Former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o says it is the duty of Africans to defend the scheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The 2021 tournament was held in Cameroon in January and February this year, in the middle of the European season, to avoid the rainy season in the Central African nation.

The timing of the Nations Cup has led to repeated disputes with clubs who have been forced to release players, and the issue will persist after the 2023 finals in Ivory Coast were moved to early 2024 because of weather concerns.

Napoli owner and President Aurelio de Laurentiis said the Italian club would avoid signing any more Africans unless they agree not to play in the biennial tournament – with Senegal coach Aliou Cisse hitting back that international football should never play second fiddle to club commitments.

Eto’o, who had spells at Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan and won the Nations Cup twice with the Indomitable Lions, has backed Cisse’s stance.

“We are Africans – nobody else can defend our continent better than ourselves,” Eto’o, who is now president of Cameroon’s football federation (Fecafoot), told BBC Sport Africa.

“Before the Nations Cup in Cameroon, I said that it’s important to play in January-February, something that obviously didn’t please some other people.

“But this is a fact in Africa. We have the rainy season in June, July, August, even early September in our continent. It’s just a matter of getting on the same page with others and explaining things.”

“I am rather happy to see children of this continent being aware that nobody else will defend our continent for us.”

However, Eto’o says that staging this year’s World Cup in the middle of the European season shows that concessions can be made by clubs.

Players must be released for the finals in Qatar on 14 November, with the first match six days later and the final on 18 December.

England’s Premier League will have its last pre-World Cup fixtures on the weekend of 12-13 November, and then resume on 26 December.

“We can notice for the first time in history that the World Cup will be played in November and December,” Eto’o, 41, said.

“It’s possible to make it happen.”

Culled from the BBC

Nigeria beat Cameroon 1-0 to reach 12th consecutive semi-final in the Women’s African Cup of Nations

The Super Falcons of Nigeria beat the Lionesses of Cameroon 1-0 to progress to the semi-final of the ongoing Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Rasheedat Ajibade fired Nigeria into the lead in the second half of a competitive match between the West Africa neighbours.

The win ensured that the Super Falcons qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The four teams that progress to the semi-finals of the WAFCON get automatic tickets for the Women’s World Cup to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand next year.

The team adjudged to have finished fifth would be presented with a chance via a Playoff Tournament in January 2023 to join the party.

Source: Chronicle

CAF through its President, Patrice Motsepe, made the announcement on Sunday

The 2023 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) initially billed to take place in Cote d’ Ivoire from June 2023 has been postponed to January 2024.

The decision was one of the key decisions taken during the Confederation of African Football(CA) Executive Committee meeting held on Sunday.

CAF through its President, Patrice Motsepe, announced the 34th edition, which was initially scheduled from June 23 to July 23, 2023, will no longer go on as planned due to the weather conditions in the West African country.

“The 2023 Afcon will now be played between January and February 2024,” Mostepe told the media during a press conference in Morocco.

“This is one of the issues we discussed during our congress meeting here in Morocco and the official dates will be communicated later.

“It is after deliberations we came into the decision, we have partners and even though we make decisions, it is out of respect that we take the advice we are getting that we cannot take a risk [to host the tournament] and so that is why we have made the necessary announcement today [Sunday].

“It is not good for African football to play a tournament that can be washed out, it is not good for Africa and the continent at large and so we have to postpone it.”

Motsepe, however, lauded Ivory Coast for the preparations they have already put in place to stage the tournament.

“I am happy and impressed with the infrastructure put in place by Ivory Coast in readiness for the tournament and I am sure they will host a very good tournament,” Motsepe continued.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are one of the teams eyeing qualification for the next AFCON tournament and they have started the qualification series quite well; winning their first two games against Sierra Leone and then Sao Tome and Principe.

At the last edition of the biennial football tournament held in Cameroon, the Super Eagles despite showing early signs of promise crashed out in the second round in a 1-0 loss to Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles.

Senegal went on to be crowned champions after defeating Egypt on penalties in the final.

It is worthy to note that the AFCON tournament held in Cameroon also suffered its own fair share of postponements.

However, unlike this case where CAF is making a decision due to weather contingencies, the tournament in Cameroon was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Culled from Marketscreener

Egypt sorely missed injured captain Mohamed Salah as they slumped to a shock 2-0 defeat by Ethiopia on Thursday in 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying.

