The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

  • DStv, GOtv to beam AFCON matches live

    The 52 matches of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, which holds in Egypt between 21st June and 19th July, will be broadcast live on DStv and GOtv via the SuperSport channels.

    This festival of African football will be live and in HD on DStv and the full offering of games will be available on GOtv. The SuperSport broadcast will feature expert opinion and insight from top commentators and veterans of the continental game.

    “We are thrilled to continue to cater to our customers’ football appetites with one of the most anticipated football tournaments of the year, and what makes it even more exciting this time around is that most of the countries we operate in are represented in AFCON 2019”, says MultiChoice Nigeria’s Chief Customer Officer, Martin Mabutho.

    The 2019 AFCON will be the 32nd edition of the continental tournament and takes places across six venues: Cairo International Stadium; 30 June Stadium, Cairo; Al Salaam Stadium, Cairo; Alexandria Stadium; Suez Stadium; and Ismailia Stadium.

    It is the first edition of the tournament to feature a new 24-team format. There are six groups of four teams each for the round-robin phase of the competition.

    The top two teams from each group, along with the four best third-placed teams, will advance into the last 16 and the tournament proceeds on a knockout basis from then on.

    Cameroon are the defending champions, having triumphed at the last edition in Gabon in early 2017.

     

  • Keita may miss Guinea’s AFCON matches

    Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Naby Keita has a high-grade adductor injury and will be out for two months and as such, is a huge doubt for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

    “It was really unlucky. Bad news. High-grade adductor injury. The tendon is ruptured. Will keep him out for at least 2 months,” Klopp told the media in Europe.

    “Bad news for us and for Guinea with the Africa Cup of Nations coming up. Not nice.”

    The news comes as a huge blow to Afcon-bound Guinea. Injuries and inconsistency had stunted the growth of the midfielder at the Anfield outfit, having arrived in the summer as a £59 million ($62m) signing.

    Asked about how Keita is taking the news of his recent injury on board, Klopp added: “For sure he’s not in the best moment but it’s okay I think.

  • Super Eagles 70 % ready

    Nigeria’s senior soccer team manager Gernot Rohr has stated that the Super Eagles are 70 per cent ready for the battles arising from matches slated for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), stressing that Pharaohs of Egypt game on Tuesday inside the late Stephen Keshi Stadium was great.

    Although Eagles’ striker Paul Onuachu’s first-minute strike raised hopes of a likely goal-scoring spree, which never happened since the goal decided the game.

    But Rohr argued further that: “We decided to make a fast start. It was a planned goal from the kickoff. We have a tall striker from Denmark (Onuachu), he did very well but he has to improve still. We made five changes with two local players making their debut. It will be good for them and their career.

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    “All the time we must improve but let us enjoy this wonderful moment. We scored a wonderful goal. Tomorrow, we will analyse this game and go back to work on the team we have to make them better. I think the team is 70% ready but I like the number 69.

    “The match was a great match for us and when you play a great team like Egypt, which for me is one of the favourites for the AFCON and win, it feels good. What was interesting for me also in Asaba was that we had three wonderful victories. First, we beat Seychelles, the U-23 team also trounced Libya and now we beat Egypt. So it was a good week for us,” Rohr said without stating who his best players were over the two matches against Seychelles and Egypt.