penalty spot / dead chicken

DJ

Drogba missed his penalty (for the second time in an AFCON final). You could see the ball rolling a few inches from the spot while Didier turned around. Then during the shoot-out the spot slowly disappeared. The ball had to be placed next to it and of the last four shooters, three missed. The one who didn't miss came from Zambia. It wouldn't surprise me if we read later that the Zambians had buried a dead chicken under that penalty spot, to hex the shooter.

Diatta

It wasn't a difficult match for Badara Diatta. The ref who runs in slow motion was good. I found him very lenient, especially concerning stuff that happened in the penalty box, but he got away with it. Play was fair. Diatta seemed to whistle a bit late, but then it was always when he was waiting to see if there was an advantage which it never was (most players weren't good enough to anticipate, they just stopped and waited).

DJ

The television people seem to favor Drogba. It was his face and his reactions you got on your screen, and Didier knows very well how to play it. He dives quite a lot, for such a big, strong guy, and when he was hurt, play was stopped and cameras were zoomed in. It is time for the great man to call it a day. Diatta fell for it sometimes but not all the time.

match

A decent match, two teams that couldn't score, one team with famous players on their way towards retirement but still in denial, and the other team with a tactically very good coach and no forwards to speak of. But the outcome of the match would have been different if the field around that penalty spot had been better.