Pinnick, Bassey, Falode get AFCON semi-final duty

Designations released yesterday showed that the Confederation of African Football, which rated the NFF President as number one among all the Match Commissioners that were on duty for the 28 matches of the group phase and quarter-finals, has again named Pinnick as the Match Commissioner for the tie between Ghana and host Equatorial Guinea on Thursday evening. Nigerians Etubom Paul Bassey and Aisha Falode will be Security Officer and Media Officer respectively.
The Black Stars, whose last triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations was in 1982, dismissed Guinea’s Syli Nationale 3-0 in one of the quarter finals on Sunday, a match also superintended by Pinnick.
Equatorial Guinea on the other hand stunned Tunisia 2-1 in Bata on Saturday, and know they have a mountain to surmount against the four-time winners at Estadio Nuevo do Malabo.
Eric Arnaud Otogo Castane from Gabon will be the Referee, with Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria) as Assistant Referee 1, Jerson Emiliano dos Santos (Angola) as Assistant Referee 2, Yahaya Mahamadou (Niger Republic) as Assistant Referee 3 and Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria) as Reserve Referee.
Marcel Njipendi Kuotu from Cameroon will be Referee Assessor, with Mauritanian Massa Diarra as General Coordinator and Khaled Lemkecher from Tunisia as Assistant General Coordinator.
The first semi-final, between 1968 and 1974 champions DR Congo and 1992 winners Cote d’Ivoire, takes place tomorrow in the evening.