Archive for Nations Cup
Algeria concedes the most
In just two matches against Malawi and Egypt, Algeria conceded seven goals but then conceded three goals in the other remaining five matches.
Burkina Faso played the least number of matches of all the teams following the withdrawal of Togo in Group B and hence conceded just one goal.
Here is a chart showing the number of goals conceded by each team:
delicious
digg
Egypt tops goal scoring charts
In total the Pharaohs scored 15 goals and in second place was Mali who didn't even reach the knockout stages with seven.
The total number of goals scored in the tournament was 71.
Here is the chart showing the goal scored by each team:
It should be noted that the teams did not play the same number of matches with Burkina Faso just playing two.
Egypt wraps up third title in a row
Egypt becomes the first time to do and this started with their victory at home in 2006 and was followed by another win in Ghana in 2008.
They scored far many more goals than everybody else- 15 in total and conceded just two.
Interestingly Egypt beat four of the World Cup bound teams and the team they did not play was Ivory Coast.
Apart from Ghana they scored three or more goals against teams destined for South Africa.
Here are the different margins for the matches in the Angola tournament.:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 8 |
| 1 | 11 |
| 2 | 7 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 |
AFCON final: Ghana vs Egypt
Egypt has won the last two Cups and are still to lose in this tournament.
The Pharaohs are the highest scorers at the tournament having scored a total of 14 goals so far. This is more than double what any other team has scored in the tournament.
Of those 14 goals, nine of them have been scored in the second half.
Ghana on the other hand conceded three goals in their first match and those are the only three goals the team has conceded.
In that first match against Ivory Coast, the Black Stars scored in the second half and that was the only second half goal Ghana has scored in the tournament.
Ghana has been able to defend their leads for long periods because in every match where the team has won the single goal has been scored in the first half.
Both teams have kept three clean sheets. Ghana has conceded three goals and Egypt two.
So the final seems to be against two teams with good defences but it seems unlikely to go the penalties.
Ghana to meet Egypt in final
Ghana who have played four matches so far have scored just one goal in each of those matches and they did the same against Nigeria to reach their first Nations Cup final in nearly 20 years.
Egypt on the other hand comprehensively defeated Algeria to reach their third successive Nations Cup final.
The Pharaohs had won their first five matches by a two goal margin and they reserved their highest winning margin so far for World Cup bound Algeria.
Its also the biggest winning margin by any team so far.(see table below)
Algeria and Nigeria will play out for the third place a day before the final which will be on Sunday local time in Luanda.
So far 68 goals have been scored in the tournament and its now very unlikely that the goals record reached in 2008 will be reached this time with just two matches to go.
The table below shows the goal margins so far in the tournament(note this does not consider penalty shootout margins):
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 8 |
| 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 7 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 |
Africa Nations semis: Algeria vs Egypt
Algeria last played their North African rivals in a one-off play-off to decide who went to the World Cup and Algeria triumphed that time.
Egypt are still to lose a match in this tournament and they have scored a minimum two goals in each match.
Egypt have also been winning by a two goal margin in each match so far and so Algeria will have their work cut out.
Algeria on the other hand started the tournament with a 3-nill loss to Malawi but have since won two and drawn one including the crucial win over Ivory Coast in the quarters.
So here are some of the stats for the group matches played at this tournament:
| Egypt | Algeria | |
|---|---|---|
| Played | 3 | 3 |
| Points | 9 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 6 | -2 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 2 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 1 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | 0.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Egypt 3 - 1 Nigeria Egypt 2 - 0 Mozambique Egypt 2 - 0 Benin Egypt 3 - 1 Cameroon | Mali 0 - 1 Algeria Ivory Coast 2 - 3 Algeria |
| Biggest loss | No loss | Malawi 3 - 0 Algeria |
| Score 3 or more | 2 | 1 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 3 | |
| Points | 9 | |
| Drawn | 0 | |
| Won | 3 | |
| Lost | 0 | |
| Goal difference | 6 | |
| Goals scored | 7 | |
| Goals conceded | 1 | |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.3 | |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 3 | |
| Points | 4 | |
| Drawn | 1 | |
| Won | 1 | |
| Lost | 1 | |
| Goal difference | -2 | |
| Goals scored | 1 | |
| Goals conceded | 3 | |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.3 | |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | |
Africa Nations semis - Ghana vs Nigeria
The winner of the Ghana/Nigeria match will meet the winner in the other semi featuring the North African giants Algeria and Egypt.
