Sunday, 1 February 2015

Rooney's eyes on the record

Wayne Rooney is closing in on the England goalscoring record.

Wayne Rooney's two goals in the recent friendly against Scotland took his tally for England to 46, and lifted him clear of Jimmy Greaves (44). Only Gary Lineker (48) and Bobby Charlton (49) lie ahead, unless you count own goals (also 48). Michael Owen (40) is the only other man in the forties.

Worldwide, though, Rooney has a lot of ground to make up. Ali Daei scored no fewer than 109 goals in 149 internationals for Iran between 1993 and 2006, although he failed to find the net in five matches in the World Cup finals, in 1998 and 2006.

In second place overall is the legendary Ferenc Puskas, with 84 goals in just 89 games (85 for Hungary, and four for Spain); his long-time Magyars' team-mate Sandor Kocsis had an even higher strike rate, netting 75 times in 68 matches, an average of 1.1 goals per game. That is matched in the upper reaches of the goalscoring charts only by Gerd Muller of West Germany, with 68 in 62 matches.

Kocsis is joint fifth on the list, just behind Pele, who scored 77 times in 92 matches for Brazil. In third spot is Kunishige Kamamoto of Japan (80 goals in 84 matches).

In all 41 players have scored 50 or more goals in official internationals. The list includes current players Robbie Keane (65), Cristiano Ronaldo (52) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (51).

DR Congo keeper performs extravagant 'bum dance' celebration during African Cup Of Nation

DR Congo keeper performs extravagant 'bum dance' celebration during African Cup Of Nation

From Roger Milla dancing around the corner flag in 1990 to Senegal's Papa Bouba Diop-led breakdance routine at the 2002 World Cup, African football has always been the home of extravagant celebrations.

But Democratic Republic of Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba has taken it to a new level with his perplexing but brilliant 'bum dance'.



With his side 2-0 down to Congo, and heading for the African Cup of Nations exit door, Kidiaba and his team-mates needed a miracle before two quick-fire goals and an 82nd minute winner saved them and propelled them into the semi-finals.

It was a moment of tension and drama, and Kidiaba simply couldn't control his emotions. As his team-mates ran to the celebrate with each other, the goalkeeper dropped to turf and unleashed his infamous scuttling, shuffling, cat-like scoot across the penalty box.

The celebration has amazed some, enthralled others and baffled many, and it remains to be seen just what cultural impact the 'bum dance' will have had, but there's no denying it's another brilliant demonstration of the emotion of football and the exuberance of the African teams.

New Manchester City signing Wilfried Bony bagged a precious brace to send his nation into the last four of the Africa Cup of Nations

In a Cote d’Ivoire shirt, Wilfried Bony hasn’t been particularly prolific.
He may have racked up enough goals at club level with Vitesse and Swansea City to persuade English Premier League champions Manchester City to part with €35 million, but a return of 11 in 36 international fixtures had left many in his homeland feeling like he owed them something.

Against Algeria on Sunday, Bony netted only his second double for Cote d’Ivoire in a 3-1 win to seal a semi-final against DR Congo. His return to scoring form couldn’t have been better timed.

As a contest, it was everything it was expected to be, but Bony proved to be the difference in the end.

While Cote d’Ivoire largely deserved their win – they were bigger, they were stronger and, for long spells, they were simply better – they wouldn’t have managed it but for Bony.

First, he nodded home Max Gradel’s excellent cross midway through the first half only to see it cancelled out by a comedy piece of defending by Kolo Toure and more notably Max Bailly which led to Hilal Soudani equalising.

Soudani could have given Algeria the lead soon after but was denied by a wonderful save by Sylvain Gbohouo, and within minutes Bony was at it again. Yaya Toure, with his first memorable moment of the tournament, fired in a pinpoint free-kick from the right and the former Swansea man headed superbly home.

The Elephants’ defence showed signs of crumbling once more late on but just about held it together before Gervinho clinched the win in injury-time. Their difficulties in the rear-guard will serve as a sign that they shouldn’t by any means be considered champions elect just yet, as if they haven’t given enough examples in tournaments past as to why nothing should ever be taken for granted.

But Cote d’Ivoire are in a fourth semi-final in six attempts, and have a €35m striker back in goalscoring form. Watch out, Africa.

Equatorial Guinea Edges Out Tunisia to reach AFCON semi finals As Ref Gets It Wrong

The debate over the validity of Equatorial Guinea's penalty in the dying seconds of their 2-1 African Nations Cup quarter-final win against Tunisia on Saturday will rage long and hard.

The immediate response of many viewers across social media was that it was a hometown decision, contrived to get the hosts into the semi-finals of the tournament.

