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The draw for the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers was held in Cairo on Thursday, July 18th. The 52 nations involved know what awaits them, including the 8 who will have to go through a preliminary round. The presidents of the Burkinabe, Cameroon, Mauritanian and Senegalese federations speak with RFI.
The CAN 2021 has already begun. As the final of the 2019 edition is held tomorrow, Friday, July 19, the draw for the next edition took place this Thursday in Egypt. Mahmoud Al-Khathib, Samuel Eto'o, Khalilou Fadiga, Nwankwo Kanu and Rabah Madjer have drawn each of the 52 teams that will enter the qualifying race.
In Cairo, the presidents of the federations whose selection is in contention followed the draw with attention. Some stopped to give their opinion and their observations to RFI's microphone.
► Find the full draw of the playoffs by clicking here .
Mauritania has " a huge room for improvement " and is asking for more
Mauritania is in Group E with Morocco, the Central African Republic and Burundi.
Ahmed Yahya, President of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: " Morocco is a football powerhouse. Burundi and the Central African Republic are football nations. Buruni was at CAN 2019, and we know the Central African team. They are not bad! So it's up to us to take up the challenge, to work, to continue on our progress and to prepare ourselves right now. We saw the capabilities of our team at CAN 2019 (the first in the history of the Mourabitounes, ed). We still have a huge room for improvement. "
" We have to keep working and try to surprise again. Maybe we will not be surprised if we qualify. We know that we are able to surprise Morocco and all the others. (about Burundians) I followed them, they qualified against very good teams like Gabon. It's a good team, we saw them at the CAN. We are going to work. If Burundi is a good team, Mauritania too. She will progress. "
Cameroon, already qualified, wants " tough opponents " to prepare
Cameroon, qualified as a host country but still engaged in the playoffs, is in Group F with Cape Verde, Mozambique and Rwanda.
Seidou Mbombo Njoya, President of the Cameroon Football Federation: " This is a very balanced draw. There are no more small teams. Today we are in front of difficult groups. Nobody can feel spared. As far as my country is concerned, I am happy because we are organizing the competition and I think it's always good to have tough opponents to prepare for the competition. "
" (About upcoming changes in FECAFOOT) We are finishing CAN and we are going to start preparing for CHAN. It goes without saying that we will have to organize or reorganize the teams, and prepare for the upcoming competition. We will devote ourselves to it in the coming weeks. "
For Burkina Faso, there will be " no excuses "
Burkina Faso is in Group B with Uganda, Malawi and the winner of the preliminary round match between South Sudan and Seychelles.
Sangaré Site, president of the Burkinabe Football Federation: " Since our misadventure of the last CAN qualifiers, we have learned to be very cautious and very suspicious, so much so that for us there is no easy draw . We will take every game extremely seriously. This is what we are going to say to the new staff that we will put in place. There will be no small teams. You saw the last time, during the draw of the 2019 CAN playoffs, I saw quite a lot of my counterparts say 'oh, in this group, it is obviously Burkina Faso and Mauritania who will qualify' , and we have seen what happened (Angola and Mauritania qualified, Burkina Faso eliminated, ed). "
" We know Uganda well. This is not a surprise for us. It's a very strong team. She is doing a good job under the guidance of Moses Magogo, whom I salute. We had already faced them not long ago, in the context of the World Cup qualifiers if I'm not mistaken (in the context of the 2017 CAN qualifiers in fact, ed). We had a very difficult double confrontation and we beat them in Ouagadougou (1-0), but on the way back we made 0-0. It's a formidable team. Malawi is a team in progress. And there will be the winner of Seychelles-South Sudan. My apprehension is that these three adversaries are very far from Burkina, which means that logistically, it will already solve this equation. "
" We are going home quietly, meeting at the Executive Committee level and seeing what arrangements we will have to make, because in our eyes there will be no excuse if we are not present at CAN 2021 We take this very seriously and we will give ourselves the means to qualify. "
" (About looking for a new coach) It's very advanced. We come back during the weekend. I think that at the latest, in the middle of next week, we will communicate on the new staff. We said we will try the local expertise, but of course the staff will not be totally local. The main coach will be a local, but we will certainly bring other expertise to help him in his task. "
Senegal ready to " play the qualification thoroughly " ... to defend his title !
Senegal is in Group I with Congo, Guinea-Bissau and eSwatini.
Augustin Senghor, president of the Senegalese Football Federation: " It's a very open group. I think that globally, we can consider that the tenors are a little preserved. But at the same time, I think there are quite difficult groups: the group G, the group I ... They are very balanced groups because there are emerging teams with Egypt (group G), but also the group of Algeria in which Zambia and Zimbabwe stand closely. But for the rest, the lesson of the last eliminatory is that the gap is very small now between those who are considered the big and the smallest. Everyone will have to play his qualification thoroughly and respect the opponents. "
" (On the final Senegal-Algeria) It looks good. We were looking for a nice final, and I think it's a beautiful poster. A final is a party. Indeed, it's going to be very hard. These are two teams that want to win. Algeria has a star ahead of us, and we want to equalize. These are also two teams that, in my opinion, have shown great things during this CAN. The two coaches know each other and are very close, the players also shine throughout Africa and Europe. All the ingredients are there to have a nice finish. To conclude, I would say that the final will be beautiful ... and that Senegal will win! (laughs)
Interviewed in Cairo, Egypt by Farid Achache for RFI.