AFCON

CAMEROON GOALKEEPER ONANA GETS ONE YEAR SUSPENSION

Published

4 years ago

February 6, 2021

Cameroonian international goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for one year for doping, his Dutch club, Ajax said on Friday (Feb 5).

The club said in a statement Onana had “mistakenly” taken his wife’s medicine which had led to the banned diuretic Furosemide appearing in his urine.

Onana was in goal when Nigeria beat Cameroon 3-2 at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in 2019.

Ajax said they had hoped Onana would receive a shorter ban because the substance was “arguably” not a performance booster.

“On the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell,” the club said in a statement.

“He wanted to take a pill to ease the discomfort. Unknowingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been prescribed.

“Onana’s confusion resulted in him mistakenly taking his wife’s medicine, ultimately causing this measure to be taken by Uefa against the goalkeeper.”

Ajax added that Uefa had stated that Onana, who has played 18 times for Cameroon, had no intention of cheating and said they will appeal against the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“We had hoped for a conditional suspension or for a suspension much shorter than these 12 months, because it was arguably not intended to strengthen his body and thus improve his performance,” said Ajax’s managing director Edwin van der Sar, the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

It is the second major setback this week for Ajax who admitted on Thursday that they had made a “huge” mistake in failing to register record signing Sebastien Haller for the remainder of their Europa League campaign.

The Franco-Ivorian striker joined the club from West Ham in early January for a club record €22.5 million (S$36 million) and ought to have been included on their Europa League roster but it somehow was overlooked.

-AFP

AFCON

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

Published

4 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

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.

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.

AFCON

CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban

Published

4 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

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.

AFCON

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

Published

1 week ago

September 12, 2024

Kunle Solaja

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