Category Archives: Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

AFCON: Super Eagles play 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone in Freetown

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The Leone Stars are yet to record a victory in the group but their massive turnaround in the first fixture against the Nigerian side gives the home team a huge psychological advantage in the second leg.

Sierra Leone vs Nigeria will see the Leone Stars attempt to live up to their dramatic 4-4 comeback to record a win over the Super Eagles in Freetown.

Despite giving away four goals to the Sierra Leonean side at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, the three-time African champions still lead Group L with seven points, one ahead of Benin.

Line up:

Super Eagles starting XI: Okoye, Akpoguma, Balogun, Ekong, Aina, Etebo, Iwobi, Aribo, Chukwueze, Iheanacho, Musa.

#Newsworthy

Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

AFCON: Eagles’ player, Osimhen ruled out of rematch against Sierra Leone

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Osimhen scored one of the goals in a dramatic 4-4 draw with Sierra Leone, who recovered from four goals down in Benin City on Friday, but was later substituted after hurting his shoulder.

Napoli striker Victor Osimhen will miss Tuesday’s Africa Cup of Nations return qualifier against Sierra Leone in Freetown after he dislocated his shoulder in the first game, according to Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr.

He has since been discharged from hospital, but Rohr said he will not be available for the rematch in Sierra Leone.

“He is out of the match after he dislocated his shoulder,” Rohr disclosed.

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Osimhen, 21, has scored four goals in three Nations Cup qualifiers.

However, the Super Eagles coach said he is confident both Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze and Leon Balogun from Scottish club Rangers will be fit for the match in Freetown.

“Balogun was replaced after he got injured, he did not train today but he will be okay, while Chukwueze has a little pain around the groin, but we hope to have him back,” he assured.

Club Brugge forward Emmanuel Dennis is the other injury doubt after he injured his ankle in training.

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Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

Super Eagles battle Algeria in Austria.

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Coach Gernot Rohr is using the friendlies to put his team in good shape for the forthcoming AFCON and World Cup qualifiers and to also see what the new boys will bring to his team.

Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr will be watching out for the players among the new recruits who can make the national team stronger when Nigeria meets Algeria in an international friendly in Austria today.
The German will file out a team complete with a new trio of goalkeepers and up to five players looking to play their way into the heart of the national team selectors.

The Eagles will play without striker Victor Osimhen, midfielders Oghenekaro Etebo and Wilfred Ndidi, Joe Aribo, and regular goalkeepers Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, and Daniel Akpeyi. Vying to impress in their positions are goalkeepers Maduka Okoye, Dele Alampasu, and Mathew Yakubu. Also on the verge of making their Super Eagles debut are Cyril Dessers, Chidera Ejuke, Zaidu Sanusi, Frank Onyeka, Samson Tijani, and former Germany U-20 captain, Kevin Akpoguma.

The Super Eagles last training session indicated that Everton midfielder, Alex Iwobi could be supported in the midfield by new kid, Frank Onyeka, and returnee, Mikel Agu.

Apart from the new boys, Kelechi Iheanacho and Tyrone Ebuehi are back in the team hoping to do enough in this game and Tuesday’s match against Tunisia to earn a permanent position in the squad.

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Iheanacho was left out of the team to the 2019 African Cup of Nations because of poor form while Ebuehi is coming back from more than one-year injury-induced absence.

Algeria, who have a second game against Mexico in The Netherlands on Tuesday, come into today’s game not only as of the champions of Africa but also on the back of an 18-match unbeaten run.

They have not lost on the pitch since they were bumped by the odd goal in an AFCON 2019 qualifier away in the Benin Republic in October 2018.

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Two years earlier, they were beaten 3-1 by the Super Eagles in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Uyo. Both teams ended the return leg in Constantine 1-1, though the Eagles had already picked the only World Cup ticket from the group ahead of that final encounter.

Djamel Belmadi, the former Algerian international who coached his country to a second continental title in Egypt last year, has included standout names Riyad Mahrez, Yassine Brahimi, Sofiane Feghouli, and Baghdad Bounedjah in his 24-man squad to confront the three-time African champions.

The game, like Tuesday’s, will kick off at 8.30pmAustria time (7.30pmNigeria time).

The match, earlier scheduled to hold at the Jacques Lemmans Arena in the Austrian state of Carinthia, which contains only 2,420 spectators, has now been moved to Worthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt, with 30,000 seating capacity.

No reason was given for the change in the match venue.

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The Super Eagles trained only ones yesterday ahead of the clash against scheduled to kick-off by 7:30 p.m. Nigerian time.

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles have dismissed reports in some quarters that some of the players in the team’s Austria camp have tested positive for COVID-19 as reported by a section of the media yesterday. The report said four players tested positive for the deadly COVID-19 and had to undergo another round of testing.

