Johannesburg – Senegal coach Aliou Cisse wants the September Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers postponed to allow the five countries representing the continent at the World Cup to play friendly matches.
Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia have qualified for the November 21-December 18 Qatar tournament and the African sides have only a September 19-27 window and one week before the World Cup kick-off to prepare.
The withdrawal of Zimbabwe from Group K means Morocco are free to play warm-up games in September, but the other four teams face two African qualifiers each.
Cameroon are scheduled to play Namibia, Ghana to meet Angola, Senegal to tackle Mozambique and Tunisia to face Libya home and away.
ALSO READ | Egypt suggest delaying AFCON final against Senegal by a day
TODAY’S #AFCON2023Q
RESULTS!
Group F
Uganda?? 1-1 ??NigerLIVE!
Group I
9′ Gabon 0-0 Mauratania
Group G
7′ Congo 0-0 Gambia
Group F
7′ Tanzania 0-0 AlgeriaFIXTURES!
Group L
Sudan vs DRC
Group I
Benin vs Mozambique pic.twitter.com/xPZIHL0ZBO— African Football (@Football0Africa) June 8, 2022
Speaking to the media in Dakar after Senegal snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Rwanda on Tuesday, Cisse called on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to delay the next two rounds of qualifying.
“The best thing (to) help the five (African) selections that have qualified (for the World Cup) is to stop the (qualifiers) in September,” said the former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder-cum-defender.
“(This would) give the opportunity to the countries qualified (for the World Cup) to do their preparations. I think we can find a solution to postpone the (qualifiers) scheduled for September.”
The challenge for CAF will be to find new dates if they postpone the 44 September fixtures as there is only one other window, next March, before the June-July 2023 finals in the Ivory Coast.
CAF plan to stage matchdays five and six of Cup of Nations qualifying between March 20-28, with the finals set for June and July 2023.
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What the Cairo-based body may consider is cancelling only the eight September matches involving the World Cup qualifiers and asking them to play catch-up during the World Cup window once eliminated.
African pundits are extremely pessimistic about the chances of the five, giving only Senegal, who face the Netherlands, Qatar and Ecuador in Group A, a realistic chance of reaching the second round.
CAF AFCON 2023 (Ivory Coast) Group A results and standing
Matchday 1:
Guinea-Bissau 5-1 Sao Tome and Principe
Nigeria 2-1 Sierra Leone
Matchday 2: June 13 2022
Sao Tome vs Nigeria (In Morocco).
Sierra Leone vs Guinea-Bissau. pic.twitter.com/yWKuCKMyLE
— NigeriaFootball360 (@NFootball360) June 9, 2022
Algeria take control
Tunisia are in Group D with defending champions France, Denmark and Australia or Peru and Morocco in Group F beside Belgium, Canada and Croatia.
Cameroon face Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland in Group G and Ghana meet Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H.
AFCON QUALIFIERS
Group H Standings. #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 #AFCON2023Q #ubepaloinvestmentslimited pic.twitter.com/1ptUFAEKgI— Kelvin T. Musako (@MusakoKelvin) June 8, 2022
Meanwhile, there were six Cup of Nations qualifiers on Wednesday and fallen African giants Algeria took control of Group F after an impressive 2-0 victory in Tanzania.
A clever free-kick drill late in the first half culminated in centre-back Ramy Bensebaini nodding the Desert Foxes ahead.
Tanzania rarely threatened to equalise before substitute Mohamed Amoura sealed success with a thunderous close-range shot a minute from time.
Group D of AFCON ??? pic.twitter.com/56AsyFRU56
— The Window: An International Football Pod (@windowintlpod) June 9, 2022
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Algeria boasted a 35-match unbeaten record before the wheels came off this year in a Cup of Nations title defence and World Cup play-off.
After drawing with Sierra Leone in the African tournament, they fell to Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast to make a stunning first-round exit having travelled to Cameroon as one of the title favourites.
Algeria then won away to Cameroon in a World Cup play-off only to concede late in extra time at home and lose on away goals.
The win in Tanzania, coupled with second seeds Uganda draw 1-1 at home to Niger, means the two-time African champions have a four-point lead after just two rounds.
Congo Brazzaville put a four-goal Group G mauling in Mali behind them by edging 2021-2022 Cup of Nations giant-killers the Gambia 1-0 in Brazzaville through an Antoine Makoumbou goal.
2023 AFCON QUALIFIERS
East Africa
UGANDA / NIGER 15:00 ST LIFE
TANZANIA / ALGERIA 18:00 World Football
SUDAN / DR CONGO 21:00 World Football✅ Ukwezi: Smart 8500frw / Classic 8000 frw
??Download StarTimes ON App: unyuze hano https://t.co/mdx7GrGN7Z pic.twitter.com/NT6p1tul8L— StarTimes Rwanda (@startimesrwanda) June 8, 2022
TODAY’S #AFCON2023Q
RESULTS!
Group G
Congo?? 1-0 ??Gambia
Group F
Uganda?? 1-1 ??Niger
Tanzania?? 0-2 ??Algeria
Group I
Gabon?? 0-0 ??MaurataniaLIVE!
Group I
3′ Benin vs Mozambique
Group L
1′ Sudan vs DRC pic.twitter.com/DKF0VbPqsN— African Football (@Football0Africa) June 8, 2022
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Picture: Twitter/@Football__Tweet
Source: AFP
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