Two groups of African referees are into the final set of match officials selected by FIFA to officiate the remaining batch of 2014 FIFA World Cup games which include the semi-finals, third place play-off and the final match on 12th July at the Maracana.The FIFA Referees Committee made public Monday July 7, 2014 the list of the 15 trios of referees who remain in Brazil until the end of the FIFA World Cup.The list had two “teams” of African referees. One consists of the Ivorian Doue Noumandiez as central referee; assisted by compatriot Yeo Soguinfolo and Burundian Jean Claude Birumushahu.…
Author: CAF News
The Organizing Committee of the Africa Cup of Nations has disqualified Equatorial Guinea from the playoffs of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2015.This decision was reached 3rd July 2014 following the protest brought by the Mauritania Football federation arising from the 1st round play off fixture of 17th May 2014 between Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea played in Nouakchott. Mauritania raised reservations concerning the player Thierry Fidieu Tazemeta. Of Cameroonian origin, Thierry Fidieu Tazemeta, was born October 13, 1982 in Mbouda, according to the information provided by the Federation of Cameroonian football.The Committee decided that the player under review…
The draw for the final tournament of the Ninth African Women Championship will be held on Saturday 19th July 2014. The draw is scheduled for the Namibian capital, Windhoek at 19:00 local time (17:00GMT). It will be held at the Windhoek Country Club Resort.Eight nations are in the draw, Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and hosts Namibia. The final tournament will be held from 11th through 25th October and serves as the continental qualifier for the 2015 FIFA Women World Cup to be held in Canada. Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
As the 2014 FIFA World Cup enters the ultimate phases, several African nations are gearing up for the final Afcon elimination round to decide the last seven teams to enter the group stages of qualification for Morocco 2015.Seychelles have announced plans to set up a training camp in Kampala from where they plan some training matches against the Uganda Cranes who are campaigning for their first Nations Cup place in over 31years.Added to the Seychelles match, the Cranes are eyeing another warm-up game against Malawi, also in Kampala. The Uganda Cranes have been on a tour of various regions of…
Rwanda will host the 2014 regional Cecafa Kagame Club championship which will run from 9 to the 23rd August. The championship matches will all be staged in the capital Kigali, Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye has said.The Amahoro and Nyamirambo will host the games with Rubavu stadium, an alternative venue.In announcing the decision, Musonye hailed the cooperation of the Rwanda Football Federation, Ferwafa and the Ministry of Sports and Culture who committed to organizing “a good competition”.“You will recall that the last time the Kagame Cup was played in Rwanda was in 2010 and the competition was a huge success.…
Joachim Low, Germany coach You need to catch your breath after a game like that, and at the end it was sheer force of will that got us the win. We didn’t get into our rhythm in the first half and lost a lot of balls, but we were the better team after the break and in extra time. We had a lot of chances and their goalkeeper played out of his skin at times. Algeria frequently evaded our pressing game by playing long balls and they did it well because we looked very vulnerable. It was good that Manuel…
Germany posted an extra-time victory over Algeria and France defeated Nigeria to extinguish Africa’s World Cup hopes on Monday and set up a titantic quarter-final showdown. A sublime flicked finish by Chelsea’s Andre Schuerrle and a late Mesut Ozil strike gave Germany a 2-1 win over the Algerians in Porto Alegre to put Joachim Loew’s side into the last eight.The Germans will meet European rivals France at the Maracana Stadium in Rio on Friday after Les Bleus ended Nigeria’s campaign with a 2-0 win in Brasilia. Germany were pushed all the way by a physical but limited Algerian side, playing…
Stephen Keshi has announced he is stepping down as Nigeria coach following the FIFA World Cup™ defeat to France, while defender Joseph Yobo has retired from international football.The Super Eagles pushed France hard in their second round match in Brasilia only for Paul Pogba’s late header and a last-gasp own goal by Yobo to seal a 2-0 win for Les Bleus.It appears that will be Nigeria’s final match under Keshi, who said: “It’s time for me to go back to my family and face fresh challenges.”He said on this Twitter account: “Friends, it has been a good run and I…
Didier Deschamps, France coachNigeria played a very physical game and had a real presence across the pitch. It was a challenge to go up against that, but we managed it. For an hour, the teams were pretty even, but then we were able to get the upper hand in the last half an hour. The Nigerians were tired, and they started leaving gaps in their defence. We were dynamic and quick when it mattered, while Nigeria were slowing down. This deserved win will make us even stronger for the rest of the competition. I’m very proud to have reached the…
France have marched through to the FIFA World Cup™ quarter-finals with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Nigeria in Brasilia. Didier Deschamps’ side were given a tough time of it by the African champions, but edged this tight encounter in the Estadio Nacional thanks to a Paul Pogba header and an injury-time own goal by Joseph Yobo.The French started as firm favourites and it was they who created the game’s first noteworthy opportunity, when Olivier Giroud twisted into space only to slice his left-foot shot wide from 20 yards. However, it was Nigeria who looked the sharper and more purposeful side…
