Cult Football

main

Preview Tactics Video

El Clásico Series, Part 3: Champions League 1st Leg

April 27, 2011 — by Suman — 2

Guardiola-pressconf — Pep: Decir la verdad al puto jefe!

Just when you thought El Clásico couldn’t get any more heated, Pep Guardiola took the rivalry to 11 in his press conference yesterday in Madrid. But the real battle of Mourinho contra Guardiola will take place on the pitch later today, with the 1st leg of the Champions League semifinal. It will remarkably be the 3rd meeting in the past 11 days between Guardiola’s Barcelona and Mourinho’s Real Madrid (following the tense 1-1 draw in a La Liga match on April 16 and Madrid’s dramatic 1-0 Copa del Rey victory a week ago), and the real battle will be the tactics the two managerial masterminds deploy today, in light of the past two matches–and in light of key absences for both squads. Here’s what you need to get ready for today’s match:

If you have time for nothing else, open up this post of ours from last November, containing both sides’ squad lists; also open up Marca’s very cool interactive graphic showing “Los sistemas de Mourinho y de Guardiola“–though given the injuries and suspensions, today’s starting XIs will not be any of the ones shown there. Keep reading..

If you’ve got more time, and haven’t been following our El Clásico coverage, catch up on last November’s initial La Liga meeting here and here (“This game more than any other has divided the CultFootball brain trust, with one faction supporting the brilliant arrogance of the establishment side and the other hoping the subversives from the north can one-touch their way a million times to victory.”). That match of course produced a stunning 5-0 victory for the Catalan club–what we called “Tiki-taka to La Manita” (that post includes two sets of video highlights from that instant classic El Clásico).

Like the rest of the footballing world, we’ve got loco for El Clásico over the past two weeks. Our preview of this four-game series is here. These words still hold true–but a couple key names mentioned here will be absent today due to injury (Iniesta for Barça, Khedira for Madrid):

So which team is in better form? Through most of the season it was clearly Barcelona, but they’ve seemed a tad shaky of late while Madrid are looking pretty comfortable on the pitch. Madrid have also had an entire season to learn Mourinho’s defensive principles…then again Barça tend to have their way with what seem at the outset to be the most prepared of teams.

The key to a Madrid victory will be to limit Messi’s time with the ball. When his teammates have looked less than otherworldly this season, the little Argentine has stepped up his game to amazing levels. Very often it’s some combination of Iniesta and Xavi that pop open the defenses, with Messi finishing the movement, but Khedira and Alonso will collapse on them very quickly and it’ll be up to Lionel in isolation (and also finding Villa moving off the shoulder of his defender).

For Barcelona to walk away with the win they’ll have to retreat quickly when they lose possession (Madrid have a very quick counter attack) and not give Özil any time on the ball. The young German is a key link between back and front, and with him contained Barça can maintain their high pressing and look to turn the ball over quickly, as they do.

After the Copa del Rey, the observation that Barcelona seems a tad shaky while Madrid is looking increasingly comfortable holds a fortiori–as well as the tactical observations about Messi on the ball and Madrid on the counterattack, with Madrid’s defensive midfield “trivote” tasked with collapsing on the former, and Özil certainly a key to the latter. See our multipart film session on the Copa del Rey final for illustrations of these points.

Madrid’s trivote in the previous two matches consisted of Khedira, Xabi Alonso, and Pepe. With Khedira out, look for Lass Diarra to step into the midfield. Might we see Kaka make an appearance in the midfield, and/or Higuain up front? The Brazilian midfielder and Argentine striker have both been absent this season due to injuries, but both played well over the weekend in Madrid’s 6-3 blowout of Valencia.

ZonalMarking-Clasico — ZonalMarking's Probable Starting XIs

For Barcelona, their stalwart defender Puyol returns to lineup, but both Brazilian left wingbacks (Adriano and Maxwell) have been left back in Barcelona due to injury. Add to this Eric Abidal’s continued absence (due surgery in March to remove a tumor from his liver, although remarkably he returned to training this week), and Barcelona will again be forced into a suboptimal lineup in defense. Look for Mascherano to stay in the starting XI, though it’s not clear if he’ll be playing wingback. ZonalMarking speculates that Puyol will play on the left, while Mascherano will stay in the center. In either case, Barça likely won’t get the forward width they get from Adriano or Maxwell–but that may actually be a good thing, as Puyol or Mascherano will stay home and be more likely to prevent Madrid counterattacks up that wing. Hence, look for Madrid to concentrate even more on getting behind Dani Alves on the other side of the field–the diMaria-Alves matchup there is key.

