Africa Cup of NationsThe recent signing of Senegal striker Papiss Cisse by United added to the fact that Demba Ba is also a Senegal star potentially means that Geordie fans will take more of an interest in the African Cup Of Nations (ACON) which kicks off this weekend. And of course we also have our very own (at least at the time of writing!) Cheick Tiote involved as part of the Ivory Coast team.
Obviously, we hope the lads do well – but not too well considering the legions of scouts who will be out there – and that they return to Tyneside fit and injury-free. Here’s a look at the two teams that our African players will be representing.
Senegal – The Lions Of Teranga
The Senegal national football team are nicknamed “The Lions Of Teranga”. They first appeared in the World Cup in 2002 and made an immediate name for themselves by beating France 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament. They made it to the quarter finals that year eventually going out to Turkey. Subsequently, they failed to qualify in 2006 and 2010.
The team have featured more regularly in the ACoN since 1965, their most successful year being 2002 when they were runners-up. Senegal qualified for the finals of the ACON as top of their group, winning 5 of their 6 games between September 2010 and October 2011. This included a 9-0 aggregate demolition of Mauritius and notably beating Cameroon 1-0 at home and drawing 0-0 away. (more…)
Ba and Mr.T: Out for Africa.As most of you will no doubt be aware, the Africa Cup of Nations will be taking place next month.
This incredibly awkward competition is held bi-annually, unlike the European Championships which are held every four years. Also unlike the Euros, it is also usually held right in the middle of the bloody football season! This time the tournament will be jointly hosted by Gabon and Equitorial Guinea from January 21 to February 12 2012, but players will usually be called for duty by their national teams some time before that, even as early as the 8th of January for pre tournament training camps and warm up games.
Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba will definitely be there representing the Ivory Coast and Senegal respectively. Inspired by Manchester City, who also wish to hold back their talisman midfielder, Yaya Toure, from joining Tiote in the Ivory Coast team for as long as possible, Alan Pardew is now trying to delay Ba’s and Tiote’s departure until around the 15th January.
If Pardew and City manager Roberto Mancini fail in their quest to hold the players back until the middle of the month, the two Silver Supremos could be missing their important players for as many as six or seven games according to my calculation. Of course, this will almost certainly have a much greater effect on the Magpies than it will on moneybags Man City with their wealth of strength in depth. In Newcastle United’s case the potential games missed will be the following if Tiote and Ba depart on the 8th January: (more…)
Mike Ashley: Playing a dangerous game at NUFC?With the new season just a few short hours from kick off, Toon fans everywhere take stock of the events of the past few months and are no doubt wondering what kind of start we’ll have given the merciless squad upheaval.
Since the transfer window opened Geordies have sat around with baited breath hoping for some good news to pop up on the Sky Sports News Ticker. Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride. [Neil] Taylor, Gervinho, Gameiro, Cabaye, Erdinc, Nolan, Marveaux, Ba, Barton, Routledge, Enrique, Crouch, Defoe, Long, Beckford, Lovenkrands, Bendtner, Benayoun – and that’s just the players we’ve bought, sold, are supposed to be selling or been linked with that I can think of off the top of my head!
Toon fans are a rugged lot and we’ve put up with enough of the proverbial for us to be able to pick apart a rumour from a genuine story and gladly celebrate when we are linked to a top player; at least somebody out there thinks we can sign Messi for an estimated £8m.
Still, taken into account our outgoing transfers (Nolan, Enrique, Routledge) and comparing them to our incoming (Cabaye, Marveaux, Abeid, Ba, Obertan) – I’d usually say we’ve done pretty well! (more…)
Could Ba and Erdinç be an explosive partnership?As rare as a chance to see Halley’s Comet, Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has given an interview with the ‘Shields Gazette’ in regards to new striker Demba Ba.
Ba featured in 2 of the 3 games over in the states this last week, and Pardew has been quite happy with the Senegalese strikers overall performances thus far. More notably, Pardew has been talking about Ba’s most recent performance, in our 3-0 win against Columbus Crew, saying:
“I really enjoyed Demba’s play.
“He played slightly withdrawn. His link-up play was excellent, and his movement caught us out at times. He’s so quick, he made a move, and then a different move by the time the pass had gone.
“It was a shame he didn’t get a goal, but he was a real highlight for me, as was Dan Gosling.
“Marveaux also played well, and it was a good night for us.”
From the highlights I’ve seen, it looked very much like Dan Gosling was our star performer against the ‘Crew’. Demba Ba though, played an important role in a couple of the goals, and also was the man brought down when through on goal to earn Columbus’ ‘keeper Andy Gruenebaum a straight red card, effectively ending the game as a contest. (more…)
Welcome to St James's!Welcome to the fourth in my small series of ‘blogs looking at Newcastle United’s new signings in the latest transfer window. In this episode, I will be looking at former West Ham and 1899 Hoffenheim player, Demba Ba.
I was going to write that this is the final of my little series, but like many other Newcastle United fans, I live in hope that the club will be bringing more players in before this transfer window ends!
Of course, much there has been much discussion on the subject of Ba’s knee, which has caused him to fail medicals at both VfB Stuttgart and Stoke City before he was signed by the Magpies. However, I have already probed Ba’s knee problem, which stemmed originally from complications arising from an operation on a broken tibia (the larger of the two bones connecting the knee and ankle) in this post. Here, I will concentrate on other aspects of his career so far. (more…)
