Tuesday, January 29, 2008

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.

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