Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 Teams and November 2009 FIFA Rankings (World, Africa)

Group A: Angola (94, 20), Mali (47, 7), Algeria (28, 4), Malawi (94, 21).
Group B: Ivory Coast (16, 2), Ghana (37,6), Togo (70,13), Burkina Faso (49,9).
Group C: Egypt (29,5), Nigeria (22,3), Benin (59,11), Mozambique (72,14).
Group D: Cameroon (11, 1), Tunisia (53,10), Zambia (90,19), Gabon (48,8).

Based on November 2009 Rankings which group is the “group of death”? (World Ranking, Africa Ranking)(polls)

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Publication Schedule

Published: Monthly on Wednesdays
Deadline: Thursday prior to the release date

Initially, the release date for the November 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking publication was November 11, 2009. FIFA had to postpone the publication release date to November 20, 2009 so the final matches (played on November 14 and 18) could be included in the calculation for November rankings.

The November rankings will be used to determine the seeds for the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010. The World Cup draw will take place on 4 December 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

In October, Malawi moved from 105 to 90 because of their 2-1 win over Guinea and the 1-1 draw against Ivory Coast. This month they have dropped from 90 to 94 because of the 1-0 loss to Burkina Faso on November 14 and the 1-0 loss to Mozambique (COSAFA Senior Challenge).

Malawi qualified for Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 at the expense of Guinea (reached quarter finals of CAN 2004, 2006 and 2008). During the second round of the 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations joint qualifiers, Malawi made it to the third round at the expense of Democratic Republic of Congo (qualified for CAN 2006). So if you are going to under-rate Malawi you are going to under-rate them at your own risk. All teams that have qualified deserve to be there unless they won like this. The Flames (Malawi National Team) don’t deserve to be at the finals just because they qualified with 4 points?

Should FIFA continue using FIFA rankings for the future playoffs of the Final World Cup Spots in Europe?(polls)

P/S: Draw completed. Scroll to the bottom of this post for results.

The draw generated less discussion among Angolans than an on-going spat between coach Manuel Jose and star Manucho Goncalves. Real Valladolid striker Manucho was dropped from the squad for friendlies against Congo and Ghana after arriving late for training in Portugal. Jose publicly blasted the former Manchester United player, saying he needed to learn respect.

With the exception of South Africa, the rest (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt Algeria) of the six representatives of Africa at the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 will be at the pending Nations Cup finals.

10 of the 16 teams that qualified for Angola 2010 were at the Africa Cup of Nations Ghana 2008. The 6 teams that were not at Ghana 2008 are Algeria, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Togo and Malawi.

The draw event, featuring Congolese artist Papa Wemba and other Angolan singers, is being held at a shiny new glass-and-steel convention centre in the purpose-built southern suburb of Talatona.

Some views about the draw:

Angola Coach Jose Manuel: “I am not thinking about any opponent. I have big respect for all the teams but don’t fear being paired with any of them. For every draw, you will either be lucky or unlucky depending on the outcome.”

Ghana Captain Stephen Appiah: “We are ready for all the teams. Whoever comes our way, we are battle ready and we are not afraid of any of the qualified teams. All the qualified teams went through on merit (hear, hear) and therefore no team would be a walkover”

Malawi Coach Kinnah Phiri: “I hope we won’t be in the same group with Ivory Coast, Egypt or Burkina Faso because that would be very bad for us. If we are drawn against these teams, the problem is that having played them in the qualifiers, they know our style of play. It’s better to play teams that have no idea of our system.”

Draw held. Below are the results of the draw. Click here for fixtures.

Group A: Angola, Mali, Algeria, Malawi.

Group B: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso.

Group C: Egypt, Nigeria, Benin, Mozambique.

Group D: Cameroon, Tunisia, Zambia, Gabon.

