Sudan have taken a serious option in the race for qualification of the 2022 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) to be held in Algeria. This is after beating Djibouti 4-1 in the first leg of the last qualifying round of the competition.
At the end of the first leg scheduled from 26 to 28 August, Sudan are really the only team that have given themselves the means to make a quiet return match after a big away win (4-1).
However, Mali and DR Congo who won on the same score of 2-1, have also made big steps towards the qualification to the 2022 TotalEnergies CHAN.
In the other matches, the many narrow scores noted allow explosive second leg matches.
In WAFU A, Senegal beat Guinea 1-0, while the match Guinea Bissau-Mauritania will take place on Monday in Nouakchott.
In WAFU B, the derby of the zone was won by Ghana 2-0 at the expense of Nigeria. The following results were recorded in the other matches, Togo-Niger: 1-0 and Côte d’Ivoire-Burkina Faso: 0-0.
In UNIFFAC, DR Congo beat Chad 2-1 in Yaoundé, with CAR beating Congo on the same score 2-1. On the other hand, Equatorial Guinea beat Cameroon 1-0.
In East Africa, in addition to Sudan’s 4-1 win over Djibouti, there was Uganda’s 1-0 victory in Tanzania and a barren draw (0-0) between Ethiopia and Rwanda.
In the southern zone, Angola won South Africa 2-0, Malawi and Mozambique drew 1-1 and Madagascar collected a precious away win 1-0 in Botswana.
In the northern zone, which will host this edition of the CHAN in Algeria, Libya and the title holders Morocco have already obtained their slot following the withdrawal of Tunisia and Egypt.
NAIROBI, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — Kenya and Sudan are warmed up for the forthcoming regional Cecafa U-20 football tournament in Tanzania, having played two friendlies against each other this week in Nairobi.
Kenya rallied to beat Sudan 2-1 on Thursday evening in their second encounter.
Brian Wanyama and Matthew Mwendwa netted for Kenya in the 35th and 78th minutes. Kenya head coach Stanley Okumbi said after the game that he would bolster his squad in the coming days before they depart for the regional competition that will run from November 22 to December 6 in Arusha, Tanzania.
“This is not the final squad and I feel we can get six, seven or eight players from outside because some had no documents and others had travelled. We need to boost the team for our final preparations,” Okumbi said.
In their first encounter here on Monday, Kenya also came from behind to beat Sudan, 3-1.
“We started low and made the same mistake of conceding the ball to Sudan who is good in transition and counter-attack,” the Rising Stars boss said. The former senior side Harambee Stars head coach will be trying to instill the philosophy of building attacks from the back since he does not believe that young players should be playing long balls ahead of their trip to Tanzania.
Okumbi led Kenya to the final of the 2019 CECAFA tournament in Tanzania where they lost to the home team in the decider.The Rising Stars have been drawn in Group C of the tournament against Ethiopia and Sudan.
Sudan coach Mounir Lehbab has also set his sights on securing a first regional football title for Sudan.
“The objective for this team is to win in Tanzania and qualify for the U-20 AFCON in Mauritania in March. We have worked hard for this. The players improve every day,” Lehbab said.
Group A consists of hosts Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia and Djibouti while Group B consists of Burundi, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Uganda.
The top team in each group will proceed to the semifinals, alongside the best runner-up. The finalists, meanwhile, are set to earn an automatic slot at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
Sudan have parted ways with their coach Zdravko Logarusic.
The Croat was appointed to lead the Falcons of Jediane in 2018 but failed to help them qualify for the 2019 Afcon in Egypt.
Sudan also failed to make it to 2020 Chan championship to be held in Cameroon next year.
In the 2021 Afcon qualifiers, Sudan started their campaign with a morale-boosting 4-0 win against Sao Tome but fell by a solitary goal against South Africa in their second match.
With a month remaining on his contract, the Sudan Football Federation opted against extending his contract and broke the ties.
“We announce today that the decision has been taken to part company with our national team head coach Zdravko Logarusic. Our most sincere thanks go to Zdravko. We wish him nothing but future success,” the federation tweeted on Saturday.
The Croat has already been linked to the vacant coaching job at Simba SC, a club he trained way back in the 2013/14 season.
Wekundu wa Msimbazi sacked their Belgian tactician Patrick Aussems on Saturday too after failing to meet the set objectives and appointed Dennis Kitambi on an interim basis.
Kenya’s dream of taking a football team to the next Olympic Games went up in smoke on Tuesday after the national U-23 football team were held to a barren draw by visiting Sudan in the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations Qualifiers at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi.
