Sports
2019 AFCON: Doubts Over Cameroon As Hosts
Doubts over Cameroon’s readiness to host the 2019 AFCON has resurfaced and reports suggest CAF could be close to taking a vote of no confidence.
After a two-day meeting at the Egyptian holiday resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, which concluded at the weekend, the CAF Executive Committee reported that a projected video report on Cameroon’s preparation for the competition ‘showed a significant delay in the realization of the infrastructures’.
The slow pace of facility development is not the only reason being put up for the possible conciliation of the earlier hosting rights to Cameroon.
The on-going crisis in the Central African Country, between the largely Anglophone western Cameroon people and the majority French speaking parts of the country, is also a cause for concern.
The CAF Executive Committee report states that a joint CAF and FIFA commission will travel to the Country this month to study the security issues.
CAF was expected to declare their final position on Cameroon’s Afcon hosting rights this week but the executive committee postponed the announcement to November.
The Africa Cup of Nations with its new 24-team format will be held from June 15 to July 13 next year.
Caf said it had also sent an inspection team to the Ivory Coast, which is due to host the 2021 Nations Cup.
“Of the six stadiums required for the competition, four are to be built and two undergoing major renovations. For accommodation, three out of five cities have no infrastructure,” a Caf statement said.
Meanwhile, Caf has confirmed that the eight-team Women’s Nations Cup finals are set to take place from 17 November to 1 December in Ghana as planned with Accra and Cape Coast scheduled to host the matches.
Africa’s football body stated that “the Caf Secretariat will closely monitor the progress of preparations.”
Questions had been raised about whether Ghana was ready to host the Women’s Nations Cup especially in light of the recent crisis in the country’s football association.
The top three will all qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup in France.
However Equatorial Guinea cannot play at the World Cup following a ban by Fifa “for fielding ineligible players and for the use of forged and falsified documents by two of its players.”
The ineligible players were used in the qualifiers of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament for Rio 2016
Nigeria is the defending champion after beating hosts Cameroon 1-0 in the 2016 final.
The Super Falcons have won eight of the 10 tournaments played so far with Equatorial Guinea winning in 2008 and 2012.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor