2013 Africa Cup of Nations Draw: Title Holders Zambia to Meet Nigeria as Cote d’Ivoire Land in a Tricky Group D

The draw for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations was made Wednesday night at the Durban International Convention Centre in South Africa putting forward some tricky group matches.

Defending champions Chipolopolo of Zambia landed in Group C which will also have the Super Eagles of Nigeria who missed last edition’s spectacle. The other two teams in the group are Burkina Faso and Ethiopia who will be making their return to AFCON after a 30-year absence.

Hosts South Africa have been drawn against Angola, Morocco and debutants Cape Verde in Group A. The first match of the tournament will see the Bafana Bafana tackle the tiny Islanders at the Moses Mabhida in Durban.

Ghana versus Mali is always a mouthwatering clash and the two teams will renew their old rivalry in Group B which also has Niger and DR Congo.

Cote d’Ivoire were the beaten finalists in the last edition and have been drawn in arguably the toughest group. The Elephants will lock horns against Togo and North African pair Algeria and Tunisia in Group D.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. The tournament kicks off on January 19^th with the finals slated for February 13^th 2013. The matches will be played in the five 2010 World Cup stadiums – Soccer City in Johannesburg, Moses Mabhida in Durban, Mbombela in Nelspruit, Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth and Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg.

And That's thesteifmastertake!! 

 

Night of Shocks for Madrid, Arsenal, City and Milan

Klass-Act: Huntelaar slots home as Arsenal players watch

Wednesday night Champions League matches provided shocking results for big guns as Real Madrid, AC Milan and Premier League duo Arsenal and Manchester City all suffered losses against their less fancied opponents.

Real Madrid went down 2-1 away to Borussia Dortmund with Robert Lewandowski putting the Bundesliga champions ahead only for Cristiano Ronaldo to level within two minutes. Marcel Schmeizer’s 64^th minute 20-yard volley secured the points for Jurgen Klopp’s side who moved to the summit of Group D with 7 points, one above the La Liga champions who they face in the return leg at the Bernabeu in a fortnight. Madrid’s statistics in German soil makes for a sorry reading as they have played 24 official matches in Germany and won only once.

The three points sees Jurgen Klopp's men take charge of Group D as they move one point above the Spanish side and into pole position ahead of the return fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu in a fortnight.

The other Group D game saw Ajax crush Premier League side Manchester City 3-1 at the Amsterdam Arena. French midfielder Samir Nasri put the visitors ahead midway into the first half but Siem de Jong riffled in the equalizer just before the interval. A goal each from Niklas Moisander and the impressive Christian Eriksen claimed the win for the Dutch side and reignited their hopes of qualifying from the Group of death but put City on the brink of elimination.

Mancini’s side are yet to win a match in the group and will need nothing less than three points against Ajax in the return leg if they are to rekindle their dimming hopes of qualifying to the knockout stages.

The other big gun to fall on the night was Arsenal who lost a group match at the Emirates for the first time in six years. The Gunners were convincingly beaten 2-0 by German side Schalke 04. Both goals came in the last quarter of the second half with Klaas Jan Huntelaar opening the scoring in the 76^th minute and Ibrahim Afellay killing it off in the 86^th minute in a tepid performance by Wenger’s men who made only one shot on target the whole night.

Schalke takes control of the Group on 7 points with Arsenal sitting second with 6 and Olympiakos Piraeus, who beat Montpellier 2-1, third with three points.

AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri’s future with the club was put into more scrutiny as they went down 1-0 to Malaga at Estadio La Rosaleda. Jaoquin scored the decisive goal in the 64^th minute to move the Spanish side to within a win of qualifying to the knockout stages. Zenit Saint Petersburg beat Anderlecht with the same scoreline with Aleksandr Kerzhakov slotting in a 72^nd minute penalty.

Porto made it a perfect 3 wins out of three with their 3-2 home win over Dynamo Kiev. Silvestre Varela opened the scoring for Porto at the quarter-hour mark only for Oleh Husyev to restore parity six minutes later. However, a brace from Colombian star Jackson Martinez sandwiched between Aide Brown’s goal for Dynamo gave the Portuguese outfit their third win on the trot as they look very likely to proceed from the group.

Ligue 1 table toppers Paris Saint Germain bounced back from their loss to Porto a fortnight ago with a 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb. Swedish hotshot Zlatan Ibrahimovic slot home in the 32^nd minute and Jeremy Menez killed the game before half time as the big-spending side took a giant step towards qualifying to from the Group A.

The return legs of the Group stages will start in two weeks time.

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UEFA Champioins Leageu : Manchester United Survive Braga Scare as Chelsea Fall to Shakhtar

Celtic's Kenyan international Victor Wanyama Mugubi in action against Barca

Javier Chicharito Hernandez scored a brace either side of Jonny Evans’ 62^nd minute goal to help Manchester United rally from two goals down and eventually see off Sporting Braga 3-2 in a UEFA Champions League Group H encounter at Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Fergusson’s men were trailing 2-0 with only 20 minutes into play after Braga forward Alan had given the visitors a dream start. But Chicharito inspired United to yet another comeback when he nodded home his and United’s first in the 25^th minute before nicking in the winner in the 75^th minute after Jonny Evans had drawn the Red devils even. The win stretched the Old Trafford outfit’s lead in Group H to five points after CFR Cluj and Galatasaray could only muster a 1-1 draw with Burak Yilmaz cancelling out

Chelsea, the other English side playing on the night away to Shakhtar Donetsk however could not replicate United’s fight back. The defending champions fell behind to an Alex Teixeira 3^rd minute goal and Fernandinho added the second in the 52^nd minute to put the home team in control. Oscar pulled one back for the visitors with two minutes to the final whistle but it was a case of too little too late for Di Matteo’s men. The win took the Ukrainian champions to the summit of Group E, 3 points above Chelsea in second place.

Juventus spanned a chance to leapfrog Chelsea into second spot when they could only manage a 1-1 draw away to FC Nordsjaelland. Mikkel Beckmann put the Danes ahead in the 50^th minute but Mirko Vucinic’s 81^st minute strike for the Bianconeri ensured the spoils were shared in Kobenhavn.

Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona maintained their 100% win record with a labored 2-1 win over Celtic at Camp Nou. The home team fell behind to a Javier Mascherano own goal in the 18^th minute but Andres Iniesta drew level  at the stroke of half-time.

Barca tormented the Hoops’ defence in the second half but were kept at bay by custodian Fraser Forster. But their resistance was finally broken in the last minute of added time with Jordi Alba connecting to Adriano’s cross to give the Catalans a 2-1 win. Spartak beat Benfica 2-1 to register their first points in the competition and move third.

Bundesliga table-toppers Bayern Munich rebounded from their shock loss to BATE Borisov a fortnight ago with a 1-0 win over Lille. Thomas Muller’s 20^th minute penalty was enough for the Bavarians to nick the win. Valencia stormed to the top of the group with a comfortable 3-0 demolition of BATE with Roberto Soldado hitting a hat-trick. The Spanish side, Bayern and BATE are all locked up top on 6 points each while Lille are yet to register a point. 

Wednesday Fixtures

Zenit v Anderlecht
Dinamo Zagreb v Paris St. Germain
Porto v Dynamo Kiev
Arsenal v Schalke
Montpellier v Olympiakos
Malaga v AC Milan
Ajax v Manchester City
Dortmund v Real Madrid       

And That's thesteifmastertake!!