AFCON
NIGERIA’S WORLD CUP OPPONENTS, CAPE VERDE BEAT CAMEROON TO KEEP AFCON DREAM ALIVE
Cape Verde, one of Nigeria’s Group C World Cup qualifying opponents, came from a goal down to beat next year’s Africa Cup of Nations hosts Cameroon 3-1 in Praia on Friday and keep their own qualification hopes alive.
Goals from Carlos Pereira and Ryan Mendes in between Macky Bagnack’s own goal saw the Blue Sharks produce a comeback after going down to a sublime Pierre Kunde freekick in the first half.
The result, Cape Verde’s first win in the group after four consecutive draws, sees them move to seven points, two ahead of third place Rwanda and have destiny in their own hands heading into the final match day on Tuesday.
They will be away to bottom placed Mozambique in the final round of matches where they will need to win to confirm their qualification. A draw might be risky if Rwanda pull off a win away to Cameroon as the Eastern Africans have a better goal aggregate.
In Praia, under very tough conditions, Cameroon got into the lead after 14 minutes when Kunde took advantage of the strong wind to beat the keeper with a well taken long range freekick.
The Cameroonians had sought to take full advantage of the wind and before the goal, Vincent Abubakar had taken a swirling volley from the edge of the area which was turned behind for a corner.
Two minutes after conceding, Cape Verde had a brilliant chance to draw level when Mendes broke into the box off a through pass, but his attempted lob over the keeper went wide.
But the home side kept the pressure, finally levelling matters after 25 minutes when Pereira shot low from inside the box after the Cameroon backline struggled to clear a long throw.
Cape Verde then went into the lead in the 59th minute when Bagnack scored in his own goal as he tried to cut out Mendes’ cross from the right, the speedy forward having raced into the box to slap a low cross into the area.
Cameroon made changes with Clinton Njie coming in and the striker came close to levelling matters in the 64th minute when he cut in from the left, but his shot was turned behind for a corner. Kunde had another shot two minutes later, but the keeper punched his effort away.
The Cameroonians came close again in the 67th minute when substitute Martin Hongla struck a shot from range, but it hit the outside of the bar.
Cape Verde however sealed their victory in the 68th minute when Cameroon lost the ball cheaply allowing Mendes to run into the box and shoot low past the keeper.
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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