Toure and Eboue feature against Malawi but the story is another football tragedy

The headlines say it all; 22 dead, scores injured in stadium wall collapse ahead of Ivory Coast qualifier against Malawi. And yet the game was played. Perhaps is says something about the value of life in Africa that the match went on despite the tragedy. In America, all sports would come to a halt if such a tragedy occurred. There would be inquiries and condemnations. But Africa is such a troubled continent, that this tragedy wasn’t even enough to stop the game at which it happened.

The match saw a very talented Ivorian side demolish malawi 5-0, and from the highlights I was able to watch online, it didn’t look like the level of play was particularly impressive. Toure and Eboue both started and I have no news to report about them from the match. The Chelsea duo of Drogba and Kalou accounted for three of the five.

In other news, I’m still looking for information about Bendtner’s knee injury. I did find some quotes from Demark manager Morten Olsen and team doctor Soren Kaalund that are not encouraging. Bendtner will be sent home to England and will require “rest and rest.” Does that mean two rests? If so, he can probably knock that out in a day. I rest many times a day. If it means an extended period of rest that’s not so good. The Kaalund went on to say, “it is not a good opportunity here.” Not sure when an injury is a good opportunity, but I get his meaning. I did read that he was having a torrid start to the match against Malta. Malta’s coach admitted that they were having a very hard time with him before he left half an hour into the game. If the injury is long term then I feel for the Dane. He has been very dangerous lately and when you’re missing chances like he has been, it’s only time before the finishing works itself out. He was due for a big match.

Finally, Cesc Fabregas seems to be getting assailed from all angles. I won’t dignify the articles with links or quotes, but suffice it to say that I now hate the News of the World more than before, which is quite something. Apparently Fabregas is arrogant, guilty of being a spitter, and leaving for Barcelona. All of this is, naturally, attributed to anonymous sources. What complete and utter horsesh*t.

Monday, the FA will receive Phil Browns creative writing project, a.k.a his report on Cesc. I find it hilarious that the Hull City chairman is now saying that an apology would have been sufficient and the FA report wouldn’t have been necessary. Intersting revisionist history considering that Phil Brown was on camera ten minutes after the match saying that he would pursue this with the FA. With no photographic or video evidence and a constantl changing account of the event, I find it hard to believe the FA will be able to do much about this. Having said that, there’s a dirt stench of xenophobia about all of Cesc’s bad press. When you look at prominent English players like Rooney, Terry, and Gerrard who all have some serious issues to resolve, and get off lightly in the British press, it’s hard not to conclude that there is bigotry afoot. What a shame, because Cesc appears to be as impressive a man as he is a footballer.

It’s 2:34 am. I was up at 5am this morning. Stupid, miserable, horrible job. Why did I ever get one in the first place?