In your opinion, which one is the “group of death”?(polls)

The November rankings will be used to determine the seeds for the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010. The World Cup draw will take place on 4 December 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Based on the current standings (November 16, 2009), here are the pots and possible groupings:

Pot 1 (seeded teams): Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Spain
Pot 2 (rest of UEFA): Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland
Pot 3 (AFC + OFC + CONCACAF): Australia, Honduras, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, USA
Pot 4 (CAF + rest of CONMEBOL): Cameroon, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Paraguay, Uruguay

Possible draw (using random.org):

Group A: South Africa, Netherlands, Korea DPR, Chile
Group B: England, Portugal, Honduras, Paraguay
Group C: France, Slovakia, Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire
Group D: Germany, Greece, Australia, Cameroon
Group E: Brazil, Denmark, Korea Republic, Nigeria
Group F: Italy, Switzerland, USA, Uruguay
Group G: Argentina, Serbia, Japan, Algeria (Egypt out, Algeria in)
Group H: Spain, Slovenia (Russia out, Slovenia in), New Zealand, Ghana

Which group do you think would be the “Group of Death”?(survey)

PROCEDURE FOR THE DRAWING OF LOTS OF THE FINAL TOURNAMENT OF THE AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS – ANGOLA 2010

1. In conformity to the regulations of the competition (i.e. if the seeding procedures have not changed), Angola, the host country shall be the top seeded team of group A and Egypt, the trophy holder will be the top seeded team of group C.

2. Angola and Egypt will respectively have letters A1 and C1 on the board

3. According to their ranking in the last three editions, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire are the top seeded teams of groups B and D. An integral draw will be then done to determine which of these two countries shall be awarded the letter B1 and which one will have the letter D1.

4. The remaining twelve countries will be categorized into three levels depending on their results in the three editions of the ACN in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

5. The first step will be to proceed to the repartition of the teams of the third level (Burkina Faso, Gabon, Malawi & Mozambique) in the four groups.

6. For this step CAF Committee will seek the assistance of Football celebrities present at the drawing of lots ceremony. The first celebrity shall draw from the first jar the name of one of the four teams of the third level (Burkina Faso, Gabon, Malawi & Mozambique). The first country to be drawn shall belong to group A, the 2nd country to group B, 3rd Country to group C & 4th to group D. In case it is in group A, he will determine its exact place by drawing one of the balls remaining in group A (A2, A3 or A4). The same procedure shall be done for the three other third seeded teams.

7. The second stage shall be done in the same way for the second level teams (Zambia, Benin, Algeria & Togo).

8. The third stage shall be done in the same way for the first level teams (Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana & Mali).

This is how the pots will look like:

Pot 1: Angola, Egypt, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire
Pot 2: Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali
Pot 3: Zambia, Benin, Algeria, Togo
Pot 4: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique

P/S 19 NOVEMBER 2009: OFFICIAL CAF RANKINGS (same as above)

Egypt and Algeria should be in the same group

Which team in Pot 1 would you want Malawi to play against?(polls)

On 17 October 2009 (before the tournament started) I had this poll on my post:

Which Group do you think will produce the winners of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup?(polling)

After the Group stages I had the sweet sixteen bracket on this post. Here is the poll:

Which of the following 4 groups do you think will produce winners(poll)

The poll results indicate that very few people gave Switzerland a chance. So let’s try it one more time.

Who do you think will be the winners of the FIFA Under 17 World Cup 2009?(survey software)

Football is played on a pitch and not on a paper. The Flames have qualified for Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010. If you are going to under-rate them you are going to under-rate them at your own risk.

The draw of the 27th edition of Africa’s showpiece football event will see 16 teams being divided into four groups for the tourney that spans, January 10-31, 2010.

The three-week tourney, the first of its kind to be hosted by the Southern African country will take place in four cities; Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela and Lobango.

Of the four teams in each of the five Groups, the top three will join hosts Angola for the continental fiesta whilst the group winners’ qualify for the Mundial.

There will be 4 groups, each with 4 teams. Group “A” teams will be based in the Angolan capital, Luanda; Group B – Cabinda, Group C – Benguela and Group D – Lubango.

