African Cup of Nations

It's well worth checking out Brian Oliver's blogging for The Guardian on the African Cup of Nations. You can also hear him on the Guardian's bi-weekly Football Weekly podcasts.

They're as much travel log as football reports and provide a wonderful glimpse into the cultural context of the tourney. He's covered seven of these across the continent so this is no hippy grad student with a rucksack marveling at the wonders of Africa. He's battling a severe case of the shits, stolen passports and phones, horrible press box conditions and the general organizational chaos you'd expect from a corrupt, war-ravaged region of the world. But he's also drunk Campari with a local chief after an exhibition match in a remote village and he's clearly having the time of his life while describing a Cup that full of some fantastic, goal-laden football.

Comments

Salt Lake Follies

More on the saga of Real Salt Lake : On the third day, it was risen. A bill emerged Thursday on Utah's Capitol Hill that could bring a Real Salt Lake stadium to Sandy and salvage Utah's two-year-old soccer franchise, which is being aggressively courted by investors in St. Louis. If the measure passes - it was crafted behind closed doors this week with the blessing of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and legislative leadership - it would snatch at least $20 million for the project out of Salt Lake County coffers, which critics allege could result in a countywide property-tax hike. The move to revive a stadium in Sandy spells the end of talk to relocate RSL to the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City or the former Geneva Steel site in central Utah County. Late Thursday, RSL released a statement saying the Geneva location, owned by Anderson Development, is "not a viable option for our team or the stadium project." "We are no longer ent...

Ticking Off My Friend From Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake seems to be holding on by the skin of it's teeth. Now you've got prominent folks out in Salt Lake bitch slapping Checketts in the press . I'm sure that is a BIG help. Then when you read things like the following : "I expect it to come together quickly or not at all," Valentine said, suggesting a deal could come within a week. All or nothing??? In a week? Sounds ominous. Or, Meanwhile, MLS sources say Checketts has received clearance from the league to explore relocating his two-year-old franchise and possibly selling it to "serious" investors in St. Louis. Salt Lake City's mayor referred to such a possible sale as reason to cancel Wednesday's council meeting. "Mr. Checketts may have sold the team by this afternoon," Anderson said. The mayor also didn't want to discuss soccer in public, saying the news media could "screw things up for us." That's right. It would be the media's fault. So Re...

Early Thoughts on City 2025

There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous. German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...

(Get) A Sporting Life

Search This Blog