|
  |
|
|
World Cup 2010 - The African Hopefuls
World Cup 2010 - The African Hopefuls Pele the Brazilian Soccer player famously claimed that an African nation would win the world cup by the end of the Twentieth Century. As World Cup 1998 passed and hosts France took the trophy his claim had not come true. In 2010 though
the world cup will be held in South Africa, the first ever time that the tournament has been staged on the continent. Will this fact help an African team finally lift the prestigious prize? Let’s take a look at some of the teams that could make this possible; Egypt Winners of the last two African Cup of Nations competitions the Egypt soccer team are perhaps dark horses to perform well at the tournament. Egypt are ranked a respectable 23rd in the FIFA Soccer world rankings and with star player Mohamed Aboutreika, or the Egyptian Zinedine Zidane as he is known, Egypt could cause many an upset if they can qualify for the tournament for the first time since 1990. Ghana In 16th Position, Ghana is the highest ranking African team in the FIFA Soccer rankings. They have key players in some of Europe’s top teams most notably Michael Essien the defensive midfield dynamo who performs at a consistently high level for Chelsea soccer club. Sully Muntari of Portsmouth and Stephen Appiah of Fenerbache give the Ghana team a sturdy nucleus and they will be looking to improve on their impressive showing in the 2006 World Cup where they reached the first knock out round. Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast soccer team are perhaps the most well known African team due to their squad that contains some of Europe’s top players. Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Didier Zokora are never far from the African soccer news for their top class performances for their respective clubs. In 2006 the Ivory Coast could not manoeuvre out of the tournaments group of death and they will be looking to improve this time around. South Africa The hosts must get a mention as well but few give South Africa much hope in the tournament. With footballing giants Panama, Cyprus and Macedonia all ranked higher than South Africa in 68th position it does look bleak for Bafana-Bafana. One Brazilian manger was replaced with another this year when Carlos Alberto Parreira resigned and Joel Santana took the reins and he will have to act quickly to prepare the squad for the tournament. Most of the squad ply their trade in South Africa but English premier League players Stephen Pienaar, Aaron Mokoena and Benny Mcarthy (if picked) will face a struggle to pull the team past the group stages. Even so, hosting the world cup in Africa for the first time will undoubtedly do no harm to South African football.
|
|
 |
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "World Cup 2010 - The African Hopefuls" has been specified by the contributor as:
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Details 
This content may be copied, distributed, and modified, as long as a) the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page, and b) if the work is modified, the result is distributed with this same license.
If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL:
http://lakeville.qondio.com/
|
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
