The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AFCON 2017

  • 2017 AFCON: Boateng condemns Ghana’s fourth finish

    2017 AFCON: Boateng condemns Ghana’s fourth finish

    .As Burkina Faso takes home Bronze medal 

     

    Ghana’s Kevin-Prince Boateng has taken a swipe at his country’s poor finish at the 2017 Africa Cup Nations by calling for ‘big changes’.The Black Stars were beaten 1-0 on Saturday by Burkina Faso in the ongoing AFCON holding in Gabon.

    Boateng,who prefers playing in the World Cups had taken to his twitter handle after Burkina Faso claimed the bronze medal.

    He wrote: “Unbelievable how a team, coach,fans and country with such great value can finish

    an AFCON in such a way. I hope now we will see all thosebig changes we all hope for
    because Ghana and all the people of Ghana deserve better.”

  • 2017 AFCON: Cameroon reaches final

    .Beats Ghana 2-0
    Cameroon has thrashed Ghana 2-0 to advance to the finals of the 2017 Afican Cup of Nations holding in Gabon.

    A finely-poised tie remained goalless until the 72nd minute, when Ghana goalkeeper Razak Brimah failed to deal with a free-kick into his area and John Boye’s weak defensive header merely served as an assist for Ngadeu to control and fire home.

    Bassogog then broke away to clinch the win and spark wild celebrations as Hugo Broos’s side progress to a final against Egypt in Libreville on Sunday.
    The Indomitable Lions’ victory will now meet Egypt in the finals.They had their last Nations final with the Egyptians in 2008 after they lost 1-0 to the Pharaohs.

    Meanwhile, Ghana goes  for a third-place play-off against Burkina Faso on Saturday.

  • Algeria qualify for 2017 AFCON

    Algeria qualify for 2017 AFCON

    Algeria on Thursday qualified for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon after defeating Seychelles 2-0 in the penultimate Group J match in Victoria.

    In the team’s first competitive game since parting ways with coach Christian Gourcuff, the Fennec Foxes picked up a fine victory at Stade Linite to secure top spot in the group with 13 points from five matches, africanFootball.com reports.

    The North Africans claimed the lead late in the first half through Yassine Benzia, who netted in the 41st minute to break the hosts’ stern resistance.

    Just past the hour mark, striker Hillel Soudani made it 2-0 to effectively end the Pirates’ challenge.

    Hosts Gabon and Morocco are the only two countries that had confirmed their ticket to the biennial soccer tournament.

     

  • Eagles must qualify for 2017 AFCON – Pinnick

    Eagles must qualify for 2017 AFCON – Pinnick

    The president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has said the board would do everything possible to ensure that the Super Eagles qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

    Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2015 edition in Equatorial Guinea after Super Eagles played a 2-2 draw with South Africa in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

    With the team sitting in second spot behind Egypt, Pinnick said the priority of the Glass House is to ensure that Nigeria hoists her flag in Gabon next year.

    “Our focus is on the game against Egypt and we know how important it is to our ambition of qualifying for the next AFCON in Gabon,” Goal quoted Pinnick as saying to Complete Sports on Wednesday.

    “We know Nigerians are still disappointed with the performance of the Eagles at the last CHAN and we cannot afford to miss out on the AFCON again after our failure to qualify for the last edition.

    “We don’t want to put our mind on qualifying as one of the best losers as that could be costly at the end of the day,” he added.

  • AFCON 2017: Sierra Leone Coach satisfied with outcome of match

    AFCON 2017: Sierra Leone Coach satisfied with outcome of match

    Sierra Leone national team coach, Sellas Tetteh, said on Sunday that he was satisfied with the outcome of the AFCON qualifying match against Cote D’ Ivoire.

    Sierra Leone held African champions, Cote D’ Ivoire, to a goalless draw in an AFCON 2017 qualifying match at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium, Port Harcourt.

    Tetteh told sportswriters after the match that playing against African champions was not an easy task.

