AFCON
Like Nigeria, another Afcon Group D team, Sudan sacks coach
Another Group D team of the Africa Cup of Nations, Sudan, has parted ways with its coach just hours after Nigeria sacked Gernot Rohr.
Both Nigeria and Sudan are scheduled to meet in the northern city of Garoua 15 January at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The coach of Sudan sacked is Hubert Velud. His sack is connected with the poor showing at the FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar where among other defeats, Sudan lost 5-0 to Egypt, a team they are facing again at the Africa Cup of Nations next month.
Sudan did not just lose all their three group matches, they conceded 10 goals and scored none.
Sudan qualified to the continent’s flagship competition for the first time since 2013, and with Ethiopia they are the only two teams from the CECAFA Zone in the impending AFCON 2021.
The SFA executive committee meeting decided on Sunday to terminate Velud’s contract and appoint local caretaker coach Burhan Tia to handle the team during the upcoming AFCON.
The timing of the sack almost coincided with that in Nigeria where Rohr was sacked and home boy, Eguavoen was put on the saddle.
Although Velud, who was appointed coach in January 2020, guided Sudan to qualify for the 2021 AFCON, the team has lately not registered good results.
In the FIFA World Cup qualifiers alongside Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, Velud’s team finished bottom of the group with three points from six matches.
At the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 they lost 4-0 in the opening match to Algeria, before suffering 5-0 defeat to Egypt and a 1-0 loss to Lebanon.
The new interim coach Burhan Tia has worked in the Sudan Premier League for 26 years. He was also Sudan assistant coach during the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) where the Falcons of Jediane finished third.
The new technical team includes Mubarak Soliman and Mohsen Sayed as assistant coaches. They will have a tough mission of making it to AFCON knockout stage.
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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