I've always had a soft spot for Henri Camara. The Wigan forward plays with a smile on his face, and ever since Senegal's glorious World Cup run in 2002, I've been a massive Papa Bouba Diop and Camara supporter. They just looked like they were having fun. I like to have fun, so I like them.
The Senegalese striker is valued at only 4. Click to continue reading...

And he will start in goal for the crucial game against Chivas tomorrow. Bouna Coundoul, the Senegalese goalkeeper recently back from a traumatic time in his native country, will start for the Colorado Rapids between the posts for the first time since August 9. Fan favorite, Bouna, who had had to swallow the pain of his country crashing out of the World Cup and African Nations' Cup qualifying, not to mention the wrath of angry fans in Dakar last weekend, gains the chance to reclaim the number one spot from Preston Burpo. Click to continue reading...

Here are some words and phrases you can hear on languagecaster's Full Podcast's Good, Bad and Ugly section - a review of the footballing news. For more English practice check out our worksheets, football glossary and English for football phrases as well as the Learners' Podcast. UEFA: The European governing body of football (Michel Platini is [. Click to continue reading...

Fightback against racism in Europe and World Cup shocks all feature on this week's good, the bad and the ugly, our weekly review of the football news. Click on the links below to find out more about the stories. Good Finally UEFA are at least trying to do something about eliminating racism from football. Click to continue reading...

Some vital World Cup qualifying games in the past few days involving Colorado Rapids players. Back home in Kingston, Omar Cummings played in both Jamaica games on Saturday and yesterday with the Reggae Boyz winning against both Mexico and Honduras 1-0. Omar came on as supersub in both games for the last 20 minutes. Click to continue reading...

When you are enjoying your Starbuck's double tall non-fat this Saturday morning, spare a thought for Colorado Rapids' favorite, Bouna Coundoul. Bouna is currently in his native Senegal preparing for a crucial World Cup qualifier against Gambia which kicks off at 10am Mountain Time. Click to continue reading...

There's a nice write-up about Bouna Coundoul in the Denver Post (link below) and how he is caught between a rock and a hard place both at home and with the Senegal national team. He's saying all the right things about being happy as a deputy to Preston Burpo but it is clear how frustrated he is at being on the bench both for the Colorado Rapids and Senegal. Click to continue reading...

Crikey! Didn't we just play a game? The Colorado Rapids have a very quick turnaround this week and will be off tomorrow for the game on Thursday night against Dallas. Unfortunately, that gives me no time to get up to training due to work commitments to suss out camp mood and get an idea of the line-up. Click to continue reading...

Mixed fortunes for the Colorado Rapids players representing their national teams yesterday in various parts of the world. Pablo Mastroeni played 78 minutes for the US team as they defeated Guatemala 1-0 in Guatemala City in their first World Cup qualifying game of this next stage. Click to continue reading...

Friday September 5th Niger  v  Uganda Group  C South Africa  v  Nigeria Group  D Mozambique  v  Ivory Coast Group  G Ethiopia  v  Morocco Group  H Chad  v  Sudan Group  J Zambia  v  Togo Group  K Djibouti  v  Malawi Group  L Libya  v  Ghana Group  E Algeria  v  Senegal Group  F Saturday September 6th Seychelles  v  Burundi  Group I Kenya  v  Namibia  Group . Click to continue reading...

First off, permit me to apologize for over 3 days of none posting - a record for this blogging nerd. I will have pictures of what the hell I have been up to soon. In the meanwhile, I figure a good old "All The Bull" should bring everyone up to speed on things. Again, my sincerest apologies.

Riding the high of the DC game, alot of interesting and odd ball news has been popping up left and right.

Click to continue reading...

Sunday:
Trinidad & Tobago 1 - 2 Bermuda: The Revs' Khano Smith started and went the full 90 minutes for Bermuda, tallying an assist on John Barry Nusum's first goal with a nice cross. Trinidad & Tobago were heavy favorites in the match, especially since they were playing at home.

USA 8 - 0 Barbados: Matt Reis was on the bench, but saw no time after his surprise call-up due to Tim Howard's injury. Click to continue reading...

Senegal scratched to a disappointing 0-0 draw with Gambia at the weekend in their latest World Cup qualifying game and the Rapids' Bouna Coundoul was nowhere to be seen. Nobody could have expected Bouna to walk into the national team this time around but what has made it worse is that veteran goalkeeper, Tony Sylva, has now been chosen to captain the side. Click to continue reading...

Shalrie Joseph (Grenada) and Khano Smith (Bermuda) have been called up for their countries' World Cup Qualifiers this weekend. The two join Kenny Mansally (The Gambia), who has already missed the past two Revolution matches, on the absence list for this Thursday's match in Houston, and likely the following two matches as well. Click to continue reading...

It was another perfect morning at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as the Rapids boys went through their paces ahead of this weekend's match before flying off to LA this afternoon. The plane will be without Pablo Mastroeni whose recent strong play has rightly earned him a call-up to the national team. Click to continue reading...

Fan favorite, goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, looks set to miss a big chunk of Colorado Rapids games in May and June because of Senegal national team duties. Senegal are due to play a series of World Cup qualifiers both at home and in other parts of West Africa in June. Click to continue reading...