A strain ruled out the prolific Liverpool scorer after he defied his club last Sunday and played in a victory over Guinea despite not being fully fit.

Egypt lacked several other injured first choices, but were still expected to secure maximum Group D points in neutral Malawi against opponents 108 places lower in the world rankings.

But the quick Ethiopian forwards repeatedly troubled a slow Egyptian defence in the opening half and goals from Dawa Hotessa and captain Shemeles Bekele gave them a two-goal half-time advantage.

Egypt had more possession in the second half on a pitch badly cut up in places due to torrential pre-match rain.

Ethiopia were forced to play in Lilongwe because, like 16 other countries competing in qualifying, they do not have an international-standard stadium.

Coach Ehab Galal has only been in charge of Egypt for two matches after Portuguese Carlos Queiroz could not agree terms for an extension of his contract.

Galal, who left Cairo club Pyramids to take over the Pharaohs, will now come under intense pressure as a year filled with disappointments for Egypt continues.

They lost the last Cup of Nations final to Senegal on penalties in February and one month later suffered a similar fate against the same team in a play-off to decide who went to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Egypt needed 87 minutes to score the goal that beat Guinea in the opening round of 2023 Cup of Nations qualifying and the loss to Ethiopia left them bottom of the table.

The only consolation for Galal and his squad is that the other teams in the section — Ethiopia, Malawi and Guinea — have also won and lost so each side has three points.

Source: AFP

Didier Drogba lost a controversial bid to become president of the Ivory Coast Football Federation when he was eliminated after the first round of voting at Saturday’s elective congress.

The former Chelsea star polled only 21 votes in a three-way race, with the two other candidates, Yacine Idriss Diallo (59) and Sory Diabate (50) polling more than double his tally. Diallo won a second round to decide the presidency of the federation.

Drogba’s candidacy had been disputed last year when he first attempted to stand for election but did not receive the required support from clubs and other interest groups, such as the players’ union and coaches’ association, whose nominations he needed to get on the ballot.

FIFA then stepped in to dissolve the federation, putting the control of Ivorian football under a ‘normalisation committee’ while the statutes and electoral code were rewritten.

It allowed Drogba, 44, to stand but while he received much public encouragement, he garnered little support inside the Ivorian football community.

Earlier this week he was accused of pulling out of a live television debate with the other two candidates hours before it was due to be aired on television, according to a statement released by the state broadcaster. The debate went ahead without him.

The Ivory Coast hosts next year’s Africa Cup of Nations final.

Source: REUTERS

Senegal talisman Sadio Mane scored two goals — one soft and one superb — at the weekend to take Liverpool into the FA Cup final with a 3-2 victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

The Reds will face Chelsea in the May 14 showpiece final — a repeat of the League Cup final won by Liverpool on penalties after a goalless final.

Apart from his Liverpool heroics, Mane helped Senegal win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in February and qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar one month later.

Here, AFP Sport highlights Africans who starred in European leagues and cup competitions:

ENGLAND

SADIO MANE (Liverpool)

Mane was the difference between Liverpool and Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final as he struck twice in a thrilling win for the Reds. His persistence earned his first and Liverpool’s second goal of the day as he caught City stand-in goalkeeper Zack Steffen in possession to tackle the ball into the net. His second was as sweet as the first was scrappy as Mane volleyed in Thiago Alcantara’s pass to round off a stunning move from Jurgen Klopp’s men.

EMMANUEL DENNIS (Watford)

A 10th Premier League goal of the season for Dennis could not prevent Watford slipping closer to relegation after a 2-1 defeat by Brentford. The Nigerian’s fierce strike that flew in at the near post was controversially allowed to stand despite Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr appearing to be offside in the build-up. A 10th consecutive home defeat leaves the Hornets still six points adrift of safety with just six games to play.

GERMANY

KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG (Hertha Berlin)

The 35-year-old made his first start since October and bossed midfield as Hertha climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at Augsburg. “We needed a figure like Prince. He has shown how important he is for us,” said Hertha coach Felix Magath as the Ghana midfielder threw himself into tackles.

TAIWO AWONIYI (Union Berlin)

Awoniyi shrugged off his marker and banged in his 18th goal for Union this season to open the scoring in a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. The Nigeria striker is a fans’ favourite at Union and threw his playing shirt into the home crowd after being substituted with 10 minutes remaining.

