IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 3
Picture : Legends stand in Yaounde to support CAF initiative #SAYSAFEAFRICA .
CHAN 2020 - REPORT DAY BY DAY
22 January
Dark clouds hover over the CHAN less than a week after debut.
The 6th Total African Nations Championship Cameroon 2020 enters Match 13 on Friday 22 at the Bepanda Reunification Stadium with some dark clouds beginning to hover over proceedings.
First, matches were preceded by a minute of silence in memory of former CAF Exco member and President of the Libya Football Federation, Jamal El Jaafari who was lost to Covid-19 two days into the competition. And then yesterday, the minute of silence was observed also in honour of former DR Congo forward, Jean Kalala N’tumba who passed away on January 11 in France at the age of 72. He was part of the former Zaire squad to the 1974 World Cup, 1972 African Cup of Nations and the AS Vita Club African Champions Club Competition.
Next, Covid-19 has made its appearance in the Championship with the head coach and five players of the DR Congo squad testing positive before last night’s match with Libya. The victims have been quarantined, naturally breaking their momentum as games of the first round evolve.
Lastly, media men are complaining about the late arrival of starting lists before matches, as well as the conflicting information carried on them.
1 victory, 1 draw and 1 defeat mark Day 2 in Group C.
Predictions that Morocco would become the first team to qualify for the knockout stage of the competition failed after Rwanda put up a stiff resistance in the first of two games marking the second day in Group C. The tight game closed on a 0-0 score as Abdelkarim Baadi of the Atlas Lions of Morocco was named the Man-of-the-Match.
In the second match, The Sparrow Hawks of Togo and The Cranes of Uganda played arguably the most exciting game of the competition so far with The Hawks pecking the Cranes and clipping their wings in a 2-1 victory. The Hawks opened scores at the 48th minute when, following a cross from the flanks, Paul Patrick Mbowa beat his own keeper in an own goal as he tried to deflect another header by Abdou SamiouTchatakora. The Cranes got the equalizer at the 51st through substitute Saidi Kyeyune whose thunderbolt of a shot from near 40m crashed on the crossbar before hitting the net behind goalkeeper Abdoul-Moubarack Aigba. Celebrations of the goal had barely died down when, at the 57th minute, Yendoutie Nane handed Togo victory with a similar shot taken from the edge of the box and crashing the ball against the crossbar before hitting the net. Ismael Ouro-Agoro of The Sparrow Hawks was named the Man-of-the-Match.
23 January
The Brave Warriors of Namibia are the second team to be eliminated.
Like the Warriors of Zimbabwe before them, The Brave Warriors of Namibia have been knocked out of contention for the race to win the 6th Total African Nations Championship. This follows their second consecutive defeat in Group D tonight at the hands of The Taifa Stars of Tanzania. In the second match on the night, the Tanzanians missed golden chances before the goal at the 65th minute when the excellent goalkeeper Ndisiro Kamaijanda of the Brave Warriors surprising parried an airborne cross from the right flank onto the forward surging Faridi Mussa who connected with his left foot finding the roof of the net. All attempts by The Brave Warriors whose coach, Bobby Samaria indulged in tactical substitutions failed to yield dividends as they fell 0-1 to get eliminated. Ethiopian referee Lidya Tafessee Abebe at the head of a female officiating trio halted the match at the 72ndminute when one of the flood lights dimmed completely. But she resumed activity after ten minutes and completed the game which saw the scorer, Faridi Mussa Shah being named the Man-of-the-match.
Zambia - Guinea : Spencer Sautu equalised !
Earlier on, the Chipolopolo of Zambia and the Syli Nationale of Guinea played to a 1-1 tie, thus blowing the group wide and making it absolutely compulsory to wait for the last playing day of the first round to know who qualify for the quarterfinals. Victor Kantabadouno of the Syli Nationale raised the curtains at the 51st minute, but three minutes to full time, Spencer Sautu equalized at the 87thminute to put full time scores at 1-1. Guinean player Morlaye Sylla was named the Man-of-the-match.
24 January
Cameroon, Mali qualify for ¼ finals from Group A.
The Eagles of Mali were the first side to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Total African Nations Championship following their 1-0 defeat of the Warriors of Zimbabwe courtesy of an 11th minute goal by Demba Diallo. The match which was played at the Japoma Stadium simultaneously with the other Group A fixture at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium to prevent complacency between the teams ended some two minutes before the Yaounde fixture. That victory put Mali on top of the group with 7 pts, and Cameroon second with 5 points after their 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso.
At the level of individual achievements, Moussa Ballo of Mali and Hamed Belem of Burkina Faso were named Man-of-the-match in Douala and Yaounde, respectively.
The quarterfinalists from Group B will be known after the following two matches to be played simultaneously tomorrow as from 8 pm local time: Congo vs Libya at Japoma and Niger vs DR Congo.
Meanwhile during the half time break of today’s match in Yaounde, some sixteen Africa and CAF legends walked down the field for a symbolic picture to support.
ALL TIME RECORD FOR MANUEL NEUER
Manuel Neuer has definitively beaten Oliver Kahn's all-time record for German Bundesliga clean sheets as Bayern Munich beat Schalke 3-0 to stay seven points clear at the top of the table.
The clean sheet was the 197th in the league for Neuer (in 423 matches), who joined Bayern in 2011 from Schalke. Oliver Kahn had 196 clean sheets in 557 games.
TRANSFERS
Abby Dahlkemper signed at Manchester City and joined Rose Lavelle and Samantha Mewis, her US team mates in England. Abby played in the USA National team since 2016 (63 caps), World Champion in 2019 and she won the NWSL titles 2018 and 2019 with North Caroline Courage ! One of the best defenders in the World.
Catarina Macario joined the World’s Best Team Olympique Lyon in France. At 21, she is one of the greatest talents in the World Football and before some days in January 2021, she announced to start her professional career in Lyon, coming from the Stanford University ! Last week, she played her first match with the USA National team and scored already her first goal in her beginning first match, crowned as the Best Player of the Game !