Not having Iniesta in the midfield is of course a huge loss. In his stead, it will likely be the Malian Seydou Keita who pairs with Xavi and Busquets–though we may also see the 20-year old “wonderkid” Thiago Alcantara in action. Up front it will be the usual trio of Villa, Messi and Pedro.

We leave you with video of Pep’s presser yesterday–we are confident we will be using the phrase “el puto jefe y puto amo” with regularity in the future:

Commentary Video

CultFootball Film Session: Copa del Rey Clásico (Part 2)

April 25, 2011 — by Suman — 1

We went through the 1st half highlights of last Wednesday’s Copa del Rey Clásico in detail–highlights that were dominated by Real Madrid’s counterattacking. But it was a game of two halves:

The second half was a different game entirely. Barcelona were rejuvenated by whatever spanking Pep Guardiola gave them in the dressing room, and they came out with the sort of belly fire you expect from the best team of their generation. Suddenly the game was stretched (in part because Madrid were pushing more into attack, but also because Xavi and Pedro were drawing out Pepe and Khedira more successfully) leaving Iniesta room to move through the middle.

Watch along as we detail the 2nd half highlights below:

Comments on 2nd half highlights:

The 2nd half highlights start off (at 7:06 of the video) with a great chance for Pedro from the left flank, created by Xavi and Iniesta (51′). The tape jumps from that clip ahead to the 69′ (7:44), and a classic instance of Messi’s ability: he drops back to the halfline to receive the ball from Xai; three Madrid defenders converge on him (Pepe, Marcelo, Xabi), but he turns away and scampers across the field, turns away another Madrid tackler, and slots a ball through for Pedro–who does in fact put the ball in the back of the net and starts celebrating. But the linesman had called offsides, and the explosion of Barça joy is cut short (“Explosión de alegría abortada”). The replay shows that Pedro was leaning just beyond the last defender.

Pedro-CopadelRey — "Explosión de alegría abortada"

Another beautiful Barça thru-ball creates another great chance (8:43, 75′): Busquets with a great pass from the center line to Dani Alves, who’s further forward than any other Barcelona player. He cuts back and finds Messi, who’s run into space at the top of the Madrid box. He gets off a good shot, but Casillas saves well–and here’s an example of where ” the counter attack of Madrid started to look more like desperate clearing rather than pointed reply.” Watch the sequence after Madrid boots the ball up off Casillas’ rebound–Barcelona plays keep away for about 20 seconds in the crowded middle of the pitch, evenutally leading to another great chance for Pedro. The ball goes tiki-taka from Dani Alves to Busquets to Xavi, who dances around a challenge from Marcelo, gives it back to Busquets. He finds Iniesta, who one-touches to Messi. Messi once again skips through a few Madrid defenders, shifting the play from one side to the other, and finds Xavi in a bit of space. He puts Pedro in, and he nearly scores by chipping Casillas–but the Madrid captain just manages to swat it away with his fingertips. Casillas keeps Madrid in the game a few minutes later, when another sequence of Barça possession leads to another great chance, this time for Iniesta off a quick give-and-go with Messi (9:45, 81′).

Madrid does create two chances in the last five minutes of regulation. A good tackle and quick pass forward (by Xabi? 10:22, 87′) to CR7 leads to a strong run at Barça’s defense by Adebayor. Ronaldo runs behind him and up the left flank; Dani Alves is tracking him, but gets turned around when it seems like Adebayor might get through to goal himself. Adebayor lays off for Ronaldo, who’s seemingly in on goal once again, but again Alves is able to recover just in time to block Ronaldo’s shot. The last chance is created by Ronaldo, who despite his missed opportunities keeps working hard. He picks up a loose ball in the middle, finds diMaria on the left; the Argentine cuts in, creates a bit of space between him and Dani Alves just outside the box, and sends in a curling shot that Pinto palms over.