FRANCE

KARL TOKO-EKAMBI (Lyon)

The Cameroon forward, who starred in his country’s run to the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals on home soil this year, scored twice in Lyon’s 6-1 mauling of Bordeaux. His first goal was a gift after a farcical miskick by the Bordeaux goalkeeper, while his second goal was a delightful chipped finish. Toko-Ekambi has 16 goals this season, including 10 in Ligue 1. Lyon are eighth, four points outside the European qualifying spots.

JODEL DOSSOU (Clermont)

The Benin international equalised in a 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers Metz. It was his second goal in as many games, after Dossou netted in last week’s 6-1 home hammering by Paris Saint-Germain. Clermont are in the relegation play-off place, five points above bottom side Metz and one point from outright safety.

ITALY

M’BALA NZOLA (Spezia)

The Angolan international featured in probably the strangest moment in the weekend’s Serie A action. He was subbed on and then off again just 10 minutes later in Spezia’s 3-1 defeat to Inter Milan because he couldn’t take off his earring. Brought on in the 60th minute with his team a goal down, the 25-year-old was almost immediately stopped by match officials and ordered to remove the jewellery, a task which was beyond both Nzola and the Spezia coaching staff. Eventually he had to admit defeat and coach Thiago Motta was forced to bring on Janis Antiste in his place.

Source: AFP

Ghanaians Bernard Morrison and Richard Ofori could play pivotal roles when Simba of Tanzania host Orlando Pirates of South Africa on Sunday in a CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final first leg.

A former Pirate, speedy Morrison is the leading Simba scorer this season in the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League with three goals.

Pirates goalkeeper Ofori boasts three consecutive Confederation Cup clean sheets after replacing off-form Siyabonga Mpontshane and hopes to prevent his compatriot adding to his goal tally.

Here, AFP Sport highlights five things to know ahead of the first legs on Sunday, with the return matches to be played seven days later.

Opposing Simba

A 60,000 crowd will fill the Benjamin Mkapa national stadium in commercial capital Dar es Salaam to see Simba confront Pirates, but not all the Tanzanians there will be backing the home team.

Supporters of arch domestic rivals Young Africans plan to continue a tradition of cheering for the visiting club because they do not want Simba to succeed.

This strange practice is not confined to Tanzania — when V Club play at home in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fans of fierce Kinshasa rivals Daring Club Motema Pembe always back the visiting side.

Home perils

Losing a first leg at home potentially spells elimination in the last-eight phase of Confederation Cup with none of the six sides who have done so escaping overall defeat.

Only Zanaco of Zambia among the sextet won the return match, but the 1-0 victory over Pyramids in Egypt in 2020 was hollow following a 3-0 drubbing in Lusaka.

Al Nasr of Libya suffered the most humiliating home loss — 5-0 to Hassania Agadir of Morocco two seasons ago — in a match staged in Egypt because of violence in the oil-rich north African nation.

Wary Pirates

Pirates hope a second successive appearance in the Confederation Cup quarter-finals will turn out much better than the first last season.

After taking the lead through Vincent Pule at home to eventual title winners Raja Casablanca of Morocco, they were held 1-1 in Soweto.

If the first-leg outcome was disappointing, the return match proved disastrous for the Buccaneers, who crumbled 4-0 with all the goals coming within 36 minutes of the kick-off.

Libyan showdown

Two Libyan clubs have reached the Confederation Cup quarter-finals for the first time and the luck of the draw saw Al Ittihad and Al Ahly Tripoli paired, sparing both potentially long, costly flights.

Although both teams are based in the capital, Tripoli, no stadium there meets international standards so the matches will be played in the second largest city, Benghazi, 650 kilometres (405 miles) to the east.

Libya is the only north African country not to have won a CAF club competition. Ahly reached the 1984 Cup Winners Cup final against their Egyptian namesakes, but strained political relations between the nations forced the Tripoli outfit to withdraw.

Resurgent Mazembe

TP Mazembe of DR Congo, who face Pyramids with the first leg in Cairo, are chasing trophies again after several barren seasons as some stars grew old while others moved abroad to bolster monthly salaries.

The Ravens from southern mining city Lubumbashi, who won eight CAF titles between 2009 and 2017, are guided by French coach Franck Dumas and topped Group C after a 2-0 win over Egyptian visitors Al Masry.

