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AFCON 2019: BOOST FOR AMUNEKE’S TANZANIA, SENEGAL’S MANE MISSES OPENING MATCH

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Senegal’s star attacker Sadio Mane will miss his team’s African Cup of Nations opener against Tanzania as the Liverpool star will be serving a one-match suspension, Coach AliouCisse confirmed on Saturday.

This gives a respite for Tanzania’s Coach Emmanuel Amuneke. “Sadio is an important player in the Senegal team, it’s interesting to have him with us,” Senegal Coach Aliou Cisse told dzfoot.com.

Egypt is hosting this year’s Nations Cup, which has been expanded to 24 teams and will take place from 21 June to 19 July.

Senegal are playing in Group C alongside Algeria, Kenya and Tanzania.

Senegal will be facing Tanzania in their opening match on 23 June, but the 27-year-old UEFA Champions League winner Mane won’t be available since he got two yellow cards in the qualifiers against Madagascar and Equatorial Guinea.

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“Now I have chosen 23 players who are ready to make up for any absence. The group is quite well-armed. Certainly, with Sadio we would be very good, but even without him we will be very good,” explained the coach of the Lions of Teranga.

“We all know that Sadio will make a good CAN, the players around him have to raise the level. That’s how we’ll get there,” he added.

Premier League and Liverpool top scorer Mane, who scored 26 goals in all competitions (22 in the Premier League and four in the Champions League), was called up for Senegal’s 25-man preliminary list hours ahead of winning the champions league final against Tottenham on 1 June.

“If we received a card in the elimination round, I do not see the value of counting it during the final phase of the CAN. CAF has decided that, but we will prove that Senegal exists without Mane,” the coach concluded.

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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AFCON

Libya sacks coach ahead of AFCON qualifying back-to-back matches with Nigeria

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Milutin Sredojević

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.

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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.

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CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban

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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.

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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.

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Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen

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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.

Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations

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