Soccer Fan Blog

Ghana 1 – Nigeria 0

Forgive that it begins this way, but this is what exists: small truño of party for a semifinal. Almost another party had preferred more of defensive mistakes, with the doormen fighting for gaining the award to the most dumb of Africa… What it was not painting very well fulfilled fully the expectations. A goal of Ryan, forward of the Rennes, in the minute 21 of the first part it moved forward in the scoreboard The Black Stars.

The rest of the party was a big kicks compendium, to the ball and to the rival, errors in the pass, shots from a distance, melés here and there… As it was advancing the time, The Green Eagles were putting his rival in his field, but to the Ghanaian it does not trouble the most minimal thing to put the bus; they bore the final propulsion of the Nigerians and achieved the pass to the final, where they were fighting to obtain his fifth Cup against Egypt.

Egypt 4 – Algeria 0

This semifinal faced to the two best North African Selections (being Morocco completely evicted …), which ways have crossed very much in the last times. A few months ago Algeria left out of the World cup of South Africa the Egyptians in the play-off. The Pharaohs wanted to demonstrate that that was a bad day and to confirm that, presently, is the strongest African cocktail; The Foxes of the Desert, in semis thanks to that fixing with Angola, wanted to give the stroke leaving out the favorites. In the end, there was fulfilled the awaited thing, which has not happened very much during this crazy championship.

The party began with a big intensity and offensive vocation, with both teams queriendo to beat first but not for it without order and to the crazy thing. In only fifteen minutes there was seen more soccer than in 80 % of the whole championship. In the first phase it was a shock of going and return, something that is not convenient for The Pharaohs, a quite European team in this sense, but with the time he was calming down a little. Then, in the minute 39, there came the error of the Algerian rear on having seen as a ball slipped in them to the back while they were going out ahead, propitiating that Motaeb to plant only before Chaouchi and, when it was going to pull came Halliche and swept it: penalty, the second card and expulsion: too much I punish since even in the repetition it is difficult to measure if the impact was sufficient as to knock down a guy as Motaeb.

The penalty marked his Hosny, whose paradinha woke up the anger of the doorman, who gained himself the yellow one for his protests. To The Foxes of the Desert the party put itself them much it costs above, losing, with one less and against the best team of the tournament. The ball only had to the return of the rest a proprietor, Egypt, which it could mark in several occasions, although the judgment did not come up to the minute 64, thanks to the best goal of Zidan, with which it demonstrated his immense quality (spectacular dodge and zurdazo to the square). In many means they elevate it like the best Egyptian player and it it will be, but not in this championship, in which it has proved to be more tending to look for the personal jugadón than to play in team, what, precisely, is the principal characteristic of his selection.

After so much, Belhadj resigned of the party of a most cowardly way: it gave a terrible big kick To The Muhammadi that supposed the red one. Last minutes served to see the third one so much of those of Hassan Shehata, by means of Abdelshafi, and to be present at an aggressions compendium on the part of the Algerians, whose doorman Chaouchi ended up by gaining himself the second yellow one.

In short, Egypt qualifies for his third consecutive final, where it will face to Ghana, a very low selection as the seen along the tournament. If The Pharaohs win they will gain his seventh championship and will achieve a historical mark: there would be the only Selection capable of gaining the Cup of Africa in three consecutive occasions. Lie so much, in Algeria they cry out to the sky because they believe that the umpire was wrong in the move of penalty and expulsion that supposed 1-0, the press is like madwoman, the Federation vomits complaints, the Egyptian ambassador in Algiers was called to consultations by his government and at these hours the Algerian embassy in Cairo is protected by the police. Without forgetting the night disturbances in several points of France, especially in Marseilles. A madmen’s world this that of the soccer …

Photo | L’Equipe