AFCON
PAUL ONUACHU-INDUCED ‘BATTLE ROYAL’ OF SIERRA LEONE AND BENIN NOW POSTPONED TILL JUNE
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
But for Nigeria’s Paul Onuachu’s injury time goal in last Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match with Benin, the scheduled match number 151 in the series which pitched Benin against Sierra Leone would have been a dead rubber.
The added time goal threw Benin off balance and gave lifeline to Sierra Leone who could have been knock out had the Porto Novo match of Benin and Nigeria ended in a barren draw.
Thus, going into the potentially volatile match of Sierra Leone and Benin on Tuesday, the two teams knew the game was a matter of life or death.
Hence, when several Benin players were medically knocked off, the entire team opted out of the match.
The CAF Organising Committee has now rescheduled the match for the next international window in June.
The committee made this decision after reviewing official accounts of the incidents that stopped the match from taking place at the scheduled time.
The Committee’s rationale to move the dates was based on the fact that the match was to take place on the last day of the international window and, scheduling it for the following day (today, Wednesday) would have affected the players’ scheduled return to their respective clubs.
The committee, therefore, felt that moving the match to the next international window was the better course of action.
CAF has informed the football federations of Sierra Leone and Benin about its decision and will provide further information on the rearranged fixture in due course.
According to Libya’s news outlets, there are palpable fears in the Libya national team which faces successive crises and trying to avoid early elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.
The team which faces the Super Eagles this week has been plagued with players’ absences occasioned by injuries and boycotts.
The coach recently appointed has revealed the names of players refusing to represent the national team.
In a press conference held on Saturday, Coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri remarked that the absence of several players were due to real injuries.
In that class are Ahmed Al-Tarbi, a defender of Ahli Tripoli; Mohammed Al-Tabbal of Al-Nasr club and Ali Youssef who also suffered the injury while playing with Tunisia’s Club Africaine.
If the Libyan national team sticks to plans, the players are expected to have arrived in Nigeria ahead of their Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying duel in Uyo.
With most players drawn from the domestic league, the national team had daily training sessions in Tripoli under coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri and his assistants Akram Al-Hammami and Abu Bakr Al-Hark.
However, according to media sources in Libya, the team faces injury worries even though the absence of Victor Osimhen in the Nigerian squad is being celebrated.
Even though it did not mention the injured Libyan players, Libya Al-Ahrar Channel reports that replacements were found in Al-Tahadi FC defender, Mohammed Khalil and Al-Nasr midfielder, Abdullah Abdul Rahim as well as Al-Akhdar winger, Faraj Ghaidhan. They take the places of the absent regular players.
Franck Mawuena who recently renewed his contract with Remo Stars has received a call-up to the Togolese squad for this week’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. He had previously featured in the Belgian League.
He was part of the Remo Stars squad that finished second in the Nigeria Premier league last season. He scored six goals.
Togo will be away to Algeria on Thursday before hosting the reversed fixture on 14 October.
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