Guinea progress at the expense of Mali

VISION SPORT
NEW VISION, Friday, January 30, 2015
39
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 2015
Different jerseys
The players now think this
jersey is a curse and shouldn’t
be used again. They prefer
getting back to the one they
used during their most successful 2012 campaign when
they lifted the title.
The difference in these two
sets may not actually look big
but the first one had black
shorts. When contacted for
comment, captain Rainford
Kalaba could neither refute
nor confer with the other
players’ reasoning.
“Every team has its own
beliefs and if the players feel
they should have a particular
jersey, I find no objection. But
I don’t think that is the reason
we lost,” said the TP Mazembe player.
In a related situation, the
Cape Verde fans accused
NV_3001_MN_41_KA.indd 1
From Page 40
“The Algeria game will
be very difficult — another one after a really
tough group — so there
you go the competition
begins now.”
The Elephants
have improved
after a sluggish
start that saw
them play out 1-1
draws with both
Guinea and Mali,
and Renard added:
“I said before this game
that it’s not necessary
in a Cup of Nations
to start too quickly
because it’s a very
difficult competition
and with players
like this they are
ready to compete and
they love games like
this.
“When you play
Cameroon you don’t have
to try to find motivation
especially when we lost
4-1 to them in September
(in qualifying).”
Renard saw captain
Yaya Toure come off late
on after taking a knock
in the second half and
will hope the Manchester City man recovers in
good time for the meeting with an Algeria side
considered by many as
favourites ahead of the
competition.
He added: “I think we
showed everything you
need to win a competition.
“All the teams in the
last eight will want to get
to the final — we are only
three steps from the title.
“We do this job to win.
We won’t be happy if we
lose in the semi-finals or
even in the final, because
if that happens it will
always come into your
mind for the rest of your
life.”
Against Algeria, the
Chipolopolo of witchcraft
practices ahead of their
fixture.
“And this rain did not just
come; those Zambians played
some witchcraft but it’s good
we are both out,” a fan who
spoke in broken English
lamented.
Nearly 60 minutes of the
game were played under
heavy downpour. The two
teams also shared the same
accommodation facility at
Inmacoulada Hotel.
fco
IT’S GUINEA
f a
S
occer is by far the
number one sport
in Africa. So it’s
understandable
when traditional and personal beliefs play a role in
the game.
In much of the sub-Saharan
Africa, it has long been common for soccer team players,
fans and even officials to
trade accusations for matches
lost.
Others have even turned
to witchcraft, or juju, to gain
a competitive edge. Teams
might, for example, summon
witch doctors to cast spells
on opposing teams, a practice
that the continental football
body, CAF continues to fight.
Just minutes after the
Zambia-Cape Verde game in
Ebibeyin, explanations of the
kind could be heard as the
Zambian players blamed their
early exit from the ongoing
Orange Africa Cup of Nations
tournament on
their jersey.
“This
jersey has
no luck
and our
officials
cannot
listen. May ROGERS MULINDWA
IN MALABO
be they
will now
learn from this experience,”
one player was heard saying
as the winless squad walked
off the pitch.
Placed in Group ‘B’ alongside Cape Verde, Tunisia and
DR Congo, Zambia were
eliminated without winning a
single match.
They drew 1-1with DR
Congo, 0-0 with Cape Verde
and lost 2-1 to Tunisia.
In all these matches, the
Zambians donned green tops
and bottoms. Their jerseys
have the national flag stripes
running from the shoulders
downwards — a design similar
to the current Uganda Cranes
jersey.
i
br e
Zambia blame
it on the jersey
n
i
n
We really tried
● Cameroon coach
Volker Finke insisted
his team had given
everything despite a
1-0 defeat to the Ivory
Coast on Wednesday
which saw them eliminated from the Africa
Cup of Nations at the
group stage.
“I think really the Ivory
Coast took advantage
of a little mistake we
made in the first half to
score the goal,” said
Finke.
“We tried really hard.
Everyone gave their
best, so that’s why
we can’t say the team
didn’t try to the end.
“In the second half
everyone gave a lot
but there weren’t many
clear chances.”
Don’t lose hope
Guinea progress at the expense of Mali
PICTURE BY KENNETH MUWANGA
Cameroon players dissapointed after the loss to Ivory Coast
Ivorians will be looking for
revenge for a dramatic 3-2
defeat after extra time when
the sides met in the last
eight in Angola in 2010.
And for Renard it will be
a special occasion after he
spent time coaching leading
Algerian club USM Alger in
2011.
“I had 10 great months
in Algeria with them. Their
Teams should understand
that not everyone is as lucky
as the other and every game
must have a winner and a
loser. The colour, type, material or even size of the jersey
totally has nothing to do
with goals. The Chipolopolo
should concede defeat —it
wasn’t their turn!
(The columnist is a CAF
Media officer currently on
official duties in Equatorial Guinea: [email protected])
fans will of course not be
behind the Ivory Coast but
I say hello to them and their
president and now I’ll try to
make them cry,” he joked.
Ghana battle Guinea
Guinea qualified for the
Africa Cup of Nations
quarter-finals on Thursday
after a drawing of lots was
required to separate them
and Mali.
They will go through to a
quarter-final on Sunday in
Malabo against Group C
winners Ghana while Mali
go home.
The two nations were left
to draw lots after they finished deadlocked on three
points each behind winners
the Ivory Coast in Group D.
AFP
Allardyce unhappy with Senegal
LONDON
West Ham United
manager Sam Allardyce
on Thursday criticised
Senegal over their behaviour with regard to
his club’s players Diafra
Sakho and Cheikhou
Kouyate.
Sakho was ruled out of
the Africa Cup of Nations
with a back injury, but
made a scoring appearance
as a substitute for West
Ham in the FA Cup last
weekend, prompting questions from Senegal coach
Alain Giresse.
“He (Sakho) is coping fine
but they (Senegal) are falling out with us.”
● South Africa coach
Ephraim ‘Shakes’
Mashaba has insisted
his team have nothing to be ashamed of
despite crashing out
of the 2015 Africa Cup
of Nations at the first
hurdle.
“It was a good learning
lesson for the boys.
We went through the
qualifiers — they did
very well. We played
against some of the
best teams in the continent and we stood (up)
for ourselves,” said
Mashaba.
“The results were not a
true reflection of what
we showed here and,
unfortunately, we will
be judged by these
results.”
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1/29/2015 6:43:11 PM