From: f54oguocha@edison.usask.ca
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: AFRICAN SOCCER: BRIEF NEWS
Date: 12 DEC 92 05:27:05 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
NNTP-Posting-Host: edison.usask.ca


			AFRICAN NATIONS CUP

	GROUP 3					GROUP 8
 4 Oct 	Togo 0 Algeria 0		 4 Oct	Mali 2 Morocco 1
	Guinea-Bissau 0 Sierra Leone 3	
 8 Nov	Sierra Leone 2 Senegal 0	 8 Nov	Morocco 0 Egypt 0
	Togo 0 Guinea-Bissau 0

		P  W D L  F  A Pts			P  W D L  F  A Pts
Sierra Leone	3  3 0 0  6  0  6	Mali		2  1 1 0  3  2  3
Senegal		3  2 0 1  5  2  4       Malawi		2  1 1 0  2  1  3
Algeria		3  1 1 1  3  2  3	Morocco		2  0 1 1  1  2  1
Togo		3  0 2 1  0  2  2	Egypt		2  0 1 1  0  1  1
Guinea-Bissau	4  0 1 3  1  9  1        * * *

* * * Libya Withdrew from this group because of UN sanctions banning flights
in and out of the country.

I will post the full tables next Monday (Hopefully) as these were the only
recent matches. I apolagize if it appeared before.

_____________________________________________________________________________

GENERAL NEWS

Over the past couple of months a number of things have happened to dull the
African star which arose from the World Cup.

THe most obvious was the success of the Asian Cup in Japan which was exciting
& very well organised. The advantages of the 8 team championship V 12 teams
was seen and this gives the Asians a leg-up in the race to become hosts
of the World-Cup.

Secondly the abysmal performance of the Ivory Coast in the Continental Cup
has put up a question mark over the playing standards in the continent as a
whole, although there are still a large number of successful Africans plying
their trade in Europe & this number is growing with players in more countries 
than France & Belgium as was the case previosly.

Then there is the withdrawals from the World Cup ,with in the case of Group I
only 2 teams left - Guinea & Kenya.
This would be unfair to hold Africa though as this year no Geographical 
considerations have been taken into account & Asian groups are sometimes done
on tournament basis which reduces costs & hence withdrawals.

The Question now arrises as to whether Africa can bounce back
The answer to that is on the field, with remarkable performances from Burundi
in the World Cup and Sierra Leone, Mali & Malawi in the ANC.

To put Burundi's feat in perspective (beating Ghana) look at their WC record
in the past : They have never even entered before.

Sirra Leone can't even play at home as their stadium, the Siaka Stevens,
was declared unfit for use, and they play home matches in Guinea . Their
withdrawal from the world cup is particularily sad on this case then.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taking Sierra Leone's performances recently & some specific queries from 
readers, here is their full WC record for comparison with their recent
Giant-Killing.

1974 - Round 1		v. IVORY COAST		o-1 ; 0-2

1978 - Prelimnaries	v. NIGER		5-1 ; 1-2
     - Round 1		v. NIGERIA		0-0 ; 2-6

1982 - Round 1		v. ALGERIA		2-2 ; 1-3

1986 - Round 1 		v. MOROCCO		0-1 ; 0-4

FULL RECORD	P   W   D   L     F     A    Pts
	       10   1   2   7    11    22     4

Although they did go out in the 1st Round on each occasion it is worth noting
that Ivory Coast & Nigeria reached the final group of 3 in '74 & '78
respectively & Algeria & Morocco qualified in '82 & '86 so their recent
results might not be too much a surprise.

Next week I'll post a closer look at their ANC matches this year provided I
get info.

I'll also post the schedule of the African Junior Championships soon.

Enda.

***N.B. All comments are Enda's****
If you have any comment(s) post them to s.c.a. for our readership.

Cheers!

Oguocha