Another astounding weekend!
ʂ Here’s comes another amazing weekend for TAB soccer customers with the AFCON quarter-finals, key games in several top leagues and four carryover or added TAB soccer pools , as well as a guaranteed R26-million Soccer 13 pot this Saturday it just doesn’t
The Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast resumes on Friday with Nigeria fancied to overcome Angola and advance to the semi-final, keeping their consistency at a tournament they have surprisingly won only three times previously.
Their meeting in Abidjan
is the first of two quarter-finals on Friday followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo against Guinea
Nigeria have been to 12 semifinals in their last 14 appearances at the finals and look easily capable of making it 15. They would have been one of the favourites coming into the tournament given the quality of players in their squad, but their results in the World Cup qualifiers in November, when they failed to beat Lesotho at home, saw them slip off the radar.
They also started the tournament in Abidjan with an underwhelming draw against tiny Equatorial Guinea, but have shown a remarkable improvement since with wins over the
Ivorians and Cameroon.
Angola have surprised by topping Group D, but had an easy assignment in the last-16 against Namibia and look to have reached the limits of their ability.
The Congolese have reached the last eight without winning in a bizarre passage to the quarters.
They drew all three group games yet finished second in Group F and then edged out Egypt on penalties. But they look more composed in attack than Guinea, who won over Equatorial Guinea last Sunday with the last touch of the game.
The English Premier League has another massive showdown on Sunday when Liverpool go to Arsenal again for the second time in as many months. The Reds won there in the FA Cup, but now need to repeat that result to keep themselves ahead of Manchester City in the title race.
It will be interesting to see the impact on their results over the coming weeks of coach Jurgen Klopp's announcement to leave at the end of the season. His timing was strange and it might have been better to have kept it to himself for a time longer. Let's see.
Arsenal have slipped in recent games and now have a chance to haul themselves back into the race. Mikel Arteta has made it clear he is staying and will not be tempted by the chance to take over at Barcelona next season.
HIRED/FIRED: There were six coaching casualties at the Cup of Nations after the first round of matches and it is expected Egypt's Portuguese coach Rui Vitoria will also be sacked after they went out in the last-16.
BACK IN ACTION: Ivan Toney continues his comeback for Brentford against Spurs tomorrow in his second game following a lengthy ban. Speculation is mounting over where he will go next.
WHO’S HOT: Refereeing standards at the Cup of Nations have been outstanding, although one poor performance like that of Gabon referee Pierre Atcho in the clash between hosts Ivory Coast and holders Senegal, clouds the overall success story.
WHO’S COLD: Mohamed Salah's hamstring injury saw him leave Egypt's AFCON camp - to the chagrin of their supporters - for presumably better medical treatment at Liverpool. But he's not expected to play for a few weeks yet.