Upcoming Events: Dates to Keep in Mind

On Tuesday October 9th, Roger Lemerre will hold a press conference to announce the list of players he is calling up to face the Emirates in Abu Dhabi. The manager has been known to make strange decisions before, so anytime he announces a squad everyone holds their breath. From the looks of things there will almost certainly one new face in the team. Yassine Mikari, formerly a Swiss junior player, seems to have opted to play for his country of origin. I don’t know much about the kid besides the fact that he is 24 and plays at left back for Zurich Grasshoppers. I won’t pass judgment since I don’t have adequate knowledge of his abilities. All I will say is that adding a left back isn’t such a bad idea. Especially one that still has some quality years ahead of him. We’re likely to know more about him and others once the 17th rolls around as that is the date of our encounter with the improved Emirates side.

Meanwhile, the African Nations Cup draw will be settled in Accra on the 19th of October, only a few days after our friendly. Roger will be in attendance and so will all the other National team coaches. It serves no purpose to worry about what group we fall into (though I tend to do so anyway) but the best case scenario for us would be to not fall into Ghana’s group, as they will be hosting this event. If you look at the recent history of the tournament, it is clear that being at home increases your chances of winning quite a bit.

You might say that this is true of any sporting event and of course you are correct but consider this: Egypt hosted and won it in the last edition, as did we in 2004, and South Africa did the same in 1996. If you look further into the past you can see a trend developing of host countries winning with frightening regularity over the years. Combine that knowledge with the fact that questionable refereeing has become a staple of the CAN (as it is referred to in French) and you have some cause for concern. Everyone makes mistakes but when they are made consistently in consecutive games it makes you wonder (those who saw what happened to Senegal in 2004 and 2006 know what I am talking about). Either the refs have something to gain from a home country winning or they just want to leave the stadium with their lives. Whatever the case, I hope that not being the top seed in our group doesn’t come back to haunt us later this month. It’s not all about the draw of course, that will be decided by destiny so we must focus on things that we can control. Which brings me to my next point…

With the tournament rapidly approaching, I believe it is time for Roger Lemerre to pick his best 11 and let them play together long enough to create a cohesive unit that has the type of chemistry to make a good run and possibly take home the title. I know there are benefits to trying out young and/or unproved players in friendlies to test them and see their capabilities but Ghana 2008 is practically tomorrow and the time for tinkering is all but run out. It’s time for the equipe type, the starting eleven, the best we have to offer. Besides, you can still test players by bringing them on as substitutes after the main group has gotten its run. The players need to get enough game experience to know what formation works, who likes the ball at their feet, who likes lead passes that they can run onto and who they can rely on to cover at the back. You can’t just pick a team a month before the tournament and expect things to go right. Unless you’re Iraq and you manage to win the Asian Cup with practically no practice time. I guess that just blows my whole theory out the water. More on this and other stories tomorrow…

The agenda includes: Tijani Belaid’s game in champions league earlier this week (downloading the game as i write this).
The second leg of the Champions League Semi Final between ESS and Al Hilal of Sudan.
Discussions regarding potential starting lineups
and plenty more.