3rd Place

[Exiled In Newcastle]

....Thing is, now is now and things have changed to the point that it's now detrimental to African footballers because managers know they'll (potentially) lose them mid-season every other year.....

Football in Africa still loses out on monetary gain which is the main reason. If european clubs would be willing to provide the African football federations with better compensation for cherry picking their best talent then moving the tournament to once every four years may be a viable possiblity.

Until that happens (which is probably never), the situation will remain the same.

It is an absolutely valid point you raise but I'm not so sure that it's really the big clubs at fault here. I'd argue that it's the second tier of clubs that are the problem.

In our case our 'Out Of Africa' experience has centered around Beveren due to (long time friend of Wenger) Jean-Marc Bouillou (that is so not his name) using it as a Euro-outlet for the products of his Ivorian schools. Thing is, he ran it as a genuine school with genuine benefits returning. Most top clubs in some way or another have similar genuine sources.

Trouble is after the top clubs have their pick of establishments the second tier follows in their footsteps but have so little choice.

 

[BreakAway]

no no chance.
i have already thought about it.it meant we must win the matches with Liverpool X 2,ManUre and Bolton,we could be beaten by Birmingham and other worst clubs,they always let me down when i thought we would be better.

 

[BreakAway]

I still think 2nd is just about possible. The mancs are 8 points clear if we win our game in hand. They still have to play us, Chelsea, Sp**s, Newcastle and Bolton away which means it could get a bit tricky for them.

Probably wont happen as I cant see us winning most of our games but ya never know eh.....

dont think about it,or you will be hurt deeply.
however,i hope we can

 

[Zico]

Nope!

To be fair I was being flip about it being a silly competition. In all honesty although it's incredibly inconvenient for the rest of the world I'd defend Africa's right to have there Nations Cup at whatever time of year best suits them.

What I can't agree with is it being held every other year. It must go to every four years.

There's a reason the competition is held every two years. African football is still at an early stage of development and national teams need as much practise as possible. Remember that Africa only gets to send less than 10% of it's national teams to the World Cup - which is unlike Europe where the number of teams competing in the World Cup and European Cup almost identical. A frequent African Nations Cup gives progressing countries an opportunity to test their might against the best the continent has to offer.

Try watch the final tonight. The improvement in the standard of play in the last 10 years is marked. There are more quality teams and elevated competition. Cameroon, Senegal, Nigeria and Tunisia all could have been contesting tonight's final. Meanwhile Angola, Ghana, and Togo will be going to World Cup. A lot of these teams are benefiting from the focus and pressure brought about by a frequent Nations Cup.

 

[gun4glory]

I;d rather we finish 5th... Hear me out people...
We finish 5th, Sp**s finish 4th...
We win the CL and take Sp**s place in the CL*!!!! That'll be SOOOOOOOOOOO funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No seriosuly... 3rd and even 2nd are both acheivable... last season Man Utd looked set for 2nd after the won at higbury, but then we were second with 6 points clear (dont forget that useles game against birmingham... could have been 9 ponts...)


*(new rule: CL winner takes lowest domestic qualifier's place if they hvent qualified)

 

[Exiled In Newcastle]

quincy - I think your argument was valid a fw years ago (and not thatmany) but it just doesn't stand up today.

5 out of 32 teams at the World Cup are African (IIRC) and there are 13 from Europe. To be honest I think that Africa is overly fairly treated in terms of World Cup places which is their federations 'kick-back' for supporting the evil that has been Havalange/Blatters bent reign at FIFA.

 

[bojed]

i'll stick with 4th.

3rd is just as good as 4th regarding to CL spot.

unless if we can get 2nd, that would be splendid.

 

[oreo]

i'll stick with 4th.

3rd is just as good as 4th regarding to CL spot.

unless if we can get 2nd, that would be splendid.

I agreed, hope Totenham,Man United,Liverpool would start their losing streak.

 

[Henry_Pires]

If we win tonite against Bolton, then we might get the 3rd spot.

 

[Zico]

quincy - I think your argument was valid a fw years ago (and not thatmany) but it just doesn't stand up today.

5 out of 32 teams at the World Cup are African (IIRC) and there are 13 from Europe. To be honest I think that Africa is overly fairly treated in terms of World Cup places which is their federations 'kick-back' for supporting the evil that has been Havalange/Blatters bent reign at FIFA.

Out of curiosity, much African football have you watched in the past 10 years?

 

[polaris sc]

quincy - I think your argument was valid a fw years ago (and not thatmany) but it just doesn't stand up today.

5 out of 32 teams at the World Cup are African (IIRC) and there are 13 from Europe. To be honest I think that Africa is overly fairly treated in terms of World Cup places which is their federations 'kick-back' for supporting the evil that has been Havalange/Blatters bent reign at FIFA.

Out of curiosity, much African football have you watched in the past 10 years?

Watched to final last night, though the quality was very poor, but i really do rate ivory coast as a team