African Cup

African Cup


I love tournaments and there is a good one on right now. Egypt will always be considered one of the top favorites along with Ghana now.

The final 8 consists of South Africa the host, Mali Cote d Ivory, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Cape Verde.

The knockout stage

The host South Africa will face new comer Mail. South Africa has put a good team together for this tournament and do not want to disappoint the home fans. Mail was the nation that you could scoop gold out of the river with a pan. Now radical Muslims took over a huge portion of the barren land in the north. The French militaryh as been doing a sweep of the area to cleanse the area of these radicals. I will give the edge to South Africa in this match.

Cote d Ivory will take on Nigeria. I can still remember Nigeria in the World Cup USA making the knockout round. Nigeria has made the finals 6 times losing 4 and winning only 2. They seem to be snake bitten in the finals. The Cote d Ivory always has a great team. This is the clash of the perennial powers. I think that Cote d Ivory will advance. They reached the finals last years and lost in the shootout to Zambia.

New comer Burkina Faso will take on Togo. Burkina Faso was in a group consisting of 3 other past Champions. Zambia was the current champion. Nigeria is a perennial power and Ethiopia last won in 1957. They placed first in this group. I see them advancing here.



Ghana vs Cape Verde Ghana has an easy first round opponent. I see them advancing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Africa_Cup_of_Nations
Nations Titles Years won

New CONCACAF members?

http://www.concacaf.com/page/AssociationNewsDetail/0,,12813~3060085,00.html

“Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and French Guyana reiterate their intention to become full Member Associations”

I think this will be good for CONCACAF to add these territories as full members. They would rise the bar in the Caribbean in international competition. The 2013 Gold Cup will be the 13^th Gold Cup played. Martinique and Guadeloupe each have participated 3 times. This will mark the 4^th time for Martinique. These 2 French territories have proven to provide steady and well organized teams during the Gold Cup. CONCACAF need more quality teams and these islands would greatly add to the World Cup qualifying tournament, Caribbean Cup games and as mentioned the Gold Cup.

If I were ranking the Caribbean both Martinique and Guadeloupe would be placed high.

1.      Jamaica

2.      Haiti

3.      Trinidad & Tobago

4.      Cuba

5.      Martinique

6.      Guadeloupe

7.      Antigua & Barbuda

8.      Dominican Republic

9.      Guyana

10.  Suriname

11.  Puerto Rico

Saint Martin and French Guyana (South America) would not place quality teams in CONCACAF. Saint Martin has under 40,000 inhabitants on their island. The island reminds me of Hispaniola. Hispaniola is split between Haiti and Dominican Republic. Saint Martin is split with the Dutch territory Sint Maarten. Maybe this population (island) could join Guadeloupe or Martinique as a joint addition. It just does not have the population or a quality team to field.

French Guyana is located in South America. This is another tiny French territory that has a population under 250,000. Over time they could produce a quality team to compete in the Caribbean but in CONCACAF is another idea.

All in all I believe we would get 2 good nations and two bad ones in terms of quality soccer teams. I believe we will still get either Martinique or Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup. Once the Gold cup expands to 16 we may see both nations. 

Martinique Preview for Gold Cup.

Martinique Preview

Martinique

Martinique

Population 503,000

Previous Appearances 1993, 2000,2003

Best result 2002

Arch Rival/Rival Guadeloupe

Coach Patrick Cavelan

Top scorer Kevin Parsemain (22)

Uniform Blue-White

Martinique is a beautiful little Caribbean island in the Caribbean Sea. They are a French territory (overseas department) just like Guadeloupe. They have a big population of a ½ Million compared to most other small Caribbean Islands. Most Martiniquais have a mixed ancestors of French settlers in the 17 Century and Slave Africans brought over from Africa to work on plantations. Since this is a French territory this island is not poor like other Caribbean nations.

Martinique does have a good domestic football league that was established 1919. The Martinique Championnat National has a whopping 14 clubs competing in the top league. They even have regulation to a second tier league. We never get to see these clubs teams play since they are restricted my CONCACAF to participate in the CONCACAF Championship Club or the CFU Club Championship. My belief is that the clubs would beat most other Caribbean clubs because they have resources (French backing) that the smaller and poorer Caribbean nations do not.

