AFCON
Five lessons from World Cup qualifiers days 1 and 2
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The road to Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup for the African teams have been mapped out and the race has begun in earnest. Two match days have gone for 38 of the 40 teams as only Guinea and Morocco still have their matchday 2 fixture suspended owing to the political situation in Guinea.
Some teams have already surged forward in their respective groups and are set to consolidate on their leadership. One of such is the Super Eagles of Nigeria which have maximum points obtainable from the two fixtures gone.
From their two matches and some others that have direct relevance to their future fixtures, some lessons could be gleaned.
- Impossible is nothing: There were initial fears occasioned by Britain’s refusal to allow Premiership football players to travel to certain countries which included that of Nigeria’s matchday 2 opponents, Cape Verde. The direct consequent of that was that no fewer than 10 regulars were excused from playing against Cape Verde. Playing such a crucial match against a team that once ranked among Africa’s top 5 and was at brink of making it to Brazil 2014, was really worrisome. Nigeria had to field previously five uncapped players. To have come out victorious in such a delicate situation underscored the strength and resilence of the team. The lesson here is that determination and zeal are key to victory.
- No team is a push over: When the draw for the final competition of the Africa Cup of Nations was conducted, most Nigerians attention were primarily focussed on a potentially explosive encounter with Egypt. The secondary attention was on Sudan while debutants, Guinea Bissau only got passing attention as they were considered as merely making up the numbers. Guinea Bissau forced to play their home match against Guinea forced a 1-1 draw against one of the power houses of African football. Going away to Omdurman to play Sudan, the same team they will open their Group D Africa Cup of Nations, encounter with Cameroon next year, the hitherto unrated Guinea Bissau ran riots with goals, scoring four times against hosts, Sudan who needed added time to reduce their deficit to 4-2. This is an eye opener for the Super Eagles ahead of their 19 January 2022 Group D match with Guinea Bissau. Another lesson here is that no team can be under rated. Such should be the mindset next month in the back-to-back World Cup qualifying clash with Central African Republic.
- No team is invincible: Egypt may be the most successful team in the Africa Cup of Nations and therefore draw tremendous respect in the their fixtures. They are therefore logically considered as the main foes in Nigeria’s Group D next year. The Egyptians have been demystified in the two matchdays so far in the World Cup qualifiers leading to a change in the team’s technical crew. They struggled to a 1-0 win in their opening match in Cairo against Angola. They depended on the lottery of an early penalty kick to carry the day. They again needed an injury time goal to salvage a point in Gabon in the matchday two. If Angola and Gabon can box Egypt to the corner, the Super Eagles should aspire to do better.
- Maintaining winning mentality: If the Super Eagles can win their next fixtures, the back-to-back fixtures with Central African Republic, they will take a step higher than their performances in the last qualifying group for Russia 2018 as they will this time pick the group leadership, even with two matches to go. The only crucial match would then be the matchday 4 against Liberia in Monrovia as Nigeria’s last group match will be the home game with Cape Verde.
- Dividends of winning: If current winning mentality is maintained, the Super Eagles have a seven projected competitive matches up till the end of the group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations on 19 January. If they go all the way to the final, that brings their match schedule to 11 matches. They therefore have ample number of matches to improve on their FIFA ranking as that will be used for seeding in the final qualifying stage. There will be 10 group leaders at the end of November. These teams will be grouped into five groups of two teams to play in home and away direct elimination. The five top teams will be seeded in March. Potentially, the top group leaders Nigeria stand to avoid will be Algeria (Group A); Tunisia Group B); either Cote d’Ivoire or Cameroon (Group C); Egypt (Group G); Senegal (Group H) or possibly Morocco in Group I.
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.
Five-time winners Cameroon and 2019 champions Algeria both booked their places at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco after victories in qualifying on Monday, bringing the number of qualified teams to four.
Cameroon defeated Kenya 1-0 when Boris Enow scored the only goal of the game in neutral Kampala, while Ramy Bensebaini netted a first-half spot-kick winner for Algeria against Togo in Lome.
Enow drilled a low free-kick into the goal from just outside the box as Cameroon dominated the contest and did enough to win in the absence of their federation president Samuel Eto’o, who is serving a six-month stadium ban by world governing body FIFA.
The victory takes Cameroon to 10 points from four games in the pool and ensured they cannot finish outside of the top two, which is enough to secure a place at the 24-team finals.
Algeria have a full haul of 12 points from four games after Bensebaini converted a penalty on 18 minutes to give them lead, but they had to weather heavy pressure from their hosts, who created enough chances to get something from the game.
Cameroon and Algeria join the hosts and Burkina Faso as the four teams so far confirmed for the finals.
Zimbabwe moved into a strong position in their pool with a 3-1 win over Namibia in neutral Johannesburg that leaves them on eight points, four ahead of third-placed Kenya with two rounds to play. One of those fixtures is at home to Kenya next month.
Walter Musona scored a brace, one a penalty, to go with a strike from Prince Dube.
Equatorial Guinea are five points clear in second place in their pool after a 2-1 win over Liberia in Monrovia.
Luis Asue had them in front early, but William Gibson equalised for the hosts. Just as it appeared the game would end in a draw, Dorian Hanza netted a 94th minute winner.
Musa Barrow scored the decisive goal for Gambia in their 1-0 victory over Madagascar, making up for a penalty miss earlier in the game
Gambia move into second place in their pool, ahead of Comoros on head-to-head record, but having played a game more.
Mozambique moved to the top of their pool with a 3-0 win over Eswatini in Nelspruit, their first goal scored by 40-year-old winger Domingues.
They are five points clear of third-placed Guinea Bissau, who host Mali on Tuesday.
-Reuters
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