ORANGE POWER: Chipolopolo Continue Their Bloody Rampage and Les Elephants Stampede Their Way To The Final

Proudly Zambian :)

WOWWEEEEEEEE!!! Last night was an excellent footie extravaganza!  The AFCON semis did not dissappoint! The Chipololo have continued to show why Zambia is a football nation and what passion we have for the game by continuing to shoot to kill and have made us proud.  I have been watching AFCON 2012 from the group stage of course and will recap everything in a round-up post after the Final. For now, I just want to bask in the Chipolopolo's valiant and successful bid to reach the AFCON Final since 1994, which was a year after the tragic loss of our most promising national team off the coast of Gabon in a plane accident.  How fitting it is that almost 20 years after that tragedy, we are honouring the players by reaching the Final in the manner we have.

Semi 1: Chipolopolo vs the Black Stars (Zambia vs Ghana)

We started off with all cylinders firing and confirmed Gyan's fears that we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.  That lasted for all of 5 minutes when Ghana made their first surge which sent our defenders into a state of panic and by the 7th minute Gyan was awarded a penalty and Zambia had their first yellow card.  However, no one could have predicted that Gyan would fumble and make the most uncommitted and timid penalty attempts and that Mweene would make a great save to keep Zambia's hopes alive! Was he intimidated? I don't think so.  I think Gyan is rusty from playing in the Middle East.  Pathetic attempt in the semifinal of an AFCON championship! However, this did have a positive effect on the rest of the Black Stars who changed gears and ramped up the pressure, and for the rest of the first half Ghana assaulted the Zambian goal by continually flustering defenders and if it wasn't for Mweene's goalkeeping poise, grace and determination we would have been down 3/4-0 by half time! While Ghana constantly questioned us, we sporadically showed what we were capable at the other end.



At this point I was in conniptions as it is no secret that Ghana is my favourite African team and I was already distraught that my national team had to play them! My rickety ticker was letting me know that I am too old for this sort of match. I was starting to think that Renard had spent too much time picking out which blue jeans and white shirt he was to wear out of all of the blue jeans and white shirts he dons on the sidelines at matches and even more likely that he spent too much time in the mirror individually placing each strand of hair in its proper place! However Renard proved that you can be metrosexual and a master football tactician by bringing in his secret weapon: Mayuka the Bazuka who was substituted in for the second half.  He showed Ghana that when you have an opportunity to score you not only take it but you make sure the ball hits the net with a beautiful goal within 20 minutes of being on the pitch. My theory is that Renard wanted to keep Mayuka fresh in case we were down by halftime so he could salvage our hopes if need be.



About 10 minutes to go we started to get a bit cocky with fancy dribbles and things and though I love me some football flair, the game was not won yet. Up 1-0 is not enough to be complacent, especially with the calibre of  team such as Ghana, who kept pummelling and probing in our half till the bitter end.  Thank God for Renard who continued shouting like a banshee although I didn't hear  him tell the boys to hang on for "2 minooootes" like he did in the group stages, which got him a mancrush from one of the BBC commentators who unfortunately did not cover this game as I have enjoyed him expressing his love for Renard's antics and accent.

Man of the match without shadow of  a doubt was Mweene: if he hadn't protected our goal so valiantly throughout the game and particularly during the first half's constant barrage from the Black Stars, by the time Mayuka scored, his goal would have been meaningless.  Absolutely awesome possum!  Fantastic goalkeeping display!

Honourable mentions: Of course to win you have to score and Mayuka showed how you shoot stars out of the sky. Absolute clutch performance! Jordan Ayew was the source of most of Ghana's chances.  His work on the wings to feed the ball into the box were absolutely brilliant.  Both these young lads show great promise and I look forward to seeing them play in the future.

I can't believe I'm saying Gyan was the worst player.  I am really not happy with him at all.  May he go back to Sunderland and play football at a higher level as playing in the Middle East has rusted his football brain.  His penalty attempt was so lacklustre and his performance lacked precision and true direction, commitment and dare I say passion?! His miss at the 2010 World Cup quarters was forgiveable as it was just an unfortunate game for Ghana altogether but there was just no excuse last night. His performance was just as bad as Senegal's overall performance in the group stages.  A complete waste of talent!

