THE DRAW IN ZURICH HAS TAKEN PLACE

October 22nd, 2008 | by: sscouser |

In my post dated October 14th, 2008, titled “POSSIBLE GROUPS FOR MALAWI” in Group 2 I had Egypt, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Malawi. It seems I was 75% correct. Replace Egypt with Ivory Coast (”in Ivory Coast it is illegal to call the Ivory Coast the Ivory Coast, it is called the Côte d’Ivoire”) and you have the official GROUP E. The rest of the groups are as follows:

Group A
Togo
Cameroon
Morocco
Gabon

Group B
Mozambique
Nigeria
Kenya
Tunisia

Group C
Rwanda
Algeria
Egypt
Zambia

Group D
Ghana
Benin
Sudan
Mali

There is no such thing as “an easy group”. Didn’t Egypt lose to minnows Malawi? Isn’t Zambia better off than Malawi? Egypt don’t need to under-rate Zambia. Yes they have beaten them before but that was then and this is now.

My prediction is that two or three teams from POT A are not going to make it to the World Cup. Will it be bad for African Football? I hope not.

Senegal were “new” at the World Cup but went further than most African teams that have been there almost every World Cup. Most players that play in “big” African National Teams on a club level play over-seas so it is easier to know how they play and that’s why they don’t go that far in the World Cup. Just my opinion.

Malawi World Cup Team Blog RSS Feed

Comments

By Makombola | October 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Yes, big names don’t mean anything. Ivory Coast drew against Mozambique so Malawi shouldn’t be afraid of Ivory Coast. Drogba or no Drogba, Flames will prevail.

Posted from United States

By Scouser | October 22nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm

Let’s avoid errors of logic in our arguments. Just because Malawi and Mozambique seem to be on the same level and Mozambique drew against Ivory Coast doesn’t imply that Malawi will also draw against Ivory Coast (fallacy of insufficient sample).

This is for those saying that Egypt will make it because they are the African Champs. We need to avoid the blunder of asserting a causal relationship with the popular fallacy of “post hoc ergo propter hoc” which declares that because some event A happened and immediately afterward event B happened that event A was the cause of event B. Did Egypt lead Group 12 because they are the African Champs?

Also, let’s avoid the popular fallacy that correlation proves causation. Just because in the past African Champs made it to the world Cup doesn’t mean that the same will keep on happening.

In case the so called “ambassadors” of African football don’t make it to the World Cup the teams that will take their places will earn the spots and we’ll need to give them all the support. Let the whiners whine: http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/diouf-requests-world-cup-qualifying-do-over.html

Posted from United States

By Wawa | October 22nd, 2008 at 2:12 pm

http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/1657.html

STRONG OR NOT STRONG, FOOTBALL NEEDS CONCENTRATION AND DETERMINATION. NO FEAR, NO UNDERRATING OTHER TEAMS, NO DEPENDENCE ON PAST VICTORIES! WE DO NOT WANT THE COSAFA SCENARIO WHERE WE LOST TO A WEAK TEAM. PRAY HARD, PREPARE HARD, AND PLAY HARD. THEN THE ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA WILL BE OPEN. RIGHT NOW THERE ARE THREE ROAD BLOCKS NAMELY IVORY COAST, GUINEA AND BURKINA FASO, WHICH NEED TO BE OPENNED. APPROACH THIS AS A TOUGH GOING, THEN VICTORY WILL BE OURS. WE SHOULD DREAM IN COLOUR (WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION); NOTHING ELSE.

Posted from United States

By shane | October 22nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm

It should be a fun group for us. Very even group and Cotê d’Ivoire’s recent form has been less than stellar. They are favorites but it won’t be a cakewalk for them like the media seems to expect. I look forward to Guinea’s head-to-head matches with Malawi. Best of luck to Malawi. I hope they can make it to Angola, not South Africa though

By Scouser | October 22nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm

Shane, the time I was reading your post, http://guinea.worldcupblog.org/team-news/guinea-drawn-into-group-e.html, my wife asked me: “why do you look dazed honey?”. I told her I can’t believe what this guy named Shane is talking about.

Malawi were not surprise qualifiers. Malawi have been there before. In the 1984 African Cup of Nations hosted by Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi made it to the first round. Then Malawi was in Group B. Group B consisted of Malawi, Ghana, Algeria and Nigeria. Malawi and Nigeria drew 2-2. The Group leaders were Algeria, Nigeria Second, Ghana third and Malawi third from first.

At the 1987 All Africa Games Malawi won the Bronze Medal. Malawi beat Egypt and Cameroon.

Here are some of the achievements:

COSAFA CUP
2 Times runners up

The COSAFA Senior Challenge is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by COSAFA, inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been lifted and the African Cup of Nations had been staged there in 1996. Teams that can technically enter are: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Réunion, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CECAFA CUP
3 Times Champion (1978, 1979, 1988)
3 Times Runners-up

The CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup is the oldest football (soccer) tournament in Africa. It is a tournament of FIFA and the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), and includes national teams from Central and East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zanzibar, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Djibouti). In 2005 and 2006 the tournament was sponsored by Ethiopian/Saudi billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi, and was dubbed the Al Amoudi Senior Challenge Cup.

It is the successor tournament of the Gossage Cup, held 37 times from 1926 until 1966, and the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup, held 7 times between 1965 and 1971.

So are Malawi not a known side by any means? If you didn’t know now you know. However, I agree with you that if you take them lightly that would be at your own risk.

Posted from United States

Comments are closed