Friday, September 2, 2011

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03.09. (Sat) 17:00 Sierra Leone - Egypt

Leone Stars look to battle inconsistency

The Leone Stars haven’t qualified for the African Cup of Nations since the 1996 edition and that is likely to remain the case, but they are still in with a chance to make it to the next tournament as they are only three points behind Group G leaders South Africa. They will need to gather all three points against Egypt and hope for a huge favour from Niger against Bafana Bafana before facing SA themselves in their final fixture.

So far their best result of this campaign was their 1-1 draw in Cairo and they will seek to improve on that scoreline when they host the Pharaohs on Saturday. The only issue is that, although individually talented, the team as a whole is largely inconsistent as evidenced by a 3-1 away loss to Niger after pulling off such an amazing feat against the Egyptians in hostile territory.

The Pharaohs are officially rebuilding

At the start of 2012 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying, if someone had asserted that defending continental champions Egypt would not only be essentially eliminated from the Gabon and Equatorial Guinea edition but also bottom of their group, they would have been called mad. However, the fall has been hard and fast for the perennial kings of Africa who saw the reign of Hassan Shehata end with a whimper.

Looking back at where it all went wrong, it is clear that the opening 1-1 home draw against Sierra Leone, their next opponents, was a major factor. However, South Africa take most of the credit for managing to beat the Pharaohs in Johannesburg before securing a draw of their own at the Cairo International Stadium to seal Egypt’s fate. While the Egyptian Football Association are still looking for a permanent replacement for their sacked master tactician, its been decided that the Under-23 team will play the remaining two fixtures.

TEAM NEWS

Sierra Leone
One of the main story-lines in Sierra Leone’s camp is the dysfunctional relationship between the country’s FA and it’s Ministry of Sports who had an argument over who should lead the side. The FA had sought to maintain Christian Cole as the main man but he’s been demoted to assisting the Ministry’s pick, Lars Olof Mattsson. There was also confusion over whether youngster Khalifa Jabbie would make the trip, but it now appears he will.
Probable starting XI: 
Caulker; Koroma, Simbo, Kargbo, Sama; Sankoh, Bangura, Suma, Strasser; Bangoura, Kamara

Egypt
Egypt have provoked South African fury with their decision to field an U23 team in the next two remaining fixtures. One veteran has been kept-on by coach Hany Ramzy and it is Ahmed Hassan who only needs three games of international action to match Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed Al-Daeyea’s caps world record.
Probable starting XI: 
Gabal; Al-Henawy, Hegazy, Fattah, Ramadan; Gaber, Hassan, Al-Solya, Al-Neny; Salah, Sharweda

PREDICTION

Although South Africa’s Pitso Mosimane said he was disappointed with Egypt’s decision to field a young squad, the next generation of Pharaohs could spring a surprise in Sierra Leone as they will be eager to prove that they are ready to return their country to the summit of African football. Inexperience and a lack of muscle may penalise them though, and a draw is more likely against a highly athletic Sierra Leone side.

Sierra Leone 2-2 Egypt

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03.09. (Sat) 16:00 Scotland - Czech

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Scotland (4-1-4-1)
McGregor; Hutton, Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley; Adam; Morrison, Brown, Fletcher, Naismith; Miller

Scotland boss Craig Levein will be delighted to welcome back captain Darren Fletcher into the international fold after the Manchester United midfielder was forced to miss the run-in of last season’s Premier League triumph with a virus.

The only call-off for the former Dundee United manager was that of third choice keeper Iain Turner, who was forced to head back to Preston North End after suffering an elbow strain, being replaced by Cardiff City stopper David Marshall.

Czech Republic (4-4-2)
Drobny; Pospech, Sivok, Hubnik, Kadlec; Rosicky, Jiracek, Hubschman, Plasil; Kolar, Baros

The Czech Republic will be looking to erase the memory of their last game, where Michal Bilek’s side were crushed 3-0 by Norway and now sit in 42nd place in the latest Fifa world rankings.

To make matters worse for the Czechs, they will be without the services of Chelsea keeper Petr Cech who has failed to recover from a medial ligament injury in time for the Hampden Park clash.

However, they will be buoyed by the recent performances of international newcomers Petr Jiracek, Daniel Kolar, Vaclav Pilar and Milan Petrzela who all helped their club side, Czech champions Viktoria Plzen to make it into this season’s Champions League.