Semi 2: Les Elephants vs Les Aigles (Cote D'Ivoire vs Mali)

Cote D'Ivoire have been focused, humble and determined the whole of AFCON and it is clear that they are remedying the underperformance that has plagued them in the last 10 years.  They have trampled their competition, scoring 8 goals and conceding none.  And they continued to keep a clean sheet by never giving the Eagles the chance to soar in true Elephant style by keeping them firmly on the ground, stamping on them and finally burying them by winning the match. It was incredibly physical but with Cote D'Ivoire firmly in control.  Nothing happened unless they allowed it to. They stampeded their way to the Final in style :)

Man of the match was definitely Gervinho who finally has found his form with his first goal of the tournament, and what better a time to find it!  His run from beyond the half-way line, leaving Malian after Malian in the dust and finishing off his efforts with a beautiful strike culminated in grabbing the lead in the dying minutes of the first half and ultimately secured Cote D'Ivoire's progression to the Final on Sunday. His coverage of the pitch, his ball skills and his striking precision created one of the most sublime moments of AFCON 2012 for sure!



Honourable mentions: Cote D'Ivoire defenders protected their goalkeeper and Barry had little to do the whole game and no goals were conceded once again.  The Toure brothers were impactful in the back, midfield and in the box through the middle and Gosso did the same on the wings.  Kalou was impactful in the box trying to make things happen despite being clearly hampered by his hamstring injury. It is no secret that I  do not like Drogba and his style of play which involves divo (if you don't know that's male for diva) antics among other things which I have expressed before, but he has shown a maturity on the football pitch during AFCON and particularly in this game in which he was not his best but he tried to make and impact in the box and elsewhere on the field and at times when he fell and would have normally appealed for a penalty or free kick he picked himself up, dusted himself off and just got on with it.  I wonder if his game was affected by the fact his wife is Malian? Talk about awkward!

Worst player was clearly Seydou Keita.  He has been a brat all tournament and continued his petulant streak  by arguing with the ref and finding dubious ways to get fouls and cards against his opponents.  I love Barca, they are my fav team in Europe and a lot of that has to do with their professionalism and clean playing style.  These dirty tactics clearly come from Keita himself when left to his own devices.  He should be ashamed he did nothing on that football pitch but show that he has a rotten personality.

Now although my favourite animal is the elephant and I am vehemently against poaching, come Sunday I expect Zambia to use copper bullets to shoot some elephants and take ivory as trophies, I want them to storm the beach and capture the coast! At the beginning of the tournament I expected Zambia to carry me to the quarters and for my favourite African teams Ghana and/ or Ivory Coast to take over and keep me invested in the Final.  Zambia have shown that indeed "this is our time" as our Skipper, Christopher Katongo decreed before the semis. I am very proud of my national team's passion, determination and execution and expect another bloodbath of a footie match.

Now to make sure we win we have to play like we did against Senegal in the group stages and more importantly we have to win the toss to wear orange jerseys.  As the scientific findings from the semis show, teams in orange won, those in white lost. If Les Elephants lose the toss they wear white, upping their chances to lose and giving us even more of a chance to win when coupled with the power of us wearing the orange jersey.  For those skeptics who will bring up the Dutch wearing orange and losing in the 2010 World Cup Final I will kindly inform them that the Dutch only had one element in common with the teams that won the AFCON semis and that is the orange jersey, but those who hail from Holland are not from the motherland.  Being African brings the juju element in so Zambian sangomas do your thing: we want the ORANGE coz we know what to do with it and that's WIN ;}

CHIPOLOPOLO, NAFUTI! NAFUTI! (AGAIN! AGAIN!)

The Global Fund - A Victim Of Its Own Transparency?

