Nigeria, Guinea qualify for FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015

Nigeria and Guinea have booked their place in the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015 after finishing first and second respectively in Group A of of the CAF U-17 Championship 2015 played in Niger. 

The four semi-finalists from the tournament will represent Africa at the U-17 World Cup, with the two teams from Group B to be determined on Sunday.

The Golden Eaglets, who beat Zambia 3-1 on Saturday, ended the group phase one top with two wins and one draw. Meanwhile, Guinea, despite being beaten by Niger 2-1, finished second in Group A with one win, one draw and one defeat.

With Cameroon unable to finish second in Group B after losing their first two matches, the final two semi-final tickets and subsequent spots up for grabs to Chile 2015 will be decided between Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa on Sunday.

Source: FIFA.COM

AFCON 2015: Ivory Coast land in Quarter finals, Guinea and Mali left hanging

Google Image: CIV

It was indeed a display of best of African football artistry, as ''Power'' houses Cameroon and Ivory Coast did battle on wednesday while Guinea and Mali also trade tackles to decided who goes through to the knock out stage of the on-going African cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

Ivory Coast and Cameroon had it tough and quite rough as the Elephant trampled on the Lions the battle securing a lone goal victory enough to see them through to the qaurter finals of the competition. It was Max Gradel's 35th minutes strike that sent Cameroon packing from Malabo.

In the other fixture between Guinea and Mali, it was all-square as they finished one goal appease, tied on points on the table and hang their fate of progression in luck.

CAF has announced that the winner will be decided later today when the Lots will be drawn using Article 74 of Afcon Regulations.

Let's see who gets favoured as the quarter finals commence on Saturday.

AFCON 2015: From The Stance of A Nigerian

By Amos Joseph

Having to watch the Africa Cup of Nation which kicks off 17 January and ends February 8 without seeing the current Champions is a bit hard, but, really as a football lover, you don't want to miss a single game as every match will have its own share of thrills and action.

This is not an attempt to remind you that Nigeria failed to qualify, it is simply to keep you abreast of the AFCON schedule even if you have to cope with the fact that ''Nigeria'' will not be playing a single game.

A little digression. Imagine if Spain had not participated in the last world cup being the defending champions, what would the world have said? They would have been missed of course. But am sure they would have preferred not to have been a part of that tourney. We saw the outcome! Beaten and knocked out early enough, they didn't even go far in the Brazil 2014.

Now, from a Nigerian perspective and for the sake of good football, what can we make of this AFCON without the Super Eagles? Can one say that the team which struggled with the likes of Sudan, South Africa and Congo be missed at the African stage?

One cannot take away the follower-ship and glamour Nigerian football fan would bring to the event, but the tournament will still have its gloss as said by the CAF President Issa Hayatou 

''The whole of Africa will miss Nigeria in Equatorial Guinea. But the absence will not in any way diminish your stature as a very big and influential nation in the African game, Hayatou said in a statement to the Nigeria Football Federation.

“It would have been good to have the defending champions in Equatorial Guinea. Nigeria brings so much value to the Africa Cup of Nations.

“However, we know that you will come back much stronger, as you did in winning the cup in South Africa last year after missing out on the 2012 championship.”

Also for the sake of football and its development, the AFCON was moved to Equatorial Guinea after original host Morocco pulled out due to reason relating to Ebola outbreak.

The Oil-rich nation will host the games in four venues: the capital city Malabo on an island off the mainland; the biggest city Bata; and Mongomo and Ebebiyin on the eastern border with Gabon.

Equatorial Guinea Burkina Faso, Gabon and Congo are in Group A

Group B: Zambia, Tunisia, Cape Verde, DR Congo

Group C: Ghana, Algeria, South Africa and Senegal

Group D: Cote d'voire, Mali, Cameroun, Guinea

From the stance of a Nigerian, a football lover and a writer: let the better side win.

Afcon 2015: Nigeria miss out, see countries that made it through

Title holders Nigeria will not be at Equatorial Guinea to defend the title they won last year, thanks to a 2-2 draw the west Africa played against South Africa in Uyo on Wednesday evening.

The African champions finished 3rd place in Group A with 8points, two points behind Congo who pip Sudan 1-0 to secure an automatic slot after Bafana Bafana maintained their lead as winner of the group with 12points.

Here are the teams that made it through:
Equatorial Guinea (hosts), Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia

Good luck to them all, name your favourites for the title.

AFCON Qualifiers: Eagles, Bafana Bafana finish goalless as Cameroun bash Ivory Coast

African champions, Super Eagles of Nigeria coming from a shocking defeat to Congo at home, played out a goalless draw against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.

The result means that the Eagles maintained a record of never losing or conceding against South Africa in a competitive match.

Meanwhile in other results

Group A
South Africa 0-0 Nigeria
Congo Brazzaville 2-0 Sudan

Group B
Malawi 3-2 Ethiopia
Algeria 1-0 Mali

Group C
Lesotho 1-1 Gabon
Angola 0-3 Burkina Faso

Group D
Cameroon 4-1 Ivory Coast
Sierra Leone 0-2 Democratic Republic of Congo
Note: match switched from Freetown because of Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone

Group E
Uganda 2-0 Guinea
Togo 2-3 Ghana

Group F
Cape Verde Islands 2-1 Zambia
At Maputo
Mozambique 1-1 Niger

Group G
Egypt 0-1 Tunisia
Botswana 0-2 Senegal

Etoo Joins fight against Ebola Virus in Guinea

Chelsea Striker Samuel Etoo has joined the campaign to fight the recently discovered Ebola Virus outbreak in Guinea.

The Cameroonian posted on his Instagram and Facebook accounts

"A deep thought for my brothers in Guinea that is currently affected by the Ebola virus. Lets fight together to defeat this scourge. #SaveAfrica"

Recent reports have it that Guinea said on Wsday it had stopped an outbreak of deadly Ebola fever from spreading beyond the country's remote southeast, although the number of deaths from suspected infections rose to at least 63.

Let's save Africa!