Commentary Video

CultFootball Film Session: Copa del Rey Clásico (Part 1)

April 22, 2011 — by Suman — 2

Sean’s excellent postgame analysis of Wednesday’s tense and memorable Copa del Rey final included the video of Sergio Ramos dropping la Copa under the bus. Here is video from the match itself, followed by some micro-analyses of key sequences in the 1st half. We’ll follow up with commentary on the 2nd half and extra time highlights over the next couple days. Certainly prior to the next El Clásico (3 of 4)–back to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday, for perhaps an even bigger match–the 1st leg of the Champions League semifinal matchup.

Comments on 1st half highlights:

The first highlight (0:00-0:50 of the clip, 11′ of the match) illustrates Madrid’s quick counterattacking in the opening half. The play is created in the initial 10 seconds–we suggest you watch that segment a few times: notice how Madrid left winger diMaria picks up the ball in a crowded space along the touchline and quickly splits a couple Barça defenders. In particular, he gets behind Barça’s attack-minded right wingback Dani Alves; the diMaria-Alves matchup on this side of the pitch is one to focus on.

Özil (#23) is initially standing inside towards the center, but as soon as diMaria breaks through, Özil sprints up the inside left channel, finding a seam of space in between Barcelona central back Pique (#3) and left wingback Adriano (#21). It’s a great run by Özil, with credit also due to diMaria for slotting the ball through into Özil’s path. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is initially on the far side of the field very close to diMaria, but he sprints behind Özil’s run into the empty space in the center–the space that’s opened up when Pique steps towards diMaria’s penetration and Adriano chases Özil across.

OzilAdriano-CopadelRey — Turkish-German Özil vs Brazilian Adriano

Özil receives the through ball on the left flank, does a little pirouette, and chips the ball over and across onto Ronaldo’s foot–note how the ball floats just over the head of Pique. The Catalan center back did well to recover towards the middle in an attempt to track Ronaldo’s run, but Özil’s ball was measured just right. Just those few seconds–the run, the turn, the pass– show the creativity in Özil’s movement, vision and passing that’s earning him such as praise in his first year at Madrid.

With a better first touch CR7 should have created an excellent chance to score here. Imagine how different the game would have been had he put Madrid up in the 11th minute–but his first touch betrayed him, and the ball skittered almost to the touchline. Ronaldo did well to still put the ball on net, but from a sharp angle, and by that time Barça’s defense had recovered, and Mascherano cleared off the line.

Commentary History News

Marca on Madrid: “Con 10 Se Juega Mejor”

April 17, 2011 — by Suman — 1

We’ve been digesting Saturday’s Real Madrid-Barcelona 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu–just the first installment of this month’s 4-part El Clásico series; the second is coming up this Wednesday with the Copa del Rey final, to be contested on neutral turf–at the Mestalla in Valencia. In the meantime, it’s always entertaining to see how Madridista tabloid Marca spins the latest big result.

There’s much to savor in this cover. The screaming lead (“Con 10 se juega mejor”) seems pedestrian enough. Translating to “It’s better to play with 10” (or “We play better with 10”?), Marca is seemingly remarking simply that Madrid played better after losing Albiol to a red card and playing a man short for the final 40 minutes of the match.

But it turns out the headline may actually be an allusion to an aphorism attributed to the legendary manager Helenio Herrera–which leads to something of a Möbius strip of historical resonances: Herrera, nicknamed Il Mago (“The Wizard”), is best known for managing Barcelona (1958-1960) and subsequently Inter Milan (1960-1968). His Barcelona sides successfully challenged the 5-time European champions Real Madrid on the domestic front. Then in Milan he gave birth to Catenaccio and led “La Grande Inter” to two consecutive European championships (1964 and 1965). Inter didn’t conquer Europe again until last year–led by Jose Mourinho of course, defeating Barcelona along the way in the semifinal, which led to headlines such as “In José Mourinho Inter finally have a true heir to Helenio Herrera.”

(For more on Herrera, confer this post on The Equaliser (which also has a post about La Grande Inter); Chapter 9 of Simon Kuper’s Soccer Against The World, titled “A Day with Helenio Herrera”; the chapter of Jimmy Burns’s Barça: A People’s Passion covering Herrera’s tenure at Barcelona, titled “El Salvador”; or this post titled “The Really Special One – Helenio Herrera.”)