Tchanile Tchakala was on Monday promoted to coach of the Togo national team for the next six months.Tchakala, a Togolese national, succeeds French coach Didier Six, whose two-year contract came to an end in January and to whom he was an assistant.The 46-year-old Tchakala’s mission will be to qualify Togo for the 2015 African Cup of Nations in Morocco, with games against Guinea and Ghana set for September. Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
Cool, calm, calculated and never one to make hasty decisions, Côte d’Ivoire head coach Sabri Lamouchi’s style on the sidelines has a lot in common with what he was like as a player. A tireless worker, the 42-year-old former defensive midfielder – who was capped 18 times for France – was hugely influential everywhere he plied his trade, including notably at Auxerre, Inter Milan and Marseille. Known for always making the right choices on the pitch, he appears to have taken this priceless attribute into his career in the dugout.”We are trying to find our own style,” Lamouchi told FIFA.…
Volker Finke, Cameroon coachIt’s hard to put your finger on everything right after a game. In the first half we did well, despite conceding two goals. You’ve got to give to credit to Brazil, as they managed to create a lot of chances thanks to the quality they have. For that reason I’d say they deserved the win. Now’s the moment to take some time out and analyse the reasons behind the campaign we’ve had. I think that, along with the first-half performance against Croatia, the first half today was the best we’ve played in this World Cup.Luiz Felipe Scolari,…
Brazil celebrated their 100th FIFA World Cup™ match with a fittingly entertaining 4-1 victory over Cameroon to arrange a mouthwatering Round of 16 meeting with fellow South Americans Chile.A double from Neymar, now the top scorer at the tournament with a quartet of strikes, and second-half efforts by Fred and Fernandinho proved enough to secure top spot in Group A for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team, ahead of Mexico on goal difference. Their opponents, on the other hand, say farewell to the competition without a point from three outings.Buoyed by reverberating noise in Brasilia, the hosts were fast and direct, causing…
Cameroon midfielder Alex Song has been handed a three-match ban for his bizarre elbow assault on Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic during their World Cup group game, FIFA announced on Monday.The 26-year-old Barcelona midfielder was sent off after striking Mandzukic on the back during Cameroon’s 4-0 thrashing in Group A last Wednesday.Song has also been fined 16,420 euros ($22,300) for the incident. The ban is effective immediately and rules him out of Cameroon’s final group game against Brazil later Monday. Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
Côte d’Ivoire will be without striker Didier Ya Konan when the Elephants face Colombia in Brasilia on Thursday.The Hanover forward, who helped inspire the comeback against Japan last week after coming off the bench, suffered a knee injury that will keep him out. However Stuttgart defender Arthur Boka is available after returning to training despite limping off with a calf problem against Japan. Both Côte d’Ivoire and Colombia won their opening matches and a win for either should guarantee qualification for the Round of 16.Ya Konan’s absence means there is more chance that Didier Drogba will start but Colombia coach…
Niko Kovac, Croatia coachWe didn’t start the match well, but we improved by keeping possession of the ball a bit better. We played in a very efficient manner tonight. Although Cameroon didn’t play as well as they can, that was partly down to our performance. We have to put this victory to the back of our minds for now, because our hardest challenge is still to come. The match with Mexico is going to be our cup final.Mario Mandzukic, Budweiser Man of the MatchI had trained hard for this one so that I could put in a strong performance. I…
Striker Mario Mandzukic scored two second-half goals as Croatia knocked 10-man Cameroon out of the World Cup with a 4-0 rout in Manaus on Wednesday.Croatia bounced back from their opening defeat to hosts Brazil to keep alive their hopes of progressing from Group A with an emphatic display.But Cameroon were largely the architects of their own downfall after playing the last 50 minutes with 10 men after Alexandre Song’s dismissal for a stupid a reckless punch to Mandzukic’s back. The Indomitable Lions seemed anything but as they imploded with full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto even trying to headbutt team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo in…
The bonds in this Côte d’Ivoire squad are strong. “We’ve known each other a long time,” Liverpool defender Kolo Toure told FIFA.com about the closeness, the laid-back atmosphere that pervades Les Elephants’ travelling camp at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. “We are family. A lot of us grew up together from boys into men.”When they arrived in Recife, on Brazil’s northern coast, the first order of business wasn’t a training session or a team meeting. Coach Sabri Lamouchi didn’t gather them around a chalkboard to talk tactics. The players, in garish orange tracksuits, completely identifiable as the world superstars…
Just one day after claiming he needed a miracle to play, Samuel Eto’o opened the door on Tuesday to his possible participation for Cameroon against Croatia in Manaus on Wednesday.The 33-year-old striker and captain of his country seemed to have all but given up hope on Monday but 24 hours later he suggested his previous stance had been nothing but mind-games. “I can’t give you a satisfactory answer,” he told reporters. “And even if I knew, I wouldn’t say.”Football is also about little pre-match secrets. It’s a strategy, it’s normal, all teams do this. I am hoping the gods grant…