AFCON
NIGERIA’S 2021 AFCON QUALIFIERS’ OPPONENTS, LESOTHO, SIGN SOUTH AFRICAN COACH
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Lesotho, which will be hosting the Nigeria Super Eagles on November 19 in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match, has appointed former South African national U-20 coach, Thabo Senong as the coach.
Super Eagles and the Lesotho team, nicknamed “Crocodiles” will face Nigeria in a Group L match day 2 encounter.
It will be the third time both teams will be meeting as they met twice in the qualifying series for the 2008 edition.
According to information gathered by www.sportsvillagesquare.com from CAF, the South African Coach Senong replaces Moses Maliehe, who has been in charge of the Lesotho team since 2016, but was recently relived of his duties for medical reasons.
Senong heads to the Mountain Kingdom country after a five-year spell in charge of the South African National under-20 team.
He has also briefly worked as the Bafana Bafana assistant coach under former coaches Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba and Stuart Baxter.
His achievements include qualifying the South African under-20 side to back-to-back FIFA U-20 World Cup tournaments in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Speaking at his unveiling on Wednesday, Senong stated that he is honoured with his appointment as the Lesotho national team coach and is looking forward to the new challenge.
“I’m very honoured and humbled that Lesotho FA has appointed me as the coach for their senior national team,” Senong said.
“It’s a new challenge that I’m looking forward to and sharing my experiences with the players in Lesotho.”
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.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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