DID YOU KNOW?

The last time the two sides faced off in Prague was the night of the infamous 4-6-0 formation which ultimately failed to pay off for Scotland, as they were defeated by a second-half header from Roman Hubnik.

Scotland recorded their first victory over the Czech Republic in boss Craig Levein’s first game in charge, a friendly in March 2010 at Hampden Park, where Scott Brown’s goal claimed victory for the home side.

The Scots currently sit on four points in Group I, although they have a game in hand on the Czech’s, who are five points ahead, while World and European champions Spain can boast a 100 per cent record, having won each of their first five fixtures.

A victory at Hampden Park would put the Czech Republic into pole position for second place in Group I behind Spain, who visit the Stadion Letna in October.

Either Jan Lastuvka of Hamburg or Jaroslav Drobny of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will make their competitive debut as one of them is forced to replace goalkeeper Petr Cech between the sticks for the Czech’s.


Prediction
Scotland 1-1 Czech Rep.

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03.09. (Sat) 14:30 Malawi - Tunisia

The Flames look to home strength

Malawi have surprised many in the past three years, emerging from obscurity under the tutelage of Kinnah Phiri to qualify for their first African Cup of Nations (Afcon) since 1984 a year ago. They then proceeded by making a statement against World Cup qualifiers Algeria in their opening game of the tournament, beating the Fennecs resoundingly (3-0).

The north Africans blamed the high temperatures on the day but the real heat source was undoubtedly the Flames players themselves who showed no mercy in front of goal.

Though they didn’t make the second round in Angola, Phiri’s team have continued on their upward trajectory, and are one game away from making history by qualifying for their second continental showpiece in a row.

The Malawians will take heart from the fact that their most important result in this qualifying campaign came against their upcoming opponents, Tunisia, away at Rades Stadium where they impressively came back from a two goal deficit despite being reduced to ten men in the second half.

Carthage Eagles slowly restoring tarnished image

Gone are the days when Tunisia could be virtually assured of making it to every Afcon with minimum fuss. The perennial qualifiers and 2004 trophy holders have found out the hard way just how much African football has progressed.

Finishing in first place of Group K is already impossible as Botswana beat them to it with surprising ease, but north Africans now have a chance to put things right in Blantyre and have been showing great signs of improvement since replacing coach Bertrand Marchand with Sami Trabelsi.

The former Sfaxien and Tunisian defender’s decision to build his team around a core contingent of locally based players who hoisted the 2011 African Championship of Nations (Chan) earlier this year has been paying dividends as evidenced by lopsided wins over the Central African Republic (3-0), Chad (5-0), and Mali (4-2).

Nevertheless, a more recent 3-3 draw against Jordan using an experimental team shows that the Tunisians’ usually reliable defence is vulnerable and Trabelsi will be hoping that his men can rise to the occasion in Blantyre in order to help exorcise the ghost of Maputo, where the Tunisians fell to Mozambique and missed out on qualifying for the 2010 World Cup after having led their group for the entire campaign.

TEAM NEWS

Malawi
Phiri has called up a largely unchanged squad, with Ishmael Thinda and Gabadinho Mhango both receiving their maiden call-ups. Nafe Nsasa and Fischer Kondowe have also been re-called for this crucial encounter.
Probable starting XI:
Harawa; Kanyenda, Kaipa, Namwera, Fodya; Kayira, Banda, Kondowe, Kabichi; Simukonda, Chilemba

Tunisia
The Tunisians will be without the Esperance trio of Youssef Msakni, Oussemma Darragi, and Khaled Korbi, as all three are suspended. Toulouse’s Aymen Abdennour was also a late omission due to an adductor injury he picked up at his new club, Toulouse.
Probable starting XI:
Mathlouthi; Derbali, Hichri, Jemal, Chammem; Traoui, Chedli, Ragued; Allagui, Jemaa, Dhaouadi

PREDICTION

Malawi have had quite a number of fine displays at their home stadium in Blantyre against top sides in recent years but this is a different Tunisia side than the one they faced earlier in qualifying. A draw favours the locals more and their willingness to defend in numbers may paradoxically prove to be their undoing against a much-improved attacking Carthage Eagles side.

Malawi 1-2 Tunisia