afcon 2012 draw: ivory coast in midst of minnows

... the draw for the qualifying series of the 28 th edition of the african cup of nations to be co-hosted by equatorial guinea and gabon in 2012, pitted giant ivory coast against benin, rwanda and burundi in group 8 or group h ... secondly, the elephants have, time after time, thrashed the three sides in previous encounters – be it afcon / world cup qualifiers, friendlies or afcon finals

rafa rejects play-off idea

... "we have too many injuries in all the european top sides because we play too many games, we have too many games during the year, too many competitions with the world cup, confederations cup, african cup and now we want to play more games

arthur zwane almost committed suicide

... 'king arthur', as he was also affectionately known, adds that winning the african cup of winners cup with chiefs in 2001 was the highlight of his career ... we showed character to win the mandela cup and i will always cherish it," he adds

ireland to play paraguay, algeria

... the two world cup finalists will come to the rds in late may as part of their preparations for south africa ... paraguay, who will be in dublin on may 25th, will take on defending champions italy, new zealand and ireland’s euro 2012 opponents slovakia, in the group stages of the world cup, having qualified in third place of the south american group behind brazil and chile ... the north africans recently finished fourth at the african cup of nations

giles smith's midweek view

... incidentally, i'm fed up with losing the drog (not to mention michael essien ) to the african cup of nations every two years, which is why i'm starting a campaign to have the two-tournament ban so ridiculously and insensitively meted out to togo, commuted to the ivory coast and ghana instead

soccer sunday: your running commentary

... while arsenal-man utd is the high-profile match of the day, the most important match of the day takes place in angola, where egypt faces ghana in the african cup of nations final ... egypt (african cup of nations final) 10:55am- fsc/fse- arsenal vs

togo captain emmanuel adebayor slams 'outrageous' ban

... togo captain emmanuel adebayor has called the decision to ban his national team from the next two africa cup of nations tournaments "outrageous" ... the confederation of african football (caf) also fined the hawks $50,000 for quitting the competition in the wake of a gun attack on the team bus in angola ... "it was our head of state (faure gnassingbe) who sent us to the african cup of nations to defend the colours of our country

caf bans togo from next two african cup of nations

... luanda, angola -- caf has suspended togo from the next two editions of the african cup of nations following its withdrawal from this month's tournament ... "the decision taken by the political authorities is infringing caf and can (african cup) regulations," caf said in a statement ... togo pulled out of the african cup after its team bus was attacked in the northern province of cabinda by gunmen and an assistant coach and spokesman were killed two days before the start of the tournament ... egypt will ghana in the african cup final sunday

nigeria captures 3rd at african cup with win over algeria

... benguela, angola -- nigeria defeated fellow world cup qualifier algeria 1-0 on saturday to wrap up third place at the african cup of nations ... the championship match in luanda will feature an upstart in ghana that hasn't won the continental crown since 1982, and an egypt team that is trying to give coach hassan shehata three straight african cup of nations titles

soccer saturday: your running commentary

... another match americans will want to keep an eye on is pachuca-atlante, with jose francisco torres taking his first steps toward trying to earn a world cup roster spot ... nigeria (african cup of nations-3rd place) 11:55am- goltv- espanyol vs