African Cup of Nations 2015

The African Cup of Nations is underway in Equatorial Guinea as of yesterday. The hosts drew 1-1 with Congo in the tournament opener, whilst Gabon's 2-0 victory over Burkina Faso completed Group A's fixtures for the day.

On to Group B, DR Congo are currently drawing 1-1 with Zambia in today's first game. They're wearing jerseys manufactured by our very own O'Neill's, would you believe?

http://www.footballkitnews.com/wp-co...2015-AFCON.jpg

Lots will decide who makes it out of Group D between Guinea and Mali (along with group-winners Côte d'Ivoire) after the two teams drew their final group-game 1-1. Terrible way to decide group positions.

Côte d'Ivoire beat Cameroon 1-0 in the other final game; a goal for Cameroon would have seen the whole group decided by the drawing of lots.

What does the "drawing of lots" actually entail in this context? Do CAF representatives meet in a hotel room and throw a load of straws on the table or what?

Does anyone remember the drawing of lots after our game with the Netherlands at Italia '90? According to this, Sepp Blatter did it live on TV straight after the game finished: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31031082

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BBC

At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland were tied for second place in their group. Straight after the match, Sepp Blatter, then second-in-command at Fifa, conducted a drawing of lots ceremony live on TV in Rome. Both teams were guaranteed qualification for round two but an attendant drew a ball from two bowls to determine their ranking, and thus their second-round opponent.

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That says it was done by drawing balls from a bowl, so I guess that clears up my uncertainty over the actual format such a process takes. I have no memory of the 1990 draw and I can't imagine it would have been nearly as tense as this one for the teams involved, considering it would have been to decide who finished second with three teams qualifying from the group rather than who went through to the next round and who got knocked out.

There have been some other examples of it in other tournaments (with suggestions that paper might even have been used 1954), but it is very rare that it happens:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BBC

In a 1954 World Cup qualifying match in Rome, Turkey and Spain were tied after 90 minutes. At that point, a 14-year-old boy, the son of a stadium employee, was summoned to draw lots from a trophy, sending Turkey to compete at the tournament in Switzerland while Spain were sent home. Some reports suggest balls were drawn, others say it was a slip of paper.

In the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria profited at the expense of Ivory Coast after the drawing of lots.

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Actually, I'm just seeing there's an explanation of the process for today's draw here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30910026

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BBC

The all-important draw will now happen in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) hotel in Malobo at 15:00 GMT, during a meeting of the competition's organising committee.

The names of the two teams will be placed into two balls, before an official is invited to pick one ball - inside which will be the name of the team that has qualified for the quarter finals as group runners-up and will face Ghana on Sunday afternoon.

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Surely somebody else must be following this thing besides me?!... :excruciating:

Naw, just you Danny ! :) by the looks of it. The tournament just doesn't catch my attention at all.

Complete pile of poop of a tournament. That it's held every 2 years is nothing short of mental!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

They're wearing jerseys manufactured by our very own O'Neill's, would you believe?

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They're really branching out!


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9AGGvqIcAERTnV.jpg:large

Mental scenes in Malombo tonight. It's crackers.

Even our Shay would have saved a hatful of those penalties.
It was a mildly interesting final, unfortunate to clash with A Bilbao v Barca and Lyon v PSG.
I though Ghana, the lesser team of the two, were by a good bit the more positive on the night, 2 awful penalties spoiled their night, just when they had the cup in their grasp.

Was a tight, risk-free final with both teams obviously cautious. It seemed as if neither was ever going to do enough to lose, never mind win. I was only able to see until the beginning of extra-time as had other obligations then, so missed the drama of the shoot-out, unfortunately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjbT8wrAOzw

Barry was miles off his line there when the final Ghana kick he saved was taken.

Amazing how similar the result was to Ivory Coast's only other win - 0-0 draw with Ghana in the final in 1991, and they won 11-10 on penalties. Just two short this time around.

Actually, Ivory Coast have been in four finals - and every one has been a 0-0 draw! Also lost 4-2 and 8-7 on penalties to Egypt and Zambia.