The group phase matches will span January 10–21 to be followed by the knockout stages set for January 24-25. The semi-finals have been fixed for Thursday, January 28 in Luanda and Benguela, with the third place match also slated for Benguela two days later. Luanda will host the final on Sunday, January 31.

Don’t rule out Malawi. Football is not played on paper. It is played on the pitch. Switzerland are playing against Nigeria tomorrow in the Finals of the FIFA Under 17 World Cup Nigeria 2009. On their way to the finals they beat Brazil, Germany, Italy, et al.

Click here for Group E Standings before today’s games. Today, though Burkina Faso beat Malawi 1-0, Malawi are through to Africa Cup of Nations Angola January 2010 because Ivory beat Guinea 3-0.

African Nations Cup record

1957 to 1974 – Did not enter
1976 – Did not qualify
1978 – Did not qualify
1980 – Did not enter
1982 – Did not qualify
1984 – Round 1

(ACN hosted by Ivory Coast) the Flames were knocked out in the first round (should we say quarter finals because then the ACN Finals consisted of 8 teams, now 16) because they were in Group B (Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana and Malawi). Algeria and Ghana beat them 3-0 and 1-0 respectively. They drew 2-2 against Nigeria.

1986 – Did not qualify
1988 – Did not enter
1990 to 2008 – Did not qualify

The demons have been exorcised.

See you in Angola.

Officials

Referee: Essam ABD EL FATAH (EGY)
Assistant Referee 1: Ahmed ABOU (EGY)
Assistant Referee 2: Sherif HASSAN (EGY)
Fourth official: Hamdy SHAABAN (EGY)

Line-ups and live scores will appear here

You can watch the live match here for only $5.89

If you are in Malawi please note that Malawi Television will cover the match through AFNEX-France (LC2 International)

Please note that the game will start at 16:00 GMT = 11 am U.S. Eastern Standard Time = 6 pm Malawi Time. Click here for the World Clock

Meanwhile you can keep yourself busy by reading the following posts related to the game:

Malawi vs. Burkina Faso: “We’ll extinguish the Flames” – Burkina Faso Coach

Malawi vs. Burkina Faso: Bishop to offer spiritual help to the Flames

Malawi vs. Burkina Faso: Malawi squad

Unlike Liverpool, Malawi’s destiny is in their own hands

Though Les Etalons (Burkina Faso National Team) have already qualified for Africa Cup of Nations (Angola January 2010) they will still “play fair” against the Flames (Malawi National Team) and will play to win.

Most, if not all, Burkina Faso Newspapers are in French (French Connection, Malawi beware!). I just read (thanks to the French class that I attended in Junior High, Oh Là Là!…) two of the Burkina Faso French Newspapers ( Swidaya Newspaper and L’Observateur Newspaper). Here is a summary of what Paulo Duarte (Burkina Faso Coach) told the newspapers:

Les Etalons want nothing but a win because:

- They want to instill confidence in their supporters. Ivory Coast beat them 5-0. They want to redeem themselves by possibly defeating Malawi 5-0
- They want to reassure their supporters that they are ready for the A CN (Angola January 2010)
- They want to reduce the gap in points and goals between them and their neighbors/rivals (Ivory Coast)
- They want to improve their FIFA rankings (October: World = 55, Africa = 10)

That shouldn’t bother the Flames because they have left no stone unturned

The Flames have been in kind of a similar position before. On 27 July 1997, they needed just one point from their last Group game against Mozambique (in Mozambique) in order to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations Burkina Faso 1998. They were leading 1-0 with about 5 minutes left. They couldn’t hold on to the lead. Mozambique, inspired by Manuel José Luis “Tico-Tico” Bucuane, equalized and then scored the winning goal in injury time. After the match one of the Malawian players wondered aloud: “Kodi tinalakwa chani?” (What “sin” did we commit?). Fate? Destiny? Demons (“Nachipanti”)?

If it’s because of demons then let’s wait and see if the demons have been exorcised.