Oct 8, 2026 · 30 min · 9 segments
In this episode we recap the totality of the AFCON qualifiers with commentator, Piers Edwards ———————————— This podcast is brought to you by Africa Is a Country…
Piers EdwardsGuest
Maher MezahiHost
So this international break, the, the first extended international break, uh, you have commentated on five matches, if I'm not mistaken.
Central African Republic versus Burkina Faso, Tunisia versus Botswana, Ghana versus The Gambia, Somalia versus Côte d'Ivoire, and Eritrea versus South Africa.
And the first couple matches that I kind of wanted to pick your brains on, uh, was actually Somalia versus Côte d'Ivoire, a match I didn't get to watch just yet, and Eritrea versus South Africa, a match that I did watch.
Um, yeah, a- actually two days ago, uh, I started, I was watching a match from the '80s between Algeria and Benin because I was wa- I was very curious about Beloumi senior, as Beloumi junior scoring lots of goals at the moment.
And, uh, and I was watching this match, and Algeria scored, I think, three goals in the first nine minutes of the match.
Ended up, they end up winning that match 8-2, and it didn't look like the two were, the two teams were at all competitive.
Um, but sometimes you do get those sides and I, uh, Eritrea and Somalia maybe 10 years ago, that would be a result that I don't think it would be competitive.
The Seychelles, I remember, were not really competitive in, in previous World Cup qualifiers.
But Somalia and Eritrea, I thought personally me, they surprised me a little bit with how, how good they were.
They, I thought they were both, uh, very impressive, all things, uh, uh, given, given their ranking.
Somalia, uh, in a group with Ivory Coast, Gambia, a- and Ghana, and one of their games, they went down narrowly against The Gambia o- on match day one, uh, 2-1.
And then against Ivory Coast, uh, Somalia, 'cause they can't play at home 'cause of, uh, all the issues there, um, they played in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and they held the Elephants out until the 89th minute.
So this international break, the, the first extended international break, uh, you have commentated on five matches, if I'm not mistaken.
Central African Republic versus Burkina Faso, Tunisia versus Botswana, Ghana versus The Gambia, Somalia versus Côte d'Ivoire, and Eritrea versus South Africa.
And the first couple matches that I kind of wanted to pick your brains on, uh, was actually Somalia versus Côte d'Ivoire, a match I didn't get to watch just yet, and Eritrea versus South Africa, a match that I did watch.
Um, yeah, a- actually two days ago, uh, I started, I was watching a match from the '80s between Algeria and Benin because I was wa- I was very curious about Beloumi senior, as Beloumi junior scoring lots of goals at the moment.
And, uh, and I was watching this match, and Algeria scored, I think, three goals in the first nine minutes of the match.
Ended up, they end up winning that match 8-2, and it didn't look like the two were, the two teams were at all competitive.
Um, but sometimes you do get those sides and I, uh, Eritrea and Somalia maybe 10 years ago, that would be a result that I don't think it would be competitive.
The Seychelles, I remember, were not really competitive in, in previous World Cup qualifiers.
But Somalia and Eritrea, I thought personally me, they surprised me a little bit with how, how good they were.
They, I thought they were both, uh, very impressive, all things, uh, uh, given, given their ranking.
Somalia, uh, in a group with Ivory Coast, Gambia, a- and Ghana, and one of their games, they went down narrowly against The Gambia o- on match day one, uh, 2-1.
And then against Ivory Coast, uh, Somalia, 'cause they can't play at home 'cause of, uh, all the issues there, um, they played in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and they held the Elephants out until the 89th minute.
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