Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho reacts to missing an opportunity during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match against South Africa. AFP
Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho reacts to missing an opportunity during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match against South Africa. AFP
Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho reacts to missing an opportunity during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match against South Africa. AFP
Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho reacts to missing an opportunity during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match against South Africa. AFP

Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Zambia suffer shock losses in qualifying


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Former African champions Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Zambia all lost at home on Saturday on a day of upsets in the first qualifying round for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

Three-time champions Nigeria lost a competitive game against South Africa for the first time when they fell 2-0 in the southern Nigerian town of Uyo in Group E.

While in Group H the Ivory Coast, who had vowed to win in memory of former teammate Cheick Tiote, who collapsed and died in China this week, slumped 3-2 to fellow west Africans Guinea in Bouake.

Zambia, champions in 2012, fell 1-0 at home to a daring Mozambican side in Group K.

New South Africa manager Stuart Baxter labelled his team the underdogs going by their poor head-to-head record against Nigeria.

But goals by Tokelo Rantie and substitute Percy Tau in the second half sunk the home team and the visitors were unlucky not to have scored more goals in the Group E clash.

“My young team tried their best, there was a mistake for the first goal and the second goal was a gift,” said Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr.

Libya top Group E after a 5-1 spanking of Seychelles on Friday in Cairo, Egypt.

In Bouake, Ivory Coast went down to Guinea despite a double by Seydou Doumbia.

Germany-based striker Naby Keita fired the winner for Guinea in the 79th minute.

Zambia also got off to a losing start on the road to Cameroon 2019 when they lost for the first time to Mozambique at home.

Stanley Ratifo grabbed the last-gasp match winner when he stabbed home a low cross.

Before then, Chipolopolo goalkeeper and captain Kennedy Mweene had to pull off a point-blank save to deny the visitors.

Guinea-Bissau, shock qualifiers for the 2017 Cup of Nations, edged past Namibia thanks to a Jerson goal on 24 minutes in the other Group K fixture.

Cameroon and Malawi both won in Group B. Reigning champions Cameroon pipped Morocco 1-0 in Yaounde while Malawi beat the Comoros by the same scoreline in Blantyre.

In Group I, the Zebras of Botswana lost 1-0 to Mauritania in front of their fans in Francistown after they failed to put away many chances.

This gutsy contest was decided on 78 minutes when substitute Abdoulaye Soudani controlled a long ball before firing past the Botswana goalkeeper.

Hosts Burkina Faso won the other Group I tie against Angola 3-1 with big striker Aristide Bance bagging a brace.

Burundi beat South Sudan 3-0 in Group C with Mali fought back from a goal down to beat Gabon 2-1 in Bamako in the other group game.

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JOURNALISM 

Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica

Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.

Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post

Local Reporting  
Staff of The Baltimore Sun

National Reporting
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International Reporting
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Feature Writing
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Commentary
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Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing
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LETTERS AND DRAMA

Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)

Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson

History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)

Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)

General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

and

"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)

Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019

Special Citation
Ida B. Wells

 

THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali

Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”

Favourite TV programme: the news

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South Africa World Cup squad

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.

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Scores:

Day 4

England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)

Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining

THE BIO

Age: 33

Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill

Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.

Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?

Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in

The biog

Profession: Senior sports presenter and producer

Marital status: Single

Favourite book: Al Nabi by Jibran Khalil Jibran

Favourite food: Italian and Lebanese food

Favourite football player: Cristiano Ronaldo

Languages: Arabic, French, English, Portuguese and some Spanish

Website: www.liliane-tannoury.com

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

Company profile

Name: Tharb

Started: December 2016

Founder: Eisa Alsubousi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: Luxury leather goods

Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings

 

In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff