AFCON
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS QUALIFYING: FIVE TALKING POINTS
After 539 days, 150 matches and 331 goals, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying has been completed, bar one match.
Sierra Leone and Benin did not play in Freetown on Tuesday because the visitors challenged Covid-19 test results that would have ruled out five of their squad.
The fixture has been rescheduled for the May 31-June 15 international window with Sierra Leone trailing Benin by three points in Group L and needing a victory to overtake them and qualify.
Here, AFP Sport looks at five talking points ahead of the 24-team finals in Cameroon next January with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah set to be star attractions.
Almost perfect
Former champions Tunisia performed best of the 48 teams who started the group phase, collecting 16 points of a possible 18 and winning Group J at a canter.
The Carthage Eagles were particularly impressive against North African neighbours Libya, winning 4-1 at home and 5-2 away.
Seifeddine Jaziri, Saifeddine Khaoui and Wahbi Khazri posed the biggest attacking threats, scoring three goals each for a team coached by local Mondher Kebaier.
Dynamic Daka
Young Zambia forward Patson Daka confirmed his reputation as a rising star of African football by scoring five goals in the qualifying campaign, four of which came in the last two rounds.
He was a key figure in the team that won the 2017 Africa U20 Cup of Nations and soon after moved to Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, featuring regularly in the UEFA Champions League.
His performances atoned for another disastrous campaign by Zambia, who came third behind Algeria and Zimbabwe in Group H, and will miss the finals for the third consecutive time.
Awesome Algeria
Cup of Nations holders Algeria stretched an unbeaten run in competitive and friendly matches to 24 by hammering Botswana 5-0 in the final round.
It began in November 2019 with a 4-1 Cup of Nations qualifying victory in Togo, and the Desert Foxes have since won 17 matches and drawn seven, scoring 51 goals and conceding 16.
Algeria must stay unbeaten for three more matches to better the record of the Ivory Coast, who went 26 matches without losing between 2011 and 2013.
New faces
The Comoros and the Gambia qualified for the first time, increasing to 44 the number of countries who have qualified for the premier African national team competition.
They will hope to at least match Madagascar, who marked their maiden appearance in 2019 by defeating Nigeria en route to the quarter-finals.
The countries who have never qualified are the Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Lesotho, Sao Tome e Principe, the Seychelles, Somalia and South Sudan.
Uganda collapse
While the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa were the highest profile casualties, the failure of Uganda to secure a third straight appearance was the most spectacular.
The Cranes garnered seven points from a possible nine by the halfway stage in Group B and seemed certainties to finish among the top two.
A shock defeat by South Sudan and a draw with Burkina Faso left them needing a point in Malawi to go through, but they lost 1-0 and veteran goalkeeper Denis Onyango wept at the final whistle.
AFP
Ghana Black Stars lost 2-0 to Sudan Tuesday afternoon in matchday 4 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series putting their prospects in great doubt.
The former three-time African champions are now third in Group F having accrued just two points from four matches. Sudan, with seven points, are second.
Angola, who still have a match to play later in the day with bottom-placed Niger, are on top with nine points.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its
Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.
Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar.
Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.
On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.
In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”
If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000. Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation, and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.
A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)
Here are the decision-makers:
Disciplinary Board
- Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
- Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
- Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
- Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
- Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
- Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
- Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
- Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
- Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member
Appeal Board
Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria
Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde
Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia
Moses Ikanqa, Namibia
Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania
Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti
Asogbavi Komlan, Togo
Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi
Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.
As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.
A win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight. That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.
They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match. A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.
In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.
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