IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - CHAN DAY 20
Picture : Christian Gomis and Senegal in semi final.
Sudan, Senegal for semis as last co-hosts, Uganda bow out.
Ultimately, goalkeepers have had a stranglehold on the destinies of teams in the ongoing CHAN. And Sudanese keeper, Mohamed AL Nour of clubside AL Zamala typified that trend this Saturday when his team saw off formidable Algeria to reach the final four. His performance was simply outstanding, halting opponent attackers a couple of times before the 73rd minute goal by MC Alger's Soufiane Bayazid equalized after the Algerians had scored a 48th minute own-goal through their captain, Ayoub Ghezala. Musa Hussein's shot had been blocked but Ayoub managed to score against his own keeper. After 120 minutes, both teams went to the penalty shootout. While Waliel Khidir and Mohammed Ahmed Saeed scored for Sudan, Soufiane Bayazid and Aimen Mahious replicated for Algeria. Keeper Mohamed AL Nour stopped the shots of Mehdi Merghen and Zakaria Draoui allowing Ahmed Tabanja and Mohamed Tia to brushstroke the victory. The blistering night at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar City, Tanzania closed with Algeria being landed their first CHAN defeat in eleven games while their source of exasperation, keeper AL Nour was deservedldeservedly crowned mvp.
In an earlier game played at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium, Kampala, Uganda lived with the hard fact that an overwhelming homecrowd is not enough to ensure victory. The zigzagged first half did not register a goal but for a VAR check two minutes into stoppage time that ruled out a penalty clamored for by Uganda. Ten minutes into resumption the referee gave Senegal the benefit of doubt after Moussa Cisse touched the ball in the box. And then in an unkind twist of fate the huge turnout went silent following the 62nd minute lone goal through Oumar Ba who in the process was concretising great effort from the right flank. Minutes to full time security guards ferried a lose fan from the pitch moments before Kizito Mugweri and Kiza Usama failed to find the net in a combined effort with the keeper at bay. The last of the three co-hosts bowed out as Senegalese Mbaye Ndiaye lifted up the mvp prize.
The semifinals get underway on Tuesday as follows : Madagascar vs Senegal and Sudan vs Morocco.