Sports
Confusion Surrounds Togo’s Participation In Angola… Players Want To Play, Govt Wants Team Back Home
Confusion reigns over Togo’s participation in the African Cup of Nations following the Prime Minister’s insistence that the team return home despite the players’ willingness to play in the tournament.
Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo said the national team must return to Togo and not compete in Africa’s biggest football tournament after two of its delegation were killed when the team bus was ambushed by separatists.
“If a team or some people present themselves under the Togolese flag, it will be a false representation,” he said.
Captain Emmanuel Adebayor said: “We will do what the government asks us to do. If their decision is that we have to come back home, we will come back home – and it seems that we will.”
A player and a Togo official in Angola had insisted earlier that the team would play in the tournament, which began yesterday..
“Togo are staying in the competition. I have called the players and they want to play. We are now awaiting official confirmation from the Togolese government,” said Kodzo Samlan, general secretary of the Togo soccer federation and a press officer for the Confederation of African Football.
He added that Adebayor was with the team in Angola’s Cabinda enclave. His club Manchester City had said on Saturday that the striker was leaving the country.
The team’s media officer Stanislas Ocloo and assistant coach Amalete Abalo were killed along with the bus driver. Seven people were wounded including reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale, who is in a stable condition in a South African hospital after surgery.
Early indications yesterday were that the players had determined to be ready for their first Group B match today, and witnesses saw the team practicing yesterday morning.
“We have just had a meeting of the whole delegation and we will be on the pitch on Monday to face Ghana,” Tidesports source quoted midfielder Alaixys Romao as saying.
“People have died for the African Nations Cup, others have been injured. We can’t let them down and leave like cowards,” said Romao, who plays for French club side Grenoble.
“Our government does not necessarily agree with us but we are all determined to play this competition.”
Angola has spent $1 billion (£700m) building stadiums, roads and hotels for the competition, which brings together Africa’s best national teams. The bi-ennial tournament, which lasts until January 31, will be broadcast live around the world.
The African Cup of Nations started with fireworks and champagne at a massive stadium in the capital Luanda, where the hosts played Mali in the opening match yesterday.
But Friday’s attack on the Togo team, staged by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda which the government said recently no longer existed, cast a shadow over an event supposed to show Angola was at peace after years of civil war.
Security analysts said the ambush showed how easily insurgents can grab world headlines.
Cabinda, the scene of FLEC attacks even after Angola’s 27-year civil war ended in 2002, provides half the oil output of Angola, which rivals Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer.
It was the second militant attack on a sports team in less than a year. Last March, six policemen and a driver were killed when gunmen attacked a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team in Pakistan.
Friday’s assault raised questions about security for the soccer World Cup taking place in South Africa in June, but organisers of that event dismissed any comparisons. South Africa is the first African nation to hold the world’s biggest single-sport event.
Security analysts said outsiders involved in the World Cup are unlikely to ignore the Angolan attack and will want to review South Africa’s security preparations.
South African President Jacob Zuma attended yesterday’s opening ceremony despite the attack.
Cabinda, wedged between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, is due to host seven matches.
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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