Ghana has played three matches so far as a result of Togo withdrawing from the competition. Of those of three matches the team has won two of them by a scoreline of 1-nil with the other match being a 3-1 loss to Ivory Coast.
On the other hand Nigeria has played four matches winning two and losing one. The other match was drawn after extra time but Nigeria won on penalties.
So here is some of the stats for the group matches for the two teams:
| Nigeria | Ghana | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | 3 | 2 | ||||||
| Points | 6 | 3 | ||||||
| Drawn | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Won | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Lost | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Goal difference | 2 | -1 | ||||||
| Clean sheets | 3 | 2 | ||||||
| Failed to score | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Goals scored | 5 | 2 | ||||||
| Goals conceded | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.0 | ||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.5 | ||||||
| Biggest win | Nigeria 3 - 0 Mozambique | Burkina 0 - 1 Ghana Angola 0 - 1 Ghana | ||||||
| Biggest loss | Egypt 3 - 1 Nigeria | Ivory Coast 3 - 1 Ghana | ||||||
| Score 3 or more | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Concede 3 or more | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Home matches | ||||||||
| Played | 2 | |||||||
| Points | 6 | |||||||
| Drawn | 0 | |||||||
| Won | 2 | |||||||
| Lost | 0 | |||||||
| Goal difference | 4 | |||||||
| Goals scored | 4 | |||||||
| Goals conceded | 0 | |||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | |||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.0 | |||||||
| Away matches | ||||||||
| Played | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Points | 0 | 3 | ||||||
| Drawn | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Won | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| Lost | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Goal difference | -2 | -1 | ||||||
| Goals scored | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Goals conceded | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||
| Ave. goals conceded | 3.0 | 1.5 | ||||||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/8 | 4 | Ghana | 2 | Nigeria | 1 |
Nigeria beats Zambia to reach semis
The match finished goalless after extra-time and therefore penalties had to decide the winner.
In the earlier match Egypt once again triumphed over Cameroon scoring two goals in extra time to make a date with Algeria who overcame Ivory Coast.
Cameroon were the first score through an own goal but Egypt came back to score the next three goals in that match.
Algeria also won in extra time over the fancied Ivory Coast. The Elephants were leading 2-1 in the dying minutes of the match but Algeria equalized and in extra got the semis place.
Egypt last played Algeria in a World Cup deciding match and this could be a very explosive encounter.
Ghana dispatched the hosts Angola with a lone goal scored in the first goal. The Black Stars will meet the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a West African battle.
Continuing with the trend of showing scorelines for the Nations Cup this time I will show the first half scored so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 6 |
| 0 - 1 | 7 |
| 1 - 0 | 3 |
| 1 - 1 | 4 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 4 |
Cameroon squeezes into quarters
The Africa Nations Cup uses head-to-head when teams are tied on points and because they were three teams involved the matches between those teams had to considered.
Cameroon had earlier lost to Gabon and so had the head-to-head been between the two teams Gabon would have reached the quarter-finals instead.
Here is what the table used for the Group D head-to-head looks like:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zambia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Cameroon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Gabon | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Elsewhere in Group A, hosts Angola won the group and will now play Ghana to decide who reaches the semis. Ghana beat Burkina Faso 1-nil to reach the quarters.
Ivory Coast who were the first team to reach the quarters will play Algeria after the Algerians secured their place through the goalless draw against the hosts.
Defending champions Egypt will face Cameroon after going through their group with a perfect record.
Zambia will play Nigeria after the Super Eagles dispatched Mozambique 3-nil to secure second place in Group C.
Here is an update of the scorelines so far in the 2010 Africa Nations Cup:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 3 |
| 0 - 1 | 3 |
| 1 - 0 | 1 |
| 1 - 1 | 1 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 3 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 2 |
| 3 - 1 | 3 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 4 | 1 |
Cameroon back on track
Cameroon lost its first match in the tournament to Gabon and needed to get something out of the Zambian match in order to stay in the competition beyond the group stages. Now th team needs at least a draw in its final match against Tunisia to reach the knockout phase.
