Following their heavy 5-0 defeat to Algeria in the semi-final, Niger have redirected their focus on battling for a place on the podium at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2022.Visibly hurt and distraught on Tuesday, Niger have since recovered from this setback and are now focused on attaining a podium finish when they face Madagascar in the third-place playoff on Friday at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Algeria.“We are in this position because we lost our semi-final match against Algeria. We would have loved to play the final but now, we have been presented with a new chance to fight for another medal and we shall do so against Madagascar,” explained Hassan Idé, the Niger assistant coach.🇳🇪 Niger 🆚 Madagascar 🇲🇬🏟️ Stade Olympique d’Oran 🏆#TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 third-place playoff 🕔 20:00 GMT+1Who will claim the bronze medal in today’s encounter? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/dlkoPdgpvN— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) February 3, 2023 Of course, the defeat against Algeria was tough on us as a team. Losing 5-0 having not conceded before in the tournament is hard on the players but we are going to continue with the right attitude.”Idé admitted that, “The competition is long. We have to recover physically. For the third place, we shall look deeper into the squad to make sure that get the best out of the team. We are going to give everything in this game. It is our last game at the tournament.”Madagascar and Niger hunt their first-ever #TotalEnergiesCHAN medal 🥉 The bronze medalists will be …….. ✍️#TotalEnergiesCHAN2022 pic.twitter.com/55fDaKP21a— MARHABA (@CAF_Online) February 2, 2023 Whatever the result of this game, this will be the highest position that the Menas of Niger will have achieved in four appearances.In 2011, Niger reached the quarterfinals of the CHAN in Sudan but failed to make it out of the group stages five years later in Rwanda and at the last edition in Cameroon. The current head coach Harouna Doula was also in charge in 2011 and 2020.##NAJAVA_MECA_6988909##On the other hand, Madagascar coach Romuald Rakotondrabe has expressed his side’s strong will to finish on a high note when they turn up for the match.The Barea, who are competing in the continental competition for the first time, reached the semi-finals but fell short of making the final when they lost 1-0 to a superior Senegalese side on Tuesday.“This is a very important match for us. We wanted to go to the final but we lost to Senegal. We have since rested well and the players are motivated to play this game and give our fans more joy.Mercurial Tusker ranked best Kenyan club ahead of record champions Gor MahiaWe have enjoyed their support throughout the tournament, and we want to do this for our country,” Rakotondrabe told the media at the pre-match press conference on Thursday.Madagascar went into the semi-final tie as the team that had scored the most goals at the tournament – eight but failed to break down the Senegalese defense.The third-place playoff will provide an avenue for both sides to redeem themselves and fight for a place on the podium in what is considered to be the most difficult game to play at a tournament.Is AFC Leopards revenue from gate collection correlated to their performance?Rakotondrabe who is commonly known as Roro back home admitted that Niger will have a slight advantage because they have played all their games at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran but that his team was ready for the challenge.The game kicks off at 2200EAT.
