African Cup of Nations: Day 2

So, you can all exhale that breath you were holding in antipication of my first proper blog entry on the CAF: Malawi v Algeria

So, with no research done (this is my blog, look in the real papers for proper research), what do we know about the respective teams?

Malawi:

• it is in east africa
• I heard tell that it is amoungst the poorest of african countries
• they have several lakes
• A family friend and their family once moved to Malawi, for what reason i have no idea.
• They are not amoung the contenders for the tournament

Algeria:

• in England’s group for the world cup
• site of one bloody war of independence and one civil war
• previously home to the pieds noirs
• home to two of France’s more famous footballers, Zidane and Camus (one a philosophising footballer and the other a footballing philosopher

Teams:

One largely unrecognisable and the other completely so. The former, Algeria, lined up in a 4-4-2 diamond, with a smattering of names from the premiership and the SPL (and some recognised from Championship Manager; Ziani take a bow). Malawi lioned up in a 3-5-2, though during the game the holding midfielder dropped back into defence as an auxiliary centre back.

The game itself, or at least the first half and a wee bit of the second was pretty good. Lots of endeavour, good passing and defending, although lacking in great skill. Malawi generally sat back, happy to hit algeria on the break. That kind of a game plan requires good, stout defending, which the Malawians accomplished comfortably, aided greatly by a lack of endeavour or incisiveness on the part of the Algerians.

Malawi spread it wide well, and their relative domination of the midfield was rewaered within 20 minutes when a long ball over the top prompted the Algerian ‘keeper to rush out and belt the ball off the in-rushing attacker, the ball riccoching to a waiting Malawi striker who thumped home. An upset even bigger than that which al,ost came about was definately on the cards.

Algeria had a great chance to equalise ten minutes later, when a great ball was dinked over the Malawi defence into the box. Whoever was on the end of it (i haven’t gone to the trouble of matching names to numbers or faces) tried to lob the ‘keeper, but the ball ended up on top of the goal. A missed opportunity and malawi made them pay soon after. A free kick whipped in and converted to make it 2-0. It all seemed very simple. They got an unexpected third within minutes of the start of the second half. Anotyher ball into the box from the wing undealt with, a shot rasped off the post and not cleared, and Banda on hand to slot it into the net.

In all honesty, I knid of tuned out after that, with dinner on my mind. The second half continued rather uneventfully, bar a penalty shout by Algeria turned down by the ref. Was it? Wasn’t it? Who knows. A well-deserved win for Malawi, and the Algerians left with plenty to mull over. All told, a goal-packed first two days to the competition, even of the quality of the football does not always match the excitement

What have we learned today?

• The pace of the game was quite slow. Several reasons may explain this: the fact the game was on in the afternoon; the approach of Malawi and their happiness in sitting back.
• The amount of space on the pitch. While Malawi did push and harrass, particularly in their half, Algeria did not really press that hard when not in possession, leaving plenty of space for Malawi to use.
• The stadium was virtually empty. White elephants anyone?

I missed the other game today, chose to go to the shops instead. Ended Cote d’Ivoire 0-0 Burkino Faso. Not a great start by the African “galacticos”, but obviously it is difficult to surmise a match I didn’t actually watch. But, for me, 0-0 says enough.

Interesting Angola fact 2: Agriculture represents 9.2% of Angola’s GDP

African Cup of Nations: Day 1

SO, not letting my limited knowledge of african football get in the way of a good blog, I have decided to give the continental african cup a go as a blog subject over the next coup;e of weeks. Thats right, no more christmas food recipes.

The cup kicked off last night, the hosts (Angola, that is) versus Mala lot of people’s dark horse for the tournament. that does beg the question however, as to whether a country being flagged as a dark horse by all and sundry render their dark-horseness somewhat redundant.

Anywho, I unfortunately only caught half of last nights game, both because for the first half the darts over on BBC2 seemed far mlore engrossing, and when Lore came down from her studying, we changed over from eurosport to a double helping of House. House was quite good, the usual guff about an undiagnosable patient who is evetually diagnosed after throwing all manner of expensive tests and treatments and an epiphany on behalf of House.

The football you say? well the first was full of mislaid passes, mkissed interceptions and a lot of sweating. How hot is it over there in Luanda at the moment? that is, until the Angolese striker who did not briefly line out for Manchester United, called Flavio, and who looks like the guy out of Sin City who bled yellow and had a penchant for Jessica Alba, got two great headers after the Malian defence had parted like the proverbial sea.

Tuning in during the ad breaks in the second half, Angola had a seemingly insurmountable lead, going into injury time 4-2 up. This lead was indeed surmounted, and I am reliably informed the game finished 4-4, Mali getting all theirs in the last ten minutes.

There will be more in-depth ruminating over the state of african football as we go on, especially in the light of what happened to Togo over the weekend, and with the world cup in South Africa growing on the horizon.

Interesting Angolan fact of the day: you may not know that Angolan capital Luanda has the highest cost of living of any city in the world.

(and apologies for all the extra spelling errors i failed to see, am using Lore’s bloody azerty keyboard)

A final final update: Christmas Dinner the Movie

For your consideration (bear in and mind that I am in deed an amateur, but the hard cuts give it added realism in my opinion).

Christmas Dinner: Final Report

Well, after two weeks, have finally found the time to update the Christmas dinner blog with the results of our days work. Or, rather, I finally pulled my finger out after doing very little for the last two weeks except watching the first season of House and the first two and a bit seasons of Quantum Leap, the most awesome of early 1990s shows (what, Fresh Prince I hear you say?).

"It'll be lonely this Christmas..."

Dinner itself was a qualified success. On mature reflection, considering it was the first attempt by either of us on this culinary standard bearer, it was an absolute success. Anyway, it is my opinion, none of you were there. The starters/nibbles were the hit of the evening, especially the Christmas club canapés with guacamole. The centrepiece, the duck itself, was less well done, in the sense that it was too well done. A bit tough, and not a lot of meat on the bone, but nonetheless a bloody good roast duck and citrus gravy. The sweet potato was just that, too sweet. The stuffing was delicious, but one wonders would it have been a tad less bitter had we the opportunity to use fresh rather than dried.

As to for the desserts, unfortunately the panna cotta failed to set, but this did not prevent us from eating it straight out of the moulds. It was great, and I will definitely try it again. Only better. The mousse was good too, but too much and mine wasn’t eaten for another two days. And then there was nothing left, except several days of stuffing sandwiches and dinners.

Canapés attendent

Cranberry, guacamole and whatever you are having yourself

Sweet and honey

Crispy crisps

And now for something completely different....no, wait, it's the beginning of dinner

It is probably done at this stage. Let's leave it in for a little bit longer though

All hail the conquering hero

And because I am such a good sport, and because I know you are dying to follow my lead in this culinary extravaganda, here are the recipes of which i could find the links.

STARTERS:

Pecorino, parma ham and rosemary snaps

Honey Blinis

Christmas Canapés

MAINS:

The Duck

Sweet Potatoes

Roast Vegs

Cranberry sauce

DESSERTS:

Pannacotta

Chocolate mousse and ginger shortbread

"And now, the end is near..."