Nigerian forward, Odion Ighalo, has announced his retirement following the Super Eagle’s third placed victory over Tunisia on night at Egypt 2019.
Odion, who is the highest goal scorer in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, informed coach Gernot Rohr of his decision before leaving to join his club in China immediately after the game.
“He had discussed his decision with the coach before the third-place match, saying that the constant abuse was taking a toll on his young family but he was advised to keep it under wraps for the moment. After the game, he gave his jersey as a souvenir to the coach, said his goodbyes and left,” a source stated.
Prior to the game, the 30-year-old posted a message on his WhatsApp status update that simply said “Final Game”.
“He has been very strong for us,” Rohr said, “And it is sad that he wants not to continue.
“But the door always is open for him any time.”
Ighalo, something of a late bloomer, made his senior debut for Nigeria in 2015 as the Super Eagles lost 1-0 to Uganda in a friendly.
He made 35 appearances for Nigeria, scoring 16 goals.
He was also top scorer through the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers with four goals and he could also finish the tournament as top scorer having scored five in Egypt.
Cutting out individual errors will be a priority for Nigeria when they take on holders Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations in Alexandria on Saturday.
A defensive lapse from centre back Leon Balogun saw Nigeria concede early and go on to be upset 2-0 by Madagascar in their last group game.
It was result that relegated Nigeria to second place in the group and effectively set up a meeting with their neighbours and arch rivals in the first knockout round.
“I’m scared of us committing individual errors and I hope we won’t have individual errors again tomorrow that will cost us,” said Coach Gernot Rohr, who is hoping the hiccup against the Malagasy might yet turn out to be a positive.
“The match against Madagascar was a little deception but we and the fans have learnt to be humble.”
He said the team wanted make amends after that disappointment.
“There were changes in the team to play some players and keep them in the rhythm of the competition but now the best team has to start against Cameroon to do their best and make Nigeria proud,” the coach added.
Nigeria and Cameroon have a long history of struggles for hegemony in the African game, with the Super Eagles having the upper hand in their last contest, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
“You know when you hear Cameroon and Nigeria there is always a sense of revenge,” he said.
“We know that Cameroon are very strong with good footballing education in France and we hope we can find their weak points,” he added.
“It is now that the real tournament is starting for us and we have seen the fixtures. All eight games are very difficult for everybody. Even for Egypt and of course for ourselves.”
Rohr confirmed captain John Mikel Obi is ruled out of the game because of injury. (ESPN)
Mali have expelled striker Adama Niane from their squad for indiscipline, the third player to be turned out by his team at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
“Adama Niane was excluded from the Eagles group for non-respect,” said the team’s media officer Ibrahim Coulibaly.
Reports said the 26-year-old Belgium-based player had slapped a team mate in an altercation over queuing.
The decision came on the eve of Friday’s Group E match against Tunisia in Suez.
Burundi had sent home 32-year-old midfielder Selemani Ndikumana for ill-discipline before their first game without offering any further details.
On Wednesday Egypt sent Amr Warda packing for what the Egypt Football Association described as “disciplinary reasons”.
Warda, who plays for Greek club Atromitos on loan from PAOK, has been widely accused of trolling women on social media.
He has been the subject of a previous complaint, filed with Egypt’s Attorney General, of harassing a fashion model on Instagram.
Warda has since posted a video on Facebook in which he apologised.
He apologised to his family, his team mates, to the EFA and to “anyone who is upset at me or anyone I have upset” as his team mates rallied around him.
Among them was Mohamed Salah who said: “Women must be treated with the utmost respect.
“But I also believe that many who make mistakes can change for the better and shouldn’t be sent straight to the guillotine, which is the easiest way out.
“We need to believe in second chances… we need to guide and educate. Shunning is not the answer.”(Reuters/NAN)
Former Super Eagles striker, Uchenna Nwofor has backed Nigeria to do well at the forthcoming AFCON in Egypt due to the array of talents in the national team.
Nwofor who was part of the late Stephen Keshi’s 23-man team list for the World Cup in Brazil, spoke to Sports247. “I so much believe in Nigeria, I have no doubts that they will do well because of the talents in the team”.
