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2019 AFCON QUALIFIERS: WILL BAFANA CONCEDE A GOAL AT LAST?

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

 

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series enters a fast lane this week as more teams are expected to book their tickets to join the four teams that confirmed their slots last month along with the designated hosts, Cameroon for the 24-team tournament.

Of the 48 teams in the race, seven are already out of contention while 18 others are at the brink of qualification from matches designated for this weekend.

 

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Among the 48 teams that are involved in the race since last year June, three stand out for special mention. They are the now suspended Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, Cranes of Uganda and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.

 

Technically, the trio have the most solid defence line up if number of goals conceded so far is a yardstick to employ. Going into matchday 5, the three teams are yet to concede any goal.

 

South Africa which faces an uphill task at home in a grudge-laden encounter with Nigeria has gone 360 minutes, excluding the usual added time, without conceding any goal in the four matches played in Group E.

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Nigeria in the quest for the desired qualification ticket will attempt to unlock the apparent water-tight defence of South Africa. Even if the Super Eagles fail to score, they will still qualify if they get a scoreless draw.

 

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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