Africa Cup of Nations, Alhadhur, the hero of the Comoros full-back goalkeeper

At first it all seemed like a game. The jokes of his teammates, who in training saw that little guy jump from one side of the door to the other. He laughed, and they laughed with him. Then he checks the shirt. Blue, with the number 16 and his name printed on it. Yes, a full-blown goalkeeper uniform, with a different color from the others. He took it and drew a “3” on it with duct tape, which would be his real number. As is done with friends in soccer tournaments. While he was doing it, however, Chaker Alhadhur realized that the time for jokes was over. “Until I wore it, I didn’t believe it – he says at the end of the game -. At that point I said to myself: ‘Now it’s a serious matter’ “.

TREMENDA EVENING

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Thirty years, one meter and 72 centimeters, certainly not the ideal height to play between the posts (but there are excellent exceptions), a smiling face and a life spent playing full-back. “Honestly – admits Alhadhur – at the beginning we talked about it like this to joke, then as the days passed the matter began to become real. They chose me, I didn’t believe it “. They asked him a thousand questions, before and after the match, the round of 16 against Cameroon, lost 2-1 by his Comoros. To journalists, managers, players … he has always answered the same thing. Banal? Perhaps. Certainly the truth: “How did I do it? When you are there, all you have to do is play ”. There is no choice, no particular secrets. In the end, his performance was the only thing capable of making people smile in a nightmare day, which began amidst controversy and ended with the news of deaths and injuries outside the Olembe stadium in the capital Yaoundé, due to circumstances still to be clarified, in the crowd. trying to enter the facility.

NOT BAD

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The controversy is due to the lack of derogation that the Caf has not granted to the Comoros, which have remained without number 1 among the 12 cases of Covid and the injury of Salim Ben Boina. Forced to field an outfield player despite goalkeeper Ali Ahamada being negativized on Monday. Too bad that in the meantime the health protocol has changed and he would have had to wait 5 days before taking the field. Different rules from those with which Nigeria-Tunisia was disputed, but so be it. They chose Alhadhur, who hadn’t played a minute in the Africa Cup yet and found himself doing it in a role not his own, playing from the inside out. At Toko Ekambi’s first shot, around half an hour, he conceded a goal, but as soon as he warmed up a little he started defending himself. Graceless, yes. Clumsy, too. However, without fear, in the second half he saved the result at least three times. Two of these against Aboubakar, the top scorer of the competition, certainly not the first to arrive. Embodying the pride of a wounded national team, caught by the rules and without its own captain, sent off after six minutes. A mental condition that leads a 31-year-old Guingamp midfielder, M’Changama, to score a goal from a Pirlo-like free-kick capable of reopening a match that should have had no history. And to exalt the left-back of Ajaccio, French Serie B, who throws himself and parries with the same courage as De Gea. At the end of the game, Onana, the Cameroon goalkeeper and Handanovic’s heir to Inter, also complimented him.

FROM PANCHINARO TO HERO

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To tell the truth, Chaker Alhadhur doesn’t find much space in Corsica either. He arrived in October as a free agent and played three minutes against Nîmes Olympique. In Nantes, a port city in the north-western part of Brittany, he grows up and becomes a footballer, dividing himself between the B and Ligue 1 teams, where he collects 40 appearances. He has more luck at Châteauroux: 84 games, 4 goals and 7 assists from 2017 to last season, when he was relegated to the third series. At least in the national team, in November, he had made twenty minutes against Sierra Leone. He certainly did not think he would put Cameroon in difficulty as a goalkeeper. “But I’m not the only hero – he admits at the end of the race – the whole team did a great job. I did what I could, I gave hope, they worked hard not to get them shot on goal. This is football, I keep the good there “.