Djibouti bows out of 2021 FIFA Arab Cup

The Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) zone will only have one team feature in the group stage of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup after Djibouti were eliminated last night.

Djibouti who were hoping to join Sudan as the second team from the CECAFA region in the group stage of the competition suffered a 1-0 deaf to Lebanon.

Hilal Al Helwe scored the lone goal for the Cedars of Lebanon after 46 minutes in the preliminary match played at the Khalifa International Stadium, Doha on Wednesday.

Djibouti’s Mahabeh Mahdi and Mahamoud Doualeh all had chances to score for Djibouti, but failed to take their chances. The Djibouti goalkeeper Innocent Mbonihankuye also stopped several attempts at goal. Lebanon joined African champions Algeria, Egypt and Sudan in Group D for the final tournament that kicks off on November 30th in Qatar.

“In football it is always good to take your chances. But playing here has been good experience for my players,” said Djibouti’s coach Julien Mette.

While Sudan defeated Libya 1-0 to qualify for the group stage, Somalia and Djibouti suffered defeats. The South Sudan team forfeited the match to Jordan after some of many of their players tested positive for COVID-19 before their match on Monday.