Those conspiracy theories are nothing new and will likely never be proven, but the one thing we are certain of is that referee Rajindrapasad Seechurn got it wrong.

With Tunisia leading 1-0 in injury-time at the end of the second half, defender Hamza Mathlouthi shielded Ivan Bolado from his goal and watched incredulously as the player tumbled to the floor.

That bemusement turned to full-blown anger as Seechurn pointed to the spot, seeing something many others did not.

After Javier Balboa converted the penalty, there looked only one winner, the enraged Tunisians lost their heads and were fortunate not to have at least one player sent off as things turned violent.

“It is difficult to accept the decision of the referee. This victory was certainly not merited, not in this way. We were the better team,” Tunisia's Belgian coach George Leekens told reporters.

“This was too bad for football and Tunisia didn't deserve this. I am having to hold back my emotions, but this is not acceptable and it is not about the players. It is about what happened in the game.

“My players are proud to leave their clubs and come down to play for their country. They are a fantastic group and are very unhappy now. Everyone makes mistakes, this one was a big one.”

Tunisia are not the first team to fall foul of a poor decision from match officials, nor will they be the last; it is an unwelcome part of the game.

But in many ways the focus should also be how the north Africans played in those final 15 minutes, feigning injury and diving to try and wind down the clock. Had they just played their normal game there is every chance that they would have won the match outright - but they became too focussed on using bad sportsmanship as their method to claim victory. They brought it on themselves.

And there was little sympathy out there from commentators. They have seen Tunisian club and country sides so often gain hometown decisions and force a result through poor sportsmanship that - while there was distaste at how they fell foul to the hopelessly incorrect decision - no tears were shed for the side.

Equatorial Guinea now face a semi-final against the winner of the tie between Ghana and Guinea and must feel as though fate and Lady Luck are on their side.

"Tunisia played very well. They have players who play at a high level, while we only have one who plays in a top division in Europe, and that's Javier Balboa," said their Argentine coach Esteban Becker. "To beat Tunisia is an achievement, almost a miracle.”

Becker said he understood the irritation of the Tunisians, but believes it was a case of wasted chances rather than the penalty incident that lost them the game.

"I understand the Tunisians' anger at having lost, because they had the potential to win by several goals. But they didn't do it and in the end the game went our way.

"Everyone will contest a penalty that goes against them. In the last minute, who would not protest? I would have protested too. But you still need to score the penalty and luckily we have a specialist in Javier Balboa.

"If we spent all our time scrutinising refereeing, we wouldn't be able to play football any more.

Silva salvages a point for Manchester City to keep English Premier League title alive

Chelsea 1-1 Manchester City: Silva salvages a point for the champions

Chelsea took the lead netting a goal earlier in the first half of the encounter which gave the hosts a 41st-minute lead, before a rare mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois allowed David Silva to equalise in the final minute of the first half.

Although Manuel Pellegrini's team controlled much of the second period, their winless league run extended to three matches.

City overhauled deficits in late runs to the Premier League crown in 2012 and 2014, and a similar effort may now be required, as Mourinho’s men remain in the driving seat with 15 games remaining.

Aside from Costa's absence, Ramires came into the Chelsea midfield as Cesc Fabregas missed out with hamstring injury, while Bacary Sagna was a surprise inclusion at right-back ahead of Pablo Zabaleta for Manchester City.

The visitors started sharply, as Courtois beat away a stinging shot from Jesus Navas inside the first 20 seconds and Fernandinho had a low, angled drive deflected wide.

James Milner was alert to disposes Chelsea right-back Branislav Ivanovic in the 24th minute and play the ball into Sergio Aguero, but Kurt Zouma forced City's top scorer to shoot from an acute angle and Courtois saved comfortably.

Courtois' opposite number, Joe Hart, made his first save of the match from an Oscar effort after an error by Vincent Kompany let Remy escape down the left flank.

John Terry then joined fellow captain Kompany in having an error go unpunished - Aguero pulling a shot wastefully wide after the former England man had missed his kick from a 32nd-minute punt down field.

That was a chance the Argentina striker would regret 10 minutes later, as Eden Hazard brilliantly steered Ivanovic's flighted pass back across goal for Remy to convert.City's response was immediate, as Courtois fumbled a searching Navas cross, Aguero smashed the loose ball back towards goal and Silva prodded home.

Frank Lampard enjoyed warm applause on his return to Stamford Bridge while warming up with the City substitutes, as his colleagues on the field enjoyed an encouraging start the second half.Lampard finally made a 76th-minute introduction as City attempted a late assault.