AFCON - The African Mirror

Mar

25

2021

New golden age for Côte D’Ivoire

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO MAY 2013 marked the peak Côte D’Ivoire reached in the FIFA Rankings after the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in the same year. Gleefully, an enthusiastic glow hovers around the 2021 team - star studded with talent hungry to surpass the triumph of the generation before them. The 2013 team, consisting of all-time top scorer Didier Drogba and Premier league star Yaya Toure, reached 12th among the world’s best. The current Côte D’Ivoire team is ranked 61st, as of 20 March 2021, with high-level talent honouring the trend of Ivorian footballing success. The present-day squad features AC…

Aug

23

2020

By The African Mirror

Why Cameroon has slid back since Italia ’90

SPORT

DANIEL EKONDO Thirty years ago, Cameroon announced themselves in style in the international arena with a storming performance in the 1990 Fifa World Cup. Their display is still regarded as one of the best by an African team in the showpiece. Cameroon were not tipped to do much in Italy given that they had been eliminated by just a goal in the group stage of the 1982 finals in Spain and had missed the previous edition in Mexico. While they were nobodies in the global arena, the Indomitable Lions ruled the African continent. Cameroon had won their first Africa Cup…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Why Cameroon is obsessed with hosting the Afcon

SPORT

DANIEL EKONDE “I think [the] 2022 [Africa Cup of Nations] has the power of taking Cameroonian sport to another level,” says Njie Enow, sports editor at state-owned Cameroon Radio Television. The central African country is desperate to host the continent despite the many challenges it has faced since being given the right to stage the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). They were stripped of that right when they were deemed unprepared, but given the 2021 edition instead. And then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, pushing the men’s continental showpiece to 2022. The country’s readiness to host the Afcon is being…

Sep

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Chelsea FC’s Ziyech ousted from Morocco team

SPORT

Chelsea star winger Hakim Ziyech has been omitted from the Morocco national team due to ‘unacceptable behaviour’, confirmed Morocco head coach Vahid Halilhodzic. Morocco competed in a game against Ghana, a 1-0 victory in which Ziyech featured from the bench, prior to the team announcement for the World Cup qualifiers. Head coach Vahid Halilhodzic subsequently left Ziyech off the team list for the qualifiers against Sudan and Guinea. “For the first time in my coaching career, I have seen behaviour that disappoints me.” Halilhodzic said,” A player who refuses to play a game, Admittedly a friendly, on the pretext that…