If Dumas has a major concern it is the lack of a consistent scorer — Adam Nazli scored both goals against Masry and is the only squad member to net more than once in the eight matches of this campaign.

Source: AFP

The Algeria Football Federation has called for a replay of their World Cup playoff clash against Cameroon and lodged a complaint with FIFA over the match’s refereeing.

The Federation claimed the officiating “distorted the result”.

Karl Toko Ekambi delivered the decisive strike in the fourth added minute of extra time in Blida on Tuesday to condemn Algeria to a 2-1 aggregate loss on away goals.

Cameroon went on to qualify for Qatar 2022.

Islam Slimani saw two goals ruled out, the first in the second half and again in extra time.

Referee Bakary Gassama initially allowing the latter goal to stand before using the pitch-side monitor to deem the Algeria striker had handled the ball.

Charaf-Eddine Amara has resigned as president of FAF in the wake of Algeria’s exit from World Cup qualifying, while the federation has lodged an appeal to world governing body FIFA.

“The Algerian Football Federation (FAF) has lodged an appeal with the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) against the scandalous arbitration which distorted the result of the Algeria-Cameroon playoff,” the statement read.

“The FAF is determined to use all legally permitted means to have its rights restored and to replay the match under conditions guaranteeing the honesty and partiality of the arbitration.

“The FAF also requests the opening of an investigation by FIFA bodies to shed light on the arbitration of the Algeria-Cameroon match.”

The draw for the group stage of the World Cup is set to take place on Friday.

Source: AFP

Cameroon, Ghana and Tunisia fired their coaches after unsatisfactory Africa Cup of Nations results this year, and the bold moves paid off this week with qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Hastily appointed Cameroon boss Rigobert Song saw Karl Toko Ekambi score in the 124th minute on Tuesday to snatch a 2-1 win over Algeria in Blida and victory on away goals.

Ghana coach Otto Addo endured many anxious minutes before a 1-1 draw against Nigeria in Abuja took the Black Stars through, also on away goals.

It was equally uncomfortable for Tunisia boss Jalel Kadri, whose side were held 0-0 at home by Mali but squeezed through thanks to a solitary-goal first-leg win last week.

With the World Cup play-offs coming just over a month after Senegal won the Cup of Nations in Cameroon, none of the new coaches were able to organise warm-up matches.

But they are now instant heroes in their nations as Cameroon look forward to an eighth appearance at the World Cup, Tunisia a sixth and Ghana a fourth.

Senegal and Morocco were the other qualifiers, in contrasting ways. Senegal edged Egypt on penalties while four-goal Morocco outclassed the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Soon after guiding Cameroon to a creditable third place as Cup of Nations hosts, Portuguese Toni Conceicao was sacked following the intervention of President Paul Biya.

Former Liverpool defender Song, the most capped Cameroonian with 137 national team appearances, was called up having never coached a senior team.

Losing at home to Algeria was a huge blow as the return match was in Blida, whose stadium is called the “slaughterhouse” given the frequency with which the Desert Foxes win handsomely there.

‘Learnt our lessons’

But Song convinced a team composed of professionals based across Europe that they could achieve the seemingly impossible.

“We learnt our lessons from the first match,” Song said. “Deploying two forwards rather than one was important.

“While tactics played a role in our second leg triumph, it was the mental attitude of the team that was most important.”

Former Borussia Dortmund assistant manager Addo combined with ex-Newcastle and Brighton boss Chris Hughton to give Ghana an unexpected triumph, especially after a 0-0 first-leg stalemate at home.

He succeeded despite the absence of captain Andre Ayew, who was suspended from both matches after being sent off in a stunning Cup of Nations defeat by minnows the Comoros.

Losing to debutants the Comoros plunged Ghana into crisis as they were eliminated after the first round and Serb coach Milovan Rajevac was sacked.

Addo restored self belief in a team containing a Premier League trio of Daniel Amartey from Leicester City, Thomas Partey of Arsenal and Jordan Ayew from Crystal Palace.

The 46-year-old was gracious in his moment of celebration, thanking his predecessors for the roles they played.

“There was a lot of work done before I took over. Thank you to former coaches Milovan Rajevac and CK Akonnor for their work. We are all in this together,” he said.

