Opinion / Columnist
Afcon tourney too strong for Cosafa teams
05 Jul 2019 at 05:19hrs | Views
The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) which is being held in Egypt has proven to be a mammoth for the teams that hail from the southern region of the continent.
Out of the five countries that left to represent the region in the Afcon tournament only two managed to progress to the round of 16.
The Confederation of Southern African Football (COSAFA) tournament which ended just days before the Afcon started seemed to have had little impact towards the effectiveness of the teams at the Afcon tournament.
Regardless of not having been prrsent at the Cosafa tourney, Madagascar is the only team that has done relatively well thus far, winning two of their group matches and drawing one which now poses the question of the effectiveness of the Cosafa tournament.
Namibia had the worst performance as it failed to even get a point, coach Ricardo Mannetti was not pleased with his team's early exit from the Afcon tournament, "I think we still have a long way to go"
Zimbabwe conceded the most goals in the group stages and it seems as if Sunday Chidzambwa the Zimbabwean coach has his job on the line nevertheless, Chidzambwa said that he is responsible for the outcome of his team, "I take the blame and we now have to look at the future."
They are also allegations hovering in the sporting realm that there was a match fixing scandal in their last game against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) courtesy of DRC's TP Mazembe owner Moise Katumbi who allegedly paid off Zimbabwe's goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze to concede the goals.
If the allegations are true Zimbabwe might find themselves in the round of 16 as DRC would have been eliminated and possibly face a ban of at least three years and a hefty fine from the tournament.
Angola started well but failed to go beyond the stalemates. South Africa lost two games and were already one leg out of the Afcon tournament had it not that they hadn't finished fourth in all the third placed teams.
Madagascar's coach Nicola Duluis is in euphoria after having managed to secure a spot at the Afcon tourney for the first time and also reaching the round of 16, "its a job well done and am really happy."
Madagascar faceoff with DRC and South Africa with Egypt a match South African coach Stuart Baxter said he would not go down easy, "you know if we are going to get beat lets get beat with the flag high not going there apologising." Egypt will take on South Africa tomorrow at 2100 (C.A.T) and Madagascar will faceoff DRC on Sunday at 1800 (C.A.T).
Out of the five countries that left to represent the region in the Afcon tournament only two managed to progress to the round of 16.
The Confederation of Southern African Football (COSAFA) tournament which ended just days before the Afcon started seemed to have had little impact towards the effectiveness of the teams at the Afcon tournament.
Regardless of not having been prrsent at the Cosafa tourney, Madagascar is the only team that has done relatively well thus far, winning two of their group matches and drawing one which now poses the question of the effectiveness of the Cosafa tournament.
Namibia had the worst performance as it failed to even get a point, coach Ricardo Mannetti was not pleased with his team's early exit from the Afcon tournament, "I think we still have a long way to go"
Zimbabwe conceded the most goals in the group stages and it seems as if Sunday Chidzambwa the Zimbabwean coach has his job on the line nevertheless, Chidzambwa said that he is responsible for the outcome of his team, "I take the blame and we now have to look at the future."
They are also allegations hovering in the sporting realm that there was a match fixing scandal in their last game against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) courtesy of DRC's TP Mazembe owner Moise Katumbi who allegedly paid off Zimbabwe's goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze to concede the goals.
If the allegations are true Zimbabwe might find themselves in the round of 16 as DRC would have been eliminated and possibly face a ban of at least three years and a hefty fine from the tournament.
Angola started well but failed to go beyond the stalemates. South Africa lost two games and were already one leg out of the Afcon tournament had it not that they hadn't finished fourth in all the third placed teams.
Madagascar's coach Nicola Duluis is in euphoria after having managed to secure a spot at the Afcon tourney for the first time and also reaching the round of 16, "its a job well done and am really happy."
Madagascar faceoff with DRC and South Africa with Egypt a match South African coach Stuart Baxter said he would not go down easy, "you know if we are going to get beat lets get beat with the flag high not going there apologising." Egypt will take on South Africa tomorrow at 2100 (C.A.T) and Madagascar will faceoff DRC on Sunday at 1800 (C.A.T).
Source - Daniel Itai
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