Significance of Tunisia’s Victory over Ghana
When the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on Monday edged out Ghana ‘s Black Stars via the lottery of penalty shoot out with Ferjani Sassi converting the decisive kick to give the North Africans 5-4 win over their West African foes, it ended their 54-year AFCON losing streak to Ghana. The victory was sweet for the Tunisians as they had lost six times to Ghana since drawing the first game between the two countries in the 1965 edition.
Egyptians Put Defeat Behind Them Already
The pain of hosting a major football tournament and crashing out is something no nation wish for, most especially when it comes so early in the tournament as the case of the Pharaohs of Egypt. Although most Egyptians will love a country like Nigeria to win the tournament, that is first overcoming the South Africans in last night’s quarter final pairing. The truth however is that, the passion they displayed before the tournament began has waned to almost zero level after the Pharaohs crashed. Most of them have embraced their normal life and the local media’s coverage is not left out of the demoralized mood as preview and reviews have reduced. They just can’t wait for the tournament to end.
Madagascar, the New Bride in Egypt
Madagascar will become the first Africa Cup of Nations debutants in 23 years to reach the semifinals if they defeat Tunisia in a last-eight match in Cairo tonight.
The last team to achieve the feat, South Africa, went on to win the 1996 tournament by defeating Tunisia 2-0 in the final in Soweto.
Players of the island nation squad are relatively old with eight of the 23-man squad in their 30s. There are no teenagers in the Barea. Defender Jeremy Morel, 35, is the oldest and midfielder Rayan Raveloson, 22, the youngest.
Foreign Coaches Still Hold Sway at AFCON 2019
It has become a recurring decimal that foreign coaches continue to dominate African teams at major tournaments. At the end of the second round matches of AFCON 2019, only three local coaches were left in the competition namely; Aliou Cisse of Senegal, Ibrahima Kamara of Côte d’ Ivoire and Djamel Belmadi of Algeria. While Gernot Rohr of Nigeria, Stuart Baxter of South Africa, Michel Dussuyer of Republic of Benin, Alain Giresse of Tunisia and Nicolas Dupuis of Madagascar are the fi
