Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
In this week’s review of the footballing action we focus on the start of the African Cup of Nations and we wonder why stamps in Manchester and Madrid go unpunished. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.
Good
A real feel good factor now surrounds the African Cup of Nations as both of the hosts won their opening matches. First up was Equatorial Guinea who defeated Libya 1-0 in their home stadium to earn a one million dollar bonus that had been promised them by the country’s president. Then on Monday Gabon opened their tournament by defeating competition debutants Niger 2-0 in Libraville. A perfect start to the tournament for the co-hosts.
Bad
It has been a bad couple of days for Tottenham boss Harry Rednapp as first his side were beaten by Mancester City and now he is facing accusations of tax avoidance. Less than 24 hours after the defeat against City the Guardian reported that RednappA is ‘accused of paying two untaxed payments from Mandaric of A£189,500‘ in 2007. It could get worse for the Spurs boss.
Ugly
Rednapp felt that Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli should have been sent off for a stamp on Spurs midfielder Scott Parker and the FA agreed with him as they charged him with violent conduct which could see him miss four matches. However, in Spain the Real Madrid defender Pepe, who had stamped on Lionel Messi’s hand – which we reported on in last week’s show, received no ban at all from the Spanish Federation which is a real surprise considering the uproar against the Portuguese player after last week’s clasico.
Vocabulary
feel good factor: A very positive atmosphere
debutants: The first time the team have appeared
a stamp on: To illegally stand on
violent conduct: Aggressive behaviour
the uproar: The
