The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AFCON 2015

  • Ebola: Morocco seeks 2015 AFCON delay

    Ebola: Morocco seeks 2015 AFCON delay

    The Moroccan government has lodged an official request before the Confederation of African Football for the delay of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, the country’s state television said on Friday.

    The decision has been taken by Morocco’s health ministry who stressed the necessity to avoid big events involving people from countries affected by the Ebola virus.

    An official delegation, according to africanFootball.com, will meet with CAF President Issa Hayatou next week to discuss a possible postponement of the competition, which is scheduled to be held in Morocco from January 17 to February 8 next year.

     

  • Moses’ injury worries Keshi

    Moses’ injury worries Keshi

    Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has expressed worry over the recent injury picked up by Stoke City winger, Victor Moses.

    Moses was injured in Stoke’s 1-3 defeat to Sunderland in the Barclays English Premier League on Saturday, supersport.com reports.

    He provided the assist for Stoke’s solitary goal at the Stadium of Light, before he was forced off by the injury.

    He is now a huge doubt for Nigeria’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header against Sudan.

    Keshi in a chat with supersport.com expressed concern about the injury and expressed hope that it is not as serious as many people thought.

    “I was naturally worried to see him (Moses) get injured (on Saturday). He’s been in good form and I just hope that the injury is not that serious because we need him for those important games against Sudan,” he told supersport.com.

     

  • AFCON 2015: Nigeria ‘top seed’ for qualifiers

    AFCON 2015: Nigeria ‘top seed’ for qualifiers

    …Flying Eagles drawn bye in AYC
    Champions Nigeria will be the top seed for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, according to the Confederation of African Football.
    The top ranking was summed up based on a points system from recent AFCONs, the 2013 AFCON as well as the Super Eagles performance in the qualifying tournament for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
    Other top seeds for the qualifying tournament for the 2015 AFCON include Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali and Zambia.
    The 2015 AFCON will be hosted by Morocco in four cities from January 15 to February 7.
    The draw for the qualifiers is scheduled for April 27 in Cairo, Egypt.
    Meanwhile, CAF will decide on the hosts for the 2019 and 2021 AFCONs in September.
    Algeria has tabled a formal bid for both tournaments.
    MTNFootball.com reports that other countries vying to stage the biennial tournament are Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, DR Congo, Zambia (2019 AFCON) and Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea (2021 AFCON).
    Also, the Flying Eagles had been drawn bye to the second round of the 2015 African Youth Championship to be hosted by Senegal.
    The six-time African champions will begin the qualifying tournament in May against the winners of the first round match between Kenya and Tanzania.
    Should the Nigeria U-20 team qualify for the third and final round, the team will face the winners of the second round between Angola and the winners of the first round clash involving Swaziland and Lesotho.
    This final qualifier is scheduled for August.
    World Cup-winning Nigeria U-17 coach, Manu Garba, has been promoted to lead the Flying Eagles, which is expected to be made up of the bulk of the Golden Eaglets from 2013.
    Nigeria placed third at the 2013 AYC after winning a record sixth continental title two years earlier in South Africa.
    Senegal will stage the 20th AYC between March 8 and 22 with the four top placed teams qualifying for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.