AFCON
New Form Order Emerging in Africa Cup of Nations
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The tribe of the fumbling giants continues to grow in the qualifying series of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Apart from the big teams of Nigeria, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and the emerging power Cape Verde all losing at home, the recent number one team in Africa barely struggled to a 1-0 win over Togo as Match Day 1 series were brought to a close late Sunday night.
Great thanks to the 24th minute goal by Sofiane Hanni, Algeria could have possibly fallen and find themselves struggling when the Match Day 2 opens late March 2018.
Tunisia also managed a 1-0 defeat Egypt in a duel that could have gone either way considering the strong form of both sides.
The formbook now appears very unreliable in the series to the next Africa premier competition. Only Ghana among the football heavy weights in the continent confirmed their ratings by overwhelming visiting Ethiopia 5-0 on Sunday.
The shocks started Friday night with Sudan, always known to be strong at home especially when the oppositions belong to the lesser active football countries.
The Sudanese crumbled 1-3 before capacity home crowd to Madagascar which has never won any championship in Africa. Just like Nigeria tasted their first ever competitive loss to South Africa, another former African champion, Zambia lost at home for the first time to Mozambique.
Then the Cote d’Ivoire team became the next giants to fall at home, losing to Guinea. Cape Verde, which in recent years emerged as a force in the continent lost 0-1 at home to Uganda which had waited 39 years before qualifying for an Africa Cup finals this year.
The signals are out. More shock results are in the offing when the series resume in nine months. Twenty four matches are gone, There are still 120 more in the projected 144-match series.
ALL MATCH DAY 1 RESULTS
FRIDAY
Group E: Libya 5-1 Seychelles
Group A: Sudan 1-3 Madagascar
SATURDAY
Group B: Malawi 1-0 Comoros
Group C: Burundi 3-0 South Sudan
Group B: Cameroon 1-0 Morocco
Group K: Zambia 0-1 Mozambique
Group I: Botswana 0-1. Mauritania
Group J: Niger 0-0 Swaziland
Group K: Guinea-Bissau 1-0 Namibia
Group F: Sierra Leone 2-1 Kenya
Group E: Nigeria 0-2 South Africa
Group 1: Burkina Faso 3-1 Angola
Group G: RD Congo 3-1 Congo
Group C: Mali 2-1 Gabon
Group A: Senegal 3-0 Equatorial Guinea
Group L: Tanzania 1-1 Lesotho
Group H: Cote d’Ivoire 2-3 Guinea
SUNDAY
Group G: Zimbabwe 3-0 Liberia
Group H: Central African Republic 2-1 Rwanda
Group F: Ghana 5-0 Ethiopia
Group D: Benin 1-0 Gambia
Group D: Algeria 1-0 Togo
Group J: Tunisia 1-0 Egypt
Group L: Cape Verde 0-1 Uganda
Cote d’Ivoire head coach Emerse Fae has overhauled his backroom team following the Elephants’ Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023, success earlier this year.
Fae, who took over from Frenchman Jean-Louis Gasset during the tournament in January, has brought in three new faces as he builds towards qualifying for the 2025 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations and 2026 World Cup.
Former Cote d’Ivoire goalkeeper Gerard Gnahouan, 45, joins as goalkeeping coach after working in this role with French Ligue 2 side Sochaux.
Gnahouan, capped 10 times by the Elephants between 2002 and 2011, takes over as goalkeeping coach and will be tasked with getting the best out of first-choice Yahia Fofana.
Moroccan Samir Anba, previously with French club Nice and Morocco’s Under-17s, takes over as fitness coach, while Jeremy Antonio arrives as video analyst after working with Fae at French side Clermont.
“This new composition of the technical staff marks the start of a new era for the Cote d’Ivoire national team, and expectations are high,” said Fae.
Fae kept faith with assistant Guy Demel while former international Alain Gouamene joins as the second assistant coach of the AFCON-winning team.
The 40-year-old led an all-local setup to a surprise African title in March after being promoted from Gasset’s number two following their near exit at the group stage.
The new backroom additions have a huge challenge ahead, with Cote d’Ivoire facing crunch matches in June as they bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The Elephants top their qualifying group after beating Gambia and Seychelles in the opening two matches in Group F of the qualifiers under caretaker Gasset.
-CAF
After commanding victories in the first leg matches of the Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025, qualifiers, Chad, Liberia, and Eswatini find themselves in advantageous positions as they gear up for the return fixtures scheduled for Tuesday.
As the second leg of the preliminary fixtures approach, all eyes will be on these teams as they vie for their coveted spots in the group phase of the qualifiers, with the hopes of making their mark on the continental stage.
Chad emerged victorious with a narrow 1-0 win over Mauritius, joining Liberia and Eswatini in the lead after their impressive triumphs earlier last week.
Liberia secured a 2-0 victory against Djibouti, while Eswatini displayed their dominance with a 3-0 win over Somalia.
The second leg promises to be fiercely contested, particularly for Chad, who will face a challenging encounter against Mauritius on the latter’s home turf.
Coach Kevin Nicaise’s players are keen to defend their slender lead and secure their spot in the next phase of the qualifiers but the trainer admits they have an arduous task.
“We are far from perfect, far from being a top team in the world. We are in the construction phase. There are still things to work on and improve,” coach Nicaise said after their first-leg win.
“It is not overnight that we will be a top team in the world, we are aware of that, however we are working hard with the group and the staff to achieve this goal.”
Meanwhile, Liberia will host Djibouti, aiming to build on their first-leg success and seal their progression to the next round.
Eswatini will host Somalia with confidence, seeking to maintain their winning momentum and secure passage to the next stage of the tournament.
South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe will also face off in what is expected to be a closely contested encounter, following their goalless draw in the first leg.
With both teams eager for victory, the match promises to be a thrilling battle for supremacy.
-CAF
Liberia and Eswatini took commanding leads in their respective Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025, preliminary round ties after claiming impressive away victories on Wednesday.
Liberia captain Murphy Dorley scored one of two first-half goals as the Lone Stars defeated hosts Djibouti 2-0 in the opening leg in Marrakech.
Mohammed Sangare broke the deadlock from the penalty spot on 23 minutes before Dorley coolly slotted home Sebastian Teclar’s cross 12 minutes later.
Djibouti struggled to lay a glove on their more illustrious opponents as the Lone Star side kept them at bay to take two away goals into next week’s second leg in Monrovia.
Eswatini were also celebrating after demolishing Somalia 3-0 in the Moroccoan city of El Jadida to put one foot in the group stage qualifiers.
Striker Sabelo Ndzinisa was the hero, netting twice either side of Felicio Figuareido’s 40th minute opener for the visitors.
Somalia now face an uphill battle to qualify when they travel to the Mbombela Stadium in the South African city of Nelspruit for the return on March 26th.
The opening leg victories give Liberia and Eswatini a huge advantage heading into the second legs as they target a place in the group stage on the road to next year’s finals in Morocco.
Back from the locker room, Somalia still couldn’t play its game.
Worse, Eswatini widened the gap with Ginindza who scored his double of the evening in the 56th minute. 3-0, the score remained unchanged on the scoreboard until the final whistle.
Victory for Eswatini which will still have to perform in the return leg to ensure its qualification for the qualifiers.
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