Africa Cup of Nations 2010 Semi-Finals: Pick Your Winners.

January 26th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

fantasticfour It feels like the Africa Cup of Nations only just got started, but we’re at the semi-final stage already. Big big names like Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon are out and on the way home. Your awesome foursome playing for a place in the final are: Ghana, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria.

Luckily for neutrals, the draw has the two North African teams playing each other in a rematch of 2009’s dramatic World Cup 2010 playoff (which I’m sure no one needs reminding that Algeria won), and the two West African teams playing each other. Both games take place this Thursday, January 28th. So clear your schedule for:

Ghana vs Nigeria, January 28th, 5pm kickoff, Estádio 11 de Novembro, Luanda

Algeria vs Egypt, January 28th, 8:30pm kickoff, Complexo da Sr. da Graça, Benguela

5pm Angolan time is 5pm CET, 4pm UK, 11am US Eastern, 8am US Pacific.
8:30m Angolan time is 8:30pm CET, 7:30pm UK, 2:30pm US Eastern, 11:30am US Pacific.

Losers get to play in a half-hearted Third Place Playoff on January 30th, winners go the Africa Cup of Nations Final, January 31st in Luanda.

Ghana vs Nigeria will be entertaining. There’s a lot of talent on both teams, and a nice youthful exuberance about the Ghanaian team. There’s also – as I understand it – a sort of friendly West African rivalry thing going on when these two meet. It’s not nasty, it’s just the battle to see who’s best.

The other game is the one to watch though. Because Algeria and Egypt are not exactly best buddies right now. Africa Cup of Nations 2006 & 2008 champs Egypt won’t be going to World Cup 2010, after first beating Algeria in Cairo (amidst some Egyptian fans attacking the Algeria team bus related controversy) to force a one off World Cup playoff, and then losing said World Cup playoff. So they’ll have a point to prove. Let’s hope all that emotion produces a beautiful game of football.

Now we’re down to the final four, who do you see going through? I’m picking Ghana from the first game, and Egypt from the second. So a Ghana vs Egypt final. No particular reason, I just have a feeling.

If you’re in the UK, the semi-finals will be live on BBC Three. If you’re in the US, then I recommend watching online with MyAfricanFootball.com.

Our team blogs can be found here:

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Jose75

Egypt and Ghana to move on to the final. Egypt to win it all, getting their third Africa Cup in a row and beating 4 out of the 5 World Cup qualifiers while doing it.

Bittersweetly, they would also show that they are the biggest screw-ups in Africa having failed yet again to qualify for the World Cup :S
http://den-hans.myminicity.com wob

Ghana and Algeria.

Nigeria has only advanced luckily and they didn’t impress me at all.
Egypt is just crap. Only Amr Zaki has some quality.
Algeria has some nice players like: Ziani, Bouazza, Meghni and Yahia. They only lack a killer striker.
Brian

Would be really nice to get all the information in the article! Adding to what you said, the Algerian government sent military planes to Sudan with fans having nothing to do with football. Plus, terrorizing Egyptian fans in the streets of sudan before and after the match with all the knives and weapons they bought! Algerian fans even threatened Egypians before the match on youtube saying that quoting “the scum of society are going to be there”. So yeah, that’s why Egyptians feel bad towards Algerians nowadays.
Anyhow, i think it will be close. Egypt and Nigeria my predictions. A re run of the last 2 African cups where two teams from the same group reached the final.
Jose75

Brian, there’s not enough space in the internet to write a post on that that would feel fair to both Algerians and Egyptians.
Matt

C’mon Brian, lets not be silly. The Egyptians were not innocent bystanders in all that nonsense. Be reasonable.

Egypt
Nigeria
http://www.rabsworld.com Bakari

I’m going for GHana + Algeria in the finals. Granted. This will NOT be the same Ghanaian team that was fielded by the other Serbian coach in Accra CAN 2008. [That team got 3rd place]. I believe Algeria can hold their ‘position’ as a World Cup Contender and not a Pretender. It’s interesting how people base their picks on the final teams because of past exploits. 2, 4, 6, 8 years is a big gap to say that a team will be the champions. The variables that make the team change dramatically every 12 months. 2010 World Cup Groups B, C, D…. Start taking notes pls. Oh? Who will take it all? GHANA
Tommy

Think Algerians are going to lose a bad one to be honest. I think the Egyptions are more worthy of this cup as a Team. The Egyptions are out of the coming world cup and the rival between the two teams are hot since their last game and the gangastarish acts of Algerians terrorising fans and players with knifes and acting in a really uncivilized manner. Anyway i vote for Egypt, so good luck and all the best.
Jean-François

Ghana & Algeria. For sure.
Eddie, Calabar.

The Nigerian team is known to be at its best when it is least expected to perform. I predict Nigeria-Egypt final!
Djazairi

The egyptians, with their fake western names, in this forum cannot fool anybody. I am just very happy to know that you are still hurting very bad! May that last for a long long time.

My pick: Ghana – Algeria
Joel

Ghana vs Argelia

The black stars will conquer their fifth title
http://n/a Peter Rice

Nigeria v Algeria in the final,Nigeria will win Afcon 2010.
DingDong

Zambia V Egypt
Algeria – too much confident and Nigeria are old players.
http://www.twitter.com/oranaise Leila

The issues between Algeria and Egypt run deeper than is stated but it isn’t fair to say one side acted more aggressively than another. The rivalry between the Fennecs and the Pharoahs started decades ago.

With that said, I think Egypt has a great team but they made too many mistakes and think at the end they got lucky. See Egypt v. Cameroun. And Algeria, albeit absent from the world Football scene for some time, have more potential and more drive, perhaps to make up for their disappearance.

Ghana v. Algeria

But may the BEST team of the four win “fairly”
Abtwax

I believe Nigeria is gona take the Cup, following their unpredictable succeses recorded in the past.
http://www.worldcup.org belgas

le Nigeria a très peu de chance pour se qualifier devant une jeune équipe qui vient de gagner la coupe du monde des moins de 20 ans.Mais la détermination des joueurs comme OBASI ou ODEMWINGIE peut faire la différence.Du côté d’Égypte-Algérie,c’est un match de revanche pour les égyptiens,éliminés par l’Algérie.Tous les deux matchs sont des derbits.Si le Cameroun se qualifiait,je crois que le match contre l’Algérie aurait eu plus d’importance.Espérons qu’ils nous réserve une bonne surprise pour le mondial.