Friday, February 3
•3rd Place: Niger Vs Madagascar – 10pm
Saturday, January 4
•Final: Algeria Vs Senegal – 10pm
Niger and Madagascar will hope to finish the African Nations Championship (CHAN) on a high when they face off in a third place match.
The bronze medal game will be held on Friday at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran.
Both sides have punched above their weight, as their progress out of their respective groups was a main target coming to Algeria.
Niger topped Group E ahead of Cameroon and Niger before eliminating Ghana 2-0 at the quarterfinals.
However, their run was ended with a 5-0 humiliating loss to hosts Algeria at the semifinals.
“We are in this position because we lost our semi-final match against Algeria. We would have loved to play the final but now, we have been presented with a new chance to fight for another medal and we shall do so against Madagascar,” explained Hassan Idé, the Niger assistant coach.
“We are focused on this objective, and we have turned a new page. Our motivation is the same that we had when we were facing Congo, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria. We want to win.
“Of course, the defeat against Algeria was tough on us as a team. Losing 5-0 having not conceded before in the tournament is hard on the players but we are going to continue with the right attitude.”
This, is Niger’s fourth appearance at CHAN, a competition that features local-based players.
They were eliminated at the Quarters in 2011 and failed to get out of the group twice in 2015 and 2020.
Madagascar on the other hand, topped Group C ahead of Ghana and Sudan before beating Mozambique 3-1 at the quarterfinals.
But their fairytale was ended by Senegal at the semifinals who won 1-0 to reach the final.
Madagascar coach Romuald Rakotondrabe, is quoted by CAF: “This is a very important match for us. We wanted to go to the final but we lost to Senegal. We have since rested well and the players are motivated to play this game and give our fans more joy. We have enjoyed their support throughout the tournament, and we want to do this for our country.”
Madagascar are taking part in their first ever CHAN tournament. They beat Seychelles and Botswana last year to qualify for the tournament in Algeria.
