The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CAF

  • JANUARY 9 AFCON SQUAD DEADLINE Bassey warns NFF, Keshi over CAF order

    JANUARY 9 AFCON SQUAD DEADLINE Bassey warns NFF, Keshi over CAF order

    CONFEDERATION of African Football (CAF) Match Coordinator Paul Bassey has urged the technical crew of the Super Eagles not to complain about the January 9 deadline date for the submission of squad list for the 2013 African Nations Cup.

    An assistant coach of the Super Eagles Daniel Amokachi had charged at CAF on the deadline of list championship holding in South Africa but Bassey, a technical committee member of the NFF who is billed to serve as venue coordinator in the championship said the CAF’s rule is not out of order.

    “What CAF is demanding is not out of order; there is a rule that says players list must be submitted not later than a particular days to a competition and the coaching crew must act on what is on ground,” he said.

    “I want to believe that by now, Keshi should know the majority of the players that fits into his plans. He should know his staring team depsite the fact that he is still trying out some players that he want to bring into the team.”

    Nigeria’s coach Stephen Keshi is expected to be extremely careful in his players’ selection and is hoping to give chances to a few players he could be adding up to his first-team ahead of the championship.

  • CAF disqualifies Senegal

    CAF disqualifies Senegal

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday announced the disqualification of Senegal from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The impending AFCON will be hosted by South Africa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10.

    This was contained in a CAF statement released in Cairo, Egypt on Oct. 16, after a disciplinary committee meeting.

    It said: “The CAF Disciplinary Committee met in Cairo, on Oct. 2012 to look into the incidents that led to the abandonment of match No 56, Senegal vs Cote d’Ivoire, during the final qualifier for the 29th edition of the 2013 CAF AFCON in Dakar.

    “Missiles, stones, bottles and firecrackers were thrown onto the pitch and tear gas was used, prompting the referee to stop the match after 74 minutes of play. As a result, CAF decided to officially confirm the result of the match as 2–0, in favour of Cote d’Ivoire, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 paragraph 20 of the regulations of the competition’’.

    The statement noted that CAF now considered Senegal the loser of the match and eliminated it from the competition.

     

     

     

  • Eaglets tackle Junior Menas on Sunday

    Eaglets tackle Junior Menas on Sunday

    • CAF appoints Algerian referees • Match ticket fixed for N200

    The eagerly awaited first round, second leg 2013 African qualifier between Nigeria and Niger has been postponed till Sunday, September 23, 2012.

    The match earlier fixed for Saturday was shifted at the instance of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for logistical purposes especially to allow large turnout of spectators at the U.J. Esuene Sports Stadium. Sunday evenings are regarded as traditional football day in the Canaan City with throngs of people usually expected to fill the stands at Calabar’s foremost stadium.

    “We are happy that the NFF has shifted this game to Sunday in order to allow a huge number of spectators to come and cheer us to victory,” said Suleiman Abubakar, the Golden Eaglets’ coordinator. “Moving the game to Sunday is a good decision since there are less business activities and those who might have gone to church would have the opportunity of watching the game live at the stadium.”

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has picked Algerian match officials for Sunday’s second leg game.

    The centre referee is Sofiane Bousetter while Bouabdallah Omari and Mohammed Bechirene would serve as Assistant Referees 1 and 2 respectively. The fourth official is Mehdi Charef while Ivorian Sinko Zeli who was the centre referee when Nigeria beat Namibia 4-0 in a Nations Cup qualifier in 2000 at home would serve as Match Commissioner.

    Match tickets for the Golden Eaglets-Junior Menas match has been fixed for N200 for popular side. The covered seat would go for N500 while the State Box is as low as N1000.

    The cheap price tickets, according to officials, are to encourage a huge turnout of spectators to watch the Nigerian youngsters in their first qualifier on home soil in Calabar.

  • Eagles Cordinator blasts CAF over poor pitches

    Emmanuel Attah

    Super Eagles Coordinator Emmanuel Attah has called on Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) to take the issue of bad pitches in Africa very serious as it could hamper the results of matches if care is not taken.

    Speaking on the backdrop of 2-2 score draw between Eagles and the Lone Star of Liberia in Monrovia on Saturday, the former FCT Football Federation boss revealed that the poor condition of the Samuel Doe Stadium really affected the performance of the Nigerian team in the match.

    “Confederation of Africa Football should do something drastic about the issue of bad pitches in Africa. It is not good for our football because most of our players ply their football trade in Europe and play on good pitches and you don’t expect them to come to Africa and get injured while playing on bad pitches after coming home to help their countries. This may eventually ruin their career. The performance of some of these players may be hindered by these bad pitches to the detriment of the nations they play for,” he said.

    “ So CAF must consider this issue very seriously because it affects the quality of play and the overall performance of teams in the continent.”

    He is, however, confident of Eagles’ victory over Liberia when the two teams meet next month in Nigeria. “We wanted to win in Liberia to compensate President Goodluck Jonathan for supporting us and personally visiting us in our training session before we departed for Monrovia and we also planned to win and make soccer loving Nigerians happy too. But we won’t cry over a split milk. Better still, the 2-2 draw has put us in a strong position to finally pick the qualification ticket for the 2013 Africa Nations Cup finals in South Africa,” he added.