Adding Insult to Injury

ESPNsoccernet is reporting that a significant amount of money--believed to be in the region of $3,000-$4,000 US--was stolen right out of wallets from the Manchester City dressing room at some point during the afternoon today. City occupied the visitors' changing room as they were in Sheffield to take on Sheffield United in the 4th Round of the FA Cup, a game in which they surprisingly lost 2-1.

"A number of staff and players have had a quantity of cash stolen," City spokesman Paul Tyrrell told Sky Sports News.

"I am not aware that the dressing room was locked and the police are looking in it."

Wow. If this is the case, Sheffield United has to be at fault. There's no excuse for not locking the doors to the locker room and prohibiting access to everything inside.

Then again, what were City's players and staff doing with that much money?? They were the visiting team and probably were heading back to Manchester directly after the match; I'm not sure why they were carrying any considerable amount of money in the first place.

City aren't exactly setting the world alight right now with their recent form. This is a team that has won a grand total of three matches in their last thirteen played in all competitions. They're fading in the race for fourth place in the Premiership and with today's loss are now out of both domestic cup competitions. The last thing their players and staff are thinking about at the moment is the money in their wallets, especially when it's inside a place that should be safe and off-limits to anyone but team personnel, and somehow even that is now missing.

After a trip to Derby next week, City have the displeasure of playing Manchester United, Arsenal, and Everton in their three league games in February.

Could it get any worse?

FA Cup 5th Round Draw

The draw for the fifth round of the 2007-2008 edition of the world's oldest domestic cup competition will take place tomorrow, and the eight ties are scheduled to be played on February 16 and 17.

None of the fourth round ties need replays as they all were decided this weekend. Coca-Cola League One sides Huddersfield Town and Bristol Rovers are amongst the last 16 teams in the competition, as are several Championship squads and each of the Premiership's "Big Four".

Full coverage of the draw can be found here tomorrow; check back during the morning for more updates.

African Cup of Nations Recap--Day 7

Samuel Eto'o converted a PK in the 66th minute to draw even with Ivory Coast legend Laurent Pokou for most goals scored (14) in the African Cup of Nations finals and Joseph Job bagged a brace to propel Cameroon over Zambia 5-1 yesterday. This was a game Cameroon absolutely needed to win after their opening loss to Egypt and the Indomitable Lions took care of business. Only a 90th minute goal from Christopeher Katongo prevented Zambia from being shut out. Newcastle midfielder Geremi scored the opening goal for Cameroon and after coming on as a substitute in that game against Egypt, Arsenal starlet Alexandre Song played the full 90 minutes yesterday.

Egypt all but guaranteed their place in the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Sudan, a game in which the defending champions had to work a little harder than the flattering scoreline might indicate. Second half substitute Mohamed Aboutriaka scored twice in five minutes late in the game to put the match away for the Pharaohs, but Sudan started out like a house on fire and Egypt did well to survive the rush and come out with the victory. Once again, Middlesbrough midfielder Mohamed Shawky played the entire game for Egypt.

Cameroon will play Sudan to wrap up the group stage and Egypt will take on Zambia, and it doesn't take a genius to predict that the favorites will most likely win those games. If that holds true, Egypt will win Group C and Cameroon would be the runner-up.

Group C Standings (after two games):

1. Egypt (6 points, +5 goal differential)
2. Cameroon (3 pts, +2 GD)
3. Zambia (3 pts, -1 GD)
4. Sudan (0 pts, -6 GD)

Today's games could be very interesting as Group D is in action. All four teams in the group are even right now with a point each and to me, this is the most evenly matched group in the tournament, by far. Senegal and Angola will meet although interestingly enough, it was Angola who was one of Africa's representatives in the last World Cup, not Senegal; and Tunisia will play the hosts of the 2010 World Cup, South Africa.