AFCON
Guinea Bissau,Nigeria’s Afcon opponents, were 1st scorer at National Stadium Lagos
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
It is curious, yet true. Africa Cup of Nations debutants, Guinea Bissau hold an everlasting record in Nigeria.
Not many will believe that the country, previously known as Portuguese Guinea, had played against Nigeria before.
In fact the team produced the first ever scorer on the turf of the present-day National Stadium, Lagos.
That was on 2 October 1960 at the old National Stadium which was later demolished and rebuilt on the same site.
The old National Stadium was the venue of sporting activities that marked Nigeria’s independence.
The first official match was the October 2, 1960 semi-finals of the Kwame Nkrumah Cup that pitched Nigeria against Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea Bissau). Nigeria won 4-1.
But the very first goal of the match was scored by a Portuguese Guinea player, Ulisses Monteiro. He scored in the midst of confused Nigerian defence that made the visiting side to take a surprise 1-0 lead.
Asuquo Ekpe later equalised for Nigeria in the second half before additional three goals were scored. So, on the old National Stadium, the Guinea Bissau player, Ulisses Monteiro could be regarded as the first scorer on the National Stadium turf.
The foundation stone of the present National Stadium was laid by General Gowon on 14 March, 1970 and was officially commissioned by the same man on 4 December 1972.
It is on record that at the inauguration of the new arena built on the same site, Nigeria beat Mali 3-0. Scorer of the first goal was Yakubu Mambo who thus entered the record books as the first to find the net at the rebuit stadium, but certainly not on that turf.
But to purists, this opens a debate thus Mambo, who died in December 1991, may not be the first scorer on the turf.
The Temporary National Stadium was the venue of the replay of the final match of 1961 Challenge Cup in which Ibadan beat Lagos UAC 1-0 on October 7.
It was the first time the final of the national competition outside its birth place, the waterfront Lagos City Stadium, formerly known as Association Ground, then KGV Stadium and now Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan Lagos.
Nigeria – Guinea Bissau Head-to-Head
P W D L F A
Nigeria 1 1 0 0 4 1
Bissau 1 0 0 1 1 4
- 2 Oct1960 (Nkrumah Cup) Nigeria 4-1 Guinea- Bissau
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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