{"id":13267,"date":"2022-01-02T12:23:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T12:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/uncategorized\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa"},"modified":"2022-01-02T13:56:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T13:56:53","slug":"diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","title":{"rendered":"Diouf tells Senegal: &#8216;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time if they believe in themselves.<br \/>\n&#8220;You possess talent, you are preparing impressively, now believe and you will conquer Africa,&#8221; was his message ahead of the January 9 tournament kick-off in Cameroon.<br \/>\nTwo-time African Footballer of the Year Diouf missed a shootout penalty when Senegal lost the 2002 final to Cameroon and the Teranga Lions reached the title decider again in 2019 only to fail against Algeria.<br \/>\nHere, AFP Sport puts the spotlight on the four Group B contenders with the winners and runners-up assured of last-16 places while the best four third-placed teams from six groups also qualify.<br \/>\nSenegal<br \/>\nSenegal have topped the African rankings for three years, but the star-stacked side have no trophies or medals to show off.<br \/>\nThere is a belief that it is now or never for a team boasting a &#8216;spine&#8217; of Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Idrissa Gueye and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.<br \/>\nCaptain Koulibaly and Watford forward Ismaila Sarr were chosen by coach and former star Aliou Cisse despite still recovering from injuries and could miss some group matches.<br \/>\nThe Lions are in arguably the weakest of the six groups and with a last-16 match against a third-place finisher likely to follow, the first serious challenge they face could be in the quarter-finals.<br \/>\nGuinea<br \/>\nAs if rookie national coach Kaba Diawara did not have enough problems trying to fix a dysfunctional squad, junta leader Mamady Doumbouya has thrown a spanner in the works.<br \/>\nAddressing the Syli Nationale (national elephants), he told the squad they must repay state-funded preparation costs if they do not return to Conakry with the Cup of Nations trophy.<br \/>\nThat is highly unlikely as Guinea fared dismally in recent 2022 World Cup qualifying, failing to win in six matches against Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.<br \/>\nMidfield has been a particular problem and Diawara, in his first head coach role, hopes Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita can trigger the dramatic improvement necessary to make any impact.<br \/>\nMalawi<br \/>\nMalawi were another team to perform woefully in the recently completed group phase of World Cup qualifying, losing five matches and finishing last of four nations.<br \/>\nLike Guinea, they reacted by changing coaches, demoting local Meck Mwase and hiring Mario Marinica, a 56-year-old Romanian who holds a UEFA pro diploma, the highest coaching qualification in Europe.<br \/>\nAs the country prepares for a third Cup of Nations appearance, his message to the underperforming Flames emphasised speed: &#8220;Think fast, act fast, move fast.&#8221;<br \/>\nWhile many teams heading to Cameroon are packed with Europe-based professionals, Malawi have only two, midfielder Charles Petro plays in Moldova and forward Francisco Madinga in Georgia.<br \/>\nZimbabwe<br \/>\nZimbabwe could be barred on Monday from competing at the Cup of Nations unless a state umbrella sports body reinstates the board of the national football association.<br \/>\nThe Sports and Recreation Commission sacked the officials in November, alleging mismanagement, lack of financial accountability and the sexual harassment of female referees.<br \/>\nFIFA says a ban may have to be imposed on Zimbabwe unless the board regains control of the sport by January 3.<br \/>\nAdd the absence of three key players &#8212; injured Marvelous Nakamba and Marshall Munetsi and retired Khama Billiat &#8212; and the outlook for the Knowledge Musona-captained team is bleak, if they get to play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\">Ghana<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Ghana. Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time if they believe in themselves. &#8220;You possess talent, you are preparing impressively, now believe and you will conquer Africa,&#8221; was his message ahead of the January 9 tournament [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[2444,5092,5096,6586,6585,429],"class_list":["post-13267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-conquer","tag-diouf","tag-ghana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Diouf tells Senegal: &#039;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#039; - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diouf tells Senegal: &#039;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Diouf tells Senegal: &#8216;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"conquer\",\"Diouf\",\"ghana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\",\"name\":\"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa' - Ghana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg\",\"width\":731,\"height\":411,\"caption\":\"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa'\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Diouf tells Senegal: &#8216;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa' - Ghana","description":"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa'","og_description":"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","og_site_name":"Ghana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":731,"height":411,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Diouf tells Senegal: &#8216;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#8217;","datePublished":"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa"},"wordCount":585,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg","keywords":["Africa","Africa Press","Africa Press-Ghana","conquer","Diouf","ghana"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa","name":"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa' - Ghana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-02T12:23:20+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-02T13:56:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Former Senegal star El Hadji Diouf has told the current national squad they will win the Africa Cup of Nations for the f ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/01\/img-61d1aed3690f4.jpg","width":731,"height":411,"caption":"Diouf tells Senegal: 'Believe and you will conquer Africa'"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/diouf-tells-senegal-believe-and-you-will-conquer-africa#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Diouf tells Senegal: &#8216;Believe and you will conquer Africa&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/","name":"Ghana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}