International Football
Bayelsa Queens: For Nigeria, will it be another AS FAR bridge too far?
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
When Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens face hosts, AS FAR of Morocco tonight in the semi-finals of the CAF Women’s Champions League, beyond the quest for championship ticket, vengeance should be oozing out of their veins.
AS FAR is a club beloging to the Royal Army – the Association sportive des Forces armées royales.
This is a strong army Nigerian football clubs have found difficult to overcome. There have been seven Nigerian clubs, cutting across generations and gender that have been dealt with by AS FAR.
Remo Stars were the latest victim among men’s club. Last year, at the inaugural edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League in Egypt, AS FAR beat Nigeria’s Rivers Angels 3-0.
Will Bayelsa Queens also make the numbers of AS FAR victims? Only Heartland as Iwuanyawu Nationale ever escape from the artillery of AS FAR.
Even then, it was through the lottery of penalty shootout at the semi-finals of the old styled Africa Cup of Champions Clubs in 1988 when the Nigerian side prevailed 5-3 on penalties after 4-4 aggregate scores.
Before then, AS FAR had in 1968 eliminated Staionery Stores over three legs in the old styled Champions League.
Stores won the first leg 1-0 in Lagos but lost the return match in Rabat 2-1. Nether the away goal rule nor penalty shootout was in operation then.
A third match was played in Dakar Senegal by mutual agreement. After the match finished 2–2 when extra time expired, AS FAR won by drawing of lots.
After that of Iwuanyanwu Nationale in 1988, the next Nigerian sides to face AS FAR were the Wikki Tourists in the 1999 edition of the now discontinued African Winners’ Cup. At the quarter final stage, Wikki Tourists crashed out 3-0 on aggregate.
But in the 2009 Champions League, Iwuanyanwu Nationale ousted the Moroccans after winning 3-1 at home and forcing a 1-1 draw in Rabat in the second round of the competition.
AS FAR again faced Dolphin of Port Harcourt and Enugu Rangers at the 2005 Confederation Cup. The Moroccans ousted Rangers on away goal rule at the play-off stage. The encounters ended 2-2.
In the final, Dolphins lost 3-1 on aggregate. Remo Stars are the latest victims. After forcing an impressive 1-1 draw in Rabat, they crumbled 0-1 at home in the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Will Bayelsa Queens avenge for the other Nigerian clubs?
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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