Afcon 2013

As I passed by our stadium yesterday I chuckled at who the title sponsors are, it’s a crowd called Orange, to the best of my knowledge they don’t operate in South Africa, must be big up north then.

We’ve been allocated 8 matches down here (6 group games, a ¼ final and the 3rd / 4th place play off) We want to go and support the event but we’ve no idea who is worth watching and who isn’t.

We settled on Ghana vs Niger, it’s a final group game (kick off 7 O’clock, Monday 28th) hopefully important log positions will be at stake and we’ll be treated to some attacking football and goals.

Ticket prices are a very reasonable R70 (£5) R60 (£4.20) and R50 (£3.50) we’ll probably break the bank and buy the most expensive!

The tournament kicked off last night with a double header up in Jhb, (S.A. v Cape Verde and Angola v Morocco)  both games ended nil – nil.

Update 23 Jan

This Wiki page has all the logs, fixtures and results on one easy to read page, it’s great for up to date and easy to read information.

16 thoughts on “Afcon 2013”

  3. Howzit Janus, the pic, ja well, I er took it with my new ‘smart phone’ I subsequently learned that I hadn’t removed all the packaging from the phone, you know, all the plastic protective bits, and the lens was shall we say not completely primed for the job at hand, hence the rather disappointing quality 😕

    We have a double header here later this evening, (Ghana v Congo DR and Mali v Niger) I saw lots of fans during my travels today in the very bright colours of their respective countries and their (all local) cars carrying their flags. A vibrant atmosphere to say the least. Though nothing at all like the world cup, to say that the advanced (and current) marketing of the event has been abysmally poor doesn’t quite describe how bad it is!

    (I’ll similarly hold my tongue on the cricket ;))

  4. Another excellent piece of commentary, Soutie. Good luck in the tournament. I will try and catch some of the games this week, they’re free to air over here on ITV4. I saw this on the highlights programme earlier. Already, someone has uploaded it.

  5. Lots of empty seats here yesterday, good, I like it like that 🙂

    Reports I’ve read have the stadium somewhere between 7000 – 20,000 (capacity 45,000 +)

    Lots of goals too! I have difficulty watching and paying for an event where after 90 minutes there’s no score, in fact we’ve been thinking lately of other sports where no points / goals are earned, hockey perhaps but very rarely are they scoreless.

    Great clip TR, that of course happened here in PE, I won’t be privileged to watch him bounce live as he’ll be up in Durban when we go to watch ‘my’ game!

  6. Watched my first complete one yesterday, Soutie. Nigeria v Burkina Faso. Very exciting finish. Nigeria’s chances not helped by the thuggish Ambrose being sent off. 🙂

    I also heard something I didn’t think I’d hear again. The Vuvuzela. Clean forgot the games are in SA.

  11. Great result for Bafana tonight 2-0 winners against Angola, if they finish second in their group they play here 🙂

    We now need Cape Verde to win against Morocco (CV currently 1-0 up)

  12. Soutie, I admire your tenacity. In my book there are few things more boring than soccer and in the soccerspehre, nothing is less interesting than that which emanates from Africa. But I am glad you are enjoying it.

  13. I also am enjoying your enthusiasm, Soutie. Didn’t see your match yesterday, the later game just begins as I come home which is handy. CV v Mor was entertaining. You’ve still a bit of work to do to qualify for the next round.

    Sipu, not for the first time you have called it right. In the world scene African football is the weakest. The top European clubs and countries with their regimented formations, tactical nous and flawless technique are the best yet paradoxically the African games are better to watch. Possession is turned over often, elementary mistakes are made and the unexpected could happen at any time. By this, I’m not demeaning the African game as there is still some really good players on show but the matches are a throwback to olden times before the players became robots. And in the small world of football where players are so recognisable it is pleasing to watch unknowns from African club teams.

    You’re also right, J-man. Ambrose should be hit with a lifetime ban. 🙂

  14. Morning Sipu, well then, one thing we aren’t is football fans, watching the Bafana game last night none of us knew a single player’s name! Bongani Khumalo (the capt) has a well know surname but is he related to the more famous ‘doctor’? I doubt it.

    Then there’s Siphiwe Tshabalala (he who scored that screamer of a goal in the FIFA world cup opener) and Bernard Parker (PE born) but did we recognise them on the field? Unfortunately not.

    But, having said that, it’s a big event and I like supporting events held here, besides what else is there to watch while we wait for the rugby season and the appearance of the mighty Kings in the Super-rugby series?
    … 🙂 …

  15. Howzit TR

    Love your description and reasoning on the watchability of the matches.

    I think your “weakest’ description is a tad unfair after all the latest FIFA rankings have Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mali, Ghana and quite a few others all ahead of Scotland, North America and most of Asia! 😉

  16. Howzit right back at you, Soutie.

    To clarify matters, I consider the North Americas (excluding the Mexicans, who have a few good ball players), Asia and Scotland not to be footballing hotspots, especially the latter named nation.

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