Inter Continental Cup

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Inter Continental Cup
Founded	2008
Region	International (FIFA)
Number of teams	8
Current champions	Nigeria Olympic Team
Malaysia 2008

A new football tournament that brings together a mixed pot of talent from the various continents comes into being next month.

Called the invitational Inter Continental Cup to be staged in Kuala Lumpur on May 15-25, the eight-nation tournament promises to be a 10-day football spectacle, featuring the stars of tomorrow, today.

Born of an intense passion and love for the game, the Cup is an avenue for teams bound for the Beijing Olympics to fine-tune their preparations. In Olympic terms, Argentina Olympic Team, Nigeria Olympic Teamand Australia Olympic Team are footballing giants who stand an equal chance of mounting the podium in Beijing.

The world would then be watching the Inter Continental Cup with bated breath. Argentina was drawn in Group B of the Inter Continental Cup with the likes of Croatia, Ghana and Australia, certainly the Group of death for the inaugural event. Hosts Malaysia will do battle with Iraq, Rep of Ireland and Nigeria in Group A. The Inter Continental Cup is promoted and financed by renowned player in the global stage, Octagon, with the co-operation of FA of Malaysia as the organizers.

Argentina, the Athens 2004 gold medalists with an impeccable track record in age group football, shall start as favorites to retain the gold in Beijing. Having his resources scattered worldwide, Argentina Olympic Coach Sergio Batista can call upon starlets Lionel Messi, Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero to don the Albicelestes.

Malaysian fans may bear witness to Batista’s homegrown talent such as Jonathan Maidana, Damian Escudero, Augusto Fernadez, Gabriel Paletta, Alejandro Gomez or emerging talents already based in Europe like Ezequiel Garay, Emiliano Insua, Franco Di Santo and Lucas Biglia.

Australia or the Olyroos boast of a number of talented youngsters, including Matthew Spiranovic of Nurnberg, James Wesolowski, Adrian Leijer, Adam Federici, Neil Kilkenny and Dario Vidosic. Graham Arnold’s squad will have a camp in Australia early in May before jetting off to Malaysia. Five weeks ago, the Olyroos drew 1-1 with Mexico in front of a 40,000 crowd in San Francisco. These matches continue an impressive match schedule for the Olyroos who qualified for the Olympics with a 1-1 draw in Pyongyang, North Korea last November. With Danny Vukovic unlikely to play at the Olympics, Arnold may use the Kuala Lumpur stint as an opportunity to have a look at Liverpool’s promising reserve team goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.

The Nigerian Olympic squad is already dubbed Dream Team IV, illustrating the nation’s high expectations of Samson Siasia’s disciples. The Flying Eagles became the final team to earn a ticket to Beijing but are likely to be the most charismatic of the African representatives. With the World Youth Championship 2005 runners-up team forming the nucleus of Siasia’s soldiers, Nigeria seem on course to repeat the golden effort of the 1996 generation that boasted Nwankwo Kanu. Everton striker Victor Anichebe and Olympique Marseille’s Taye Taiwo are the pick of the current crop. Siasia who guided his team to the African Youth Championship and later the World Youth Championship runners-up in 2005, has already been linked to the hotseat at Bolton Wanderers. The matches will be played at the KLFA Stadium in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur and the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.