    “The game was two halves. The first half was quite balanced, which was equally interesting.

    “The second half, though one sided, but also in our few counter attacks, we were too dangerous,’’ he said.

    Tetteh said his team played a tactical game.

    “This is a game, tactically, it worked perfectly for us. We did less mistakes, we did more of the covering ups, we did more of the tackling and i think we did it very well,’’ he said.

    Tetteh, who said he took over the team three weeks ago, expressed satisfaction with the draw.

    “Certainly, we deserved this draw. I am satisfied with the draw. I give credit to my players, playing against reigning African champions, away from home,’’ he said.

    Sierre Leone captain, Umaru Bangura, said the team was careful playing against the African champions.

    “Playing against a big team like Cote D` Ivoire, you have to be careful, with this result, we are happy,’’ he said.

    On his part, Cote D` Ivoire coach, Michel Dussuyen, said though his team did not play well in the first half, they did their best.

    “In the second half, we tried to score, created chances, but were unlucky.

    “Sierra Leone is a good team. They fought hard to get this result. So, it was not easy.

    “It was a difficult game for us, but we will work for the future,’’ he said.

    Dussuyen said he missed former captain, Yaya Toure, and Wilfred Boni, stressing that they were still part of the team.

    Team captain, Yao Kouassi Gervaiz, alias Gervino, said they were not lucky in the match.

    “Sierra Leone had a good team. Yaya Toure and Boni are good players and key to the success of our team.’’

    He said the team would fight hard to win remaining matches.

    “But our coach knows who to use for matches and we have other players,’’ he said.

  • We won’t repeat Congo mistakes – Egwuekwe

    We won’t repeat Congo mistakes – Egwuekwe

    Super Eagles defender, Azubuike Egwuekwe, said next month’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Le Sao of Chad will not be taken for granted.

    Egwuekwe, as expected, is one of the 26 home-based players invited for the June 13 game and said the players will be looking to avoid a repeat of the qualifiers for the last Africa Cup of Nations where the team suffered a shock opening day defeat to Congo.

    “One thing that I know for sure is that we will not take them for granted,” he told sl10.ng.

    “Whether they are good or not, to us we will take it very seriously because we have to win. We want to start the qualifiers on a good note and avoid what happened the last time.

    “We lost our first game at home and that really affected us and we don’t want that to happen again. This time, every game we play in the qualifiers will be like a cup final for us and we will put everything in it to ensure we qualify for the next Africa Cup of Nations,” he said.

    When asked how easy or difficult he expects the Chadians to be, the 25-year old admitted he’s yet to see them play.

    “Well I can’t really say because I haven’t seen them play before so I don’t know how good they are,” he added.

  • AFCON 2017: Keshi to name 26 for Chad

    AFCON 2017: Keshi to name 26 for Chad

    Super Eagles head coach Stephen Keshi is set to to name 26 players for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying game against Chad.

    The 26 players will be wholly domestic players as the successful ones will battle for place in the final squad with the overseas-based players who will be called up.

    Keshi said it’s time to “return to basics” as he looks to “build a solid squad that will make Nigerians happy again”.

    “We have to return to basics and do the things we did that helped us win the 2013 AFCON in South Africa. I want to start from scratch to build a solid squad that will make Nigerians happy again.

    “It is important to give players in the local league a chance to show us what they can do and that is why I am inviting 26 of them to prove themselves,” the former Mali and Togo coach told supersport.com.

    He added that the overseas-based players who will be handed call ups are those who “play regularly for their clubs”.

    “Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a coach that will invite players based on what they have done in the past. Only those who play regularly for their clubs will be called up and if they fail to give 120 per cent while in camp, they know what will happen.

    “There is no automatic shirt for anyone. If anyone thinks that we just need to turn up and beat Chad that person is making a big mistake. They are a good side and we have to work hard to beat them. We will approach the game with all seriousness and hopefully we will get a good result,” he said.

