AFCON
No Nigerian listed as Salah and Mane make CAF Team of the Century
No Super Eagles player is listed in the just released CAF Team of the Century made public on the 61st independent anniversary of Nigeria.
Both Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have been named in the Confederation of African Football’s Team of the 21st Century.
Fans were encouraged to select their ultimate post-2000 CAF XI over the past few days with the votes eventually being tallied to find the best of the best.
Egypt – who have won the African Cup of Nations three times this century – dominate the team, with six of the 11 players selected hailing from the country.
In goal is Essam El Hadary, who enjoyed a 27-year career in football, and the back four in front of him also has an Egyptian flavour.
Right-back Ahmed Fathy who was part of three AFCON-winning sides and also spent time in England with Sheffield United and Hull City.
On the opposite side of the defence is Sayed Moawad, who was capped 79 by the Pharaohs between 2000 and 2013.
The centre-back pairing features another Egyptian, Wael Gomaa, who is considered one of the greatest African defenders of all-time despite never making his mark in Europe. Alongside him is Kalidou Koulibaly, who has been Napoli’s defensive lynchpin for many years.
Yaya Toure, who carved out a sensational club career for Barcelona and Manchester City as well as impressing for Cote d’Ivoire, has been picked in midfield.
He is partnered by Mohamed Aboutrika, in what looks like an extremely attacking double pivot.
Salah and Mane have been picked either side of a fearsome strike duo. One half of it is Chelsea legend Didier Drogba. He is playing alongside the often-underappreciated Samuel Eto’o.
Among the notable names to miss out on the Team of the 21st Century are Riyad Mahrez, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Michael Essien.
In most cases, a lack of success at international level likely precluded them from selection.
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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