AFCON
LIKE BONFRERE JO, WILL SIERRA LEONE SPELL DOOM FOR ROHR?
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Traditionally, Nigeria’s technical adviser, Gernot Rohr wears deep blue shirts on match days.
But he may have been constrained to change to white on Friday when the Super Eagles met Sierra Leone whose jersey colour was similar to Rohr’s favourite deep blue.
His spirit must have risen when the Super Eagles took a four goal lead in the opening 30 minutes of their now never to be forgotten 4-4 draw with unlikely heroes, Sierra Leone.
As the Leone Stars were reawaken in the second half of the match, Rohr got completely lost and perhaps was looking for possibly divine intervention to be able to escape what looked like a doomsday that was lurking.
His assemblage of the highest number of Nigerian players in the Diaspora appears to have backfired. From awful goalkeeping to leaky defence wall, the previously lively Nigerian squad had turned to a laborious outfit.
In three Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches spanning exactly one year from 12 November 2019 to 13 November 2020, Gernot Rohr’s defence line has conceded seven goals.
Sadly, the seven goals in three matches were in encounters with lower ranked teams in Africa – Benin Republic, Lesotho and Sierra Leone.
On Friday, while it took Nigeria 30 minutes to score four goals, Sierra Leone responded with three quick fire goals in a space of 14 minutes.
Had there been a longer added time in Friday’s encounter, the soul-lifted Sierra Leoneans appeared to be the side that could have gotten a winner and possibly throw into the trash can, the memorable ‘Damman Miracle’ which Nigeria had at the U-20 World Cup 31 years ago in Saudi Arabia.
Could this be the beginning of the end? Nigeria will be facing Sierra Leone again in Freetown. Can a defeat be averted? A shock defeat of Nigeria by Sierra Leone in Freetown 19 years ago ended the coaching career of Bonfrere Johannes with the Super Eagles.
Not only that, goalkeeper of the day, Peterside Idah had his last cap with the team to join Kunle Awesu who also played his last international match with Sierra Leone 25 years earlier.
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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