It caused nary a ripple in the footballing world, but the under-20 version of the African Cup of Nations had been going on for the past three weeks in Algeria, culminating in a win for the young Pharaohs of Egypt on Saturday.
Watching Milan march into Verona and stamp their authority at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi in soggy conditions and come away with all three points after a 1-0 win reminded me of the day when I sat glued to a screen for over 3 hours, following the life story of Judah Ben Hur.
There is no doubt about it, Les Bleus gave a damn good account of themselves when the reigning world champions came a-calling. Right up to the final whistle, which Spain captain Xavi Hernandez reliably hinted to the match official came an alarming 50 seconds after the indicated 3 minutes of stoppages, it was difficult to tell the two teams apart.
Watching VFB Stuttgart’s come-from-behind win over Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend was instructive for a number of reasons. First, and most glaring, was the fact that Stuttgart were able to bag all three points away at a vociferous Commerzbank-Arena while still reeling from two straight Bundesliga losses