Also in the second round of matches in Group A Angola and Algeria recorded wins whilst in Group B Ivory Coast reached the knockout phase after beating Ghana.
Ghana will need to Burkina Faso in its second match to join Ivory Coast whilst a draw will be good enough for Burkina Faso.
In Group C, Nigeria had a narrow win over Gabon whilst Egypt reached the quarters after beating Mozambique.
Like at the end of the last round I will also show a table with the updated scorelines from the Africa Nations Cup following the second round of matches and here it is:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 1 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 1 |
| 1 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 2 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 2 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 4 | 1 |
World Cup bound teams struggle in Angola
The four World Cup teams that had matches all failed to win with Ivory Coast only managing a draw a goalless draw against Burkina Faso.
Nigeria was the first to score in its match against Egypt but lost the match 3-1 in the end. The other three teams all failed to score.
Cameroon was stunned by Gabon who scored a first half goal and defended it to the end of the match.
The worst result was for Algeria who lost 3-nil to Malawi. Algeria was the only team to lose by a three goal margin in this first round of matches.
Ghana, the fifth World Cup bound African team was not involved in this round of matches after its match against Togo was cancelled following Togo's disqualification from the competition.
Its therefore not surprising that Groups A, C and D are anchored by Algeria, Nigeria and Cameroon respectively.
In seven matches, they were seven different scorelines :
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 1 |
| 0 - 1 | 1 |
| 1 - 1 | 1 |
| 2 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 1 |
| 3 - 1 | 1 |
| 4 - 4 | 1 |
The second round of matches will be kicked off by a match between Mali and Algeria and should Algeria lose that match then they will be leaving the tournament early.
Thriller kicks off Africa Nations
Angola were 4-nil with just 15 minutes to go but Mali managed to score four goals of their own with the last goal being scored seconds before the end of the match.
Angola and Mali are in group A which also comprises Malawi and World Cup bound Algeria and these two teams will meet in the second match of the tournament.
So eight goals have already been scored after just one match and maybe the record of 99 goals set in the 2008 tournament could well be surpassed this time.
Ghana paired with Ivory Coast
The other two teams in the same group are Togo and Burkina Faso. This group B is the only group with two 2010 World Cup bound teams.
Group A will comprise of hosts Angola plus Mali, Algeria and Malawi.
Nigeria has been drawn in Group C alongside Egypt, Benin and Mozambique. Egypt are the defending champions.
The last group comprises Cameroon, Tunisia, Zambia and Gabon.
The group A match between Angola and Mali will kickoff the tournament in Luanda.
Africa Nations cup teams decided
Angola will host the tournament in January 2010.
The remaining fifteen teams who qualified are Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.
TipsChallenge will once again be running a tipping competition for the Nations Cup and the fixtures will be available once the draw has been made.
South Africa misses Angola 2010
South Africa needed to finish second in this group to qualify for the Nations Cup but Sierra Leone beat Equatorial Guinea to get the second spot.
I think South Africa as hosts of the 2010 World Cup would have benefited a lot from the Africa Nations Cup because they don't have to go through the qualifying rounds of the World Cup and this missed opportunity could prove costly if not embarrassing for the World Cup hosts.
Its also interesting to see that the Nations Cup will showcase the top 16 teams from the continent and South Africa will not be one of them.
South Africa will have a chance to host the FIFA Confederations Cup next year and this will hopefully help them to prepare for the tournament.
Goals record for 2008 Afcon
The previous record was 93 goals scored in the 1998 edition hosted by Burkina Faso and in the previous tournament in 2006 in Egypt the number of goals scored was 73 and this was far much less than this year.
Of these 99 goals, 45 were scored in the first half with 54 scored in the second. Its not surprising though that more goals were scored in the second half because that tends to be the trend in football.
Just like in 2006, the top scorer was Cameroon's Samuel E'too with five goals.
