Sports
Siblings Partnerships Hold Sway At Nations Cup
Footballing brothers have long been a feature in international football, and in 1930, when 13 countries assembled in Uruguay to contest the first-ever FIFA World Cup, three of the teams had brothers, with Mexico claiming a pair of sets on their own.
This tradition has continued throughout the years and there have been FIFA World Cup-winning brothers like Fritz and Ottmar Walter, who won with Germany in 1954, or the Charlton brothers Jack and Bobby, who picked up a winners’ medal 12 years later with England. There have been several sets of twins, with the best known probably being the Van der Kerkhof brothers, Rene and Willy of the Netherlands, who twice ended up on the losing side in the FIFA World Cup Finals of 1974 and 1978.
The 28th CAF Africa Cup of Nations, which is being co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, is adding its own mark to the tradition with four sets of brothers taking part in the competition, and several other father and son combinations grabbing their share of the headlines.
One of the tournament favourites, Côte d’Ivoire, have the Toure brothers, who are considered among the best brother pairings currently in football. Both Kolo and his younger brother Yaya play their club football for Manchester City in England’s Premier League and are now looking towards bringing success to the west African country, who face Mali in the semi-final today. They won the Ivorian league title as teenagers together, but nothing yet at Manchester City or at international level, as Kolo was serving a six-month suspension when the Blues won the FA Cup.
“It would be great to lift the trophy at the end of the tournament, for me and Yaya to win the African Nations together,” Kolo said. The defender said he enjoyed being on the pitch with his midfield-playing frere (brother) : “It’s great to be playing in the same teams as my brother. It is also great to be part of the whole team, and I hope we win,” he said before the start of the tournament.
Kolo admitted that even though he is the older one, he often receives tips from his brother, who at the end of last year was crowned African Footballer of the Year. “I try to help him, but there’s not a lot I can do, he helps me because he has more football experience. He won the Champions League and played with the best team in the world at Barcelona. I am having a great career and am happy for what has happened to me, but I look at my brother, and what he does in the football world at the moment is so great.”
The Ayew brothers in the Ghana squad, Andre and Jordan, are attempting to follow in some very big footsteps. Their father, Abedi Pele, won the competition with Ghana in 1982 and has a second-place medal from 1992. Both brothers play for one of their pere’s previous clubs, Olympique Marseille, with 20-year-old Jordan a striker, while Andre, 22, is a midfielder. They also have an older brother Abdul, who was in the Ghana squad at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations two years ago and at South Africa 2010, but failed to make Goran Stevanovic’s squad this time around.
Sports
CAA Wants Ghana To Host 2026 Athletics Champions
The Confederation of African Athletics has invited Ghana to bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 African Athletics Championships, following a successful athletics event at the just concluded 2023 African Games.
President of Ghana Athletics, Bawa Fuseini, stated this and expressed confidence in the transformative potential of the Legon Stadium for athletes and Ghana’s bid to host international competitions.
With a capacity of 11,000, the Legon Stadium played a pivotal role in the recent African Games, hosting both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as various sporting events including athletics, football, and rugby.
Fuseini highlighted the success of the athletics events held at the stadium, which contributed to Ghana winning six medals.
“We have already started getting requests from the Confederation of African Athletics to bid for the 2026 African Athletics Championships.
“When they came and saw what we have put in place and the level of organisation, they told me that for the last 20 years, they’ve never seen any organisation like this before. We did three official courses. And the last one, we had 110, all of them passed. We had a lot of officials and equipment.”
Since its establishment in 1979, Ghana has never hosted the African Athletics Championships, with Nigeria being the host country twice, in 1989 and 2018.
This year, Cameroon will take the reins as the host nation, with the event set to be held at the Olembe Stadium.
Sports
‘I’m Not Under Pressure To Coach Eagles’
Finidi George, head coach of the Nigeria Premier Football Leagues side, Enyimba, has stated that he is not losing any sleep over getting the Super Eagles job on a permanent basis.
Early this month, the Nigeria Football Federation declared the position of the Super Eagles’ head coach vacant, following the exit of Portuguese Jose Peseiro, who led the side to a second-place finish at the 2023 Africa Cup Nations in Ivory Coast in February.
In an advertisement on its website calling for applications with a March 13 deadline, the football governing body stated that the prospective Eagles coach “must have proven experience at the elite level of football.”
The former Ajax man, who also applied for the job, was appointed Eagles interim coach for the international window with the former winger picking a win and suffering a defeat.
In an interview with Tidesports source, the 52-year-old tactician said he was not desperate for the job permanently.
“I felt really good when I was told to take charge of the team. I have been with the team for almost two years, I know all the players, their strengths, and their weaknesses but I am only here to serve Nigeria the way I know how to do stuff.
“I will just take these two games and go back to my club. Whatever the decision is taken after, so be it. I’m not under pressure to say I must get the role permanently.”
Sports
‘Reasons Why Eagles Lost To Mali’
The friendly games against Ghana and Mali were to serve as an audition for George Finidi, who was in charge of the team on an interim basis, but the Eagles’ lacklustre display in those friendlies has called for his further evaluation.
Finidi kept faith with ex-coach Jose Peseiro’s defensive formation against Mali on the back of his first win (against Ghana) in charge of the team four days earlier.
But this time, his defence was punished following a combination of defensive errors and poor passes.
The Eagles struggled to play out of defence due to the high pressing of the Malians and it was no surprise that the first goal by Les Aigles was a direct result of their aggression.
Chidozie Awaziem, who started on the right of the back three alongside Kenneth Omeruo and Semi Ajayi, lacked composure and was pressured into making a pass across his box straight at Bilal Toure, who made no mistake in getting the ball past Stanley Nwabali. They missed the calming presence of injured William Troost-Ekong.
Vice captain, Kenneth Omeruo, was also culpable of misplaced passes and was beaten for pace when Kamory Doumbia ran past him to seal Mali’s first win in over four decades, firing his shot past a helpless Nwabali, who stood no chance.
Eagles wing backs, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Jamilu Collins also did not do enough to support the team in attack when they had the chance to.
Lack of creativity
Finidi paired Raphael Onyedika and Wilfred Ndidi in a double pivot in midfield. Both players are naturally anchor men and neither is a box-to-box midfielder.
They both do not possess the offensive capability to drive the team’s attack forward, which left the Eagles once again craving for a natural creative midfielder.
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