Over the past week I have been following the media coverage surrounding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria spurred by an incendiary article published by the Associated Press. They claimed to have the scoop on serious fraud that affects almost two thirds of grants awarded to countries from the USD 13 billion already disbursed of the USD 27.1 billion the Fund currently manages.  This has spurred a lot of press coverage in the US, and culminating in the likes of Fox New's Billy O'Reilly throwing in their 2 cents and at the other end of the spectrum, articles like this one featured in the Huffington Post.

AP acted very irresponsibly.  I would have expected more from such a prestiguous news agency.  The information about the fraud in Mali, Djibouti and Zambia (oh why my country why), amongst others, had already been reported by the Office of the Inspector General at the Global Fund in October and was discussed by the Board in December.  It was on the Global Fund's Website for all to see as this official statement explains. This wasn't a breaking story. And the fraud indicated, while a considerable amount of the funds disbursed to each country, actually amounts to 0.3% of the Global Fund's total grant disbursements of 13 million to date.  This article from the Center for Global Development explains the shoddy reporting and distortion of the truth through statistical convolution clearly.

The Global Fund is the major financier for programs involving AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world and 60% of their grants fund projects on the African continent.  This worries me greatly as news of Sweden threatening to stop funding and big donors like Germany halting funding pending resolution. It is clear that many donors are feeling the pinch and with the furor of articles in the USA, the biggest contributor to the Fund, it seems inevitable that the Fund will not be receiving all the funds that President Obama pledged last year.  If the defense budget in the US is no longer untouchable, it would be foolish to think that money for the disenfranchised far away on the "dark continent" is safe.

Another worrisome thing is that a lot of these articles keep referring to the fact that celebrities back this Fund. Honestly what has that got to do with the price of eggs???!!! They seem to be indicating that even though the Global Fund has tried to model itself differently from the bureaucratic style of the UN and other multilateral organisations, it has failed and we have all been fooled into thinking otherwise by celebrities who know nothing and have just jumped on the bandwagon because it was the trendy thing to do.  I would take this cynical view too if these were just any celebrities clearly would hawk anything for publicity but they are talking of people like Bono and Bill Gates.  These are serious individuals who have gone above and beyond what the average celebrity does and dedicate their time, money, and energy through their own Foundations to partner with the Global Fund.  Bobby Shriver, co-founder of (RED), had this to say in an article co-written with Bono in the Huffington Post.  And Bill Gates issued a statement in support of the Global Fund through his Foundation. Both parties have valid and thoughtful points.

I am glad that the Zambian media are not trying to cover up our government's lack of respect for donors and are acknowledging the shame that comes with being named as corrupt.  Every time I see Zambia in media in this regard I am just so angry.  Why? Why? We are such a tiny nation and usually go unnoticed.  Is this how we want to make ourselves known?! Jeez! The only way to stop people thinking that they can get away with corruption because donors will not stop giving because they are still able to help those in need regardless needs to stop.  This takes away from successes like that of Rwanda who have used the funds they have received wisely and are now on track to achieving universal coverage in providing ARV to all its citizens living with HIV and AIDS.

It is sad to see that in this day an age information has the power to not only empower but to potentially destroy.  In doing the right thing, the Global Fund's information has been manipulated to question its credibility and moreover its usefulness in global health financing and the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals.  Are donors really willing to stop saving lives at all when right now they are saving millions with 99.7% of the money that have been disbursed through the Global Fund around the world? Because withdrawing 100% means condemning millions versus losing thousands of lives to save millions. Military triage is necessary here, we have to cut our loses for the greater gain however painful it may be to think about and ultimatley follow through on. The end does justify the means here. Morality does not have to be absolute here.  If you are corrupt then we will not help is too black and white.  The world is grey. We can still do good while trying to snuff corruption out.  At least the Global Fund is trying to not only operate in the current global climate, but is also simultaneously trying to change it for the better as well.  You have to support an organisation that is trying to do the right thing on both counts and is able to acknowledge failiures.  The World Bank and the UN want to be applauded for doing good without being responsible for accountability for fear of losing donors and they have greater loses. Hmmmm...

I think that what Bill Gates said sums up what the Global Fund has done and why all this harping on about 0.3% of Funds going missing is completely illogical and uncalled for:

"The Global Fund has contributed to unprecedented advances in preventing and treating some of the worst diseases in th world.  We know that dealing with these hard-to-reach places is challenging, but not trying to save these lives is unacceptable."

