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AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS ANGOLA 2010: GROUP A
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Group A of the Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 consists of Angola, Algeria, Mali and Malawi. According to the November 2009 rankings the teams rank as follows (World, Africa): Angola (94, 20), Mali (47, 7), Algeria (28, 4), Malawi (94, 21).
Malawi is the worst ranked team in the group but as we know, rankings don’t mean anything. (”FIFA’s rankings are not exactly foolproof, and it’s not at all difficult to imagine a team like Ireland or Ukraine beating a team like Portugal or France over two legs come November 14th and 18th“). Did Morocco (67, 12), Guinea (75, 15), Uganda (78, 16), South Africa (86, 17) Senegal (89, 18), qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010?
On 6 July 1993, Rwanda – ranked 119th in the world (then)- sensationally beat Ghana 1-0 at home in Group 5, in a match Ghana’s Black Stars only needed to draw to go to Tunisia (2004 Africa Cup of Nations). But Jimmy Gatete’s 60th minute goal was enough to turn the group on its head and see Rwanda make it to the finals at the expense of one of Africa’s most high-profile sides. Some may say the example is outdated. Fine. Let me give you a recent example. Malawi (94,21) drew 1-1 against Ivory Coast (16, 2).
What the coaches said after the draw:
Angola coach Manuel Jose: “Angola has a strong chance. This is the best of groups we can envisage. We have avoided the ‘big teams’ and it is good for us”
Algeria coach Setif Entente: “I am satisfied with the draw. It’s a good group compared to Ivory Coast’s or Cameroon’s, which are both difficult. I think we have a very good chance to advance to the quarter finals.”
Malawi Coach Kinnah Phiri: “It’s a fair draw for Malawi. It gives us the possibility to qualify. It’s not a group of death. It’s really favorable but we need thorough preparations.” (Do you remember the “which team in pot 1 would you want Malawi to play against?” poll?).
Former Angolan football legend Akwa: “It’s not just Algeria and Angola that could go through, Mali have a good national team and they can give us a lot of problems” he said. However, when asked how far Angola can go, he said “I believe we can reach the final”.
In you most “unbiased” opinion, which teams in Group A of the Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 do you think will advance to the Quarter Finals(polls)
I will go with Angola and Mali. I think Algeria will perform poorly as they will still be too ecstatic for World Cup to care enough. Malawi will lose all three matches but scare one of the other sides mightily.
Posted from 
United States
Matt, friendly reminder(s):
Malawi made it to Angola at the expense of Guinea.
Third round: Malawi was the only team that collected a point against Ivory Coast
Second round: Malawi was the only team that beat Egypt
Malawi made it to the third round at the expense of Democratic Republic of Congo
All the above is history? Yes it is but Algeria and Mali are better than Malawi based on what? History?
The team that I am most worried about is Angola (hosts). Generally, hosts make it to the finals “by hook or crook”. Nigeria hosted the FIFA Under 17 World Cup 2009. They made it to the finals and could have won it all had they not underrated Switzerland. Zimbabwe hosted the COSAFA Senior Challenge 2009 and won it all. Egypt hosted the FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2009. I didn’t follow that competition because Malawi didn’t make it.
Shane, I think Algeria will put in everything. They will want to show the world that what Egypt can do they can do better. Don’t forget that Egypt are the current holders of the Africa Cup of Nations Cup but will not be in South Africa. Algeria made it to South Africa at the expense of Egypt so just imagine Algeria also snatching the cup from Egypt.
Peace!
Malawi has an advantage when it comes to:
Algeria….they play the same style of football like Egypt.Algeria doesn’t know Malawi’s style of play plus the Angolan crowd is mostly likely going to support Malawi being neighbours and underdogs.
Mali…….they don’t know Malawi’s style of play and chances are high the Angolan people will gravitate towards supporting Malawi as opposed to Malawi and that could be an added advantage.
Malawi has got a better chance of making it into the second round aside from Angola.This group will be a shocker really coz Algeria and Malawi will make the second round and the hosts will be knocked out in the first round.
Posted from United States
Malawi is not only the worst ranked team that qualified but also the team that qualified with fewest points (4). They are just going to Angola for sight-seeing.
Head to Head (Malawi against the rest):
Malawi vs. Algeria
3 March 1984: Algeria 3:0 Malawi (1984 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast)
24 Oct. 1978: Malawi 2:1 Algeria (”Friendly” in Lilongwe, Malawi)
22 Oct 1978: Malawi 1:1 Algeria (”Friendly” in Lilongwe, Malawi)
7 July 1978: Algeria 3:0 Malawi (”First Stage” in Algiers)
Malawi vs. Mali
July 11, 1993: Mali 2:1 Malawi (1994 CAN preliminary stage in Bamako, Mali)
Aug 29, 1993: Malawi 1:1 Mali (1994 CAN preliminary round in Blantyre, Malawi)
Malawi vs. Angola
July 6, 2003: Angola 5:1 Malawi (2004 CAN Group match, Luanda, Angola)
Dec 10, 2002: Malawi 1:0 Angola (2004 CAN Group match, Lilongwe, Malawi)
May 18, 2002: Malawi 2:1 Angola (”Friendly” in Blantyre, Malawi)
May 20, 2000: Malawi 0:0 4:5 PSO (”Friendly” in Blantyre, Malawi)
April 24, 1999: Malawi 1:2 Angola (”Friendly” in Blantyre, Malawi)
Please note that since COSAFA Cup is not on FIFA Calendar, COSAFA games are listed as friendlies. This applies to all competitions that were/are not on FIFA Calendar.
