…Coachless Hosts Ivory Coast Qualify as Lucky Losers.
ROUND OF 16 FIXTURES:
1. Nigeria vs Cameroon at San Pedro stadium at 9pm on Saturday.
2. Angola vs Namibia at Bouake at 6pm on Saturday.
3. Egypt vs DR Congo at San Pedro on Sunday at 9pm.
4. Equatorial Guinea vs Guinea at Outtara at 6pm on Sunday.
5. Cape Verde vs Mauritania at Boigny at 6pm on Monday.
6. Senegal vs Ivory Coast at Yamoussoukro at 9pm on Monday.
7. Morocco vs South Africa at San Pedro at 9pm on Tuesday.
8. Mali vs Burkina Faso at Korhogo at 6pm on Tuesday.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco roared into the Round of 16 Games on Tuesday night at San Pedro by a lone goal to top Group F. It was the only goal scored in Group F on Tuesday.
Galatassaray attacking Midfielder, Hakimi Ziyech scored the goal in the 37th minute but the Centre Ref thwarted all tricky moves by Morocco to take undue advantage in the game through simulations, offside and unnecessary protests.
Taifa Stars of Tanzania once trained by Nigeria’s Emmanuel Amunike crashed out of the game with Zambia in a goalless encounter at the Coulibaly Stadium. The Chipolopolos of Zambia has never won a match at AFCON in eight years.
Morocco led the pack with 7 points scoring 5 goals and 1 goal against; DR Congo came second with 3 points scoring 2 goals and conceding 2; Zambia had 2 points with 2 goals and conceding 3 goals while Tanzania was 4th with 2 points scoring a lone goal and conceding 4 goals.
Morocco and Zambia had met some four times. Twice in a friendly on 12th January 2008 that ended 2-0 in favor of Morocco and that of 19th November 2008 that Morocco won 3-0. In another friendly of 16th June 2019 Zambia defeated Morocco 3-2 in Morocco but in an African Championship played on 31st January 2021 Morocco won 3-1.
In her last two matches, Zambia played 1-1 with DR Congo and another 1-1 with Tanzania. Morocco trounced Tanzania 3-0 and then played 1-1 with DR Congo.
Three times Taifa Stars of Tanzania met with DR Congo. In a friendly played on 27th March 2018 Tanzania won 2-0; they played 1-1 in a world cup qualifier on 2nd September 2021 and on 11th November in another world cup qualifier, Tanzania lost to 0-3 to DR Congo.
In this tournament Tanzania lost 0-3 to Morocco in their first outing and played 1-1 with Zambia. DR Congo had played 1-1 with Zambia and also another 1-1 with Morocco.
Meanwhile Gambia Coach, Tom Sainfiet has resigned his position following the country’s exit from AFCON 23. It is also reported that the Coach of Morocco, BALD HEAD has been suspended by CAF for his altercation with the DR Congo as reported by Patmos Media Line.
Ivory Coast on Wednesday sacked their Head Coach, Jean-Loius Gasset and his assistant Ghis Lain Printant due to insufficient results.
Algeria too on Wednesday sacked their Coach Djamel Belmadi after the two times Champions crashed out. The Desert Foxes were caged 1-0 by Mauritania in Bouake on Tuesday.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
#CAF #IvoryCoast2023 #NFF.
