Around one month old soccer extravaganza in South Africa finally ended on Sunday when Nigeria defeated first timer Burkina Faso by 1-0 in a tight final at Soccer City in front of a crowd of 87000 energetic fans cheering all the time. This is one of the biggest wins considering their position at the start of the event, coz no one had taken them seriously to bring the trophy back home, even not in their country there were not many believers of their win. Last time, Nigeria did it was in 1994 when Stephen Keshi, who is the coach of current team, leaded the winning squad; perhaps he is the only black African coach to win the biggest prize money over last twenty years. Moreover, he also became the only one to win the title two times both as player and as a coach. For Burkina Faso, it was their first time when they have even crossed the group stage and this would have been a great victory for them if they could overcome Nigerians. Sunday Mba scored the only goal of the game in 40th minute … [Read more...]
Ghana Qualifies for African Cup of Nations’ Finals
Black Stars of Ghana became the fourth team to quality for the 2013 African Cup of Nations to be held in South Africa in 2013. Ghana beat Malawi by 1-0 at Civo Stadium and secured 3-0 aggregate score to rank itself in the top four qualified teams. Other qualified teams till date are: Nigeria, defending champion Zambia, and Ivory Coast. Among them, Ivory Coast qualified despite their abandoned match against Senegal due to crowd trouble on the ground. Basically, the match between visitors Coast Ivory and hosts Senegal was decided on benefit of doubt given in favor of Coast Ivory after crowd disturbance. Actually, Coast Ivory was leading the game with 2-0 score when Senegalese reportedly start attacking visitor fans along with lightening fire in Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium. Police was then called by the ground authority, perhaps police had to use tear gas to control the wild Senegalese. When it became impossible to continue the match, it had been abandoned and Ivory Coast was rewarded … [Read more...]
Steven Pienaar says goodbye to international football
South African football team’s skipper Steven Pienaar has finally decided to quite the international football with an immediate effect and surprised everybody with his sudden decision to leave international soccer community in South Africa. The news of his retirement surfaced the earth through South African coach Gordon Igesund on Tuesday when he announced Bafana’s squad for next week’s friendly series with Poland and Kenya. Actually, his decision to such a departure has long been expected on the basis of rumors that he would join Everton Football club and play in English Premium League. Gordon told in his statement to reporters that he received a phone call from Steven on Monday night when he told him about his immediate retirement. For now, Bongani Khumalo will be the new captain of South African football team as told by Igesund, he further admitted that Steven would never play for South Africa again based on his current behaviors. Pienaar has had a wonderful career for South … [Read more...]