“With the results, we have been getting now, that is the national team, I want to believe it will be a morale booster for them ahead of the two friendly matches and in Egypt for the Nations Cup”.
Nwofor last attempted comeback in the Algerian top flight was halted in devastating fashion couple of months back when the Nigeria international picked up a serious knee injury.
The 27-year-old moved to Kabylie last year in a bid to relaunch his career.
It’s been five years since the striker’s career was ‘on the up’, as he enjoyed three seasons in Dutch football with VVV-Venlo and SC Heerenveen.
Aware of the challenges ahead of them when the 2019 AFCON kicks off in Egypt next month, Burundi head coach Oliver Niyungeko believes his lads would not be intimidated by the pedigree of Nigeria and Guinea with the qualities of the West African teams.
Despite acknowledging that they would face a daunting task advancing from Group B, the home-grown tactician told CAFonline yesterday that they would give their best against the Coach Genor Rohr side.
Burundi will be making their debut at the continental football showpiece qualified in Group C in the qualifiers ahead of Gabon will battle Madagascar, Nigeria and Guinea for a place in the next round of the competition holding in Egypt.
“It is a very tough group because apart from Madagascar; Nigeria and Guinea are teams who have experience playing in this competition. We will do our best, take a match at a time and represent Burundi in the best way we can,” Niyungeko admitted.
The tactician would be relying on the experience of his foreign-based lads at the Mundial. “We have many players turning out in other African countries and in Asia but the two had a very big influence in the team. When they came in, they gave a lot of motivation to the other players showing them that anything is possible and football can indeed change someone’s life.” Niyungeko said.
“They influenced the players in a positive way and it made my work easier as a coach. They want their teammates to follow in their paths and told them that qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations would put their careers in a good place,” the tactician stated.
With a target of doing very well in Egypt, Niyungeko said: “My target is to ensure we do our best. We are not here to show weakness or participate. We are here to compete and show that our qualification was no fluke. There are 24 teams and each has equal chance and we are also part of that with an equal chance.
“It is possible to reach any target we set and I believe in my players and that we can work hard and do well in this tournament,” he stated.
Considering the quality of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) is seeking a friendly against the Coach Genor Rohr side as part of Taifa Stars’ build-up to the 2019 AFCON holding in Egypt next month.
According to TFF Technical Director, Ammy Ninje said yesterday that the federation had made a request to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for this proposal.
Aside from Nigeria, Tanzania is also willing to tackle Ghana and Burundi as part of their preparation for the tournament in Egypt.
Having been drawn in Group C alongside Kenya, Algeria and Senegal, Ninje said their intention was to play as many friendlies as possible before their first group match against Senegal on June 23 in Cairo.
Already, they had scheduled a friendly against Egypt on June 13 in Cairo and Ninje believes this would help the team to cause surprise in Egypt.
Their last appearance at AFCON was in 1980 in Lagos and the TFF Technical Director said: “Only one match has been confirmed which is against Egypt. However, we are still waiting for a response from Nigeria, Ghana and Burundi. We have so many technical plans aiming to make some of the team players to get international exposure.”
Taifa Stars are expected to resume camping early next month after head coach, Emmanuel Amuneke named a 39-man provisional squad for AFCON.
Super Eagles are now set to take on fellow 2019 AFCON qualifiers Benin in a warm-up game in June after a proposed friendly with Ghana was called off.
It was first reported that a proposed with the Black Stars was never going to come off because Ghana have already arranged a training camp in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the AFCON around the same time.
Officials have now informed SCORENIGERIA that efforts are now geared for the Eagles to face Benin Republic in Asaba in the first week of June before they head out to Egypt for the AFCON.
The Eagles will also battle Senegal in Egypt as part of their build-up for the 2019 AFCON.
Last month they beat AFCON hosts Egypt 1-0 in a friendly in Asaba.
Football fans on Saturday have counsel the Super Eagles against complacency with the group pairings them at the draw of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Some of them who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin said they should not underrate the teams because there are no longer minors in football.
NAN reports that the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been paired in Group B with Guinea, Madagascar and Burundi for the 2019 AFCON scheduled to hold from June 21 to July 19 in Egypt.
Mr Tope Aderinoye said the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should ensure they start preparation immediately and not think that the group stage would be easy.