I leave you to ruminate as this Guardian blog does on whether the Global Fund can weather the storm. And here is a video with Koffi Annan and others explaining just how important this Fund is to tackling AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.  I hope that in the future, the Global Fund implements mechanisms to better deal with corruption at the country level.  Even though it is trying to empower countries by giving them control of their disbursements,  it has to figure out a way to make sure that better mechanisms are in place to deal with fraud and corruption in order to avoid another scandal like this from happening again. Being transparent is admirable, but it can be construed as a way to dodge the responsibility of accountability by using this openness as a scapegoat when things go wrong during the implementation of the grants they approve.

Nets

So Nadal did finally complete the career slam on Monday and I am over the moon! The guy just amazes me! His constant adaptability in order to reach his goals is so inspiring.  Worth staying up into the wee hours of the morn and suffering through rain delays to witness. Was rather disappointed that Fed didn't make it to the final though.  He seemed so uncharacteristically out of sorts I hope this is temporary and not an ominous sign of his demise. He is 29 after all and in Tennis he's a bit long in the tooth really.

Was watching local news and was reading the text whizzing in that bar thing at the bottom and was pleased to see that Zambia has lowered its malaria cases by 60%!!! Then right after that I saw that 7 Malians were arrested for stealing donor funds for malaria!! Craziness.  Why can't there just be good news, why does it always have to be accompanied by the not so good??!! :(

And now you see why I called this post Nets he he he he...

Leadership, Shopping And Recycled Wonders

Obama's Forum got me thinking about youth leaders and how it is important for not only Africa's young to start taking the helm, but for all the youth around the world to start thinking about what they can be doing to better their families, communities, countries, continents and ultimately the planet.  Even though our world has always been interconnected through shipping routes, the slave trade, and spices, never before have people been able to connect so easily and in a plethora of ways both physically and virtually.

This reminded me of Kimmie Week's initiative, Youth Action International, YAI.  He was not at the conference, I think they are trying to give other people who may not have the fame that Week's has a chance in the limelight.  Week's started his leadership journey very young.  At 17 he was already writing reports exposing the injustices of child soldiers!  And now his efforts not only help his home country Liberia, but also now extend to Sierra Leone and Uganda, other places on the continent where child soldiers have been deployed.

He moved to the US when the government set out to assassinate him, after his efforts to expose the wrongs in his country.  He took advantage of the opportunity to set up an international network and now has people volunteering from all over America through YAI Chapters based at universities.  He demands commitment from the people he allows to travel with him.  Every year 3 interns get to travel around Africa with him.  They have to have served an YAI chapter for at least year and they have to raise their own funds.  People who move with him are another level of "wanting to help out" - they are seriously dedicated.  Here is a video on their latest project:



You can find out how to get involved with YAI here.

Here is a video that, even though is not his full speech, really gives a good idea of the kind of person Kimmie is and why he is in demand as a public speaker, and also an inkling into who he is as a person and his passion for humanity:



This speech was for Humanity Uniting Brilliance, HUB, an organisation that provides a social enterprise platform to help those in need take ownership of their destiny through entrepreneurial endeavors, while learning from brilliant leaders around the world.  I took a look at The Global Marketplace, where the goods produced by the people they empower can be bought, and of course naturally gravitated to their African collection.  Unlike in my post about fair trade, ethical fashion, these products are available to a wider group of people looking to buy products that not only make them feel good, but also help the environment and people around the world trying to alleviate the poverty in their lives.  You can buy a bracelet for $8 all the way to a "Village in a Box" (hmmmmm as my sister would say) for $535.  The Box is intended to be used to get your family and friends to be as excited about HUB as you are by selling the items and using them to create events and things.

It is amazing what can be made from recycled paper, pata patas, and plastic! Right now the countries in Africa benefitting from this intiative are Mali, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya.  The great thing about this is that it is a worldwide venture too.  You can get items from from all over such, as a wallet made from recycled tire tube from El Salvador if you want!! It just blows my mind what people can do with someone else's rubbish.  Reminds me of the Welcome to Lagos Series. If you haven't taken a gander, you can see the 3 episodes here, here and here.

