Weekly Round-up (13/02/12)

This week I feel the need to open with an apology to a one Mr. L. Saha of Tottenham Hotspur. In last week's post, I bemoaned Harry Redknapp's decision to sign a striker "blighted by injuries" and who may have been considered past his best. On his home debut for Spurs, The Frenchman scored two well taken goals and showed signs of a superb understanding with strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor. All I can hope for now is that Saha continues his Spurs career in similar fashion as we look to consolidate third place and maybe even push for the title.

Ahead of us this week in football is the return of the Champions League. The first legs of the round of 16 ties are split over this week and next, with the sole English club playing this week being Arsenal. The Gunners have a tough game against reigning Italian champions AC Milan. It is worth noting, however, that the Rossoneri were knocked out by Arsenal's North London rivals Tottenham. Judging by the gulf in class in some of the ties, such as Lyon vs APOEL Nicosia, it could be argued that this tie is the eye-catching one of the round.

At the weekend, a Six Nations game was called off for the first time due to bad weather as the France-Ireland match was postponed due to a frozen pitch. I for one am glad the game did not go ahead as Ireland will - hopefully- not have to suffer the ignominy of losing back-to-back games in the championship for the first time as their next game will now be against Italy. Saying that, the Azzurri put in a good display against England, who again had to scraped for victory.

And finally this week, some heartwarming news from the African Cup of Nations. Zambia took home the trophy for the first time. But more importantly, they won 19 years after arguably their best generation of players was wiped out in a plane crash off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, where yesterday's final took place. Watching the game yesterday, I always had the feeling that the Chipolopolo would win against the heavily fancied Ivory Coast. There was a sense of an equilibrium when Stoppila Sunzu scored the winning penalty. I hope Zambia are able to build on this success, which is what they deserved after the sorrow of 1993.