AFCON
WE’LL BE CALM AND CALCULATED AGAINST SUPER EAGLES, CLAIMS VENGEANCE-SEEKING BENIN SQUIRRELS
The Benin Republic squad facing the Super Eagles at home at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in Porto-Novo will not be intimidated by the heavy weaponry of the Nigerian side.
According to information gleaned by Sports Village Square from Benin Republic newspaper, La Nation, the Benin Republic players were aware of the pedigree of the Super Eagles as three-time African champion and the presence “of the large Nigerian artillery under the aegis of Gernot Rohr.”
According to the publication which was translated from French to English using Google translator, the Benin team had their last open training at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in Porto-Novo on Thursday as subsequent trainings from Friday will be behind the doors.
Continuing, La Nation revealed that Michel Dussuyer, coach of the Squirrels, is counting on the individual and collective strengths of his players before this derby which promises to be enticing between the two neighbours.
Quarter-finalist of the last African Cup of Nations, Benin, which has already rubbed shoulders with many major nations of the continent such as Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Morocco and Zambia, will be keen to take revenge on Nigeria who beat them in the first leg by a score of 2-1.
Confident during the training session, the Squirrels intend to approach the match with serenity.
Apart from Olivier Verdon, key link in the defensive hinge who will be absent, Benin will be able to count on Khaled Adénon in the axis who can be helped in his tasks by Cédric Hountondji, David Kiki, Yohan Roche, Moïse Adiléhou and Youssouf Assogba or Evian Thonon’s left side, Imorou Emmanuel.
In midfield, Dussuyer has his usual squad even if no one can swear on the form of the captain of the selection, the sporting public will certainly have the opportunity to see young people like Rodrigue Kossi, Mattéo Ahlinvi, Jérôme Bonou and Anaane Tidjani taking over alongside their elders Sessi d’Almeida and Jordan Adeoti in this compartment.
Very lively in their clubs, Marcellin Koukpo, Jacques Bessan and Jodel Dossou will be able to benefit from the mastery of Cebio Soukou, decisive passer during his last matches with the Squirrels, to make the difference in case they are aligned.
Often potent in attack, Michael Poté and Steve Mounié are also expected by the Beninese sporting public in this match which seems unbalanced given not only the numbers but also the positioning of the two teams in the Fifa ranking.
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.
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