it, so why bother?
I should follow this up: would the USA team prefer a realistic chance of winning it all with a final epic game against its archrival Mexico OR would the USA perfer moral victories in the World Cup every 4 years, knowing fully well we can never win it all in our current state?
You're not getting my point. Winning the African Cup, which is great, is NOT a reason to justify repeated lackadaisical effort in world cup qualifiers. Why not try to attain both? Egyptians have been wanting to see their team compete on a global stage, whether they stand a chance or not.
I agree with most of what you said, except I think you are down playing how serious most teams take the world cup, even those who don't have a chance, you can become a national hero if your team gets past even the group stages, it's a huge deal. Also most players consider this their chance to showcase themseves, its a big deal on an individual level as well.
Oh I dont know about all that, I guess you were having that conversation with someone else. I only objected to your characterization of a major regional competition as a moral victory. I dont think the USA winning the CONCACAF would be a moral victory if we happen to miss out on the WC. Obviously I am not dismissing the WC, but having traveled around and attended soccer games in the past I know that people get far more amped up about their regional competitions than anything else. That is what they live for. I have never liked Egypt, the only African soccer I will watch is Cameroon or Ivory Coast these days. Back in the day Morocco had a talented Euro like team, whatever happened to them? I think soccer is UEFA + Brazil and Argentina + USA vs Mexico and the rest all suck at various levels.
