{"id":3832,"date":"2014-03-04T13:44:44","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T13:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=3832"},"modified":"2014-03-04T14:14:29","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T14:14:29","slug":"3832","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=3832","title":{"rendered":"Pre World Cup friendlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gh<\/a>African football fans face an enthralling week as the continent’s representatives to the World Cup as well as teams preparing for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers take on friendly foes.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0World Cup five\u00a0–\u00a0Algeria,\u00a0Cameroon,\u00a0Cote d’Ivoire,\u00a0Ghana\u00a0and\u00a0Nigeria\u00a0– will headline these friendlies that will be played on Wednesday, or Thursday morning in Africa in the Nigeria case.<\/p>\n

Algeria<\/b>\u00a0will be home to Europeans Slovenia in\u00a0Blida\u00a0as they prepare for\u00a0Belgium,\u00a0Russia\u00a0and\u00a0South Korea\u00a0in the group stage of the World Cup which kicks off mid-June in\u00a0Brazil.<\/p>\n

In the Portuguese city of\u00a0Leiria,\u00a0Cameroon<\/b>\u00a0will tackle fellow World Cup finalists\u00a0Portugal\u00a0in a build up\u00a0to their seventh appearance at the Mundial. The Indomitable Lions have been drawn against hostsBrazil,\u00a0Mexico\u00a0and\u00a0Croatia.<\/p>\n

On their part the Cristiano Ronaldo-led\u00a0Portugal\u00a0will see the\u00a0Cameroon\u00a0game as good preparation for their upcoming clash with\u00a0Ghana\u00a0in the group stage of the global showpiece.<\/p>\n

Cote d’Ivoire<\/b>\u00a0take on\u00a0Belgium\u00a0in Brussels, with the Elephants facing a\u00a0tricky group comprising\u00a0Greece,Colombia\u00a0and\u00a0Japan. The star-studded West Africans\u00a0are bidding to reach the knockout stages\u00a0at the third try after dropping out in the group stage of the\u00a02006,\u00a02010 editions.<\/p>\n

Ghana<\/b>\u00a0head to Podgorica to tackle European hosts\u00a0Montenegro\u00a0as coach Kwesi Appiah seeks to put together a commando unit capable of surviving European heavyweights\u00a0Germany\u00a0and\u00a0Portugal\u00a0as well as the\u00a0United States of America\u00a0at the quadrennial international.<\/p>\n

On their part, African champions\u00a0Nigeria<\/b>\u00a0travel to\u00a0Georgia, Atlanta,\u00a0in the\u00a0US\u00a0for a second friendly with fellow World Cup finalists\u00a0Mexico\u00a0in the coach\u00a0Stephen Keshi era. The last time both met, the game ended in a 2:2 draw. The Super Eagles are preparing for group games against\u00a0Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and\u00a0Argentina\u00a0in\u00a0Brazil, while\u00a0Mexico\u00a0will see the tie as good preparation for the upcoming confrontation with\u00a0Cameroon.<\/p>\n

A host of other African teams are taking advantage of the FIFA window to continue their team building with the\u00a02015 AFCON qualifiers in view.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 FIXTURES<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

SATURDAY\u00a0– MARCH 05<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Algeria\u00a0vs\u00a0Slovenia<\/p>\n

Portugal\u00a0vs\u00a0Cameroon<\/p>\n

Belgium\u00a0vs\u00a0Cote d’Ivoire<\/p>\n

Montenegro\u00a0vs\u00a0Ghana<\/p>\n

Mexico\u00a0vs\u00a0Nigeria (2.30am Nigerian time)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bosnia Herzegovina vs\u00a0Egypt<\/p>\n

Namibia\u00a0vs\u00a0Tanzania<\/p>\n

Mozambique\u00a0vs\u00a0Angola<\/p>\n

Senegal\u00a0vs\u00a0Mali<\/p>\n

Burundi\u00a0vs\u00a0Rwanda<\/p>\n

Zambia\u00a0vs\u00a0Uganda<\/p>\n

Botswana\u00a0vs\u00a0South Sudan<\/p>\n

Mauritania\u00a0vs\u00a0Niger<\/p>\n

Congo\u00a0vs\u00a0Libya<\/p>\n

Burkina Faso\u00a0vs\u00a0Comoros<\/p>\n

Colombia\u00a0vs\u00a0Tunisia<\/p>\n

Morocco\u00a0vs\u00a0Gabon<\/p>\n

Luxembourg\u00a0vs\u00a0Cape Verde<\/p>\n

Iran\u00a0vs\u00a0Guinea<\/p>\n

South Africa\u00a0vs\u00a0Brazil<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: africaplays.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African football fans face an enthralling week as the continent’s representatives to the World Cup as well as teams preparing for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers take on friendly foes. The\u00a0World Cup five\u00a0–\u00a0Algeria,\u00a0Cameroon,\u00a0Cote d’Ivoire,\u00a0Ghana\u00a0and\u00a0Nigeria\u00a0– will headline these friendlies that will be played on Wednesday, or Thursday morning in Africa in the Nigeria case. Algeria\u00a0will be home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-3832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}