Obama's Address To The President's Forum With Young African Leaders: " You represent a different vision, a vision of Africa on the move."

President Barack Hussein Obama did not disappoint and gave a rousing speech, (here is the transcript, but I would advise you to watch the video), in keeping with his reputation as a gifted and insightful orator.  He made sure to single out the accomplishments of the audience from a Djiboutian starting off selling ice cream to now running his own accounting practice, a Malawian using her positive HIV status to break barriers, to an Ivorian journalist fighting for the rights of Muslim women (which made me think of North Africa's absence again :( ). He also drew from his father's life, telling of how he was able to take advantage of educational exchange and also how Kenya was in a better position economically that South Korea in the 60s but is now not as developed - a cautionary tale about all of our squandered opportunities.  He capped it off by answering questions from attendees representing Mocambique, Liberia, Mali, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Somalia.  He answered eloquently off-the-cuff about HIV, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the bombings in Uganda, the World Cup, brain drain, and the potential pitfalls and the opportunities for success on the continent.

Can I just say that I loved the woman in the purple's outfit.  One because it's purple, my fav colour.  Two because it was beautiful.  She is one of those that people back home would tell you to watch out for.  He he he.  Also could not find the leader I knew in the audience.  I have eyes and ears everywhere.  I may be useless, but I like to surround myself with those that  bedazzle he he he...

Obama speeches always yield a healthy crop of quotes so I am going to let his words speak for themselves, with other little tidbits interspersed of course:

"Welcome to the White House, and welcome to the United States of America.  And that includes even our friends from Ghana, who beat us in the World Cup. (Laughter.) Where are you? Over there? That's all right.  It was close. We'll see you in 2014. (Laughter.)"

Later the response from a Ghanaian attendee:   A Ghanaian football pundits thoughts before the US-Ghana match:  "This is not war, it is football.  If it were war, then maybe we should be afraid because the might of America is more than us."

"You reflect the extraordinary history and diversity of the continent."

"In fact you represent the Africa that is so often overlooked - the great progress that many Africans have achieved and the unlimited potential that you've got going forward into the 21st Century."

"I don't see Africa as a world apart; I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world."

FYI, in case you didn't know Senegal, Gabon, Nigeria and Madagascar are all celebrating 50 years of Independence. Randomly, Scuttle the Seagull from A Little Mermaid's voice said all of that in my head because he says "In case you didn't know the prince is getting married today" to Ariel in a very silly voice.  Sorry! This is my third post today, overload of seriousness, needed a bit of nonsense he he he...;}

"Africa's future belongs to its young people."

"Yes Youth Can" Kenya's adoption of Obama's "Yes We Can."

A quote from an tweeting attendee "If your actions inspire others to dream more, to learn more, to do more and become more then you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
This reminded me of how I  have no desire to become another twit on twitter. I'm sure its lovely.  I'm just not wired enough for that kind of deluge of information. So I now rely on MIghTy African to sieve for me so I can keep up-to-date with extra fast breaking news :).  You can read his comments on the Town Hall style meeting here. As my mother always says, "sieve, take what means something to you and discard the rest". Which has led me to coin a new euphemism:

"Sieve: don't be afraid to throw out the husks to keep the rice."


"The future is what you make it.  And so if you keep dreaming and keep working and keep learning and don't give up, then I'm confident that countries and the entire continent and the entire world will be better for it."

"Some old leaders get into old habits, and those habits are hard to break."

"Here is the interesting moment that we are in though - if you look at where the greatest opportunities are, they're actually now in emerging markets.  There are countries in Africa that are growing 7, 8, 9 percent a year.  So if you are an entrepreneur now with an idea you may be able to grow faster and achieve more back home that you could here."