Kadri did have inside knowledge of Tunisia having assisted Mondher Kebaier, who was dumped after a Cup of Nations quarter-finals loss to Burkina Faso.

He must now plot a course that can take the Carthage Eagles beyond the first round at a World Cup for the first time.

Source: AFP

Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia have booked their places in the finals on a frantic night of play-off action.

Karl Toko Ekambi scored in the fourth minute of added time at the end of extra time to give Cameroon a dramatic 2-1 win over Algeria in Blida and qualification on away goals.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting put eight-time qualifiers Cameroon ahead in the 22nd minute and they retained the lead until the 118th minute when Ahmed Touba equalised in the second leg of a play-off.

But with Algeria leading 2-1 overall having won the first leg 1-0 last Friday, and seemingly set for Qatar, Toko Ekambi struck.

Liverpool star Sadio Mane converted a shoot-out penalty on Tuesday to take African champions Senegal to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the expense of Egypt.

Senegal won the second leg of the African play-off 1-0 in Diamniadio thanks to a fourth-minute goal from Boulaye Dia and the teams finished level at 1-1 on aggregate after extra time.

As was the case in the Africa Cup of Nations final last month, Mane was entrusted with taking the crucial fifth Senegal kick and once again he made no mistake to give his side a 3-1 shoot-out victory.

Among the three Egyptians who failed to score in the shoot-out was Sane’s Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah, who uncharacteristically blazed his kick over the crossbar.

Only four of the nine penalty takers were successful with captain Kalidou Koulibaly and Saliou Ciss missing for Senegal and Salah, ‘Zizo’ and Mostafa Mohamed for Egypt.

As Senegal celebrated a second straight qualification for the World Cup, Egypt were left to lament another dramatic loss to Senegal this year.

There were no goals in the Cup of Nations final that went to extra time in Yaounde last month, leading to a shoot-out which Senegal won 4-2 with Mane converting the fifth penalty for his side.

“It was important to get off to a good start, something we had not done in Cairo,” said Senegal coach Aliou Cisse.

“This team is better equipped (than the one which qualified for the 2018 finals). We (should have been) able to qualify in regular time given the chances we missed.”

Egypt coach Carlos Queiroz said: “There is not much to say – just nice words for the players for the game they played. Congratulations to Senegal.” 

The drama in Diamniadio came soon after Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey scored the goal that took Ghana to the World Cup as they forced a 1-1 draw in Nigeria to win the play-off on away goals.

Partey struck after 10 minutes in Abuja and although another Premier League star, William Troost-Ekong, levelled from a 22nd-minute penalty, Nigeria failed to score again. The first leg ended goalless.

Public servants in the Nigerian capital were given a half-day and free transport was arranged from the suburbs to ensure a capacity 60,000 crowd cheered on the Super Eagles.

Goalkeeping howler

But the home team fell behind early on when Partey’s shot from outside the box slipped between the hands of goalkeeper Francis Uzoho and into the net.

Troost-Ekong was the calmest person in the cauldron of noise midway through the opening half as he sent Ghana goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott the wrong way from the penalty spot to equalise.

Napoli forward Victor Osimhen had the ball in the net for Nigeria soon after, but it was ruled offside after a VAR check.

Nigeria applied constant second-half pressure, but could not break down a Ghana defence marshalled by Leicester City centre-back Daniel Amartey.

Ghana started the two-leg tie as underdogs after a dismal showing at the Cup of Nations in January, with a loss to minnows the Comoros condemning them to a humiliating first-round exit.

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice as Morocco trounced the Democratic Republic of Congo 4-1 in Casablanca to reach the finals for a sixth time.

Tarik Tissoudali and Paris Saint-Germain full-back Achraf Hakimi also netted for the Atlas Lions, who qualified 5-2 on aggregate after the first leg finished 1-1 in Kinshasa.

The outclassed Congolese Leopards trailed by four goals before Ben Malango snatched a consolation goal 13 minutes from time.

Tunisia secured their place in Qatar despite being held 0-0 at home by Mali in the second leg of a play-off.

A pre-match warning by Tunisia coach Jalel Kadri to his team that the return match would be even tougher than the first leg in Bamako last Friday proved spot on.

Having built a 1-0 lead in Mali through a Moussa Sissako own-goal, Tunisia were unable to build on their aggregate advantage and only scraped through.

Reported by AFP with additional editing from Camcordnews