”It might not be easy as everybody thinks, so it is better the NFF engage them now, so that by the time the tournament starts, they would have crossed the ‘t’ and dotted the ‘i’s.
”This is because we cannot afford not to come out of that group convincingly,” Aderinoye said.
Another respondent, Mr Ibrahim Abdulrahman said the players and the coaching crew should clear the thoughts that the other teams in the group are minors.
1997 African Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba has described Group B where Nigeria has been paired against Guinea, Madagascar and Burundi for the 2019 AFCON as easy.
However, Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Gernot Rohr has revealed that Nigeria would play the Black Stars of Ghana and the Teranga Lions of Senegal in an international friendly as part of preparations for 2019 AFCON.
According to Rohr, the game against Ghana will hold in Asaba, while the second friendly with Senegal is slated for Egypt.
Sylla
The opening match of the 2019 AFCON, which will feature the Pharaohs versus the Warriors of Zimbabwe, is scheduled to take place at the 74,100-seat Cairo Stadium on June 21.
The 2019 AFCON draw was held at the magnificent Giza Pyramids and Sphinx last night but before the event, Ikpeba who was an analyst on a cable television picked Burundi, Namibia and Madagascar as the countries he wanted in the Eagles’ group.
Ikpeba whose prediction was almost accurate apart from Namibia whom he got wrong, opined that the Super Eagles were lucky to be handed easy opponents in the group stages.
Nigeria could not make it to the last two editions of the AFCON and incidentally, it was the Syli Nationale of Guinea that stopped the Eagles from qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations after ending the qualifiers with a 2–2 draw, with goals from Ikechukwu Uche and Victor Obinna.
Nigeria coached by the late Stephen Keshi, came back in the 2013 edition hosted in South Africa; after playing through the tournament with an unbeaten run, defeated Burkina Faso in the finals to lift the Cup for the third time. However, they did not qualify for the next two tournaments.
In Group B are two countries; Burundi and Madagascar that are making their debuts at Africa’s flagship tournament with Burundi coming very close to qualifying for the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations, losing only on penalties to Guinea in a playoff.
On paper, The Swallows of Burundi looks like the weakest team in the group but the fact that they booked a ticket ahead of Gabon that parades Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, says a lot about how they have improved.
On 16 October 2018, Madagascar became the first country to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in their history, after they won 1–0 against Equatorial Guinea.
They qualified from a group that had the Teranga Lions of Senegal with all their superstars including Liverpool’s maverick, Sadio Mane.
Ikpeba
The Syli Nationale of Guinea will undoubtedly pose the toughest challenge to the Super Eagles from the way they qualified ahead of the Elephants of Ivory Coast in the qualifiers.
On June 10, 2017, Guinea humiliated Ivory Coast 3-2 in Abidjan and though they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Elephants in the reverse game in Conakry, they still went ahead to qualify as group winners.
Their best finish in the Africa Cup of Nations was second in 1976. The team reached the quarter-finals in four recent tournaments (2004, 2006, 2008, and 2015).
Last night’s draw was historic in its own right, being the first time that twenty-four teams will compete and in a competition taking place mid-year, away from the traditional January – February.
Yaya Touré, the Ivorian champion and four-time winner of the CAF African Player of the Year award, was on stage alongside Ahmed Hassan, record-holder of the number of caps with Egypt (184) and Former African Player of the Year, El Hadji Diouf as well CAF Deputy General Secretary, Anthony Baffoe.
Other CAF legends also in the Egyptian capital are Joseph Antoine Bell and Rigobert Song.
Bafana Bafana of South Africa are through to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after beating Libya in their final qualification match at the Stade Taïeb Mhiri stadium in Sfax, Tunisia yesterday.
Needing only to draw in order to progress to the finals, Stuart Baxter’s side took a 50th minute lead through Percy Tau.
However, Ahmad Benali converted a penalty in the 66th minute to give South African fans an anxious closing 24 minutes of play.
Tau eased their fears, however, with his second of the match in the 69th minute as Bafana held on to secure a famous 2-1 victory.
Bafana qualified second behind Nigeria in Group E and will take their place in the 24-team finals to be played in Egypt between June 21 and July 19.