Posted from United States
Tk, if it is safe to say that Algeria and Egypt play the same style of football then it may also be safe to say that Malawi and Zambia play the same style of football. Malawi played against Egypt in the second round and Algeria played against Zambia in the third round. Based on that, one could also conclude that Algeria knows Malawi’s style of play.
Before the draw, here is what Malawi Coach Kinnah Phiri had to say: “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.”
This is 2009. You don’t have to play the team in order to have an idea of their system of play. All you have to do is watch videos of their games or just watch their live games. Before Malawi left for the FIFA Under 17 World Cup Nigeria 2009, FAM Technical director Jack Chamangwana was quoted as follows: “We have been monitoring our opponents closely through the Egypt (FIFA Under-20 World Cup) tournament. The Under-20 teams can not be different from their Under-17 sides because they are all youths. So we used the Egypt competition to analyse our opponents. We have known their strengths and weaknesses which we can’t disclose to the media because we may end up alerting our opponents.” 
Simon, it is just a coincidence that Malawi is not only the worst ranked team that qualified but also the team that qualified with fewest points (4). During the FIFA Under 17 World Cup 2009, Germany (4 points), Uruguay (4 points) New Zealand (3 points), U.A.E (3 points) made it to the “sweet sixteen”. Please note that Brazil (3 points) and Netherlands (3 points) didn’t make it. So, if a team qualifies with fewest points it doesn’t necessarily mean that the team is not good. Sometimes it depends on the Group that they are in. For example, Group A had Nigeria, Argentina, Germany and Honduras. Honduras lost all three games but Honduras was a better team than some of the teams from the other groups that made it to the “sweet sixteen”. The same applies to FIFA Rankings. How do you rank teams that are in different continental zones? The teams don’t play one another and the opponents are not the same. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. FIFA rankings are only valid for seeding purposes and not as an indicator of which team is “better” or “Worse” than the other.
Posted from United States
Malawiis not a strong team,especially in international competion but anything can happen on the pitch ground as abeid pelle said.
The U-20 wc was won by Ghana (Africa). It was hosted by Egypt (Africa) so you can still say the home team won.
Who is your pick to win the 2010 Nations Cup? Vote now on http://www.africaplays.com/forum/topic106.html
Have Angola gone downhill drastically since 2006? They are now ranked 94th and 20th in Africa and yet they qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Was that just a lucky breakthrough, or have they gone down since then?
Posted from 
United Kingdom
Hideo, I don’t think Angola have gone downhill drastically since 2006. They are ranked 94th (World) and 20th (Africa) because they had been “idle” since they didn’t make it to the third round. They were just unlucky. In the second round they were in Group 3 (Benin, Angola, Uganda and Niger). Though they finished second in the group, they didn’t make it to the third round because of the “hocus pocus“:
After Eritrea’s withdrawal and Ethiopia’s exclusion, FIFA had to adapt the rules that would define the eight best second-placed teams in the second round of the African Zone’s preliminary qualifying competition.
Eritrea’s withdrawal meant that Group 11 of the second round of African Zone preliminary qualifying would consist of just three teams, compared to the four national sides making up the other groups. The situation was the same in Group 8 after the exclusion of Ethiopia. Therefore, the task before FIFA was to find the “fairest” way of defining the eight best second-placed sides – who would join the 12 group winners in the third qualifying round.
The solution settled upon was the following: once all the matches in the four-team groups had been played, the results between the second- and fourth-placed sides would not be considered when comparing the second-placed teams’ respective records.
These are the criterion that were used to separate the best second-placed teams, in case they finished level on points. They were applied in chronological order as follows:
- Total points
- Goal difference
- Goals scored
- Away goals scored
- A play-off decider at a neutral ground.
Otherwise, Angola could have made it to the third round.
Africa Cup of Nations 2010 hosts (Angola) have announced a training camp in Portugal as part of preparations for the tournament.
A 19-member contingent of local-based players will leave for the Portuguese city of Algarve on Sunday, November 29, to commence preparations for the January 10 – January 31, 2010 tournament.
As part of their plans, the team will also pitch their strength against Estonia and Tunisia on December 30 and January 3 respectively to test their readiness for the tournament.
The Algerian football team will start preparatory training in the south of France, beginning December 27, 2009 up to January 7, 2010. The Coach, Rabah Saadane will use the opportunity to make adjustments before the kick off of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2010
if the other teams will be fielding eleven players on their sides then i don’t see a problem why it should be hard for Malawi to beat and qualify to the next round and win the African Cup of Nations. who knew or thought that the Swiss could win the under 17 world cup at their debut appearance?
all teams who’ve won cups before had to have their first time
Posted from 
Kenya
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Malawi def. lucked out with this draw, easily the most manageable group they could have gotten. Angola has home advantage, and both Mali and Algeria are very good sides, but certainly not unbeatable. I think their best bet will be the draw with Angola, beat Mali, and lose to Algeria, and hope to get through on four points. Would be nice to see them make the next round.