CAF names Senegalese ref for Eagles, Palancas clash

The Confederation of African Football has named Senegalese official Issa Sy as the centre referee for the quarter-final game of the Africa Cup of Nations between Nigeria and Angola, The PUNCH reports.

The Super Eagles will face the Palancas Negras in one of the last eight games of the 34th edition of the AFCON on Friday (today) at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.

The Senegalese referee is no stranger to the Angolan players as he was the man in charge of their first Group D clash with Algeria in Bouake on January 15.

Sy was equally tasked with the officiating of the last Group E game between South Africa and Tunisia.

The 39-year-old centre referee will have compatriots Djibril Camara and Nouha Bangoura in tow as assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively, alongside Mauritanian official Abdel Aziz Bouh as fourth official.

Modibo Samake from Mali will serve as reserve assistant referee, while Ahmad Nazeer Hossen Bowud from Mauritius and Ali Mohamed Ahmed from Somalia will be in the roles of commissioner and referee assessor respectively.

The match will be another of the rare occasions that Nigeria and Angola battle on the turf, with few clashes between both nations at senior level over the years.

Nigeria edged Angola to reach the final round of the qualification series for the 1990 World Cup finals (2-2 in Luanda and 1-0 in Lagos), but the Angolans stepped on Nigeria to make their single appearance at the World Cup finals, when they won 1-0 in Luanda and held the Eagles 1-1 in Kano to edge the head-to-head contest that was the determining factor for the 2006 World Cup qualification series.

The winner of the encounter will square up with the winner of the clash between Cape Verde and South Africa in one of the semi-final matches, at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake.

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