27th November, 2015
Taiwo Adelu
Officials for the opening matches of the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, Senegal 2015, have been announced.
CAF said on its website that Moroccan Redouane Jiyed will be at the helm for the tournament opener between the hosts Senegal and South Africa, on Saturday, 28 November 2015 at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium, Dakar. Kick-off is at 1500H GMT.
He will be assisted by Berhe O’Michael of Eritrea and Nigerien Yahaya Mahamadou with Cameroonian Antoine Effa Essouma as the fourth official, for the Group A clash.
The other Group A match between Zambia and Tunisia will have Burkinabe Juste Ephrem Zio directing affairs from the middle. Mozambican Arsenio Marengula and Sidiki Sidibe of Guinea are the Assistant Referees. Mehdi Abid Charef of Algeria is the fourth official.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s U-23 national team, Dream Team, have landed in Senegal for the start of their campaign to pick a ticket for the football event of next year’s Rio Olympics in Brazil.
The delegation of 21 players and 10 officials arrived the Leopold Senghor International Airport, Dakar at 1.00am local time Thursday aboard an Arik Airline flight and were received by the head of chancery Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Haruna Musa on behalf of the Ambassador.
After airport formalities, the team were immediately taken by road to M’bour, venue of their first two group games, and later went to the hotel reserved for them, the Framissima Palm Beach, at about 3.00 am local time.
The team held their first training session later on Thursday.
Coach Samson Siasia and his Dream Team VI will begin their quest to qualify for the Rio Olympics when they take on West African rivals Mali on Sunday at the Caroline Faye Stadium, in Mbour.
With the arrival of Dream Team all the participating teams have now arrived Senegal as Nigeria were the last team to arrive.