Sudan sailed to the third round where they will face Nigeria in a match whose winner will book one of the eight tickets to Egypt for the age group competition.
The winner of the September championship will represent Africa at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.
There were high expectations that Kenya would progress with a win over Sudan, but the Emerging Stars failed to make amends after going down 2-0 in Khartoum last week in the opening leg bowing out of the competition on a 2-0 aggregate.
Coach Francis Kimanzi was totally out of ideas on how to turn around the away defeat.
The Mathare United tactician called up a vividly tired Piston Mutamba to the squad despite the Sofapaka striker having had no rest after landing in the country with the senior team from Ghana on Monday.
Less than 20 hours, he was given a full match and the future Harambee Stars striker struggled with what looked like jet lag. He was so ineffective that he didn’t have even a single shot on target.
Sudan on the other hand knew they had to jealously protect their two-goal lead.
Their defence led by the ever-awake custodian stuck by the script, running down the clock with every available chance that fell their way.
Kenya, playing as if they were leading, were wasteful. Only James Mazembe gave the few local fans, who had turned up at the Kasarani Stadium for the show, some slim hopes with dashing runs but that was it. Nothing meaningful came out of them.
Swedish-based Ovella Ochieng wasn’t generous enough with his ball distribution, while Kariobangi Sharks talisman, substitute Sydney Lokale, was a pale shadow of himself.
Mutamba missed an opportunity to hand Kenya the lead in the 40th minute, from close range, but he did not have much contact with the ball. Mutamba was perfectly set on by another new call up, James Kinyanjui who had to pave way just a few minutes after the restart.
A mean Ovella blew another chance when he opted for power instead of passing the ball to an unmarked Ibrahim Shambi.
The hosts appealed for a penalty after Sudanese player handled the ball inside his own net, but was ignored by the Madagascan referee having waved play on after Ovella was brought down inside the box in the first half.
Shambi’s lack of composure proved costly as Kenya created another chance moments after a hard working Sudanese keeper parried Ovella’s perfectly curved free kick.
The visitors held on to force a 0-0 draw and secure a passage into the final round where Nigeria is waiting.
We will go for early goal to propel us against Sudan, Kenya U-23 team coach Kimanzi says ahead of Kasarani clash
An early goal is what Kenya will be going for when the Emerging Stars take on Sudan in the Africa U23 Cup of Nations Qualifiers on Tuesday.
The match is a crucial one for the Kenyan coach-Francis Kimanzi who kicked off the lengthy campaign process on a wrong footing-having bowed 2-0 in the opening leg last week-as the competition will also act as an Olympics Qualifier.
The Emerging Stars must beat Sudan 3-0 to secure passage to the third round of qualification phase, but despite the herculean task ahead, Kimanzi is upbeat that the home boys can turn around the match.
“If we play better than we did in the first leg, I am confident that we can get a positive result. Getting the first goal will be tough, but if we can get it early enough, I know we will be in control of the match,” said Kimanzi.
To do this, Kimanzi will rely on heavily on the new inclusions, Sofapaka striker Pistone Mutamba who has just returned from AFCON qualifying match with the senior team-Harambee Stars from Ghana and Mathare United forward James Kinyanjui.
The two will stand in for John Avire and Jafari Owiti, who have both been ruled out after picking up knocks in the first leg.
Football Kenyan Federations knows that the junior team will need the support of the 12th man and as such the federation has waved gate charges for the Tuesday clash.
Francis Kimanzi is upbeat Kenya will overturn a 2-0 loss to Sudan in Khartoum and progress to the final round of the Africa U23 Cup of Nations cum Olympics Qualifier.
The Emerging Stars – the National U23 team – has an uphill task in the return leg having gone down to Sudan in the first leg away.
Speaking after he jetted back with the squad, Kimanzi termed the results “disappointing” but remained upbeat of a positive outing in the reverse fixtures on Tuesday.
“We still have a chance on Tuesday in spite of the two-goal deficit and I am confident that we’ll get a positive result,” he said.
Kimanzi has beefed up the squad with a late call of Mathare United midfielder James Kinyanjui.
Kinyanjui became the fourth Mathare United player alongside Andrew Juma, David Owino and Arnold Onyango to have been called to the Emerging Stars squad.
The aggregate winner will face either Libya or Nigeria in the third and final qualifying round.
The third round winner will grace the Africa U23 Cup of Nations, set to be held in Egypt in November 2019.
The tourney will act as a qualifier to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.