Have you been enjoying the 2008 African Cup of Nations as much as we have? Sad its all just days away from drawing to a close? Tell me about it. This has been, in my opinion, one of the most enjoyable tournaments in recent memory and it is a shame we are nearing the end. But as we prepare ourselves for the exciting climax to the competition let us begin to pay tribute to some of the players that Click to continue reading...

Both teams said they were playing to win the game. Both teams only needed a point to advance the quarterfinals. What was the result? As I predicted here a few days ago, the Tunisia-Angola match yesterday ended in a boring 0-0 draw. The crowd was depressingly small, it was a hot afternoon, the match was played at an incredibly slow pace, and there were only a few real chances all game long. Click to continue reading...

A scintillating night of action saw African Cup of Nations host Ghana go through to the quarterfinals along with Guinea from Group A.

Ghana beat Morocco 2-0 while Guinea managed only a 1-1 draw against an overmatched Namibia.

Midfielder Michael Essien scored a goal and set up another as Ghana finished their group with maximum points from three games. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United are looking smarter and smarter for their interest in Manucho as the Angolan striker scored twice in seventeen minutes in the second half to propel his country to a come-from-behind 3-1 win yesterday over Senegal.

Manucho now has three goals in two games in this edition of the African Cup of Nations, Angola has four points and is sitting in the driver's seat to qualification for the quarterfinals, and Senegal is without their head coach as he resigned after the loss. Click to continue reading...

I'll tell you what, this year's edition of the African Cup of Nations is getting better and better. The quality of some of the goals scored has been absolutely fantastic and yesterday we saw more of the same.

The 2010 World Cup hosts, South Africa, earned a point out of nothing against Angola as substitute Elrio van Heerdeen blistered a long-range effort in the 87th minute to equalize the game at 1-1, where it would end. Click to continue reading...

Senegal managed a 2-2 draw with Tunisia in their opening game in the Africa Cup of Nations today. As expected, Colorado Rapids' favorite son Bouna Coundoul did not get a game. He was on the bench but so were all the other squad members who didn't make the starting XI. Click to continue reading...

I love Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.

President Wade is lending his presidential jet to fans so they can fly to Ghana and watch Senegal's opening African Cup of Nations game, the Sports Ministry said on Thursday. Senegal play their opening Group D match against Tunisia on Jan. 23 in Tamale. Click to continue reading...

We all know the big-name superstars that will grace the stage at Ghana 2008, familiar names like Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Samuel Eto'o.

But who are the well-known athletes that won't be in Ghana starting this Sunday?

The BBC ran this interesting article today pinpointing some of the superstars who won't be gracing Africa's biggest stage. Click to continue reading...

Bouna Coundoul, a 25-year-old goalkeeper who has spent the past 11 years playing in the United States, is not American by birth. But his Senegal teammates call him 'the American' anyways.

Coundoul moved to the United States at age 14, played at Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan and the University at Albany, and is now the starter for the Colorado Rapids of the United States' Major League Soccer team. Click to continue reading...

He did it. Rapids goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul has been named in the final 23-man squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. This news more than makes up for the fact there are no current Rapids players in the recently announced US national squad. And, unlike EPL teams, Bouna will go with the full support of the Rapids given that the tournament is not happening in the middle of the MLS season. Click to continue reading...

Colorado goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul will be Major League Soccer's lone representative at the African Cup of Nations, which begins later this month in Ghana.

Coundoul was officially named to Senegal's 23-man roster on Tuesday. This isn't news to SBI readers, who were informed of Coundoul's selection back in November.

Click to continue reading...

El Hadji Diouf is back with the Senegal team after quitting a few months back.
Now, he's saying the 2008 edition of the African Cup of Nations will be the toughest one yet.

Can't say I disagree ...

"We have so many good teams in this year's tournament," he said.

"I think this is the hardest African Nations Cup ever to win because every team has good players. Click to continue reading...

Photo credit: blogdroed on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool. Click to continue reading...

Breaking news from Senegal, as captain El Hadji Diouf announced he's ending his international career, citing organizational problems at the West African side.

"I have stopped my international career," Diouf told commercial radio station RFM in a telephone interview from England, where he plays club football for Premier League Bolton Wanderers. Click to continue reading...

Life has taken its toll and I haven't been posting as much as I want. Too much to do, not enough time to do it.

But enough about me. Let's catch up with some news. This item comes from the BBC and writer Ben Wyatt. It's about Portsmouth and their African contingent. To read the full article, please click here! The following is an excerpt of the enlightening article. Click to continue reading...

Life has once again intervened in my blogging endeavors.
But I'm back with some updates on South Africa's progress on the Road to the 2010 World Cup.

World Cup organizer Danny Jordaan (above) briefed the South African High Commission in London a few days back and said the state of tournament organization is very good. Everything is on track for a successful World Cup come 2010. Click to continue reading...

Let's take a look again at the footballing exploits of African superstars in Europe this week, courtesy of Timothy Collings of Reuters.

Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins scored a vital brace, including a spectacular overhead kick, as Newcastle United opened their English Premier League campaign with a 3-1 win at Bolton Wanderers.

Martins's athletic strike was the eye-catching highlight of a busy and successful weekend for African players as the leading European soccer leagues began their seasons. Click to continue reading...