Super Eagles Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye, expressed dismay over such reports, noting that results of the tests carried out on the players were being awaited yesterday.

He wondered how the players could test positive for the virus without the result of their tests.

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“Please discountenance reports that some of our players tested positive to COVID-19 ahead of tomorrow’s friendly game against Algeria. It is a blatant falsehood.”

“The writer of the story, who was not part of the press conference earlier today, totally misrepresented what Coach Rohr said.

“Rohr said that since the outbreak of the pandemic, four of our players had tested positive, but we’re all now fully recovered from the virus and back in action.

“The results of the COVID-19 tests carried out on the Super Eagles ahead of tomorrow’s game are still being awaited,” Ibitoye said.

#Newsworthy..,.

Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

Cote D’ivoire sets 60,000 seats stadium ahead 2023 AFCON.

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Ivory Coast inaugurated Saturday its new 60,000-seat Olympic stadium, built with the help of China, in Ebimpe, on the outskirts of Abidjan, in preparation for the African Cup of Nations soccer in 2023.

The ceremony, with a great show of dance and music, took place in the presence of 50,000 people, according to the organizers – including Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, who is seeking a controversial third term in the October 31 presidential election.

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The president said he was “proud and happy of this Sino-Ivorian cooperation” for “this architectural jewel”.

The Ebimpe stadium will be the largest in Ivory Coast, replacing the Houphouët-Boigny stadium located in the center of Abidjan.

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It will host the opening match and the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

The stadium and ancillary facilities (swimming pool and Olympic city, hotel …) cost 218 million euros, according to Ivorian authorities, with counterpart funding from China, which has a strong economic presence in the West African country.

The work was carried out in nearly four years by Beijing Construction Engineering Group, a Chinese firm.

The construction of the facility also aims to develop the Anyama area, on the northern outskirts of the Ivorian economic capital, where the first metro line is due to be built.

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Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

Update: Prosecutor set to investigate missing AFCON cup in Egypt

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The sports ministry said Wednesday it has referred a probe into a missing African Cup of Nations trophy which Egypt has possessed since 2010 to the prosecutor general after a string of explosive allegations.

“The ministry of youth and sports has referred the file of the loss of some important silverware from the warehouses of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) to the prosecutor general,” it said in a brief statement on its Facebook page.

The investigation was launched last week when celebrated ex-national goalkeeper Ahmed Shobair said the EFA found that the gold trophy, along with other awards from previous tournaments, had gone missing.

Officials were preparing to inaugurate a museum showcasing Egypt’s football memorabilia in time for the EFA’s centenary when the loss was realised, Shobair said on his popular talkshow.

Another former football hero Magdy Abdelghani, along with the EFA, waded into the debate suggesting ex-national team players and coaches Ahmed Hassan and Shawky Gharib knew of the 2010 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy’s whereabouts.

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But former football officials said it was looted during a fire in 2013 caused by protesters, known as the Ultras, at the EFA headquarters in Cairo.

File photo of Liverpool play kin and egpyt nationale, Mohammed Salah (Noble Reporters Media / Olamide Noble

The accusations prompted the sports ministry and EFA to kick off investigations that have been closely monitored by Egypt’s legions of fervent football fans.

Hassan and Gharib have both dismissed any link to the disappearance.

The continent’s football governing body, the Confederation of African Football, said Sunday it had “learnt with shock reports of missing AFCON trophies from the Egyptian Football Association secretariat”.

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“Our doors are open and the @EFA can count on our support in the search for the priceless memorabilia,” it tweeted.

Egypt was allowed to keep the trophy on a permanent basis — with a new cup made — after the dominant run of the “Pharaohs”, as the national team is known, winning three titles in a row, in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Egypt is the most successful country in Africa Cup of Nations history, having won the trophy a total of seven times since 1957.

But the Pharaohs were knocked out at the last-16 stage last year when Egypt hosted the biennial tournament.

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Total Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON)

Egypt: AFCON Trophy in CAF H/Q “No Where To Be Found”

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The (AFCON) trophy been stolen from the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) headquarters in Cairo unravels.

Former Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Vice-president and current ONTime Sports broadcaster, Ahmed Shobir, confirmed the Africa Cup of Nations trophy disappeared from the headquarters of the EFA.

“The EFA started looking for some trophies as they aim to put them in a notable museum inside the EFA,” Shobier said.

“However, the EFA was surprised to find that the AFCON trophy was lost and decided to open an investigation.

“They were informed by an employee inside the association that it was held by former Egypt captain Ahmed Hassan who refuted this claim. Nobody knows where is the trophy at the time being.”

According to Hassan, he kept the trophy at home after winning the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2010 and gave the trophy back to the Egyptian Football Association in 2011.

Ahmed Hassan was the national team’s captain in 2008 in Ghana and 2010 in Angola

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