_{The head coach of Somalia’s U-17 team, Nur Mohamed has said playing at the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has been the best ground for exposure for his team.}

_{Somalia, the CECAFA U-17 reigning champions failed to make it to the knock out stage at the ongoing U-17 AFCON in Algeria.}

_{Nur Mohamed’s team kick started the Group A campaign with a 2-0 defeat to hosts Algeria, before they settled for a 1-1 draw against Congo Brazzaville. Somalia lost their last group match 2-0 to Senegal who have won all their three matches ahead of the knock out stage.}

_{“Playing at the U-17 AFCON in Algeria has been a very good experience for my players because it is the first time all of them were playing at such a stage. The players and we the technical team have benefited a lot playing being part of of such a competition and we shall keep working hard to improve,” said the head coach.}

_{Nur Mohamed made it clear that they lost some of the matches because of lack of experience, but added that the other teams were not far ahead of them. “With this kind of exposure our players are now more motivated to even perform well and qualify for other top competitions,” added the coach.}

_{The President of the Somalia Football Federation (SFF), Ali Abdi Mohamed also said although the U-17 team had failed to get to the knock out stage, they had worked hard to try and represent the country well. “We shall keep working hard to make sure we develop and promote all our national teams to make sure they perform well in international competitions,” added the SFF President.}

_{CECAFA representatives Somalia picked their first point when they played to a 1-1 draw against Congo Brazzaville on Tuesday night at the on-going TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).}

_{After losing their opening Group A match 2-0 to hosts Algeria, coach Nur Mohamed Amin’s team came all out determined to try and prove a point.}

_{Dini Dahir gave Somalia the lead after 32 minutes at the Nelson Mandela Stadium. Dahir capitalized on a good through ball pass from Idrii Aden and gave the Congo Brazzaville goalkeeper no chance.}

_{After the interval the Congo Brazzaville team pushed forward and leveled matters after 57 minutes through Ayel Wumba Niati.}

_{Somalia pushed forward and created several other scoring chances, but failed to put them away. “We had many chances to score more goals, but my players were not sharp enough,” said the Somalia coach who added that they need to go all out and try their luck against Senegal.}

_{Somalia remain bottom of Group A with 1 point, while Senegal who beat Congo Brazzaville 1-0 and edged Algeria 3-0 are top with 6 points.}

_{The Somalia team will now travel to the town of Constantine to take on Senegal on May 5th, while Congo Brazzaville face hosts Algeria in Algiers.}

The South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) has confirmed that their U-17 team has been disqualified from the U-17 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which is on-going in Algeria.

Albino Kuek Deng, the SSFA spokesperson confirmed in a communication on April 29^th that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had notified them about the disqualification after five players were not eligible in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

The MRI, is a noninvasive medical imaging test that produces detailed images of almost every internal structure in the human body, including the organs, bones, muscles and blood vessels. It is used by CAF to determine if a player is eligible to play in the U-17 competition.

“The South Sudan Football Association regrets to announce that our team has been disqualified from the AFCON U17 Algeria 2023 due to the non-eligibility of five (5) players after the MRI test,” said the communication.

Deng explained that the MRI test was conducted on the 26th April 2023 to ensure that all players meet the age eligibility criteria set by the competition’s regulations. “Unfortunately, we received yesterday 28th April 2023 notification from CAF that five of our players did not pass the MRI test and were deemed ineligible to participate in the competition, Although two of the five players were part of the team which participated in the zonal qualifiers and passed the MRI eligibility in Ethiopia last September 2022,” added the communication.

SSFA made it clear that they immediately wrote an official complaint to CAF medical committee against their decision attaching the MRI results done in Juba, in accordance to Article 27.6 sub article (iii) of the U17 regulations. “The complaint was rejected by the medical saying that their first and second readings remains the same,” added Deng.

SSFA say they will respect the decision made by the competition’s organizers. “We apologize to our fans, sponsors, and partners for any disappointment this may cause,” added the competition.

The African Football body further confirmed that after the disqualification of South Sudan, Group C will now have Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Meanwhile, Somalia suffered a 2-0 defeat to hosts Algeria in the opening Group A match at the U-17 AFCON. Algeria’s skipper Moslem Anatouf netted a brace at the match played at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.

Somalia will face an uphill task when they face hosts Algeria in the opening match of the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) later tonight.

The Group A match will take place at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.

Zonal champions Somalia and South Sudan will carry the Council of East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) flag at the tournament which runs April 29^th to May 19^th.

Nur Mohamed Amin, the Somalia U-17 head coach said on Friday that although his team is making their debut in this competition, they are determined to prove a point.

“I have confidence in our players. We are lined up to face Algeria, Senegal and Congo, all of which are big teams and a motivating factor for us. We will see how the first game goes because I am confident that we can compete,” added the coach.

Somalia will however miss their skipper Abdihafid Mohamed Abdi who was also the Most Valuable Player at the Zonal qualifiers. About four more players who featured in the Zonal qualifiers will also miss the tournament.

The South Sudan team will be in action on May 1^st in a Group C match against Cameroon at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba.

A: Algeria, Senegal, Congo, Somalia

B: Nigeria, Zambia, Morocco, South Africa

C: Cameroon, Mali, South Sudan, Burkina Faso