Chaker Alhadhur: Full-back, Goalkeeper and Comoros’ hero

The Africa Cup of Nations’ biggest overachievers Comoros were defeated 2-1 by hosts Cameroon in the Round of 16.

The match was marred by deaths in the crowd, which will go down in history as one of the biggest scandals in African football. However for Comoros, the occasion will always be memorable by their performance on-field as well as the tragedies off it.

2-1 was the scoreline, respectable at the best of times, but in this case, magnificent as they fielded an outfield player in goal.

We are used to seeing this for the last five or 10 minutes of a game perhaps as Harry Kane, Kyle Walker and Jose Enrique have all done it. Comoros ’emergency goalkeeper’ had to endure it for 90 minutes.

Goalkeepers Moyadh Ousseini and Ali Ahamada recorded positive COVID-19 results, meaning Chaker Alhadhur, who is five-foot-seven, was given the gloves for the biggest game in his country’s history and he definitely did not let his team down.

Cameroon took half an hour to take the lead, with Karl Toko Ekambi’s effort bobbling into Alhadhur’s bottom corner. Maybe a goalkeeper by trade would have had better positioning but he could not have done much.

In the 53rd minute, Comoros’ new number one produced an unorthodox save to stop tournament top goalscorer Vincent Aboubakar from scoring before parrying the rebound with his hands.

Then, later on in the second half, Alhadhur showed his inexperience between the sticks when he appeared to forget that he could use his hands to save Aboubakar’s effort.

Chaker Alhadhur of Comoros is a hero to all of us outfield players who have been forced to go in goal.

This is him momentarily forgetting he was no longer at fullback, and hiding his hands behind his back against Cameroon. pic.twitter.com/qEwBbVNJ0x

— Tony Harper (@toneharper) January 25, 2022

Aboubakar ended the minnows’ hope by doubling Cameroon’s lead, but a quite unbelievable free-kick from Youssouf M’Changama gave Comoros a moment to savour, however, Antonio Conceicao’s side went on to seal a place in the quarter-final.

Who is ChakerAlhadur?

It certainly was a peculiar pick considering Alhadur’s height, but he showed great reflexes and did not look too out of place.

His career has been spent in Ligue 2 in France, making his debut for hometown club Nantes in 2011. The 30-year-old has featured for Bayonne, Caen and Châteauroux before moving to Ajaccio last summer.

He has played 29 times for his country, and with one in between the sticks, he will go down in history not only for Comoros but for African football.

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