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AFCON

FOOTBALL RETURNS HOME WITH SUPER EAGLES HOSTING LESOTHO

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA. 

When the Super Eagles take on Lesotho this Tuesday in a dead rubber Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match, football will be returning to its natural habitat as Lagos had been the hub of football activities in Nigeria many years ago.

Even though the outcome of the match is of no effect to the two teams, Sports Village Square comes up with fascinating points on the match.

  • None of the entire crop of Super Eagles has ever played in front of Lagos crowd before.
  • The Nigeria – Lesotho match will be the first Super Eagles’ competitive match in Lagos in the past 20 years. The last time the core national team played a competitive match in Lagos was on 13 January 2001 when the team defeated Zambia 1-0 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. The 2003 and 2004 LG tournaments were played by largely home-based players.
  • It has been 40 years since the Nigerian national team lost a competitive match in Lagos. That was on 10 October 1981 when the then Green Eagles lost 0-2 to Algeria in a World Cup qualifier. The team played a 2-2 draw in regulation and extra time with Cameroon in the final match of AFCON 2000 and only missed the trophy through the lottery of penalty shootout.
  • When the Super Eagles take on Lesotho, it will be the second time the team will play at the Teslim Balogun Stadium having on 9 February 2011 defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 in a floodlit friendly match.
  • This will be the fourth clash of Nigeria and Lesotho. The past three encounters were won by the Super Eagles. In their first encounter in Maseru on 8 October 2006, Nigeria recorded a 1-0 away win in the Africa Cup of Nations match. In the return leg, it was 2-0 against Lesotho in Warri on 8 September 2007. When the team met in the Match Day 2 of the current Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria again won 4-2.
  • When Nkoto Masoabi scored an 11th minute goal to shoot Lesotho ahead in their 17 November 2019 AFCON clash, it was the first time Lesotho scored against Nigeria.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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AFCON

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

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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.

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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.

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AFCON

CAF president blasts Ghana, others over stadium ban

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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.

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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.

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AFCON

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

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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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