THIS PARTY IS OVER:DESPITE being held to a scoreless draw on Saturday at home to Sierra Leone in the final game of their African Nations Cup qualifying group, South Africa captain Siphiwe Tshabalala was ecstatic come full-time.
“I’m just happy we qualified, we had to do it for the pride of the nation,” he said, and with that he set off for an all-singing, all-dancing lap of honour around the Mbombela Stadium with his team-mates.
South African FA president Kirsten Nematandani, meanwhile, went on television to congratulate the team on qualifying, the channel – SABC – confirming the team was indeed through to next year’s finals.
Except? Yep: South Africa had actually failed to qualify, all concerned unaware that head-to-head results, and not goal difference, are used to separate teams level on points. Niger, then, despite losing 3-0 to Egypt in their final game, qualified, South Africa and Sierra Leone missing out.
It gets worse. Coach Pitso Mosimane admitted he sent his team out looking for a draw, and not the win they needed. “Do you think I would have left (striker) Majoro on the bench and put on a midfielder if I knew that we needed a goal? It doesn’t make sense,” he said, “I feel like I have failed.” Well . . .
Tempting fate: Trapattoni may be right but . . .
WORD OF MOUTH:"If he's suspended it's okay, if he's not it's okay – he's not Messi or Maradona."
– Giovanni Trapattoni, not overly concerned about Armenia’s Henrik Mkhitaryan availability for tomorrow’s game (he’s free to play). You have to hope this won’t become the fate-tempting quote of the year.
“I want to apologise to the Al-Wasl supporters for this defeat. I am very sad.”
– Diego Maradona after his side lost 5-0 to Dubai. A fortnight ago he told the fans to “stay at home, watch some DVD or some comedy series” if they were too “scared” to watch the team. They might take him up on that advice now.
“When I look at it coldly, a team that has John Terry, Gary Cahill, Scott Parker, Gareth Barry, Darren Bent and Rooney in its central positions is nowhere near good enough to take on the major nations such as Spain. I’m not having a go at individuals.”
– Gary Neville, possibly with a straight face.
Photographic: Evidence
FANPIC:IF you decide to tell the boss tomorrow afternoon you're feeling a bit under the weather and you need to go home, and then you set off for a few pre-match jars before heading to the Aviva, be warned: "The FAI is delighted to announce that the first ever panoramic photo (Fanpic) to be taken at a sporting event in Ireland will be taken at Republic of Ireland versus Armenia on October 11th, in partnership with Huggity."
The photograph will capture everyone in the stadium for the game and will be available to view on the FAI website Thursday morning. People who use that Facebook thingie will be able to “tag” themselves in the photo so they can “show all of their friends how they support the boys in green”.
Guess who’s coming to dinner: Managers’ table
GUEST LIST:WHEN Yahoo! Eurosport asked 20 managers to name their three "fantasy" dinner guests (dead or alive) several of the picks were predictable enough, Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela the two most popular choices.
Some of the others? Well, frankly, you’d pay to be a fly on the wall.
Tony Adams, for example, opted for Jesus, Alf Ramsey and actress Scarlett Johansson, with Leeds supremo Simon Grayson choosing Geoffrey Boycott, Bono and Don Revie. Peter Reid also invited Jesus, along with Elvis Presley and Angelina Jolie, while Roberto Mancini – very sensibly – opted for Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, deceased Italian conductor Mantovani and the Pope.
David Moyes, bless his heart, invited his ma for a bite to eat with Celtic legend Tommy Burns and, well, Kylie Minogue, with Paul Ince, somewhat bravely, asking John F Kennedy and Tiger Woods to share a meal with his wife. Rafa Benitez went for a trio of pocket rockets in the form of Julius Caesar, Al Pacino and Napoleon, with Norwich boss Paul Lambert selecting Elvis Presley, George Best and George Bush.
Seriously. (Don’t serve pretzels, Paul).
It’d be hard to beat Neil Warnock’s dinner party, though, especially if the Queen, Barbara Streisand and Brian Clough broke in to a rousing rendition of The Way We Were.
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