Senegal Qualify for Afcon Final

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Senegal celebrates

Senegal are through to the final of the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2021. They defeated Burkina Faso 3-1 to set a date against either Egypt or Cameroon. Senegal, who have never won the Afcon, have a very big chance to win it now. Senegal are the current top rated football team in Africa according to the latest FIFA rankings.

Burkina Faso’s very good run in the tournament came to an end in the semifinal. They gave a very good account of themselves but the Senegalese team was just too tough for them to handle. The first half of the match ended goalless with Senegal just edging it. Senegal were unrepentant with their fast attack on the Burkinabes defence. They were finally rewarded as the Burkina Faso defence made critical mistakes which led to all 3 goals Senegal scored.

Burkina Faso should be proud of themselves. They had a good tournament. They will have a chance to claim third place as they will play the loser of the match between Cameroon and Egypt.

How Pencils are made

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Pencil making process

The writing material inside of a pencil is known as lead. This lead is made from graphite and clay. The graphite and clay are mixed together in the required proportions in the presence of water. The workable lead is then moulded into long thin cylindrical shapes. These thin leads are then dried and fired to reach the required toughness and strength required for writing without breaking.

Typical lead of a pencil is gray to black in colour. Coloured leads can be made by mixing the graphite, clay, and colour pigments together during the lead making process.

After the leads have been prepared, the next thing is to enclose them inside the specially prepared wooden material.The leads are sandwiched between 2 sets of grooved flat and thin woods.

Grooves are cut into a long flat thin wood that can take up to 10 pencils. (10  grooves). Next glue is applied to the surface of the groves. Then the pencil leads are inserted into the grooves. Similarly a long flat thin wood similar to the bottom wood is then used to cover the leads. The leads are sandwiched between the upper and lower wood casings. Pressure is then applied to ensure that the upper and lower wood casings are  fused together holding the sandwiched leads in place.

The wooden sandwich leads are then fed through a cutter which cuts and separates into single pencil units. 

The pencils are then engraved, coloured, and eraser inserted at their back end before packaging and distribution to sale outlets.

How glass is made

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glass making process

Glass is made up of sand, soda ash and limestone. These constituent materials are mixed together in required proportions and heated up to about 1260°C ( 2300°F). The mixture is molten at the above named temperature. The molten mixture is then placed into mould then pressed and or blown as required to take the shape of the mould.

The hot glass is then removed from the mould and polished to give a smoother and finer finish. Next the glass is then tempered by letting it pass through heat to give it more toughness. Finally the glass is allowed to cool down and packaged.

One of the reasons why glass is cheap is because the raw materials are readily available and broken glasses can be recycled.

Afcon 2021 ( 2022) Semi Final Stage

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Cameroon player celebrates

The countries into the semi final of Afcon 2021 are Burkina Faso, Egypt, Cameroon and Senegal.

Burkina Faso are the surprise semifinalists. They defeated highly rated Tunisia by 1-0. The Burkinabes will face Senegal in the semifinal. They have got a chance even though  Senegal are the favorites to go through.

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In the second  semifinal game, Egypt will take on Cameroon. Since that 1-0 loss to Nigeria in the first game Egypt have hit fine form, eliminating IvoryCoast and Morocco in the process. For me, Egypt are now favorites to win the competition followed by Senegal.

Cameroon will need to be at their very best to beat the Egyptians.

The Cameroonians have home advantage though and have been very good in the tournament so far.  Egypt won’t find it easy at all but they are favourites to win.

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How instant coffee is made

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Instant coffee granule in cup

Instant coffee is coffee flavour mixed with hot or cold water, add sugar & milk to taste, and it’s ready to drink. You do not need to filter anything as it is done with fresh coffee.  So how is instant coffee made? Below is a summary explanation of the process.

The coffee beans are first of all roasted. Then using high temperature and pressure, the roasted coffee flavour is forced out of the coffee beans using water.

The water itself is then forced out under high pressure leaving only a pasty coffee flavour. 

This coffee flavour paste is then frozen under a temperature of about -40°C and still in that frozen temperature, broken into granules.

The coffee granules are then processed inside a system that removes the remaining water inside them, producing coffee granules that are absolutely dry. The granules are then packaged for sale.

Review of Afcon Round of 16 & Preview of Quarter Final Fixtures

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Afcon Trophy

The Super Eagles of Nigeria were in the news again as they were surprisingly knocked out of Afcon by Tunisia. Tunisia restricted Nigeria to few chances and when they had theirs they scored. It was one of the worst performances of the super eagles in the knockout phase of this competition.

Burkina Faso were able to defeat Gabon only after 120 minutes of normal time winning 7-6 on penalties.

Gambia stunned Guinea, 1-0 while the Hosts, Cameroon, survived Comoros scare to finally win 2-1.

Senegal were too much for Cape Verde, downed them 2-0 while Morocco secured a hard fought victory over Malawi by 2-1.

The last two games of the second round produced no goals in normal and extra time.

Egypt defeated Ivory Coast 5-4 on penalties while Equatorial Guinea sent Mali out after winning 6-5 on penalties.

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The Quarter Final pairings see Gambia vs hosts, Cameroon. Cameroon will fancy their chances but they will surely get a run for their money.

Tunisia will take on Burkina Faso. Tunisia are the favorites here but they must not underrate their opponents.

Egypt will take on Morocco, sadly one of these teams will crash out. This game is equally poised.

Senegal’s prize for beating Comoros is a Quarter final match against Equatorial Guinea. Senegal are favourites to go through 

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