Back to the Marca cover: Mou(rinho)’s comment on the matter gets put across the top (“Me cansa jugar siempre contra ellos con diez jugadores” / “I am tired of always playing against them with 10 players”), and Marca asks whether the “roja directo” (straight red) for Albiol versus no yellow (“ni amarilla”) for Alves on the respective penalties represents a double standard (“¿doble rasero?”).

Of course it’s CR7 and Messi that dominate the image–another fine piece of photoshopping. Ronaldo striding with the ball, looking up, clawing at the air like some sort of big cat (perhaps an allusion to Mourinho’s hunting with cats?), while Messi shuffles behind him, eyeing the ball, looking disturbed/disturbing.

But we also rather like the little image of Guardiola and Mourinho inserted at the top: the two managers with their backs to each other, pistols in hand. One round of the duel completed–three more to go.

Commentary

Cryuff on Shakhtar Donetsk: “Un señor equipo”

April 6, 2011 — by Suman

We’ve been keeping an eye on “Las claves de Johan Cryuff“–the weekly column Cryuff writes for the Barcelona newspaper El Periodico. This week’s column is primarily about how the dynamic for the rest of the season has changed for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, following Madrid’s loss to Sporting Gijon last Saturday. But with the headline (“¿El Shakhtar? Un señor equipo” / “Shaktar? A real team”) and in the concluding paragraphs, Cryuff warns the Barcelona faithful not to look past their Ukrainian foes in today’s Champions League quarterfinal matchup:

Los ucranianos son singulares. Yo diría que únicos. Son dos equipos en uno: portero, defensas y mediocentros del país más algún europeo de calidad (el más destacado, el croata Srna, buen carrilero); centrocampistas ofensivos y delanteros brasileños. Muchos y con talento. Dos conjuntos en uno que su técnico ha sabido convertir en un señor equipo, sólido atrás y peligroso delante.

El peor rival

Veterano y experto, Mircea Lucescu ha dado con lo más difícil: equilibrio. Y este Shakhtar, hoy, es mejor por obra y gracia de su técnico -y de su presupuesto- que hace un año o dos. A favor del Barça, más allá de su estilo marcado y los futbolistas que lo hacen posible, el hecho de que ya se ha enfrentado a este equipo. Y no pocas veces. Incluso en una final. Y siempre le ha costado. Siempre ha tenido que exprimirse a fondo. Así que ya está avisado. Si los jugadores de Guardiola pasan a semifinales, tendrán que trabajárselo y mucho. Seguramente más que nadie de los otros cuartofinalistas.

The Ukrainians are unique. I would say they are “uniques.” Two teams in one: a goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders in the country plus some European quality (the most notable, the Croatian Srna, is a great winger); Brazilian attacking midfielders and forwards. Many of them, and talented. Two groups that their coach has converted into a real team, solid in the back and dangerous up front.

The worst rival

A veteran and an expert, Shaktar’s coach Mircea Lucescu has found the most difficult thing: balance. And this Shakhtar team, today, is better thanks to its coach–and its budget–than it was a year or two ago. Barça’s advantage, more than its pressing style and the players who make it possible, is that it has already faced this team. And not infrequently. . Has always had to dig deep to squeeze thru. So you are warned. If Guardiola’s team is to get through to the semifinals, they will have to work a lot. Probably more than any other quarter-finalist.

Commentary

UEFA Schedule This Week – Champions League and Europa League

April 4, 2011 — by Suman

It’s an action-packed week in Europe, with quarterfinal fixtures in both UEFA club competitions–Champions League and Europa League. The Champions League gets all the attention of course, with the eight remaining teams playing the first leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, Spurs make the trip to Spain to play Real Madrid, and defending champions Inter Milan host surprising Schalke. On Wednesday, it’s a battle of English rivals at Stamford Bridge–Chelsea versus Manchester United; while another surprise quarterfinalist, Shakhtar Donetsk, make the long trip from eastern Ukraine to play ball-hogging Barcelona. They’ll all turn around and play the return legs next week (April 12-13).