"I've always said the destiny of Africa is going to be determined by Africans.  It's not going to be determined by me.  It is not going to be determined by people outside of the continent.  It's going to be determined by you.  All we can do is make sure our voices are heard and you're able to rise up and take hold of these opportunities.  If you do that, I think that there are going to be a lot of people who - even if they are educated abroad - want to come home to make their mark."

"I am a profound believer in not looking at violence as a solution to problems.  And I think the moral and ethical  power that comes with non-violence when properly mobilised is profound."
When I read this I was like hmmmm torture, rendition, Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq...but a little bit later he said:

"And now it is not as if we are perfect.  Obviously we've got all kinds of problems as well.  But what it does mean is that the peaceful transfer of power and the notion that people always have a voice - our trust that democratic process is one that has to be embraced in all your countries as well."

"Oftentimes women are not getting the same voice in African countries, despite the fact that they are carrying more than their fair share of burdens."

"I will say that in Africa in particular, one thing we know is that empowering women is going to be critical to reducing the [HIV] transmission rate. We know that because so often women, not having any control over sexual practices and their own body, end up having extremely high transmission rates."

"Africa has some of our most loyal friends.  Every survey that's take, when you ask what continent generally has the most positive view about America, it turns out Africa generally has a positive view of America and positive experiences so I think you should be confident even if I'm not President that the American people genuinely want to see Africa succeed."

"South Africa has its problems, but from what everybody could see during the World Cup,  the potential for moving that country forward as a multiracial, African democracy that can succeed on the world stage, that's the model so far at least Zimbabwe has not followed.  And that's where I'd like to see it go."

"I think that this metaphor of the success of the World Cup and the bombing [in Uganda] shows that each of you are going to be confronted with two paths.  There's going to be a path that takes us into a direction of more conflict, more bloodshed, less economic development, continued poverty even as the rest of the world races ahead - or there's a vision in which people come together for the betterment and development of their own country."

"And for all the great promise that's been fulfilled over the last 50 years, I want you to understand - because I think it's important for us to be honest with ourselves - Africa has also missed huge opportunities for too long."

"Your Voices Are Heard On The Global Stage"

Here is a video of some of the attendees' views on the Forum, held at the National Museum of African Art in DC, and what needs to be done in their countries and around Africa to continue to develop and grow. As Hilary said in her speech "your voices are heard on the global stage", referring to the privileged position the Young Leaders have to affect their families, communities, countries and continent and their ability to harness global forces if they so choose, due to their education and drive.  Technically this is a potentially global platform due to the affordances of the Internet he he he. It is nice to see people passionately and intelligently taking up the challenge of change, even though the path they will have to take is likely to be rife with setbacks and resistance.  As Clinton said it is a worthy cause to take up as the benefits outweigh the opportunity costs of the journey.

"Welcome To Lagos"

Finally started watching the BBC Docu-miniseries Welcome to Lagos that BIMBO had told me about a coupla months back. Was a little apprehensive going in, wondering how the Western Eye was going to interpret the images and the lives of the people in the slums.  I was pleasantly surprised though.  They really highlighted the ingenuity, resourcefulness, entrepreneurial spirit, camaraderie and optimism of the Nigerians who are moving from the rural areas at a rate of 600,000 a year, to one of the world's megacities, Lagos.  Felt that the documentary kept riding the comparisons to the Western world a little - we get it, there is more that meets the eye, these people are diamonds in the rough once you get over the superficial.

I was happy to see that even though the focus was on the slums, images of the developed areas of the city were interspersed throughout the episode so as not to make Lagos seem like one big ghetto, as was done with Lusaka in the RED documentary. I also like how everything wasn't romanticised - we witnessed the daily city-wide power cuts and the lawlessness that happens in the dumps.  I also liked how the man with the family found a way to give his wife and children what they needed either by fixing things or finding a way to refurbish what the rich threw away.  It also shed light on how wasteful people get once they are not living from day to day and how many things that still have use get thrown away.  It showed how recycling is already a way of life in Lagos.  "Living Green" sometimes starts out of necessity.

