AFCON
MAN OF DESTINY! EMMANUEL AMUNEKE LANDS TANZANIA INTO AFCON AFTER 40-YEAR ABSENCE
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Tanzania on Sunday beat Uganda 3-0 to pick a ticket for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Emmanuel Amuneke, the coach of Taifa Stars of Tanzania has broken the apparent jinx that had afflicted Tanzania in the Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying series since the country last qualified in 1979 for the 1980 tournament.
He will no doubt be celebrated in the East African country where he mounted the saddle last August. Amuneke is already noted for landmark achievements having scored the two goals that won for his country, the first African title outside the home turf.
That he did in 1994 before two years later scoring the goal that changed the course of history in the Olympic Games’ football tournament. With his third goal in added time of the final match with Argentina at Atlanta ’96 Olympics, Amuneke made Nigeria to become the first nation outside Europe to win the Olympic Games’ football tournament in 68 years.
Significantly, since Amuneke’s winning goal 23 years ago, no European country has ever won the Olympic Games’ football event.
Sports Village Square recalls that Tanzania last featured at the Africa Cup of Nation in 1980 when it was hosted by Nigeria. It required a Nigerian coach to pilot the country back into the tournament.
Simon Msuva launched the Tanzanians on victory path in the 21st minute to dent the record of Uganda which although already qualified, had not conceded any goal in the entire qualifying series.
Erasto Nyoni added a second after the break with Aggrey Morris making it 3-0 to Tanzania on a memorable day for the hosts.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
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