A tale of “two finals” brings the curtain down on first U-23 African Championship - CAF U-23 Championship 2011

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A tale of “two finals” brings the curtain down on first U-23 African Championship

12-09-2011

A tale of “two finals” brings the curtain down on first U-23 African Championship

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Two teams out of four teams will be celebrating the most when the CAF U-23 African Championship winds up on Saturday 10^th December at Grand Stade de Marrakech. Host nation Morocco will contest the final against the tournament’s surprise package, Gabon but before that match Egypt and Senegal will battle it out for the precious third place which carries with it the automatic ticket to London 2012 Olympic finals. Never has coming third mean so much and the encounter between these two sides is expected to be a final within itself. To add to the intrigue the two sides clashed recently in friendly matches with both games finishing in a draw, but come Saturday they will have to be separated one way or the other.

Morocco will be without outstanding striker Abdelaziz Barrada, whose two quick goals in the opening ten minutes flattened Egypt. Barrada is returning to his Spanish club side Getafe as part of the agreement reached before hand. The hosts will still start out as favorites with Youness Mokhtar, Adnane Tighadouini and captain Driss Fettouhi all available and promising to win the Championship at home come Saturday. The Dutchman in charge of Morocco Pim Verbeek said he will be fielding his strongest side and will not be taking the foot off the pedal simply because they are through to London Olympic finals. Gabon will be hoping their fairy tale has one more twist and as their captain Cedric Boussoughou put it “ No-one gave us any chances of getting this far. We are however driven by determination and undying spirit to do well. 90% of our players are locally based in Gabon and we will carry on playing as a team they way we have reached the final.” The Gabonese’ strength has been built on a resilient defence where Nenet Ekwa Ebenga and his partner Didier Ndong have been efficient and solid. In Diderot Lengoualama , Allen Nono and Junior Ndong Gabon has poachers who are quite lethal at counter-attack football. Their coach Claude Albert Mbourounot has led Gabon to their first ever major football competition final and might still have another ace up his sleeve but whatever the final result, a hero’s welcome awaits him and his team back in Gabon. He says they will play the final with little pressure and this might just suit them well.

Egyptian manager Hani Ramzy thought his charges had recovered well enough from early set-back against Morocco to have deserved better from that semi-final match. Sharing the same sentiments after falling to a last minute of extra-time goal scored by Gabon is Senegalese mentor Abdoulaye Sarr who bemoaned the lack of luck his side had in that semi-final.

Both mangers have had time to reflect on their near-misses and as they head into the crucial match both admitted it is probably the most important match of their tournament. The loser of this match will have another chance to make it to London albeit via a play-off match with a side from Asia, to be played next April. Sarr and Ramzy agreed they would rather leave Morocco with qualification sealed. Egypt will be hoping that sensational wing play from Mohamed Salah and Moahmed El Neny that almost brought them back into the game against Morocco will work as well again. The Egyptian worked the flanks to good effect providing good service to Marwan Mohsen and Omar Gaber and on another day as Ramzy said they would have scored more goals from chances they created.

Senegal for their part were frustrated by a solid Gabonese defence and Sarr’s men were guilty of wasting chances too. Against Nigeria and Morocco, the Senegalese controlled the midfield with Seck Kaliloulah, captain Stephane Badji and Kara Mbodji’s presence dominant. The fluid and mobile Senegalese were able to carve scoring opportunities for their forwards. Omar Wade and Abdoulaye Sane. The Senegalese defence marshaled by Abdoulaye Ba has contested well so far but will have a sterner test against a potent Egyptian strike force. That should provide an interesting battle. Senegal will be hoping they will capitalize of the slow start Egypt had with their defence caught napping by lethal Moroccan forward play very early in the game.

The familiarity from the two previous games will count for little on Saturday and with the stakes very high. The last day of the inaugural CAF U-23 African Championship is likely to end with a case two finals on the day.

Fixtures
Saturday:
Senegal v Egypt (14.30)

Gabon v Morocco (17.30)

RESULTS

Gabon