  • AFCON 2017 qualifier Chad plots to shock Eagles, others

    AFCON 2017 qualifier Chad plots to shock Eagles, others

    Nigeria’s quest to  qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations might seem to be a straight fight between the Super Eagles and the Pharaohs of Egypt on paper – and rightly so.

    Both countries are the highest-ranked sides in the group and have between them ten AFCON titles which clearly points to a two-horse race for the sole automatic qualifying ticket to Gabon 2017.

    The Super Eagles will however do well to remember the ghosts of Calabar past, when the Congolese team overran them 3-1 to pick three away points which precipitated a downward spiral that lead to Nigeria failing to qualify for the 2015 event in Equatorial Guinea.

    Tanzania and Chad might look relatively easy on paper, quite cliche to say, but truly evident in the way so-called smaller teams have done a number on much fancied sides on the continent recently.

    Chad are considered by many to be the dark horse in Group G, a dark horse that might put spanner in the works for the bigger sides when hostilities commence in June.

    Coached by Emmanuel Tregoat, a man who has barely five years experience in top flight coaching, Chad are ranked at 151 on the latest FIFA rankings and have never qualified for an Africa Cup of Nations event or the World Cup.

    They however want to change all that as Tregoat has insisted he is going to scour France and Europe in search of foreign-born talent who are eligible for Chad to compete with the local-based players and a few professionals to make a solid team.

    The Federation Tchadienne de Football (FTF) want to raise a team that will qualify them for their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations and have given Tregoat the mandate to scour round France for players who are eligible for Chad.

    Chad drew 0-0 with Yemen in a recent friendly in Doha as they prepare to face Nigeria in their first game in Group G on the weekend of June 12-15.

    Tregoat will count on the likes of Yaya Kerim, Ezechiel N’Doussel, captain Marius Mbaiam, Hassan Hissein of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, El-Kanemi Warriors and Jules Hamidou of Swiss side, Biel-Bienne, to do damage to the Eagles when the two teams clash.

    Chad are not powerhouses in Africa, but are looking towards building their side to be one of the teams to cause a shock as the 2017 Afcon qualifiers approach. They want to churn out players like Japhet N’Doram, who is unarguably the most famous player to come out of that country.

    N’Doram was a powerful striker in the 1990’s for FC Nantes where he made his name and later became director of football and also managed the side for a season.

    Tregoat will hope his new generation of stars can emulate Japhet N’Doram and even surpass the Chadian great by leading his latest pack to qualify Chad for their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations appearance.

    Snippets on Chad

    Head coach: Emmanuel Tregoat

    Captain: Marius Mbaiam

    Capital: N’Djamena

    Popular clubs: Foullah Edifice, Gazelle, Rennaisance FC, AS CotonTchad

    Stadium: Stade Nacional Omni Sports Idriss Mahamat Ouya (artificial, 20,000)

  • AFCON 2017 qualifier: Eagles, Pharaohs’ game will be tough-Amuneke

    AFCON 2017 qualifier: Eagles, Pharaohs’ game will be tough-Amuneke

    Former Nigeria international, Emmanuel Amuneke, is expecting the Pharaohs of Egypt and the Super Eagles to give themselves strong tests when they meet over two legs in the 2017 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been drawn in Group G with Egypt, Tanzania and Chad.

    Amuneke, now head coach of the Nigeria Under-17 national team, believes that the Super Eagles and the Pharaohs are up for a test of their character in the AFCON qualification.

    “It’s a big test for the Pharaohs and for the Super Eagles too. Their matches will be very tough and we are all waiting for them,” Amuneke told supersport.com.

    “Both Egypt and Nigeria are suffering this time as the Arabic-speaking nation did not qualify for the last three editions of the Nations Cup and Nigeria missed the last one. So, they will fight for the automatic ticket to Gabon between them.”

    Amuneke played for Egyptian club, Zamalek, between 1991 and 1993 and became one of the club legends helping them win the Egyptian league, CAF Champions League and the Super Cup.