Big guns face dicey away duels

The race for places at the Orange CAF U-20 Championship Senegal 2015 gets keener with the first leg matches of the penultimate round taking place this weekend.

Reigning African champions, Egypt and 12 others who drew a bye at the first round joins the survivors from the previous round for this stage which has 28 teams.

The interesting trend for this weekend games is the fact that big guns such as Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and mali are involved in tricky away duels with trips to Khartoum, Freetown, Dar es Salaaam and Ouagadougou as guests of Sudan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Burkina Faso respectively.

The quartet is famed for their strong youth teams and their performance in the history of the biennial championship remains a benchmark for their peers. Nigeria, the most successful have been crowned champions a record six times, Egypt in that order with four triumphs, one more than Ghana, whilst mali reached the last four on five occasions.

The Young Pharaohs under the technical guidance of former Ahly defender, Alaa Mayhoub travel to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in a boisterous mood after weeks of preparation in the Egyptian capital Cairo for Sunday’s clash.

Ghana’s Black Satellites, losing finalists at the last continental championship in Algeria last year will be up against the Shooting Stars of Sierra Leone on Saturday, whilst the Flying Eagles of Nigeria, dominated by graduates of 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup winning team contends with the Ngorongoro Heroes on the same day.

Nigeria coach, Manu Garba is upbeat his chances can survive the test to boost their chances of a place at the final round.

“We would do everything within our capacity to win in Tanzania and I’m very positive about this. The information and technical report we have on them would give us a clear picture about how we are going to play against them. Our priority is to win,” Garba told Cafonline.com before the Eaglets jetted off to Dar es Salaam.

Fresh from a 2-0 victory over Niger in a preparatory game last week in Niamey, Sidi Napon’s Les Etalons Juniors gets their first test of the campaign against neighbours Mali in Ouagadougou, Malawi versus DR Congo in Blantyre whilst Mozambique squares Zambia in an all-Southern African affair at the Estadio Nacional do Zimpeto in Maputo.

In Addis Ababa on Sunday, South Africa appears wary of an Ethiopian side that saw of Seychelles 5-0 on aggregate at the previous round. Head coach Ephraim Mashaba’s squad for the trip is largely composed of members of the South African side that won the zonal U-20 (COSAFA) championship in Lesotho last November for the task against the promising Junior Walyas.

Libya and Tunisia will faceo-ff in the Algerian city of Blida, Burundi against Cameroon in Bujumbura, Rwanda versus Gabon in Kigali whilst Lesotho and Angola sort things out in Maseru.

Congo, winners in 2007 welcomes Benin to Pointe-Noire whereas the Municipal Stadium in Lome will host the Togo versus Morocco encounter.

Liberia, who advanced from the first round after the disqualification of Gambia for fielding ineligible players, will be at home against Les Elephanteaux of Cote d’Ivoire at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Liberia.

The second leg will take place on the weekend of 23-25 May 2014 with the winners advancing to the ultimate round of the qualifying series.

The final tournament will take place from 8-22 March 2015 in Senegal with the semi-finalists qualifying to represent Africa at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

Fixtures

Saturday, 10 May 2014
Mozambique vs Zambia
Malawi vs DR Congo
Tanzania vs Nigeria
Sierra Leone vs Ghana
Burkina Faso vs Mali

Sunday, 11 May 2014
Libya vs Tunisia
Ethiopia vs South Africa
Burundi vs Cameroon
Rwanda vs Gabon
Congo vs Benin
Togo vs Morocco
Liberia vs Cote d’Ivoire
Sudan vs Egypt
Lesotho vs Angola

Confederation of African Football (CAF) News