But after gorging on those four matches Tuesday and Wednesday, don’t neglect the Europa League quarterfinals–all eight (1st leg) fixtures will be played Thursday, with a bunch of interesting clubs on display: three from Portugal (Porto, Benfica, Braga); two from the Netherlands (Twente and PSV); and one each from Spain, Ukraine and Russia (Villareal, Spartak Moscow, and Dynamo Kiev).

See below for all the fixture details–and check back here during the week for match previews and reports.

Champions League Quarterfinals – 1st Leg (all matches kickoff at 20:45CET = 2:45pmET)

Tuesday – 5 April 2011

Real Madrid	vs	Tottenham
Referee: Felix Brych (GER) – Stadium: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid (ESP)

Internazionale	vs	Schalke
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG) – Stadium: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan (ITA)

Wednesday – 6 April 2011


Chelsea	vs	Man. United
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Stamford Bridge, London (ENG)

Barcelona	vs	Shakhtar Donetsk
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona (ESP)

Europa League Quarterfinals – 1st Leg

Thursday – 7 April 2011


Porto	vs	Spartak Moskva
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Estádio do Dragão, Porto (POR)

Benfica	vs	PSV
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Lisbon (POR)
Villarreal	vs	Twente
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Estadio El Madrigal, Villarreal (ESP)

Dynamo Kyiv	vs	Braga
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium, Kyiv (UKR)

Commentary Preview Schedule

What To Watch Today, the Final Day of the Interlull (Pt 1 of 2)

March 29, 2011 — by Suman

Today is the final day of the Interlull matces which began last Friday, and we pick out a handful of matches in Europe that may be of interest. We’ll be back later today with previews of a couple Americas-based matches with later starting times.

France-Croatia in Saint-Denis; Lithuania-Spain in Kaunas; Netherlands-Hungary in Amsterdam (all on ESPN3.com starting at 2:30pmET): A choice of three intra-European matchups for you.

Lithuania-Spain and Netherlands-Hungary are both Euro2012 qualifiers, featuring the two finalists of WC2010 and probable favorites for next summer’s tournament in Poland/Ukraine. Spain is coming off a closer-than-expected 2-1 home win over the Czech Republic on Friday, and have had to travel far north and east to Lithuania. On the other hand, the Netherlands won convincingly 4-0 on the road in Hungary on Friday, and return home to take on the Hungarians in Amsterdam.

France-Croatia is a friendly match (un match amical); here is France24 reporting with some comments by French manager Laurent Blanc (“Mardi soir, les Bleus retrouvent le Stade de France à l’occasion d’un match amical face à la Croatie. Après une victoire sans éclat au Luxembourg dans le cadre des éliminatoires de l’Euro-2012, Laurent Blanc pourrait enfin dessiner son équipe type”):

But the one we’re more looking forward to is England against one of its former colonies–with the latter having surpassed the former in terms of recent footballing success:

England-Ghana at Wembley in London (FSC, 3pm): Although this is a friendly (read: meaningless) match (made even less compelling by the fact that England manager Fabio Capello let John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney released back to their clubs), the Ghanaians may be up for coming to Wembley. For a comprehensive set of pre-match material, see ITV’s match page, which includes a match preview by African football expert @GaryAlSmith; a look by Opta at England’s unbeaten record versus African opponents; and Michael Cox (aka Mr @ZonalMarking) profiling “England new boy” winger Mike Jarvis (Wolves)

In fact, @ZonalMarking and @GaryAlSmith were having a bit of back&forth about this match on Twitter over the past couple days. E.g., here is Mr Al-Smith @-msg’ing Ghana’s likely starting XI to Mr Cox:

@garyalsmith: “@Zonal_Marking Kingson – J Pantsil, D Addy, John Mensah, Vorsah – Annan, Agyemang-Badu, A Ayew, K Asamoah – D Adiyiah, P Tagoe”

Here is an excerpt from Al-Smith’s ITV match preview:

Asamoah is the hub – his dribbling ability, off-the-ball movement and distribution will be key while Ayew covers and provides crosses for the forwards.

Capello may employ the thriving Jack Wilshere to thwart such flowing moves and that is where Stevanovic may place Annan to keep tabs on the young Gunner. Wilshere’s vision and range of passing, coupled with his excellent ball retention, makes him very similar to Annan. The potential to cancel each other out is high. Annan’s experience in the climes of Africa, Scandinavia, the World Cup and now Germany should counter any talk that Wilshere is technically the better player.

