They are there and it is amazing: the players of the Comoros, with the gratin of continental football for this African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, representing for the first time their small archipelago of 850,000 inhabitants, a real feat. Defeated by Gabon for their entry into the competition (1-0), they face Morocco this Friday, January 14 with the firm intention of showing that they are not “Not there by chance”, insists their trainer Amir Abdou.
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He knows well, the master at playing, what they went through in order to be able to leap into the big leagues. An incredible equipment combining determination, constancy, friendships and fervor of a whole people. A rare story, written on nothingness and in uncertain ink.
The incredible energy of coach Amir Abdou
Because what is the Comoros on the football planet, when the adventure begins in 2014? The microstate vaguely has a national selection recognized by the International Federation (Fifa) only in 2005, and at the bottom of the hole in the early 2010. Due to lack of money, the team cannot participate in the qualifiers of the CAN 2013. For two years, the Comoros therefore disappeared from the international circuit.
To rebuild on this nothing, the local Federation hopes to recruit Henri Stambouli, ex-trainer of Marseille in the 1990s. Except that the negotiations collapse at the last moment. And here is on track the one who was to play the assistants, Amir Abdou. Former amateur player forced to put away the crampons by dint of injuries, the Franco-Comorian, who lives in the southwest of France, converted himself as an educator, and then trains an honor division team (sixth level national). At the same time, he works as a local civil servant in the youth service of his small town of Bon-Encontre, near Agen (Lot-et-Garonne).
Amir Abdou therefore finds himself almost by default embarked on a project which he will totally seize, with crazy energy. To rebuild the selection from A to Z, he relies on the French diaspora and the community, very important, established especially in the region of Marseille. We still have to convince these binationals to try the adventure. But he knows how to find the words, and keep the conquered troops.
Crazy proportions
The results help, the selection passing from the 193e to 127e world rank in three years. Corn “It’s a permanent fight”, says the coach. And with necessarily reduced means in one of the poorest countries in the world. He himself was not employed by the Federation until 2017. He had to scramble to structure a framework worthy of players accustomed to European standing, even if it was that of the lower divisions. The Federation does not have an equipment supplier? A local brand is created, Maana Sport, which supplies for free, without any real contract.
And the case is moving forward, with ups and downs. On the archipelago, enthusiasm for the selection takes crazy proportions. For the worse sometimes. During the CAN 2017 qualifying campaign, after missing the equalizer penalty against Uganda, the players left the stadium under stone throws. “Hell, summarizes Amir Abdou in an interview with the press agency Bal des productions. But we hung on. “
So the best comes, often. On the second day of qualifying for the current CAN, the Comoros won, in their new Malouzini stadium in Moroni financed by Chinese capital, an unexpected 0-0 draw against the Egyptian giant. The crowd massed in the stands, filled to twice the capacity of the enclosure, swept over the lawn. The announcer screams to ask for the evacuation, arguing that the result could be canceled. In less than three minutes, the supporters wisely take their place in the stands!
Popular fervor
It is important not to hinder the march of the national heroes who will qualify a few months later, triggering an incredible popular jubilation. The team pleases all the more because it does not crown any star. Collective bonus, with 17 players out of 28 playing in France. “This group is above all a family before being a football team”, underlined the sports director Djamal Mohamed before the start of the CAN. The point is not overused.
And the team, which has reached maturity (average age of 28), hopes to establish itself in the landscape. After two years without an equipment supplier, a new Italian partner (Macron Sports) is at his side for four years, and a new federal management is considering a more sustainable development, making it possible to convince even more binationals to join the “Coelacanths”, the nickname of the selection. They are there, and maybe for a long time.
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The Gambia, the other novice
In 2019, Burundi, Mauritania and Madagascar discovered the test, with happiness for Madagascar which climbed for its first until the quarter-finals (eliminated by Tunisia 3-0). This year, alongside the Comoros, Gambia is also playing the novices. Like the Coelacanths, the Scorpions owe their qualification to the patient work of recruiting a workforce of which 27 of the 28 players play abroad, entrusted since 2018 to the Belgian technician Tom Saintfiet, a great traveler on the continent (passed through Namibia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Togo). Victorious in the first match against Mauritania (1-0) this Wednesday, January 12, Gambia, 150e in the Fifa rankings, will have a lot to do to qualify against Mali (January 16) and Tunisia (20).
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