The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mauritania

  • Supersand Eagles to face  Mauritania in Kaduna

    Supersand Eagles to face  Mauritania in Kaduna

    Nigeria’s Supersand Eagles will face Mauritania in the second leg of the 2024 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna, this Saturday.

    The Nigerian contingent is expected back in the country today after securing 5-4 first leg win over their opponents on Saturday in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.

    In their first international game in five years, the Coach Abdullahi Isa-led squad came from behind to defeat the hosts in an action-packed encounter in Nouakchott on Saturday evening.

    Highly-experienced Emeka Ogbonna scored after only two minutes and 14 seconds to set the Supersand Eagles in the right spirit and mood for victory, and another veteran, Emmanuel Ohwoferia doubled the lead for Nigeria 36 seconds later.

    Read Also: Give Super Eagles top-class coach, Enoh charges NFF

    The hosts halved the deficit to end the first period 1-2.

    In the second period, Mauritania hit two quick goals to shoot to the lead, before another veteran, Victor Tale equalized for Nigeria.

    The hosts again shot into the lead early in the third period, but goals by Taiwo Adams and Tale gave Nigeria the day, and the needed impetus ahead of the return leg.

    Winners between Nigeria and Mauritania after the second leg in Kaduna will qualify for the AFCON Beach Soccer Championship in Egypt this year.

  • AFCON 2019: Four-star Mali too much for Mauritania

    Newcomers Mauritania were given an unpleasant welcome to their debut AFCON appearance as they lost to West African neighbours Mali 4-1 in their Group E game Monday night in Suez.

    Mali now lead the group with three points, two more than Tunisia and Angola who played to a 1-1 draw earlier at the same venue.

    Mauritania follow in that order with no point.

    Mali Eagles were the better side from the start to the end, and capped a convincing performance with an important win that saw them move closer to the next round.

    Abdoulaye Diaby and Moussa Marega each scored within a span of eight minutes, and Adama Noss Traore added a third just after the break.

    Haven Al Ide scored from the penalty kick spot to give Mauritania a historic goal.

    But Adama Traore added the fourth for Les Aigles to hand Les Mourabitoune defeat in their first ever AFCON match.

    Read Also: AFCON 2019: Angola hit back to force draw with Tunisia

    Boosted by their debut, Mauritania started the game in a speedy way but without threatening their opponents’ defence.

    The game’s first chance came after five minutes when a miscommunication between Mali’s goalkeeper Djigui Diarra could have cost his team an own goal.

    But the ball was cleared for a corner kick.

    Mali’s first chance fell to Diaby whose shot from outside the area missed the goal by a slim margin after nine minutes.

    Adams Traore tried to shoot from distance at the quarter hour mark but he saw his shot going wide.

    Once again Diaby tried his luck from outside area and found the same fate after 22 minutes.

    But Diaby was third time lucky after 38 minutes when his shot from outside the area left Mauritania goalkeeper Souleymane Diallo with no chance.

    And just before the break, Mali were two up.

    Diablo fouled Lassan Coulibaly inside the vital area leaving the referee with no option but to give Mali a penalty kick, from which Marega doubled the Eagles lead.

    Mauritania coach Corentin Martins introduced star player Moulay Ahmed “Bessam”,trying to give the team new blood in attack.

    But it was Mali that added a third goal via Noss Traore.

    He received the ball from Diadie Samasekou and sent a curling shot to add to Mauritania woes after 55 minutes.

    Mauritania threw all men into attack, and could have scored after 70 minutes when Adama Ba rounded Mali’s goalkeeper Djigui Diarra.

    However, Molla Wague tackled to save the situation.

    But Mauritania did have their historic first-ever AFCON goal after 72 minutes.

    Ismail Diakhite was fouled inside the area and from the resulting penalty kick Al Ide scored to give “Mourabitoune” something to cheer about.

    But just two minutes later Mali added the fourth in grand style.

    Substitute Adama Traore sent a curling shot that went to the right corner to add a fourth for The Eagles.

    Mauritania tried hard to score again but the lively game ended with their first defeat, with Mali sending a threatening message to other teams in the group.

    NAN

     

  • U20 AFCON play-off: Flying Eagles off to Mauritania

    Nigeria U20s, the Flying Eagles, are due to fly out to Mauritania on  Tuesday for the first leg of a final playoff for a place at next year’s U20 AFCON in Niger.

    The match is slated for July 13 with the return leg a week later in Nigeria.

    The overall winners will thus advance to the 2019 U20 AFCON.

    Mauritania are the giant killers of the qualifying series after they eliminated Morocco and Guinea.

    The Flying Eagles, who sent packing Guinea Bissau in the previous rounds of the qualifiers, failed to qualify for last year’s tournament in Zambia after they were beaten by Sudan.

    In the meantime, the team are sweating on the fitness of Kano Pillars midfield star Ibrahim Alhassan.

    Alhassan did not feature in yesterday’s test match against The Citizens of Abuja, which the Flying Eagles laboured to a 1-0 victory.

  • Buhari to attend AU Summit in Mauritania

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday will embark on an official visit to Nouakchott, Mauritania to attend the 31st Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government from June 30 to July 2, 2018.

    In his capacity as the leader of the AU theme of the year: “Winning the Fight against Corruption, A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation”, the President will make introductory remarks and presentation on the theme.

    On the margins of the AU Summit, President Buhari and other African leaders will take part in an interactive session with President Emmanuel Macron of France on Financing AU-led Peace Support Operations authorized by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

    Read Also: Buhari greets Captain Joseph at 81

    A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, said that dominant issues affecting the continent such as peace and security, HIV/AIDS, regional cooperation, climate change will engage the attention of the African leaders during the Summit.

    The Nigerian leader will also hold series of high-level bilateral sessions on issues of shared common interests to the country, Africa and the world.

    Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, his counterpart in Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, and other top government officials will be on the President’s entourage.

  • Envoy urges economic ties between Nigeria, others

    Envoy urges economic ties between Nigeria, others

    The Nigerian Ambassador to Senegal and Mauritania, Mrs Katyen Jackden has called for stronger ties between Nigeria and other African countries.

    She said the trade volume between Nigeria and Senegal has been largely in the informal sector and in favour of Senegal as many Nigerian traders troop to the country to buy textile materials and other fashion accessories.

    Speaking in her office in Dakar, Senegal, she said .the trade imbalance has led to the quest of the Nigerian government to push for the establishment of the Nigeria/ Senegal Chamber of Commerce.

    Mrs. Jackden said before now, the two countries cooperated in the oil and gas sector but with the discovery of oil recently in Senegal, other sectors such as tourism, social housing and agriculture would be explored.

    She said investors can invest in several sectors of the Senegalese economy, noting that the economy has proved over time to be stable and prosperous.

    She berated some entrenched colonial interest in Senegal who she claimed wanted to truncate the investment stride of Dangote but hailed the Senegalese government for supporting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). She said: “Dangote’s competitors were behind the challenges and hurdles it went through before it finally rolled out its bags of cement.”

    According to her the investment has helped to promote regional and African integration.

    On the population of Nigerians in the country, she said the number is up to 10,000 but regretted that officially the embassy has less than 5,000 Nigerians registered. On the challenge of marketing Nigeria to her host country, Jackden said: “We need to do more aggressive marketing to let the world know that we are good people, great nation.  Senegal is import dependent especially on spare parts and agriculture and we need to take the advantage of the cordial relation between us to market our potentials.”