Note that it doesn’t look like Ghana will start it’s Premier League stars Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari, or Asamoah Gyan–although Panstil and John Mensah will start in defense. We’ll be watching for our favorite French-based Ghanaian, Andre Ayew. The Ghana squad had to travel to London all the way from Brazzaville and will be playing on only one day of rest, after they crushed Congo 4-0 in Brazzaville on Sunday. Scoring for Ghana in that game: Prince Tagoe, Dominic Adiyiah and Sulley Muntari (who came on as a sub in that match). Tagoe and Adiyiah both play for Partizan Belgrade.

Africa Commentary Preview Schedule

Part 3 of What To Watch Over the Interlull (Sunday March 27)

March 27, 2011 — by Suman

We’re past the halfway point of the Interlull. We saw some interesting matches Friday and Saturday. There’s less to watch today–then no games tomorrow, but a whole slate of interesting ones on Tuesday. Here are the two we choose for today,

Sunday, March 27:

The one getting all the attention is Scotland hosting A Seleção..in London (?):

Scotland-Brazil at Emirates in London (ESPN2, 9amET): See our Sao Paulo-based correspondent’s rundown of the newish Seleção here. We don’t much about the Scottish side. If you really want a preview of them, listen to the segment on this week’s Guardian Football Weekly Extra pod, wherein they get Scotsman Ewan Murray on the phone in order to discuss the match.

But we’re equally intrigued by this match in Brazzaville–we’re just not sure if we’ll get to watch it:

CongoTeam — It's not often you get to see this national team play--and you probably won't today

Congo-Ghana in Brazzaville (no US TV): An interesting Cup of African Nation qualifier. Ghana may be looking past the Congo to Tuesday’s match against England at Wembley.

Note that this match is being hosted by the Republic of Congo in the capital city of Brazzaville. As Wikipedia points out the Republic of Congo is “Not to be confused with the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Which is exactly what we did at first, thinking we’d refer you this post we did on TP Mazembe back in December, when they surprised the footballing world by advancing to the finals of the Club World Cup. But TP Mazembe is of course in the DR Congo. So all we can do on Congo is excerpt Goal.com’s match preview:

Congo are a team under construction hence a lot of young players with few experience faces. Captain Christopher Samba of Blackburn Rovers would have a lot on his shoulders as they meet the ever popular Black Stars. They are just a point adrift the west Africans and a little effort from his troops coupled with the home support could do the trick for them.

Coach Camille Ngakosso would also rely heavily on striker Ibara Franchel, the 2007 CAF Young Player of the Year award winner and Switzerland-based Matt Moussilou to frustrate the current Africa best team at the Alphonse Massamba Debat Stadium.

For info on Ghana see our copious coverge of the Black Stars: here (for the Ghana starting XI vs Uruguay in the World Cup last July); here (for video of the Asamoah Gyan Dance); and here (for background about young up-&-coming striker Andre Ayew–son of the greatest Ghanaian player of all time, Abedi (Ayew) Pele). We may see Gyan and Ayew partner up front in an exciting Ghanaian strikeforce (if not in Brazzaville, then maybe in London on Tuesday).

Ghana is clearly the highest profile side on the continent, after their inspiring showing in South Africa last summer. They boast a squad filled with players playing club ball at the highest levels: Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari John Painstil, John Mensah, Richard Kingson (all Premier League); youngsters Kevin-Prince Boateng, Kwadwo Asamoah and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu (all Serie A, the latter two at Udinese); ; Isaac Vorsah and Anthony Annan in the Bundesliga (Hoffenheim and Schalke 04, respectively); and Derek Boateng in La Liga (Getafe). See here for a list of the full squad.

Since there doesn’t appear to be any US television coverage (not sure about Europe?), one way to follow the match is via @GaryAlSmith’s Twitter stream–he is all about African football, and it appears he’s actually in Ghana. Here is his Twitter bio:

garyalsmith: AFRICA = African Football Remains In Corrupt Administration….but…All Football Remains In Correspondence Always.

Newer Posts Older Posts