But soccer isn’t the only sport which makes head-scratching choices for its officials on the biggest stage.
Sunday’s Super Bowl referee, Scott Green, also was the referee for the Green Bay-Arizona playoff game in which neither team was happy with his performance.
General McLane graduate and Penn State safety Drew Astorino is scheduled to be featured on the Big Ten Network on Friday, Feb. 5.
Egypt won the African Nations Cup with a 1-0 victory over Ghana on Sunday in Luanda, Angola.
It was Egypt’s third straight ANC title.
While Allah apparently was on Egypt’s side for this tournament, Egypt won’t be at the World Cup, having failed to qualify.
Egyptians also were involved in some nastiness with Algerians over their final two World Cup qualifying matchups, which saw Algeria win in a tiebreaker match.
The teams met in a rematch in the ANC semifinals, apparently without incident. Egypt won 4-0, and three Algerians were red carded.
Want to go to the World Cup?
Plenty of World Cup tickets are still available.
But travel cost is the biggest hurdle. While the United States has ordered the most tickets among any country outside host South Africa, many Americans might have trouble getting there.
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Uh, oh.
Algeria, the USA’s third opponent in the World Cup this summer, has stormed back after a shaky start in the African Nation’s Cup to upset tournament favorite Ivory Coast 3-2 in extra time Sunday in the quarterfinals.
Algeria suddenly look to be a threat this summer in the USA’s group by reaching the semifinals of the ANC, a very good tournament.
Ivory Coast features Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.
U.S. falls to Honduras
Meanwhile, the U.S. did not look so hot Saturday night in their first friendly of the year against Honduras, a 3-1 loss.
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Think spring. Baseball season’s just around the corner, and Mercyhurst College players and an alumnus are proof.
Former Lakers star David Lough has been invited to spring training by the Kansas City Royals as a non-roster player. He starred as he climbed the minor league ladder in the Royals system in 2009.
Three Lakers also were named to the American Baseball Coaches Association’s NCAA Division II All-America Baseball Committee watch lists: pitcher Nick Gillung, senior second baseman/pitcher Adam Gray and freshman pitcher Ben Rawding.
Here’s some reading for those who prefer not to watch commercials, er, the NFL playoffs all weekend …
The U.S. received some good news and bad news the past week. First, the bad.
The U.S. might lose another starter for the World Cup. Clint Dempsey injured his knee Sunday while playing for Fulham against Blackburn in the English Premier League.
Tests will be run today. Hopefully the results are better than expected, but his World Cup could be in jeopardy.
Dempsey, a midfielder but one of the few U.S. players who has a nose for the goal, scored the only U.S. goal in the 2006 World Cup, against Ghana (the other was an own goal vs. Italy), and was going to be a key in the U.S. attack.
The U.S. already has lost promising young forward Charlie Davis (multiple injuries in a car accident) and rugged central defender Oguchi Onyewu (serious knee injury).
The Edinboro University of Pennsylvania wrestling team will host a free clinic for anyone grades K-12 on Jan. 16, 2010, before the team’s match with the University of Buffalo.
The clinic will run from 5:45-6:45 p.m. at McComb Fieldhouse, with the UB match to follow at 7 p.m.
Edinboro assistant coaches and former All-Americans Cliff Moore (Iowa) and Kyle Cerminara (Buffalo) will conduct the clinic.
For information, call (814) 732-1855.
PSAC conference basketball games start on Wednesday. Check out full game notes for the Erie-area men’s and women’s teams’ games:
Men:
California (Pa.) at Gannon, 7:30 p.m.
Edinboro at Lock Haven, 8 p.m.
Mercyhurst College at Slippery Rock, 8 p.m.
Women:
No. 19 California (Pa.) at No. 4 Gannon, 5:30 p.m.
Gannon University inducted its new Athletic Hall of Fame members on Saturday, including the 1986-87 men’s basketball team that finished as the NCAA Division II runner-up and captivated Erie fans with its personalities, style and success.
The team reunited at halftime of Gannon’s men’s basketball game Sunday for a public appearance. Check out a story and video of the event:
One thing about being a fan of soccer: You get to know so much more about the world. That goes for the good as well as the bad.
The big question in the soccer world Sunday night was: Will the grieving Togo players remain in the African Nations Cup, or won’t they?
Its players, and as a result, the entire nation, was struck by tragedy Friday night. Togo’s team bus, on the way to the ANC, was ambushed Friday as it crossed the border from Congo into Cabinda, an Angolan enclave. Three people were killed: the bus driver, a Togo assistant coach and a team spokesman. It was a terrorist attack by rebels who seek independence from Angola, and were looking for a high-profile target.
The African Nations Cup, played every two years, has grown into a big tournament with the rise of so many African stars who play for big European teams. I wish it was on television here, but it is hard to find in the U.S.
Perhaps Togo’s most famous player is Emmanuel Adebayor, who plays for Manchester City in England. Others play in England and France.
Togo’s players were debating the past two days whether or not to withdraw from the tournament. Eventually, the players decided to stay and honor the dead, but the Togo president stepped in, sent his plane to Angola and ordered the team back home. However, the players are still asking if they can go back.
It is easy to see how one would struggle with wanting to play, thus trying to take a victory away from the terrorists, or just wanting to go home and mourn the losses.
The attack likely will cast a pall over the World Cup in South Africa. Although South Africa does not have the same civil strife as Angola and comparisons are not necessarily fair, one of the concerns about South Africa is its high crime rate.
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