IN GHANA

Senegal 2 (Mohammad Sall, Diomansy Kamara)
Tunisia 2 (Isaam Jooma, Mejid Traoui)

FORMER Ghana Black Stars captain Abedi “Maestro” Pele has stated that Africa has great untapped talent but the lack of soccer academies has hindered efforts to unearth it.

“We have good skillful players all over the continent but the lack of opportunity for them to show what they are capable of is killing them,” Pele said

He was speaking to the media at the Stanbic Bank Supporters Zone at the Efua Sutherland Children's Park in Central Accra.

“In my tour of six weeks which started late last year in Uganda and ended in Nigeria, I witnessed the enthusiasm in kids everywhere I visited,” he said.

In a related development, Cameroon's legendary goalkeeper Thomas Nkono, who is now part of the Indomitable Lions' technical team has agreed that the team performed below par in the 2-4 defeat to Egypt.

“Yes, there is cause for concern about the team's poor show and we had a meeting after the match and agreed to up our game against Zambia on Saturday,” Nkono told Daily Monitor.

“The team was not well especially in midfield but I don't want to blame anyone. The whole team did not perform.”

Nkono dismissed the widely held belief that the Lions could not compete because they did not play a single competitive match since last September when they qualified.

“No way, this is not a problem for the players. These are same players who featured in all the qualifiers and know each other very well,” he contended.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has teamed up with Africa 's football governing body Caf to promote African football.