The national Team



Kevin Parsemain scored 6 goals against British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean cup 2012

 Most of the Martinique teams come from players playing in the Martinique National League. Their top scorer is Kevin Paremain who plays for Riviere-Pilote. Paremain scored 11 goals in the qualification round (6 against British Virgin Islands) and 2 more in the Final round. He lead all scores with 13 goals in the Caribbean Cup. Paremain will get a lot of looks from MLS teams and possibly French teams in the Gold Cup 2013 tournament.

Rivals-history-Accolades

Martinique is making their 4th appearance. That’s right, 4th time playing against the big boys. Martinique is a little French island had qualified from the Caribbean in 1993, 2002 and 2003. Their arch rival is the other French overseas region of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe had also qualified for 3 previous Gold Cups. Bragging rights were at stake. Guadeloupe was about surpass Martinique on the international stage. Martinique had to put a stop to this, they want to be known as the superior French Island in football. The 2012 Caribbean Cup was difficult for Martinique. They were however playing at home. Their group consisted of perennial heavy weight and previous Caribbean Champion Jamaica, current Champion and other heavy weight Cuba and French Guian. Well Martinique came in 1st place in this group to make the final round. This group knocked the powerful Jamaice nation team out and they were again the favorites to repeat at Caribban Champions. Between them they will have qualified for 7 out of the 11 tournaments including the 2013 Cup. Then there was the drought when their arch rival Guadeloupe stated qualifying for the Gold Cup. Both are small French Islands in the Caribbean who both have about the same size population. (498,305 –Martinique and 503,000.

Martinique’s best result was the 2002 Cup when they make the knockout rounds.

Costa Rica 1-0 Belize highlights

Looking at he video tel us there was a very sparse crowd. Belize looked dangerous ob counter attack but semed to be the much inferior tem.

Poor attendce inthe Copa Central American Cup - Costa Rica

Copa Central America 2013 Well Copa Central America is under a piss poor start with attendance. Costa Rica opener only had 5,484 in attendance. This is almost ¼ the attendance both Panama and Honduras set in 2009 and 2011. Costa Rica is also playing in the new National Stadium. This national stadium is located in San Jose and was recently built by the Chinese government. Year Host Attendance 2003 Panama -no record 2005 Guatemala -no record_ 2007 El Salvador -no record 2009 Honduras 20,000 2011 Panama 20,000 2013 Costa Rica 5,484 Costa Rica has not hosted this little tournament since 1999. Costa Rica is always the team to beat. They have been in every championship game except one (1995). Costa Rica also has the most championship winning 6 out of the 11 Titles. Costa Rica is the favorite sine they are at home however the tournament has become quite competitive with the advancement of both Belize and Nicaragua. Belize has never won a game in this tournament however they are getting better. Belize has 4 draws total. One of those draws came 2011 against Nicaragua. They use to lose by many goals and be embarrassed. In 2003 they did not field a team. 2005 they lost 4-0 the Honduras and 2-0 to Guatemala. This tournament they played to a 1-0 to the host and favorite Costa Rica. Nicaragua has made the most progress . They just played Guatemala to a 1-1 draw. In 2009 they had their best showing placing 5th and making the 2009 Gold Cup. In 2011 they again played Guatemala but lost a tight 2-1 game to Guatemala. Nicaragua is trying to lift itself out of the bottom of Central America (Belize, Nicaragua Belize) and join the tier 2 group of Guatemala and El Salvador. Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras are Tier 1. This will be interesting if either Nicaragua or Belize places 5th and make the Gold Cup 2013. I am quite disappointed with Costa Rica and the lack of attendance. 5,000 is pathetic. The next host should be Nicaragua or Belize if they can get a stadium. The sport in Nicaragua has recently taken over baseball as the nations sport. Nicaragua also has a new national stadium in Managua. Time will tell

What are the CONCACAF Rivals

Since this is a COCACAF site

1. Mexico vs USA (usually for the Gold Cup and regional Championship)
2. Canada vs USA (Canada's fierce 2nd fiddle attitude)
3. Mexico vs Central America (The hatred Central American nations show toward Mexico)
4. Honduras vs El Salvador (the soccer war)
5.  Trinidad and Tobago vs Jamaica ( Bragging rights in the Caribbean)
6. Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic
7. Martinique vs Guadeloupe  (The French overseas Rivalry) 
8. Costa Rica v Honduras (usually for the Central American Cup)
9. Haiti vs Dominican Rebublic (the battle of Hispanolia)