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A New Football Order Unfolding In Africa –

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A New Football Order Unfolding In Africa -

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations has brought out some glaring revelations. The old order is fast changing as football super powers are now finding life very suffocating from hitherto lesser powers.

The first indication was when Nigeria’s Super Eagles were battled standstill by Equatorial Guinea, who before last Sunday had neither scored nor drawn a match with Nigeria.

Hours later, the most successful team in Africa Cup of Nations’ history and loaded to the hilt, Egypt had to escape to a draw, thanks to the late lottery of penalty kick.

Ghana Black Stars have been upstaged by Cape Verde who are making their fourth appearance as against the 102 of the four-time African champions and the team that won eternally, the original Africa Cup of Nations’ trophy.

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Since, there have been more shocks. The biggest of which is the Tuesday’s decimation of Tunisia by Namibia who had hitherto went nine matches without a win. In recording their famous win against the 2004 champions, the Namibians ruined the milestone achievement of Tunisian ace, Youssef Msakni who played his 100th international match.

The talents of veteran Msakni combined with that of Ben Slimane could not inspire Tunisia to capitalise on their domination against the Namibian upstarts. Former champions, South Africa also got a dose of the bitter tablets from Mali as they lost an initial penalty kick and then conceded two goals within six minutes to go down 2-0.

With the flurry of upsets, which is the next big power to get the shock treatment?

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Libya’s AFCON dreams go up in flames!

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The hopes of Libya securing a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations ticket seem to have gone up in smoke.  This is the sequel to the 2-1 defeat that Rwanda inflicted on the Benin Republic on Tuesday evening.

With the result, Libya’s position is further cemented at the bottom of the table. Nigeria, even with an outstanding match, still leads with seven points.

They are followed by Benin Republic who have six points. Rwanda followed with five points.

The star men were  Innocent Nshuti and Djihad Bizimana  who scored in the space of two minutes as Rwanda came from behind to defeat Benin 2-1 at Amahoro Stadium on Tuesday, October 15.

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Rwanda breaks 12-year jinx in victory over Benin Republic

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FILE PHOTO: Rwanda players celebrate in the dressing room after beating Lesotho 1-0 on Tuesday in Durban, South Africa, to go top of Group C in the ongoing World Cup 2026 qualifiers-courtesy.

Rwanda’s defeat of Benin Republic is not just their first win in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, the victory terminates a 12-year winless streak against the Cheetah of Benin.

It is also a renewal of their hopes of qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. But they still have two more games to play.

The German made two changes from the side that started against Benin last week as Samuel Gueulette and Emmanuel Imanishimwe came in for Kevin Muhire and Claude Niyomugabo respectively.

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AFCON

Libya vs Nigeria: CAF lifts the burden off Nigeria

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The press release on Tuesday by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) may have lifted a burden off Nigeria as the match with Libya is considered postponed rather than the Super Eagles refusing to play.

The continental body remarked that the matter would be referred to the competent CAF bodies.

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