“You think you know, but you have no idea” was a stupid catchphrase that began a forgettable MTV reality show called “Diary” (yes, before the train wreck we now know as “Jersey Shore”).
But it also not only describes the 2010 African Cup of Nations, but trying to predict the World Cup in general.
What do we know? Well, we know that – if healthy – that Brazil and Spain are pretty good.
After that? Well, we have no idea.
And never was that illustrated more that at the CAN today where we had a pair of upsets: one minor, one extremely major.
IVORY COAST 2, ALGERIA 3 (aet)
So the Elephants get a fourth-minute goal from Salomon Kalou, and as we expected, they’ll roll on to the semifinals 3-0 or 4-0. Not so much.
Algeria leveled in the 40th minute as Michael Bradley’s club teammate Karim Matmour took advantage of some shoddy defense to get the ball at the top of the 18 and did a good job to finish.
The most shocking part of the game may not have been the Algeria victory, but the fact that they were so dangerous throughout the game. It still looked like Ivory Coast might escape with a Kader Keita wonderstrike in the 89th minute.
But somehow in stoppage time, Rangers’ Madjid Bougherra was left by himself in the box and had a relatively easy finish to tie the game, while just two minutes into extra time, Blackpool’s Hameur Bouazza had an even easier finish to give Algeria a massive quarterfinal upset.
I went into this tournament hoping to see a preview of what Africa will be able to do to the rest of the world in South Africa. But with shaky defenses, even shakier goalkeeping, and the inability to break down defenses when get people behind the ball, I have my doubts.
Whether Algeria is a threat to the United States in group play? We’ll have plenty of time to discuss, but the short answer is no, they’re still lacking quality and experience.
The long answer, of course, is on any given day, anyone can beat anyone (remember Algeria lost 3-0 to Malawi) no matter how big the gap.
* This is the first trip to the semifinals for Algeria since 1990 when the hosted and won the CAN. They also finished in third place in Morocco in 1988.
* This is the first time since 2004 that Ivory Coast did not make the semifinals, when the CAN was held in Tunisia and they did not qualify for the tournament.
ANGOLA 0, GHANA 1
I thought Angola was better, but as with the previous game, that means very little in the final analysis. I posted a report at the game’s conclusion, so I don’t want to repeat myself too much.
But I felt bad for Angola, who played hard, but lacked the quality to break down even a decent defense in Ghana, and that’s going to be a problem for almost every team I saw at this tournament (with the possible exception of Cameroon).
* This is the first time Ghana has qualified for the CAN semifinals when they were not host (as they were in 2008) since 1996 when they finished fourth. They last reached the finals in 1992, when they hosted (before that was way back in 1982 in Libya).
* Angola has never reached the semifinals.
* The last time a host didn’t reach the semifinals was 1994 (Tunisia). Ghana didn’t reach the 2000 semifinals, but they were dual hosts with Nigeria.
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