Izuchukwu Okosi
The assistant coach of Egyptian national team in the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Diaa al-Sayed, has called for the final of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON in Cameroon slated for this Sunday, February 6, to be postponed.
The Egypt assistant coach reflected the wishes of the team on Thursday night after his country defeated hosts Cameroon to reach the final.
The coach called on Africa Cup of Nations organisers to delay the final to give them more time to prepare as they face Senegal.
“I want to state to all CAF authorities that Senegal have one extra day to train and therefore maybe we should play the final on Monday,” suggested Egypt’s assistant coach Diaa al-Sayed, who was speaking after coach Carlos Queiroz was shown a red card during the semi-final.
Egypt won 3-1 in a shoot-out after a goalless 120 minutes in Yaounde, while Senegal overcame Burkina Faso 3-1 in normal time on Wednesday
The seven-time AFCON champions had already needed extra time and penalties to get the better of the Ivory Coast in the last 16 before beating Morocco 2-1 in extra time in the quarter-finals.
The Pharaohs had before the semi-final clash on Tuesday questioned the choice of a Gambia referee, Bakary Papa Gassama to official the high profile match.
The Egyptian Football Federation released a brief statement on this on Tuesday 1st February 2022 on his Twitter account.
“The Egyptian Football Federation protests against the appointment of Gassama to lead the Cameroon-Egypt game,” the EFA said.
During the semi-final match on Thursday, both Egypt’s head coach and assistant were issued red cards in the second half for unprofessional conducts and will not be in the bench when the Pharaohs the on the Terenga Lions on Sunday
The final will kick-off by 8pm inside the 60, 000 capacity Olembe Stadium.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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