Marc Wilmots, Belgium coachThe game was too slow in the first half, and we just weren’t able to find a way past a team that refused to play football. The substitutions I made injected a bit of pace, which changed the game after the break. The players seemed like beaten men in the dressing room, but I told them that I was sure that we would score eventually. The points are in the bag – we’ve still got a long way to go, but we showed our strength of character.Vahid Halilhodzic, Algeria coachI’m left with the disappointing feeling of having…
Author: CAF News
“Beware the wounded animal” might well be the most useful message Croatia can pin on their dressing room wall ahead of Wednesday’s Group A showdown with Cameroon. The Indomitable Lions have not been brought to their knees just yet, but following their 1-0 opening loss to Mexico, they are undoubtedly starting to wobble.These are testing times for the African side’s coach, Volker Finke, but the German tactician has cautioned against an overreaction to the result against El Tri.”It’s obvious that we need to change something,” he told FIFA.com. “But in football, the worst thing you can do is call everything…
Conceding a goal after 30 seconds undoes the best-laid of plans and conceding another after 86 minutes leaves you with little time to react, as Ghana found to their cost on their Group G debut against USA on Monday.“That early goal we conceded killed us,” Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan told FIFA.com. “It totally changed our gameplan and put us on edge. We were the better side, though. We dominated the game and we managed to pull level. I thought we deserved to win, and we were looking for the winner when they scored their second. But, then again, that’s…
Second-half goals from substitutes Marouane Fellaini and Dries Mertens enabled Belgium to come from behind and beat Algeria 2-1 in their Group H opener. There was as much relief as joy for Marc Wilmots’ side at Belo Horizonte’s Estadio Mineirao, although they ultimately merited a win that had looked unlikely until the coach began shuffling his pack.Belgium had began the match as overwhelming favourites – considered even as dark horses for the Trophy – but it was Algeria who began by far the brighter of the two teams. After forcing a few early set-pieces and pinning the Europeans back in…
Cameroon captain Samuel Eto’o admitted on Monday that he needs a miracle if he is to shake off a right knee injury in time to play in Wednesday’s World Cup Group A match against Croatia. The 33-year-old striker played in Cameroon’s 1-0 Group A defeat to Mexico on Friday, but he was not present at training at Vitoria, near Belo Horizonte, on Sunday.”I am hoping the gods grant me a miracle and that I am able to defend my dear, beautiful country,” Eto’o told Cameroon Radio-Television (CRTV). “If this is not the case, I will always play my role as…
The Brazilians did not forget Stephen Keshi and his Super Eagles after the men in green swooped down to South America’s biggest country for the FIFA Confederations Cup last year. Though they were unable to navigate themselves through an examining group including world champions Spain and Copa America holders Uruguay, they did give a good account of themselves and thrill the flair-obsessed locals. That was evident when the Nigerians arrived at the team hotel in Campinas, where innumerable animated fans were on hand to greet them. Here, in an interview with FIFA, Keshi reveals his surprise at that memorable welcome,…
Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel believes Nigeria are on the right track to build on their success as African champions at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™. The Super Eagles have played in five of the past six World Cups but after reaching the second round in 1994 and 1998, have taken just two points from their past six matches in the finals.They come into the tournament on a high, however, after winning last year’s Africa Cup of Nations and boasting the likes of Mikel, his Chelsea team-mate Victor Moses and forward Emmanuel Emenike.”This is my first World Cup,” Mikel said…
Algeria assistant coach, Nourredine Kourichi, has said that they have no plan to stop Chelsea star Eden Hazard ahead of their World Cup opener against Belgium. Kourichi said Belgium had too many other threats, including striker Romelu Lukaku, to allow them to focus on the midfielder.”If we focus on Eden Hazard, we could have some nasty surprises. We know his qualities but also his weak points, but we can’t focus especially on him, there are others, like Lukaku,” he said. “We don’t have a special plan against Hazard. We can mark and stop an opposing player with our own strategy.”Algeria…
Asamoah Gyan believes Ghana’s youngsters will prove too strong for the United States when the sides meet in their FIFA World Cup™ opener on Monday. The Black Stars have beaten the United States at the past two World Cups and face the reigning CONCACAF champions in Group G.While warning against complacency ahead of meeting Jurgen Klinsmann’s side, Gyan, the Black Stars’ record goalscorer, feels technical supremacy will trump the Americans’ reputation for grinding out results.”They’re coming for revenge. Mentally they don’t want us to beat them for the third time, so it’s going to make the match very difficult,” said…
Jonathan Mensah was, in March 2010, looking forward to a barbecue in Accra to watch his compatriots at the 19th FIFA World Cup™. A few injuries meant the teenager was 3,000 miles south-east when it transpired. A few more meant those in attendance were watching him start for Ghana in their 2-1 win over USA in the Round of 16.Mensah now has not only that experience on sport’s biggest stage, but time in Spain, Italy and France, where he now plays for Evian, in his locker as the Ghana prepare to begin their Brazilian adventure with an American reunion in Natal.FIFA…