The table below shows how much each team contributed to the 99 goals tally and it also shows how many goals were scored in each half.
| Team | Matches | First Half | Second Half | Total Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivory Coast | 6 | 6 | 10 | 16 | |
| Egypt | 6 | 8 | 7 | 15 | |
| Cameroon | 6 | 7 | 7 | 14 | |
| Ghana | 6 | 5 | 6 | 11 | |
| Morocco | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Tunisia | 4 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| Angola | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Guinea | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Zambia | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Senegal | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Nigeria | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| South Africa | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Namibia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Benin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Mali | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Sudan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
So despite finishing fourth, Ivory Coast were the top scoring team with 16 goals and as noted in an earlier post, Sudan finished the tournament goalless.
The question is: will 2010 Angola go past the 100 goal mark?
Sudan goalless, pointless in Nations Cup
One standout statistic is that Sudan is the only team that failed to score a single goal. Only two teams Sudan and Benin came out of the tournament pointless.
The low scoring teams were Mali, Benin with just one goal and then Nigeria and Namibia with two and with South Africa scoring three goals.
The highest scoring group was group A where 19 goals were scored and the top three teams in that group Ghana, Guinea and Morocco scored 17 goals. This was closely followed by group C with 18 goals.
The lowest scoring group was group was Group B with 12 goals where one team Ivory Coast scored 8 and the other three teams combined could only get four past the goalkeeper.
The team that scored the highest number of goals was Ivory Coast in Group B and its interesting to see that it came from the group with the lowest number of goals. Second position was a three way tie with Morocco, Egypt and Cameroon all scoring seven.
This brings us to the number of goals scored in the group phase and its 63. In the last tournament in Egypt the total goals scored in the group phase was 54.
At the end of the tournament I will re-visit this goals issue and compare to the 2006 tournament.
Africa Cup of Nations records
One of the records there is about the most goals in the finals which is held jointly by Laurent Pokou (Ivory Coast) and Samuel E'too of Cameroon. But the interesting bit about Pokou is that he scored those 14 goals in just two tournaments in 1968 and 1970.
He also holds the record for most goals scored by an individual in one match which is five he scored when the Ivory Coast beat Ethiopia 6-1 in the 1970 finals. That record I am sure will stay for some time.
Another useful site is the Wikipedia which has a lot of detail about the Nations Cup.
Africa's home advantage
Ghana itself has hosted the tournament by itself twice and won the competition both times and the only time they failed to win was when it co-hosted the tournament with Nigeria in 2000.
The last two tournaments in 2004 and 2006 were won by the hosts Tunisia and Egypt respectively and if Ghana wins that will be three in row.
The last time hosts won the tournament three in a row was between 1959 and 1963 and interestingly it was Ghana who was the team to make it three in a row for the hosts in 1963. Ghana is in exactly the same position as in 1963 to make it three out of three.
Hosts have won the tournament nine times out of 25 giving a percentage of 36 percent.
So its interesting to see whether Ghana will complete the hatrick for hosts. All will be known on 10th February in Accra.
Pages
Archives
July 2010(14)
June 2010(32)
May 2010(20)
April 2010(25)
March 2010(14)
February 2010(27)
January 2010(30)
December 2009(35)
November 2009(32)
October 2009(31)
September 2009(12)
August 2009(7)
July 2009(1)
June 2009(12)
May 2009(11)
April 2009(14)
March 2009(7)
February 2009(10)
January 2009(6)
December 2008(15)
November 2008(13)
October 2008(12)
September 2008(12)
August 2008(8)
July 2008(3)
June 2008(6)
May 2008(5)
April 2008(2)
March 2008(3)
February 2008(4)
January 2008(5)
Categories
Asian Cup(2)
Champions League(56)
Confederations Cup(7)
English Premiership(145)
Euro 2008(8)
General(4)
La Liga(47)
Nations Cup(19)
World Cup(48)
Recent Postings
Black Cats stun Man City
AC Milan, Real in same group again
2010/11 Champions League draw
Too easy for Spurs
Recent Comments
Wes on 2nd round World Cup: USA vs Ghana
AnaVar on 2nd round World Cup: USA vs Ghana
Wes on World Cup Preview: Netherlands
Greg on World Cup Preview: Netherlands
Feeds
Links
The Offside
SoccerBlogs
Owatalk
World Soccer
Football Down Under
Victory in Melbourne
Newcastle United Blog
The Football Tragic
The World Game
BBC Football
Search 30+
sites at once!