AFCON Daily: Nigeria wins bronze medal [Episode 17]

We begin to have a clear demarcation on the perking order of the Afcon 2019 thanks for being with us on the final sprint of the competition.

Nigeria finished third at the ongoing 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament after beating Tunisia 1-0 on Wednesday night.

The Super Eagles won their third-place playoff for the eighth time in the history of the AFCON thanks to Odion Ighalo’s third minute strike.

Both sides were looking to end the tournament on a high following their disappointing semi-final defeats to Algeria and Senegal respectively.

Ighalo is currently the top scorer of the tournament with five goals and will win the top scorer award should Adam Ounas, Sadio Mane or Riyad Mahrez fail to score two or more goals in Friday’s final.

The strike’s tournament ended just before half time after picking up an injury. He left the pitch before the half time whistle blew and was replaced by Victor Osimhen as the match resumed for the final 45 minutes.

When Algeria and Senegal clash at the Cairo International Stadium this Friday to see which country will be crowned as the new king of African football, history will be made by the coaches on the touchline.

A local coach would be crowned champion irrespective of the result. Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi and Senegal’s Aliou Cisse will lead their respective sides for the Holy Grail of African football, and one of them will join the prestigious list of African coaches to lead their countries to AFCON glory.

It will be the fifth time that two African coaches will be meeting at the AFCON final.

In 1962 hosts Ethiopia coached by legend Yidnekatchew Tessema won their first (and only to date) AFCON title, defeating Egypt 4-2 in the final. The Pharaohs were then coached by Mohamed El Guindy and Hanafy Bastan.

Ghana won the 1965 edition, beating hosts Tunisia 3-2. The Black Stars coach Charles Gyamfi had his second successive AFCON glory then, defeating Tunisian counterpart Mokhtar Ben Nacef.

Another Ghanaian, Fred Osam-Duodu led the Black stars to the 1978 title defeating Uganda 2-0 who were then coached by Pete Okee.

In 1998, Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary became the first man to win AFCON as a player (1959) and coach. He guided the Pharaohs to their fourth title in Burkina Faso, defeating South Africa 2-0, who were coached by Jomo Sono.

Overall, 11 local coaches had won 15 AFCON titles in the previous 31 editions.

Ghana’s Charles Kumi Gyamfi and Egypt’s Hassan Shehata have each won record three titles, with Nigerian Stephen Keshi being the last to achieve this feat in 2013.

Mourad Fahmy (Egypt – 1957)

Yidnekatchew Tessema (Ethiopia – 1962)

Charles Kumi Gyamfi (Ghana – 1963, 1965 and 1982)

Adolphe Bibanzoulo (Congo – 1972)

Fred Osam-Duodu (Ghana – 1978)

Abdelhamid Kermali (Algeria – 1990)

Yeo Martial (Cote d’Ivoire – 1992)

Clive Barker (South Africa – 1996)

Mahmoud El Gohary (Egypt – 1998)

Hassan Shehata (Egypt – 2006, 2008 and 2010)

Stephen Keshi (Nigeria – 2013)

It is often said that a good team is a reflection of the coaching staff and mostly heralded is the coach but we question the role played by team managers in high level competitions like the Afcon. Let’s find out in today’s show.

@philemonmbale