“The Matches Have Been Very Competitive”

How do you analyse the competitiveness of day 2 matches which ended yesterday?
The matches have been very competitive. There is no small team on this Africa Cup of Nations. All the countries that have come have greatly improved in their play style. All the teams that have qualified so far for the second round deserve their place. We have seen them play and they have played very well. The first day of play for Cameroon was not very good.  The midfielders were not serving the attackers. We, the former Lions wrote and gave our recommendations. They improved and everybody was impressed. The Moroccans qualified very easily. They have been preparing and every team that prepares well, will definitely qualify.

Supporters have been complaining of the decisions of some referees with the most recent being the refusal of Guinea Bissau's goal against Egypt. What is your take on this?
The referees have been doing a good job. We cannot only blame the referees because they are on the field but all the technical bench of the referee commission including the VAR. Some of the referees are really doing a good job. We cannot just condemn the main referees of the games pitting Mali and Tunisia and Egypt and Guinea Bissau. The CAF disciplinary commission will have to look into their cases. But I would say that Guinea Bissau was simply unlucky in the game against Egypt.  It was a very nice team. Everybody saw that ...