Welcome to the Trequartista Sweeper, or what used to be the news tidbits piece for Soccer Central Philippines. The feature is all about making an effort to cover everything in and around football, whether it is local or international.The decision to name it as such is to combine the elements of an attacking and a defending position, making sure you get as much coverage as possible. It is hoped that we are able to give you some little snippets of football to interest you, the reader.

Cover photo taken from here.

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In Africa, the biggest football competition in the continent just kicked off this week. The countries of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are hosting this year's edition of the African Cup of Nations, the final one in an even-numbered year. It had been pre-agreed upon that the event will be done on odd-numbered years to avoid having this event on a World Cup year. Since the competition falls during the club season in Europe, stars like reigining African Footballer of the year Yaya Toure of Manchester City and Didier Drogba of Chelsea (both from Ivory Coast) and the Senegalese strike force of Moussa Sow (Lille OSC) and Demba Ba (Newcastle) will be sorely missed by their clubs. In fact, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini bemoans the absence of his defender in their Premiership-leading side, saying that no one in the club can fill his missing boots.

4 Groups of 4 Nations per group were formed after a grueling qualification phase that weeded out perennial contenders Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. These comprise the ff:

Group A: Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal, Zambia

Group B: Angola, Burkina Faso, Cote D'Ivoire, Sudan

Group C: Gabon, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia

Group D: Botswana, Ghana, Guinea, Mali

The biggest surprise has been the outright elimination of Senegal in the competition.  The team will not advance due to back-to-back 2-1 losses against Zambia and hosts Equatorial Guinea, officially becoming the first team eliminated.

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Club Cup competition is also underway in certain parts of the world, allowing teams to dream of chances to get more silverware for their fans, whether nationally or regionally.

The Carling Cup final matchup has just been decided in England. This first seat for Wembley was secured by Welsh side Cardiff City, winning against fellow Championship side Crystal Palace 3-1 in penalties after two legs of 1-0 results benefitting both sides. They will be facing Premiership side Liverpool, who advanced thanks to a 3-2 aggregate win against league-leading Manchester City, boosted by a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Second-tier teams have not really been successful in the final, though, as the last five teams to pull it off since 1991 were defeated by their top-tier opposition. The weekend will be chock full of FA Cup action, highlighted by the Liverpool - Manchester United tie.

In Italy, the Coppa Italia semifinal slate is complete. The Bianconeri booked their spot first, ousting Roma 3-0. Siena followed suit with a 1-0 win over Chievo. They will be facing Napoli, who took care of business against the Nerazzuri thanks to a brace from Uruguayan international Edison Cavani. The team to face Juventus will be AC Milan. The Rossoneri handled Lazio 3-1 to move on.

In Spain, the cast is complete for the Copa Del Rey SemiFinal. FC Barcelona continue their domination of their rivals Real Madrid, who could only manage a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp, a goal short from advancing. They will be facing Valencia, who overwhelmed Levante in their tie. The better story lies with the other semifinal matchup. Athletic Bilbao did its part, taking care of business against Mallorca. Their opponent will be Segunda B side CD Mirandes. The third-tier team needed a second-half injury time strike from Cesar Caneda to advance via the skin of their teeth, a 2-1 win and a 4-4 aggregate away goal win against RCD Espanyol, their third straight Primera Division side they have slayed (after Villareal and Racing Santander). Their captain, 31-yr old Pablo Infante, is the leading goal scorer in the Copa Del Rey, who also doubles as a bank clerk in his spare time.

In South America, Copa Libertadores action kicked off with 1st round action. 6 teams will play their way into the 2nd round via a two-leg match against fellow South American & Mexican teams. The 1st leg matches are this week, while the return leg is the following week. The matchups are as follows: Arsenal (Argentina) versus Sport Huancayo (Peru), El Nacional (Ecuador) versus Libertad (Paraguay), Unión Española (Chile) versus Tigres UANL (Mexico), Real Potosí (Bolivia) versus Flamengo (Brazil), Internacional (Brazil) versus Once Caldas (Colombia), and Peñarol (Uruguay) versus Caracas (Venezuela). Those who advanced have already been predrawn into the Groups in the next stage of the competition, where the likes of Santos. Boca Juniors and Corinthians await.

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In football, there have always been debates as to who is the best player of all time, or this player from this generation is better than this player from this generation. Well, ten illustrious football writers from Sports Illustrated decided to conduct a SuperDraft to assemble their own super team of all-time greats spanning different eras and with the help of Sports Interactive (the minds behind the successful Football Manager Series), ran a 10-team league. Click on the link, read and think for yourself if these writers did themselves proud with their drafting skills.

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I will use this little space to end the piece with my own two cents from the local football scene.

1. I knew when the Philboxing article came out, something was fishy about it when it did not contain a quote from the Philippine Football Federation or even from Team Manager Dan Palami. So I found it strange to know that there is already something set up and yet no word from the football people at the time it came out. Thus the confusion and the controversy.

2. My fellow football writers and fans have chimed in on this matter and expounded their case much better than I would (from Rick Olivares to Ryan Fenix to Mika Palileo to Mike Limpag), to which I agree on and share their sentiment. I feel that Loyola Meralco and Kaya FC management were in their prerogative not to make their players available. At the same time, I applaud the clubs to agreed to loan out their players for the Kia Rio Cup friendly, especially to Mr. Palami's Global FC squad, who had a match earlier that same day. Good for them, even if undermanned, that they still managed to win their match against Pasargad, without the called up individuals. Laos FC, where the Angeles Twins play for, played Division 2 the next day. Ditto for Division 1 side Army Fritz & Macziol. Thus, there needs to be clear coordination between the different leagues and the PFF to avoid hang-ups like this in the future.

3. I view friendlies as opportunities to finetune, tinker and experiment with lineups as much as it should build chemistry for future competitions. It is a means wherein we can see what do we have in our pool and to discover potential rotation players in any scenario resulting in unavailability of certain players. So it was rewarding to see the likes of the Stallion FC players getting playing time. Heck, who knew that we would be discussing the merits of Nestor Margarse being the man of the match. Still, the search continues for quality players who can contribute and help with developing the side, from the youth aspect thanks to the different grassroots campaigns, to the senior side.

4. Having seen all ten teams in the UFL in the past two weeks (Air Force, Kaya, Loyola, Green Archers on UFL Opening Saturday; Army and Global the next day; Navy, Nomads and Pasargad this past Saturday and Stallion last Tuesday), my inkling that someone outside the Big Four (Air Force, Global, Kaya, Loyola) will finish in the top 3 has been reaffirmed.

5. If you bleed green, sooner or later, the breaks will eventually fall your way. The Green Archers have drawn all their matches so far in the UAAP, whilst Green Archers Orient Freight United FC fell short in UFL action, from muffing two penalty attempts and a goal that was not called against Loyola Meralco to that frenetic late sequence in the against Kaya.