{"id":4035,"date":"2024-04-21T16:33:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T15:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2024-05-11T11:35:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T10:35:54","slug":"11-v-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2024\/04\/21\/11-v-11\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>11 v 11<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 21<sup>st<\/sup> 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zamalek SC\u2019s Portuguese coach Jos\u00e9 Gomes stressed that while Dreams FC is a comparatively new team, and that gave Zamalek an advantage \u2013 this is the first time Dreams have progressed this far in a CAF continental competition in their 15 year history \u2013 it was still going to be eleven against eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He warned that complacency would cost his team and that would not be allowed to happen even though Zamalek will be without their best player, Zizo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His opposite number, Abdul Karim Zito pointed out that even though his team lacks the history of Zamalek, and Al Ahly, they recently beat Ghana\u2019s Asante Kotoko, a team Zito played for years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zito does not see the lack of experience at this level as a problem. It\u2019s eleven against eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other semi final was mired in controversy as Morocco\u2019s RS Berkane was kept at Houari Boum\u00e9di\u00e8ne Airport in Algiers after Algerian officials seized equipment and the team\u2019s kit because it had a map of Morocco that included the former Spanish Sahara \u2013 Algeria does not recognise Morocco\u2019s claim to the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Berkane has been stuck at the airport demanding the return of their kits and equipment. Yesterday, the Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration Africaine de Football (CAF) made it clear that the kits and equipment had to be returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent strife between Algeria and Morocco spilled over into football at the African Nations Championship (CHAN), which culminated in Morocco\u2019s withdrawal despite being the reigning champions. It is a pity that much older football solidarity between these nations has all but been lost to history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Algerian footballers, based in France, sacrificed their chance to go to the World Cup in 1958, choosing to leave their teams and represent Algeria\u2019s struggle for independence through their football. The FLN Team became Algeria\u2019s national team in 1962. Only one opponent was banned by FIFA for playing against them \u2013 that was Morocco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (April 21st 2024) Advantage Zamalek SC\u2019s Portuguese coach Jos\u00e9 Gomes stressed that while Dreams FC is a comparatively new team,<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[711,707,19,712,710,709,708],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4058,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions\/4058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}