International Football
NIGERIA IN POT 2 OF CHAN DRAW
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s home based Super Eagles are in Pot 2 of the four-pot draw for the final of the competition holding in Morocco in January. The draw will be made at Sofitel Rabat in on Friday.
The seeding for the draw was made on Wednesday by the organising committee which put Nigeria along with Guinea, Zambia and Cameroon in the same pot.
Significantly, Zambia and Cameroon were in the same final qualifying group for Russia 2018 with Nigeria. The import of this is that the teams in the same pot will not fall into the same group for the competition.
The topmost seeded teams however are Morocco as the hosts along with Angola, Cote d’Ivoire and Libya. Results of the previous tournament shape the seeding.
The four Pots consisting of the 16 qualified teams were decided on the basis of a ranking established taking into account the performances at the past editions of the final tournament designed exclusively for footballers playing in their domestic leagues.
Pot 1: Morocco (host), Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya
Pot 2: Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Zambia
Pot 3: Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan
Pot 4: Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Namibia
The Organising Committee also approved the calendar for the final tournament which will run from 13 January to 4 February 2018 in the following cities: Casablanca (Group A), Marrakech (Group B), Tangier (Group C) and Agadir (Group D).
The opening match and the final will be played at the newly refurbished Mohamed V Complex in Casablanca, which also hosted the second leg final of the Total CAF Champions League 2017.
In making the draw, Morocco as the host which heads the first level of the seeded teams will be designated automatically as A1. From the trio of Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, the first to be drawn will go directly to position B1.
The next ball drawn will go directly to position C1 while the last will be in D1. After Pot 1, the next will be Pot 4 which has the quartet of Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and Namibia.
The procedure will be the same as in Pot 1. The first to be drawn goes directly to position A4. The next will be B4 and so on till the last which will be D4.
Then come the level 3 seeded team comprising Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. As in the preceding procedure, the first ball drawn will go directly to position A3.The second will be B3, the next being C3 and the last takes the position of D3.
Nigeria and the other three teams of the level two seeding will be the last to be drawn. The first one to be picked will go directly to position A2, followed by B2, C2 and D2.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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