I was really impressed with the cattle market. It showed how people apply their knowledge and are able to use every part of the cow, bar the hair, for something - horns for plastic, the contents of the cows digestive tract for fertiliser, blood for chicken feed and who knew you could eat the skin?! That and the fact that even in the slums there already is an transnational network with cattle herders travelling from Mali, Cameroun and Chad to come an trade.  The awareness of the world around them shows how the people realise we are all interconnected, like the man said as the dollar goes up and down, life in the slum is affected. When cattle were not able to come in from Chad prices skyrocketed.

Here are links to the first episode:

Green Redeemed

Not the goalie Green - he was replaced in England's starting line-up, but the colour, courtesy of Algeria's valiant effort for a better outcome that keeps them in contention to qualify from Group C.  England's continued lacklustre performance allowed Algeria to put themselves back in the race.  Their change from white to green jerseys seemed to bring them luck. Improving from a loss to a draw gives us hope for another upgrade to a win in their last game. England need to find another striker, as much as they want Rooney to step up, he just can't seem to do it on his own.  Man U is clearly suffering without Ronaldo and England have not been able to benefit at all from Rooney, he has gone 7 games without a goal now!

Poor USA! Not only have I been riding ESPN about their coverage of the games and the team not understanding the essence of the game, but the poor call from Malian Referee, Koman Coulibaly, really denied them the chance to prove themselves on the world stage.  I have seen Coulibaly in action at the African Cup and remember thinking what a bad ass he is. Very disappointed :(! The denied goal scorer, Edu, didn't understand the call but didn't contest and Howard talked about how difficult it is to officiate corners and that he was satisfied with the way referees have been conducting themselves thus far.  Either something we didn't see or hear happened or Coulibaly made a terrible human error and none of the other officials had anything to offer to counter his call.  We can't rely completely on the camera angles as they don't tell us everything and don't give the same view referees have in the moment both in terms of sight and hearing and the ensuing conjecture from the pundits is just that, conjecture. Donovan  asked what happened and the referee said nothing.  Referees don't have to explain their actions to players, what they say goes, these are FIFA's rules.  Donovan went on to say that he didn't think that Coulibaly could speak English and his tone insinuated that this meant that obviously he wasn't very bright.  Speaking English does not equate to brains my friend. He should be weary of speaking in such a fashion on the world stage as things like that give people the wrong impression about Americans.  Reminds me of Andy Roddick when he gets mad and condescends to umpires, especially ones with native tongues other than English.

Germany have given Ghana the chance to top the group tomorrow.  THE BLACK STARS WILL BLIND THE SOCCEROOS. Because I said so ha ha ha! As they say "One Game Changes Everything!".  And once again one goal did too ;)

This World Cup is full of surprises and the ones today were a lot better :)

Watch World Cup Kick-Off Concert TODAY!!!

It will be on at 8pm CAT, 7pm UK Summer Time, 6pm GMT, 2pm EST and 11am PST.  To watch it online make sure to go to World Cup Vevo, where there is also a countdown to when it will be showing. It will also be broacast live on TV, so check your local listings. It seems ESPN are dedicated to making up for their 2006 coverage and will be broadcasting the concert live on ESPN 2 :)

World renowned artists Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas and John Legend are featured, and of course Shakira will be there to perform the official song with Freshly Ground.

I am glad to see that the majority of the acts are African:  Amadou and Mariam, Angelique Kidjo, BLK JKS, Hugh Masekela, K'NAAN, Lira, Mzansi Youth Choir, Soweto Youth Choir, Tinirawen, The Parlotones, Vieux Farka Toure and Vusi Mahlasela.

And here is K'NAAN's song, Wavin' Flag - The People's Anthem, that is considered the unofficial World Cup Anthem:

And here it is featured in the World Cup Coca Cola campaign:





And here is Pepsi's response but they should know that Coke is unrivaled in the World and particularly in Africa. On the continent it is basically the ONLY choice coz it tastes better for one and in South they were one of the first companies to support Black businesses and businessmen during Apartheid. Having Drogba, Lampard, Messi, Kaka and Henry in the ad plus having an Akon song is nice but won't be enough to sway people to stock Pepsi over Coke I'm afraid! It's a good ad though I do have to say...