BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

For the fifth time in the continental title chase, a Nigerian team will have to face a defending champion at a group stage.

The other instances that the Nigerian national team had to face defending champions in group stages were in the Africa Cup of Nations of 1976, 1984, 2010 and 2013 when the Super Eagles faced Zaire (now DR Congo), Ghana, Egypt and Zambia respectively.

This time at the African Nations Championship, the Super Eagles B have been drawn to play against Senegal who won the last edition in Algeria two years ago.

Senegal

They won the last edition, beating the home team, Algeria in a keenly contested final match that went beyond regulation time and had to be settled by penalty shoot-out.

In winning, Senegal became the first country to simultaneously hold the continental flagship competition, the AFCON and also CHAN.

They extended their dominance to the winning of both the U-20 and U-17 AFCON.

Two of the players who featured in the last edition of CHAN are in the current squad that has again qualified.

They are Serigné Koita and Aboudoulaye Dieng.  It is expected that their experience will count a lot for Senegal.  

The team is under Coach Souleymane Diallo, a rising coaching figure in Senegalese football.

He had distinguished himself by developing promising talents on the international stage.

Senegal’s Coach Souleymane Diallo

According to information supplied by CAF, Diallo’s record testifies to his ability to combine training and character development in players, making him a key asset in the progression of Senegalese football.

 He is distinguished by a pragmatic and balanced tactical approach and a solid and structured defence, built around a compact block.

This defensive organisation is based on strict discipline and fluid communication between the lines.

In the attack, Diallo favours a direct approach. The rapid transition phases are at the heart of his system, exploiting the speed and technicality of his attackers to catch the opposing defences by surprise.

Congo

The Congolese are going to the African Nations Championship for the fifth time in eight editions. They are therefore a step ahead of Nigeria in terms of attendance.

They were quarter-finalists in 2018 and 2020. The team is nicknamed the Red Devils.

The team’s head coach is Barthélémy Ngatsono. The player to watch is Chelcy Bonazebi, the team’s goalkeeper.

Almost a replica of Nigeria’s legendary Emmanuel Okala, Bonazebi stands at 1.97m and has exceptional reflexes. He is just slightly shorter than Okala who is 1.98m.

Just like Okala in those days, Bonazebi is known for his commanding aerial ability and excellent game reading. His calm demeanour under pressure and ability to organize the backline has been a major factor in Congo’s qualification.

Sudan

The team is known as Falcons of Jediane. Like Nigeria, the Sudanese are going to the African Nations Championship for the fourth time. Their best outing has been at the 2011 and 2018 edition when they finished third.

In Nigeria’s march to the title match of 2018, the Super Eagles eliminated Sudan in the semi-final after a hard-fought 1-0 win. Great thanks to Gabriel Okechukwu’s 16th-minute strike.

The team is being handled by Ghana’s Kwesi Appiah who achieved a double by also qualifying Sudan’s main national team for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Ghana’s Coach Kwesi Appian steering Sudan to great heights

Appiah previously coached several clubs, such as the Ghanaian outfit Asante Kotoko and the Sudanese club Khartoum between 2014 and 2017, where he achieved remarkable success.
Former Ghana international Appiah coached Ghana from 2012 to 2014 and played a big role in their qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He led them for a second time too between 2017 and 2020. Apart from the tactical approach of Kwesi Appiah , the Nigerian team will have to watch out for Mohamed Abdel Rahman ‘Al-Ghorbal’, a striker of the Sudanese club Al-Hilal.

He is the most prominent player in the Sudanese national team and the third-highest scorer for Sudan.
Rahman has a lot of experience due to his experience with clubs in Sudan and abroad, which will undoubtedly benefit the Falcons of Jediane during the 2024 CHAN finals.

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The draw for the 2024 African Nations Cup has thrown up intriguing fixtures for Nigeria Super Eagles-B. They managed to avoid the three co-hosts of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but drew stiff opponents from the defending champions and African powerhouse, Senegal in Group D.

They also have Congo, two-time quarterfinalists to contend with. The other team in Group D is Sudan, a two-time third-place finisher.  

Kenya, debutant and one of the three host countries even has a more daunting challenge in Group A.  

They will face two teams who are two-time champions, Morocco and DR Congo. In addition, they will face Angola, runners-up in 2011 and Zambia, third-place finishers at the inaugural edition in 2009.

Kenya becomes the 34th country to feature at the African Nations Championship. Group A where the Kenyans will be competing has five teams.

In Group B, Tanzania, another host country will be facing the quartet of Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic 

Group C has the third host nation, Uganda along with Niger Republic, Guinea and two other teams that will emerge from the second-tier qualifying series.

THE GROUPS

• Group A: Kenya, Morocco, Angola, DR Congo, Zambia
• Group B: Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic 
• Group C: Uganda, Niger, Guinea, Q2, Q1,
• Group D: Senegal, Congo, Sudan, Nigeria.

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The Confederation of African Football, CAF, has announced that there will be another qualifying championship to make up for the shortage in the final field of CHAN 2024.

At the moment, 16 teams are comprising the three co-host countries and the 13 others that qualified through the qualifying series. The wild card earlier offered to Rwanda may have been withdrawn as the country is no longer listed.

Late entrant, Algeria, may have also been turned back. The final draw will still go ahead as CAF announced that two nations “must still be confirmed through a series of qualifier matches ahead of the August 2025 tournament.” The final field will now be 18.

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